dafuge's FM17 challenge

[IL Luce]

Hi there. I just bough fm17 few days ago just for this challenge cuz I'm in love with the LLM (hehe). I must say that is a big jump for me from 15 to 17 and also my first save.

I decided to take over Enfield Town FC (setup; manager profile) basically because I like their logo. My first season was a fiasco; with some luck we barely managed to stay up.

So here it is:

 

Expectations

Media - 22

Board - Attempt to avoid relegation

Squad - League - Cups - Fixtures1 - Fixtures2 - Fixtures3 - Transfers - Finances - Board Confidence Review

 

Top 3 Players

1.Evan Garnett

Stats:

Position selected: ST| Apps: 43(2)| Average rating: 6.95| Shots/90m: 2.07|Shots on target/90m: 1.03| Shots on target ratio: 50%| Headers won/90m: 2.53| Pass completed/90m: 39.29| Key passes: 42| Pass ratio: 83%| Goals: 20

-my goal scorer, but a very good passer as well with no more then 42 key passes

2.Will Spetch

Stats:

Position selected: DC| Apps: 36(5)| Average rating: 6.94| Interceptions: 650| Headers Won/90m: 9.42| Tackle ratio: 74%| Key Tackles: 14| Pass completed/90m: 20.94

-a solid defender with very good stats; impressive 650 interceptions when Ebbsfleet top defender had 628

2.Scott Shulton

Stats:

Position selected: MC| Apps: 41(3)| Average rating: 6.98| Pass completed/90m: 75.57| Key passes: 41| Pass ratio: 80%| Interceptions: 302|

-the key passes and interceptions speak for themselves

 

Tactics

About tactics, well I started the save with the idea of playing counterattacking, so at the beginning I played with a 4141 and 352. Things didn't go well so I switched to my 3rd tactic a 442 and in the end I listened to my coach and switched to a 4123DM. I didn't have a tactical identity and this was my big problem (that I will not repeat in the second season).

 

That's it. For the next season my objective is (I hope) a playoff spot.

 

Season          League                                   League Finish     Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama National League South           18th              Avoid relegation

 

[Quasar]

I've noticed that a lot of assistant managers seem to push for a 4-1-2-3 DM, not sure why

[profii]

I've got as far as December in the premier league and I don't think I've been in the relegation zone yet.

Saying that, apart from the first 2 games I don't think I've been in the top half so there is a long way to go.

My team struggles but seems to grind out results, it's just a shame that I have no budget left to get someone extra in the transfer window.

we are playing at St James' Park (Blyth) whilst our stadium is expanded by practically double.

 

The coaches think my youngest player is also my best player, so if I can build the squad around him that would be good, although hopefully no one comes in for him...

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Met Police - League Two 2021/22 - Season 5

Nice quick season this as I am trying to get through what I can before Mass Effect comes out next week.

After a solid debut in the Football League last season I was hoping for more of the same this season, with the Bookies pretty much expecting the same again from us with the Media Predicting a safe 18th place finish.

Brexit - Slight change from initial announcement as Scotland and Gibraltar split off to stay with the EU, whilst the Premier League and Football League will be subject to a 17 FGN limit in the 25 man squads, with non-league still using Work Permits.

Reputation - Increases to 1.5 stars but we are the only Local team in the league.

Transfers - Busy season as I went about improving my side, bringing in several Italian based players before Brexit went through when I thought they'd need Work Permits, however with the league instead adopting squad registration I continued to bring in more as the season went on, I also loaned in pretty much any loan player who looked decent though the majority of them hardly played and had their loans ended in Jan. Saleswise I just let various squad players go to free up some wages, and then with a week of the transfer window left Sheff Utd poached my Midfielder Breach after activating his release clause, though they did loan him back to me, not that he was actually needed any longer as he picked up a couple more injuries and just couldn't get in my side and went back in Jan.

League Cup - Another good effort as we are narrowly beaten by League One Walsall, watched by competition attendance low.

Checkatrade Trophy - We put up a good fight here, narrowly losing to a Chelsea team fielding Oscar and Croatian Star Coric, before beating Southend and then suffering heartache as we beat Aldershot 5-4 in a thriller of a game as my defence fell apart as my Italian Strikers did their best with one grabbing five goals and the other getting four assists, however with Southend beating a Chelsea team fielding U18's we went out by one goal On the plus side the Chelsea game earned us £70K so the competition isn't that useless.

FA Cup - Bit unlucky to draw League One Bradford in the First Round and if it wasn't for some poor defending we should have won the game with my new Striker Gori grabbing a brace on his debut as we claimed a draw. With the Replay at Home we got off to an awful start gifting Bradford two early goals before Gori gave us hope before half-time, but we just couldn't find another goal.

League Two - No idea how we did this we started off okay but lacked any consistency as we spend the first half of the season sitting outside the playoffs as we were struggling a bit defensivly which came to a head with two shocking games, we got hammered 3-0 by Stevenage and had two of my Defenders sent off, we then got beat by Bristol where we had a horrible couple of minutes before halftime as we conceeded a goal, then got a centre-back sent off and then conceeded again.

We covered some of our defensive issues with the signing of a new Italian Striker Gori who proved to be a goal machine but he couldn't do it on his own as despite grabbing four goals in two games we still managed to lose them both 3-2 thanks to some shocking defending, and for some we had also decided to start just lumping balls up to my Target Man however for the most part the balls wouldn't go anywhere near him and just resulted in us coceeding so I switch things around switched my Full Backs from Support to Defend duties and then replaced my Target Man with a Shadow Striker and that seemed to work we started to show some defensive strength whilst my Advanced Forward, Shadow Striker and Box-to-Box Midfielder were forming a deadly attacking partnership, I also made a couple of other tweaks when needed - upped the closing down and made us more discplined against the teams that attacked us, and switched my Box-to-Box Midfielder to a Defending DeepLying Playmaker when the forward surges weren't working.

Over the Christmas period we hit form as we claimed three wins and a draw all against the top four teams which saw us creep into the playoffs at the half way stage and in the New Year we broke into the promotion spots, though things were tight - we were third one point behind second placed Plymouth, but only ahead of Northampton and Wrexham on goal difference, with Yeovil and Carlisle making up the playoffs two points back, though at the top Exeter were walking away with the league being eight points clear which was impressive for a side that only avoided relegation on the last day last season.

Then for the rest of the season we would be unbeaten winning 20 of the 26 games in the run (which is one game short of Swindons 27 game run, which shouldn't really count as it is spread over 20 years) as we slowly started to catch up to a faltering Exeter and eventually passed them in the 35th game as we thrashed a Blackpool side who'd just appointed my Assistant their new manager whilst Exeter lost to promotion chasers Plymouth, I also noticed a rather weird thing in that for the last 19 games of the season Exeter's next match was against the team I'd just played (this has actually happened several times over the versions) until we met each other on the final day.

With five games left in front of a record crowd we secured promotion to League One with a 3-0 hammering of local not-rivals Wimbledon and secured the title with three games left thanks to a home win over Yeovil. Then on the final day in front another record crowd we beat Exeter to make them sweat promotion, however Northampton suffered a shock defeat to Stevenage which ensured Exeters and Plymouths promotions with Crewe winning the playoffs. Whilst at the bottom Chesterfield suffered a shock double relegation to the Conference.

Statpack - Domination here though we did draw a fair few against the weaker sides, with our most common result being either a 3-0, 3-1 or 2-1 win.

Salary - Despite doubling our wages we are still bottom, though with both Exeter and Plymouth at the top their promotions weren't that far fetched.

Attendance - Only just bottom but a decent increase to 30%, which saw our attendances increase 50% on last season.

Squad, Home, Review

In Goal in came Greek born Kosovo Italian Keeper Armand Demalija who'd been released by Udinese and he had an excellent season proving to be a solid pair of hands, though he did miss several games to go be third choice for Kosovo.

At Right Back Charlie Seaman rediscovered his form with a pro contract and a switch to a Defend duty suited him. At Left Back NIrishman Josh Doherty also had a fine season.

At Centre Back I brought in Dane Stefan Gartenmann who'd been released by Heerenveen and after a shocking start improved as the season went on and by the end had formed a solid partnership with Italian born Moroccan Zakaria El Badaoui, provding cover was Matthew Platt who had a poor season as did Danny Harnwell who was loaned from Norwich and some better defenders are top of my list for next season.

In the Centre of Midfield in came Italian Deep Lying Playmaker Marco Martinelli who'd been released by Brescia and he had an excellent season controlling things in the middle and even being a decent goal threat, playing alongside him was Dutch Box-to-Box Midfielder Noa Lang who'd been released by Ajax who also had a fine season though he did do his ankle in in the last game of the season and will be out for six months Providing cover was Italian Alberto Picchi who'd been released by Empoli and he proved to be a solid option stepping in when either of the others was out of form or needed a rest.

On the Right Wing was Jack Everest who'd been released by Bolton and he proved to be a useful player, providing cover was Welsh Loanee Arron Nicholls who had a solid season, then in January I snapped up Italian Fabio Depaoli who'd been released by Chievo and is rated as a League One stanard player and quickly impressed though he did get moved around abit playing on the Left and as my AMC thanks to injuries elsewhere.

On the Left Wing was Dutchman Anthony van Dongen who'd been released by Groningen and did ok, providing cover was Loanee Henry Malone stepped up in the second half of the season when van Dongen got injured, though a better option might be needed next season.

Upfront in came Advanced Forward Luke Bolton who'd been released by Man City (I did try to get him last season but the board wouldn't pay his agent fee) who started well but faded as the season went on, playing alongside him was Italian Edoardo Rezzi who'd been released by Lazio and he had a storming season, though it started slow as initialy I deployed him as a False Nine but that didn't work, though a DeepLying Forward role did before he got injured, however he excelled when he came back into the squad as a Shadow Striker. Covering for him was another Italian Fabio Brasile who'd been released by Palermo but he didn't have a great time as I couldn't get the Targetman role to work so I started to retrain him into a Shadow Striker before he tore his hamstring and missed the last few months of the season. Finally in October I snapped up another Italian Advanced Forward Gabriele Gori who'd been released by Fiorentina and is rated as a League One player and he just tore the league apart scoring goals for fun and even grabbing the most assists as he sets new club records for goals scored, assists and player of the match awards and so nearly claimed the Golden Shoe which was impressive considering he didn't sign until a third of the season had been played.

League Two Dream Team - Only Demalija and Lang make the team as Gori is cruely snubbed despite setting a new league rating record.

Best XI - Pretty much spot on though I'd pick Depaoli on the Right if he'd been here all season.

Overall XI - Still using the Diamond, with Lang a bit of a surprise inclusion considering he has only made 40 appearances, also Alfie Lewis somehow replaced Neale despite neither of them being at the club this season?

Finances - Not good as we lost nearly £100K per month this season, though the Premier League kickback does just about get us out of the red at the end of the season, but the board use our bank balance as an excuse to reject all club improvements. This season didn't bring in much extra income our gate receipts nearly doubled to £700K and we got £150K for Breach but the rest didn't really increase whilst our wages nearly doubled to £600K, and using our ground cost us an extra £250K with our tax also increasing by £100K, so financially promotion should hopefully be good for us.

Manager Profile - I collected my National A License and also claimed another Manager of the Year Award. Attributes wise I gained a couple in most areas whilst my Reputation has shot upto Okay and is about one star higher than the clubs which might explain why I was seemingly linked with every job going domestically this season.

Plans For Next Season

So after a shock promotion (but helpful from a financial point) the goal next season is to just stay up. Transferwise the priority next season are some new Centre-Backs and some better players down the Left, we also need some Homegrown players.


State of The World

Premier League - Man Utd continue to dominate the league beating off City this time, with Spurs and Arsenal completing the top four, at the bottom it was bad news for the Midlands as West Brom, Villa and Wolves all went down.

Manager wise the only big move was Liverpool poaching the West Brom Manager Lee Johnson.

In the Transfer Market Brexit didn't have any real impact as City spent £100m on Kingsley Coman and upto £40m on Austrailian Keeper Matthew Ryan, Chelsea signed Romagnoll from AC for £72m. The biggest English player moving was a 20yo regen who Burnley bought from Everton in a deal worth over £30m.

In the Championship Swansea and Derby go straight back up and are joined by Huddersfield, at the bottom Preston, Charlton and MK Dons will all be joining us in League One.

In League One big hitters Bolton, Portsmouth and Birmingham all get promoted, with Gateshead coming straight back down, whilst Swindon nearly went up again losing the Playoff Final in extra-time.

FA Cup - Man Utd claimed it for the second time beating Man City.

League Cup - Clean sweep for Utd as they won this for the third time in a row beating Arsneal.

Champions League - Bayern beat City to become the first team to reclaim the trophy. With Spurs, Chelsea and Utd all losing in the Knockout Round.

Europa League - Arsenal beat Palace(!) on pens, with Newcastle losing in the Knockout Round.

Brazil - A. Mineiro claim their first title.

China - Another debut win this time for Jiangsu

France - Yet another clean sweep for Paris.

Germany - Dortmund retain the title with Bayern third behind Leverkusen. In the Cup Wolfsburg beat Hoffenheim.

Italy - Napoli make it three in a row beating Juventus by one point. Napoli also beat Juventus in the Cup Final.

Portugal - Benfica make it six in a row with Sporting beating Porto in the Cup.

Scotland - Celtic need Goal Difference beat Rangers to the title and claim the Cup over Inverness.

Spain - Barcelona easily make it three in a row, with A. Madrid beating Valencia in the Cup Final.

Leaderboard points (FM Mode)
(My Steam Username is same as here if anyone wants to add me)
(points / position)
Single Game: 2,322,347 (130,350)
Single Season: 1,099,379 (117,351)
Single Season England: 1,099,379 (62,308)
Single Season League Two: 733,684 (1,204)
Single Season National League: 1,099,379 (100 :cool:)
Single Season National South: 436,272 (175)
(looks like a test game with Utd that didn't even get to Sept has more points than this so far so a score was only obtained for the NLS)

Career Overview
 

Season	League	League Finish	Achievements	Leaderboard Points	Av. Attendance
17/18	National South	11th	-	10,825	246 (8%)
18/19	National South	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	436,272 / 447,097	270 (9%)
19/20	National League	1st	Promoted - Champions!!! FA Trophy Winners	1,099,379 / 1,546,476	571 (16%)
20/21	League Two	16th	-	42,187 / 1,588,663	1,095 (21%)
21/22	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	733,684 / 2,322,347	1,671 (30%)

[IL Luce]

Unfortunately my second season with Enfield is not going well. Actually is going awful. After 35 games we are in the 21st position and the board gave me an ultimatum. Pretty sure I will get sacked cuz I'm out of ideas. Is frustrated how sometimes we can't keep the lead. We are leading 2-0 or 3-0 but we end up with a draw or a defeat.

[Quasar]

3 minutes ago, IL Luce said:

Unfortunately my second season with Enfield is not going well. Actually is going awful. After 35 games we are in the 21st position and the board gave me an ultimatum. Pretty sure I will get sacked cuz I'm out of ideas. Is frustrated how sometimes we can't keep the lead. We are leading 2-0 or 3-0 but we end up with a draw or a defeat.

Ouch, hope you can pull it out!

[Barnet]

Tonbridge Angels

Season    League            Position    FA        Other Cup        Euro Cups        Achievements

17/18    Vanarama South        3rd        3rd Q        3rd Q            N/A            Lost in Playoff Semi Final                    (MOTY)                  P    42  W   21  D    14  L       7    GD 32

18/19    Vanarama South        1st         3rd Q        2nd R            N/A            Vanarama South Champions             (MOTY)                  P   42  W   19  D    13   L    10    GD 22

19/20    Vanarama National   1st       1st Rnd       Won              N/A             Vanarama National Champions        (MOTY)                  P    42  W  27  D     9    L     10   GD 28

The not-straightforward double!  

My last 4 games yielded a miserly 4 points including a 3-0 drubbing last game of the season.  Thankfully Lincoln were the only team close and they also managed 4 from 4, including turning a potentially title-winning 0-2 on the last day of the season (as I nervously watched the league table)  into a Playoff making 3-2, kindly handing us the Championship

I also managed to sneak a 1-0 win in the FA Trophy with possession being the key to my defensive solidity and sending home a grumpy Tranmere (61% Possession in this game)

STATS:  Best in the league for:
Possession (55.59%)  
Stadium Sellouts (13) Cap is 1206!

My first priority for the season was to stabilise the finances and mass recruit.  I spent half my wage budget (4k of 8k per week) on a 17-man squad and only once I'd drawn Birmingham in the FA Cup (at their place) did I add to it (End of season 5.2k per week).  We now are 180k in the black which we'll need for Stadium expansion no doubt.  In truth, I was forced to spend more on wages given how well we were doing and the long term injuries we suffered from!

Only two players have survived from when I took over,

Spoiler

these being Gedeon Okito (LB) (7.12) and Bradley Comins (GK) (6.80).

From last season, only

Spoiler

Marc Guehi (RB) (7.23)  and Connor Lemonheigh-Evans (ST) (7.09) are regulars, although Luigi Hernandez (CB) (7.20)

Spoiler

 

was an able deputy who suffered a serious injury

Of the signings this season, Joe Crowe (CB) (7.27) has been immense, Conor Newton (BWM)(7,23) was a mid-season purchase which proved critical and Isaac Layne (ST) also came in midway through the season when our problems became clear.  Omar Sewell CMD (6.90) would probably have played more but did a cruciate and I had to buy in Dale Gorman (7.18) to replace him in Midfield

Goals wise, Lemonheigh-Evans tops with 24, Isaac Layne has 21 and Jordan Allan, my backup scored 16.

 

17 players are retained for next season

I'm looking to strengthen in a number of areas, LB

Spoiler

(Gedeon Okito's replacement)

,the AMC position

Spoiler

where Gary Lennon (6.92) and Garry Lewis (6.91)

didn't really contribute as much as I would like.  My CM's (DLP)  

Spoiler

Henry Ochieng [Loan] (6.99)  and Luke Milbourne (6.97)

could also be replaced, hopefully with someone with League Two experience.  Finally, if a GK of sufficient calibre becomes available,

Spoiler

Bradley Comins

may well be on his way and I'm also looking for a quality lower league false 9 (not holding my breath!)

Interestingly we're also upping sticks and moving to Crawley to take advantage of their Stadium as we enter League Two

[IL Luce]

On 15.03.2017 at 21:45, Quasar said:

Ouch, hope you can pull it out!

Not so lucky. Got just 1 point in the next 5 games and I've been sacked .

        Congratulations, you've just been sacked

Should I blame the players like Mourinho? No. After 16 games w/o a win, I deserve it. Nothing more to say, I guess. I will post just the league tabel and transfers and I will start again with another team, I think.

[Quasar]

16 hours ago, IL Luce said:

Not so lucky. Got just 1 point in the next 5 games and I've been sacked .

        Congratulations, you've just been sacked

Should I blame the players like Mourinho? No. After 16 games w/o a win, I deserve it. Nothing more to say, I guess. I will post just the league tabel and transfers and I will start again with another team, I think.

Ouch! Which teams are you considering?

[profii]

I've just finished a season in the premier league with Blyth

we were lucky on the fixture list really as we got a lot of the bottom team together so could sustain a little bit of morale as we went

 

the season was massively profitable as the big income was 9mil per month on TV rights and only 1mil a month on wages...

 

so we're up to a 12k seater stadium with another upgrade as soon as the season finished... plus loads of training upgrades and youth coaching stuff etc (I've also been asking at every turn)

 

i asked for an affiliate as I'm going to try and start working on the youth but I only got UK&I options (went for bohemians)

 

got 50mil in the transfer kitty so brought in a plethora of player and I'm just waiting to see if there are any decent free transfers this year

 

if I can get a steady top half finish this year I'll be pleased

[IL Luce]

On 17.03.2017 at 16:39, Quasar said:

Ouch! Which teams are you considering?

The lucky ones are Billericay Town FC.
They seem to be professional, is that right or I'm just lucky and they turned professional in my save befor I took them? Anyway, things are going pretty well so far: 9games in; 5W 3D 1L.

 

And look who decided to cross the field when the ball is still in play. Hello there, the game is not over yet.

[exacerbating]

Lowestoft Town - English National League North: Season 1

The first season went very well. I suppose picking one of the higher rep clubs helped because I could strengthen the squad throughout the season, although the player who scored all the goals was an original Lowestoft player.

It was tight between Lowestoft and Boston over the last 10 games of the season, with Boston winning the top 2 clash with about 5/6 games to go, but the easier run in told (Boston had Fylde on the last day, and Lowestoft had bottom place Alfreton) and we were promoted as Champions.

League Table

Cups - rubbish, 4th qualifying round of FA Cup and 3rd qualifying round of the FA Trophy.

Transfers

Best Players:

Jake Reed - Lowestoft original, who scored a lot of vital goals.

Charles Vernam - developed nicely into his Attacking Mid role after signing on a free transfer, he was released by Derby.

Kostos Pileas - performed excellently. Was signed by the previous AI manager after his release from Arsenal so I can't take the credit for finding him.

Also special mentions for Stephen Cawley and Rory McAuley (Lowestoft original) as well.

[Quasar]

Hey I have Vernam too! I use him as a forward but was considering him as an AM

[Barnet]

20 hours ago, exacerbating said:

Lowestoft Town - English National League North: Season 1

Also special mentions for Stephen Cawley and Rory McAuley (Lowestoft original) as well.

Cawley was solid for me for two seasons too, just didn't make the step up in to the national (wanted to much £!)   75 apps 29 goals for Tonbridge though

[Tecmo]

One more time into the breach

Slough Town FC - 2022-2023

Finally got Slough Town up in the year 2022. Actually a decent squad too, went into the season with mid-table expectations.

 

Club Profile

I inherited a club with good work rate and determination, a pair of good fullbacks and not much else for wide players so we played an aggressive 4-4-2 diamond. 

League Table

Honestly, we were better than our 16th place finish. We dominated possession in most games, leading the league in that, pass completion ratio and passes completed. Our finishing and defense let us down a bit though and I experimented a bit at the end, knocking our standing down a couple places.

Cups

Unfortunately we got a tough draw in our first FA Cup game, having to travel to Dartford, the team that finished 4th in our league. Played pretty poorly too in one of the few games where we were dominated, losing 3-1.

The FA Trophy went much better. Eased by North Leigh 3-1, then avenged our Dartford loss by beating them at our place 1-0. That led to a game at VNLN side Chester where we played well and were perhaps unlucky to draw 1-1. The return leg at our place didn't go so well as we lost 2-0.

Key Players

Our left fullback, Daniel Martin, was our player of the year despite missing 3 months with a hip injury. We definitely felt it when he was gone though as we slid away from competing for a playoff spot during that time.

Jake Simpson was our leading scorer with 14 goals as well as 5 assists. He was my workhorse up front as his strike partners changed regularly. Hopefully I can find someone to fill the poacher role next to him next season.

Josh Love, on loan from Stevenage, was his main partner, adding 12 goals and 6 assists. Was terribly inconsistent though as his 6 Composure would suggest.

Meng Qianglong was another option up front, made a big impact with 6 goals in 11 appearances, then suffered a broken leg that put him on the shelf for a year. A continuation of his injury history unfortunately, I can't bring him back.

I'm looking to strengthen our defense next season by improving my goalkeeping and bringing one more strong option at central defender. Need to find a better playmaker at the tip of the midfield to better feed my strikers, whoever they end up being.

[Quasar]

Martin and Qianglong look great!

[IL Luce]

I've finished also my first season with Billericay.

Expectations
Media - 6th
Board - Top half finish

 

Season I - Vanarama National League South 2017/2018

Squad - League - Cups - Playoff - Fixtures1 - Fixtures2 - Fixtures3 - Transfers - Finances - Board Confidence Review

 

Tactically, at the beginning I tryed to implement some Bielsa defensive concept like 2vs1 and 3vs2. I already had a squad built for 4231 so when I faced a team that used only 1 striker I used the 4231 and against 2 I switched to a 3412WB. It worked pretty well till november when our form has changed drasticaly. After 2 months of poor form I decided to focus only on the 4231 tactic and our result improved amazingly. Four games befor playoffs I switched again to a more solid 4411 and counterattack all the way. And here we are promoted in the Vanarama National League.

 

TOP 3 Players:

1.Corey Francis

Stats:
Position selected: AMC| Apps: 44(1)| Average rating: 7.27| Pass completed/90m: 71.32| Key passes: 55| Pass ratio: 87%| Assists: 11| Goals: 13
-my playmaker; the servant, with 55 key passes, 11 assists and 13 goals and an average rating of 7.27, definitely my best player and the brain of the team.

2.Simon Hanna

Stats:
Position selected: MC| Apps: 47(2)| Average rating: 7.00| Pass completed/90m: 84.82| Key passes: 19| Pass ratio: 88%| Interceptions: 408
-used as a dlp, a very good passer with a 84.82 passes completed but also a very good defender with 408 interceptions.

3. Joe Hardy

Stats:
Position selected: ST or AMR| Apps: 48(3)| Average rating: 7.01| Shots/90m: 2.99 |Shots on target/90m: 1.43| Shots on target ratio: 48%| Headers won/90m: 2.79| Pass completed/90m: 30.88| Key passes: 42| Pass ratio: 83%| Goals: 17| Assists: 10
-satisfied with his passing stats: 30.88 passes completed, 42 key passes, 83% pass ratio and 10 assists but not so satisfied with him in front of goal with only 1.43 shots on target, 48% shot on target ratio and 17 goals. If he will sign a new contract I will definetly change my tactic and use him as a second striker in the next season.

 

More Facts

The good news is that with the promotion in our pocket the board decided to build us a new stadium; the bad news is that it will cost us 3M and a 1.05M loan has been made. Also, till the new stadium will be built, we will move to Recreation Ground and will pay a 21.17K yearly rent. Well, the rent is not too big, right(?) and a new stadium sound awesome, but we are a small club and financially, our next years don't sound so good.

I will have a 115k p/m wage budget for the next season and as a matter of fact Gateshead FC, who promoted to League 2, had only 120k p/m wage budget, so yes, I think is a pretty big budget to rebuild the squad.

[oakesypvfc]

You are doing a lot better with Billericay, nice promotion 

[Tecmo]

21 hours ago, Quasar said:

Martin and Qianglong look great!

Love Qianglong, nice regen from Wolves and a lethal scorer for this level when healthy. I have decided to bring him back on a highly incentivised deal.

[IL Luce]

On 26.03.2017 at 04:35, oakesypvfc said:

You are doing a lot better with Billericay, nice promotion 

Thanks

[exacerbating]

On 26/03/2017 at 02:01, IL Luce said:

The good news is that with the promotion in our pocket the board decided to build us a new stadium; the bad news is that it will cost us 3M and a 1.05M loan has been made. Also, till the new stadium will be built, we will move to Recreation Ground and will pay a 21.17K yearly rent. Well, the rent is not too big, right(?) and a new stadium sound awesome, but we are a small club and financially, our next years don't sound so good.

Lowestoft had to expand the stadium due to National League requirements as well, in my opinion this is a pretty bad hindrance - would have been better if we could wait til he club turned pro and were in the league.

On the upside, the stadium I'm playing at (Emerald Park - Gorleston) seems to be a better stadium than the one I'll have after improvements.

I need a run in the cups this season otherwise I see a lot of financial hardship on the horizon.

[IL Luce]

On 28.03.2017 at 01:45, exacerbating said:

Lowestoft had to expand the stadium due to National League requirements as well, in my opinion this is a pretty bad hindrance - would have been better if we could wait til he club turned pro and were in the league.

On the upside, the stadium I'm playing at (Emerald Park - Gorleston) seems to be a better stadium than the one I'll have after improvements.

I need a run in the cups this season otherwise I see a lot of financial hardship on the horizon.

Even with professional status is tough; financially speaking. I lose money every week and my board inject money into the club every month. The big question is: till when? We need a Vardy so that we can sell it to Leicester and save us from bankruptcy . Good luck m8.

[Barnet]

Tonbridge Angels

Season    League            Position    FA        Other Cup        Euro Cups        Achievements

17/18    Vanarama South        3rd        3rd Q        3rd Q            N/A            Lost in Playoff Semi Final                    (MOTY)                  P    42  W   21  D    14  L       7    GD 32

18/19    Vanarama South        1st         3rd Q        2nd R            N/A            Vanarama South Champions             (MOTY)                  P   42  W   19  D    13   L    10    GD 22

19/20    Vanarama National   1st       1st Rnd       Won              N/A            Vanarama National Champions        (MOTY)                  P    42  W  27  D     9    L     10   GD 28

20/21    Sky Bet League 2        7th      4th Rnd       1st R            N/A             Play Off Final (WINNER)                                                       P    46  W  18  D    16   L    12    GD 16

STATS:  Best in the league for:

Possession 56.83%
Pass Completion Ratio 78%
Passes Completed 24428
Conceding from Free Kicks 1
Stadium Sellouts 9      (We now have a 2000 cap stadium)
Lowest Attendance!     1104

I have to say, it was really hard to get new players in this season with the wage budget and lack of reputation.  Converting existing contracts to Full time was also tough as costs were really tight so much of the squad remained the same and part-time for the season.  

We did start the season pretty well with that settled squad but were soon found out, plummeting to mid table by Janurary.  Two singings (more on those below) led to a turnaround in form, culminating in a  run of 6 wins in 9.  That saw us sneak into the playoffs as the form team thanks to a 6-0 battering of Crewe.  Playoff first leg was against Crewe again and a crazy home leg saw us 2-4 down.  Thankfully we fought back to 4-4 with two goals in the last 10 mins.  In the second leg we took an early lead at which point Crewe came at us.  They equalised just before half time but we managed to sneak another goal before the break to lead 2-1.  We missed  a sitter on 55 minutes then replaced our front three with 15 to go and with some heroic defending as Crewe piled on the pressure, we made it to the final where we played Accrington Stanley.  We took an early lead in the 5th minute and went to 2-0 on 17 minutes. Accrington missed a sitter on 58 before we scored in the 60th to make it 3, followed by 4-0 merely two minutes later, our defensive strategy coming up trumps yet again.

On a personal note, I don't think I've ever been quite so excited and surprised by this game - and credit this to the challenge!  Our squad clearly wasn't the best but focusing on key attributes, determined and big game players has meant that we punch well above our weight.  Honestly, I was shocked to have been promoted and I certainly hadn't planned my signings with League One in mind.

Only two real signings of note for the season

Spoiler

These were a new LB - Jack Senior (7.02)and a new striker in the January transfer window, Bassala Sambou (7.17 and 12 in 20)  Also worth mentioning was Sean Harrison (a regen on loan from Bradford) (7.13 15 goals in 32) and Isaac Layne (7.23 18 goals in 48 and 16 assists)

So for next season.  A lot of contracts are expiring and agents want £, so there will be new faces.  It's going to be a long pre-season!

[Quasar]

Good job! I'm still working on getting out of the National League

[profii]

I am in the Premier League with Blyth. (I think I'm over 10 years in now...) I've also just drawn Galatasaray in the first knockout round of the Europa League.

The club earns over £2mil per month on average so I've been putting in board requests for upgraded facilities as often as possible - this is going quite well and I have a decent Head of Youth Dev so I am also hoping to start finding club grown players as that suddenly became an issue with squad reg rules this year but I am struggling. I've only got 1 player who will be club grown in a few years!

The stadium is going to go to over 20k seats when the latest project finishes and I think we are paying for this in cash - although we are still paying off earlier loans off the top of my head.


We are attracting ok players, but the better ones want to go play in the Champions League so worst case scenario is I get a big pay day I guess, although hopefully I can hang on.

I have a handful of non-work permit youngsters loaned out but I am struggling to get them into the first team which is a shame, again, profitable at least though.


Although I am in the Europa league I think it was one of the lowest points tally in terms of earning qualification and I had 2 '6 pointers' near the end of the season which helped me retain 7th in the league, although I am not sure if I will keep my place this year, I am certainly clear of being a relegation candidate now so that is good.

 

My main objectives for now is to bring in players who are fairly loyal and try and keep the team improving - hopefully there wont be too much disruption caused by players wishing to leave but we shall see.

[Quasar]

Wow good job! Just gotta make that last push!

[profii]

Kind of unexpected but I just kept getting good results

 

 

[Quasar]

44 minutes ago, profii said:

Kind of unexpected but I just kept getting good results

 

 

Wow Europa League win AND a hat-trick too!

[profii]

2 & 3 were pens

[IL Luce]

Nice work @profii. Congrats

 

Small winter update

I'm in february and with a media prediction 22 and the board expectation to avoid relegation you might think that we are struggling bottom down there. Well...not really:

An unbelievable season so far and we are fighting up there for a playoff spot. Tactically, this season is all about 3(or 5) at the back and I must say that my "Julian Nagelsmann experiment" is a succes.

As you could saw in my fail Enfield save and my last season with Billericay, I like to be flexible. I don't belive in just one tactic. I like to play a certain way in a certain situation. What I don't like is that we can't keep a clean sheet. Offensively we are doing grate, defensively...well, not so good. We don't have problems with crossing, we have problems with our stupid defence. A lot of stupid decisions, stupid mistakes, stupid penaltys, stupid own goals. Just look at this game:

How on earth can you make 2 penaltys, both after corner kicks and an own goal after a long kick? And this is not an exception. I think I'm the team with the most own goals scored in the league .

Anyway, if I can adjust my defence and if we can maintain this form I think it will be a successful season.

[Quasar]

I got promoted! Predicted to finish last in the VNL but I worked my way up to 3rd, got 2-2 away at Aldershot and won 2-1 at home, then had a huge crowd at Wembley to beat Barrow 1-0 with a substitute striker scoring the only goal.

That match plus the reward from finishing 3rd got me finally back into the black after a few seasons of debt, though we did have to take out a loan to upgrade the stadium since we needed more capacity and more seats. Thankfully we won a grant for half of the cost so it isn't a terrible burden. Going to have to manage finances well in League 2 to avoid the drop and restructure since we're now professional as well.

Didn't do well in the cups, 1st Round exits in both but the clubs we drew were tougher than usual so not much to be expected there.

Somehow I didn't win Manager of the Season despite a 21 spot differential from the before season predictions, lost it to AFC Fylde's manager who admittedly did do the double with the National League and the FA Trophy, but they were predicted to finish 3rd so that wasn't a huge surprise. Anyways, hopefully I can avoid relegation and keep moving up!

[Barnet]

Tonbridge Angels

Season    League            Position    FA        Other Cup        Euro Cups        Achievements

17/18    Vanarama South        3rd        3rd Q        3rd Q            N/A            Lost in Playoff Semi Final                    (MOTY)                  P    42  W   21  D    14  L       7    GD 32

18/19    Vanarama South        1st         3rd Q        2nd R            N/A            Vanarama South Champions             (MOTY)                  P   42  W   19  D    13   L    10    GD 22

19/20    Vanarama National   1st       1st Rnd       Won              N/A            Vanarama National Champions        (MOTY)                  P    42  W  27  D     9    L     10   GD 28

20/21    Sky Bet League 2        7th      4th Rnd       1st R            N/A             Play Off Final (WINNER)                                                     P    46  W  18  D    16   L    12    GD 16

21/22   Sky Bet League 1         4th     3rd Rnd        3rd Rnd       N/A             Play Off Final ( WINNER)                    (MOTY)                  P    46  W  21  D    11   L    14    GD   4

STATS:  Best in the league for:

Possession     -    57.61%
Pass Completion Ratio     -    80%
Passes Completed    -    25185
Sell outs 22 - (Stadium Expansion is imminent)

Bit of an odd season again.  Not good enough to be really challenging at the top all season and having to work hard tactically to grind results, certainly no free-scoring!  There was some potential to go up automatically but unfortunately the consistency was not there in the team, we failed to turn draws into wins and mount a title challenge.  Then, the playoffs.
I was lucky enough to be able to rest the whole team in advance of the playoffs, having secured the position early.  I think this made a difference throughout the Semi Finals as we were the fitter team and able to win the away leg 2-3.   We then went for it in the second leg, being a bit less cautious but still as destructive as ever and ended up getting to Wembley (again) in a relatively comfortable fashion running out 3-1 winners.
The final started well with us 2-0 up inside 7 minutes and we never really looked in trouble, grinding out the game and maintaining the 2-0 advantage despite a few scares.
So once again, I'm sitting here, slightly baffled by the success but excited to see what the Championship brings us.

We are still reliant on a core of players who've served us well for many seasons

Spoiler

Gary Lennon (7.37, 21 Goals and 17 Assists!) and in Team of the year!  Connor Lemonheigh Evans who was injured for 6 months (7.14, 9, 2) Marc Guehi (7.13) Ivor Lawton (712)

We also added a few new players who strengthened us and helped us through the campaign, all regens except

Spoiler

Cameron James (CB) (7.17) and Raul Fernandez (GK) 6.92

For the Championship, we need to make significant squad adjustments.  I think the players are already stretched at this level and the championship is almost certainly a step to far for many - although I seem to be saying that every season!

In infrastructure news, we have expanded the stadium further and upgraded the youth facilities, with further upgrades in both due to complete in October.

Time to go shopping!
 

[MikaelS]

So! In real life, Chippenham Town FC is about to ruin a lot of Dafuge's Challenge players by only needing 2 points to secure the Evo-Stik Southern Premier League Title.

On Saturday they will play St. Neots Town and hopefully do what is needed.

Question is, what team will we have to pick next year then?

[duccio]

I made a suggestion on the feature request forum that would make redundant reloading a save to get a certain club promoted. Perhaps not a novel idea, but it has not been brought up in a while. Comment on the suggestion thread if you think it would be a good addition to the game, or if you have other ideas about the same issue.

[IL Luce]

Congrats @Quasar, @Barnet! Unfortunately for me, I will stay another season in VNL.

 

Expectations
Media - 22nd
Board - Avoid relegation

Season II - Vanarama National League 2018/2019

Squad - League - Cups - Playoff - Fixtures1 - Fixtures2 - Fixtures3 - Transfers - Finances - Board Confidence Review

 

I'm disappointed. Base on our form and our final league position, I think we deserved and we should be promoted, unfortunately we ruined everything in our last game.

 

TOP 3 Players:

1.Chris Assombalonga

Stats:
Position selected: ST| Apps: 44(8)| Average rating: 7.23| Shots/90m: 3.23 |Shots on target/90m: 1.84| Shots on target ratio: 57%| Headers won/90m: 3.34| Pass completed/90m: 37.65| Key passes: 47| Pass ratio: 86%| Goals: 32| Assists: 7
-Chris was my big surprise this season. I kept him as my 4th striker but with some ugly injures I was needed to bring him in my first 11 and I could't get him out. He exceeded all my expectations.

2.Corey Francis

Stats:
Position selected: MC| Apps: 48(3)| Average rating: 7.05| Pass completed/90m: 71.67| Key passes: 53| Pass ratio: 83%| Interceptions: 249| Goals: 9| Assists: 5
-Another solid season for Corey and as always a good passer. I wanted him to be more involved in the attack but in the end I'm satisfied with his stats.

3.Joe Hardy

Stats:
Position selected: ST| Apps: 45(4)| Average rating: 7.05| Shots/90m: 2.48 |Shots on target/90m: 1.19| Shots on target ratio: 48%| Headers won/90m: 3.23| Pass completed/90m: 41.35| Key passes: 51| Pass ratio: 86%| Goals: 16| Assists: 11
-As I said last season, If he will sign a new contract we will change our tactics and he will be our second striker and that's what I've done. Joe is definelty a passer and I think he is made to be a second striker, his 11 assists and his passing statistics definitely say that.

 

Well, I'm disappointed but also I'm satisfied that we created a clear identity that we will keep seasons to come. We finished 2nd with this squad and I don't think that I will make many changes to it; hopefully next season will be ours.

 

Season          League                                   League Finish     Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama National League South           3rd              Promoted via Playoffs
2018/19         Vanarama National League                 2nd              Lost Playoffs Final

 

[Quasar]

Not bad! Should be able to do it next season if you can keep that up

[Barnet]

Il Luce, you're well placed to make the jump next season.  In my first season the gap was too large, but having a season to consolidate, really helped moved me through the leagues.  The impact of Tutoring, PPMs and Squad personality become more effective the longer you're with the squad, so it's no bad thing.  If you can put together 3 seasons and start building the right sort of players, you'll soon fly.  It sounds like your trajectory is good!

[Vipertitan]

able to get round to trying this after taking time out on my long turn save will post updates later 

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Met Police - League One 2022/23 - Season 6

(Little delayed this as I got distracted by Mass Effect)

So after storming League One last season, the hopes were to just stay up this season though again we didn't get an expectations news item so I was shocked when the Bookies gave us a good chance of reaching the playoffs, though they did hedge their bets giving the top nine sides near enough the same odds, whilst the Media Predicted us to finish eighth. I also found out later the board were expecting a mid-table position - I did think the expectations were being set by the end of season talk with the squad but I don't remember saying anything that high to them, so no idea what is setting them? Whilst my Striker Gori was reckoned to be among the Topscorers this season.

Reputation - Despite winning the league last season we would still have by far the worst reputation in the league.

Transfers - Busy season as I again loaned in anyone who was half decent (with most again leaving in Jan as they weren't needed) I was snapped up a couple of English Youngsters to boost my HG quota, and whilst the board did give me a bit of money to spend the players I went after picked other clubs, then later on with the board giving us the ability to scout Europe I snapped up some quality looking FGN players for free. It was also a productive season sales wise as I got a club record £240K for Italian Picchi and then in Jan made a bit of money getting rid of various squad players who I needed to get rid off to free up some wages as due to our lack of income we were up against the FFP wage limit.

League Cup - We finally won a game beating Championship Millwall in the First Round though we nearly blew it racing into a 2-0 lead before two howlers from my GK got Millwall back into the game before he made amends in the shootout - we missed two of our first three pens as Millwall scored all theirs but with us on the verge of going out my GK saved their next three to send us through. In the Second Round we entertained another Championship side Sheff Utd however we gifted them an early goal and then just couldn't score as we crashed out.

FA Cup - We got off to a shaky start beating Conference side Newport 1-0 in the First Round, but made no mistake in the Second Round thrashing Conference York 7-0 which was a new record win. In the Third Round we faced Championship Birmingham with a brace from Striker Gori enough to send us through where we faced Premier League Swansea and another Gori goal saw us through which was his record breaking fourth Man of the Match Award in the Cup, (he also broke our club record, beating the 10 he got last season). This set up a Fifth Round tie against high flying Watford and despite starting well, we gifted them two goals midway through the first half and despite being in control of the game we just couldn't score which brough our cup run to an end, it's also a bit of a shame we never drew one of the big sides as the money would have been nice - the Watford game only made us ~£75K with the wins over Birmingham and Swansea earning us about £150K each, which was at least enough to get the board to agree to finaly improve our facilities.

Checkatrade Trophy - I decided to put some effort into it this season as we progressed through the Group Stage without conceeding beating a Soton side led by Charlie Austin, we drew to Notts County (though we lost the shootout which gave them an extra point which just seemed to over complicate this competition) and then beat Bristol Rovers to secure top spot. In the Second Round a brace from Gori was enough to beat Plymouth, we then beat West Ham in the Third Round though again the game made this harder than it should have been as we'd already played Sat-Mon over the holiday period, we then play Sat and Tues in the league before playing West Ham on the Thursday (where we also had to use five players from the Tuesday match) and then played agin in the League on Saturday, whilst the other games took place a week later when we were also free (best I can work out we were force to play on the Thursday as West Ham were in the League Cup Semi's which took place at the same time, which was harsh on us). In the Quarter Final we thrashed high flying Luton, which set up a Semi-Final against fellow League One side Southend who we'd just beaten in the League and we beat again to book our place at Wembley against League Two Bury who'd beaten Liverpool.

In the Final less than 8,000 turned up (we actually got nearly three times as many turning up to our FA Trophy Final a couple of seasons ago, and the other Finals were getting ~20,000 so I have no idea why no one turned up this season?) to watch us dominate Bury but we just couldn't score and to make matters worse we lost Striker Gori to injury that would rule him out until the last day of the season Thankfully we made no mistake with the pens as we scored all five and claimed another piece of silverware. Rather weirdly in the seven finals so far four of them have been U23 v U23 sides and the other three have been league sides v league sides. Its also rather poor only getting ~£75K for a trip to Wembley

League One - An excellent season as we somehow snagged a playoff spot, the season started off well and we spent pretty much all of it sat in the top half but not really closing in on the playoffs as I concentrated more on the Cups this season to try and raise some money and our reputation, but after winning the Checkatrade Trophy and despite having our three star players out injured we kicked into gear and beat playoff sides Bristol City and Luton which left us three points outside the playoffs with two games left, we then snatched a 1-0 win over Barnet to lift us into the last playoff spot with one game, though things were tight at the top - Coventry had already won the league, Swindon and Leyton were fighting over the other automatic spot out of all of our reaches, leaving Colchester on 73 pts, Gillingham, ourselves and Bristol were all on 72pts, with Gillingham ahead on goals scored and Bristol behind us by one goal (so even a win might not have been enough), then on 70pts were Charlton and MK Dons, with Luton praying for a miracle on 69pts (and they had actually lead the table for most of the first half of the season).

On the final day we narrowly beat Scunthorpe, but Bristol thrashed rockbottom Rochdale, however Gillingham faced Colchester meaning both of them couldn't pass us with Gillingham taking Colchesters spot with the win.

In the Playoffs we were drawn against Leyton Orient who were thrashed by Plymouth on the last day which cost them the promotion spot, and our record against them wasn't great we'd lost three of the four matches so far but had thrashed them back in March, however we would be without my Star Striker Gori and my quality AM Caio, whilst my Right Winger Depaoli who was my other 3.5 star rated player was only fit enough for 45mins, however it wasn't a worry as my on-loan Striker Brown got on the end of two crosses early in each half to secure a 2-0 First Leg Victory. In the Second Leg we controlled the game but just couldn't score and half way through the second half a defensive error let them back into the tie, but they then blew it getting a man sent off as we held on and booked another trip to Wembley, where we'd face a Bristol City side who beat Gillingham with a 94th minute goal in the Second Leg.

In the Final Gori was back from injury which was good as Brown was on International duty and in front of 51,000 people (though over 42,000 were from Bristol) again we dominated the match but just couldn't score until midway through the second half when Gori sprang the offside trap rounded the keeper and just about placed the ball in the back of the net to somehow send us up to the Championship!

Statpack - Yet again first goal tends to set the path, whilst our most common result was either 1-0 or 1-1.

Squad, Home and Review

My Kosovo Keeper Armand Demalija had another solid season and even picked up some Kosovo caps, whilst his 26 clean sheets were a new club record.

At Right Back Charlie Seaman had another solid season and with 191 league appearances is now our record holder. Providing cover was Brazilian Damiao who was onloan from Mboro (though he'd actually come through Coventrys Academy) and he proved to be a solid understudy. At Left Back was West Ham loanee Karl Steadman who had an excellent season and proved to be handy with the free-kicks, providing cover was highly rated French Youngster Paul Guerin who was snapped up after being released by Monaco, he's a bit raw but is showing promise.

At Centre Back was Dane Stefan Gartenmann who had another solid season, partnering him was Leicester Loanee Wayne Lockwood who had a solid season but rotated with Italian Cesare Pogliano who'd been released by Chievo who also did well and I tended to switch these two around depending on who was in form, though I expect I'll need some better Centre-Backs next season.

On the Right Wing was Italian Fabio Depaoli who had a storming season tearing up the right win, and I'm just glad I didn't lose him as he has a £500K release clause (thankfully now only Prem sides can activate it) and kicked up a fuss when Rangers and then Sunderland wouldn't activate it, thought the worst moment was when Reading offered me a deal worth £475K on deadline day, but thankfully they refused to activate his clause, providing cover was Young Winger Dan Weston who did okay but isn't on his level. On the Left Wing was Montenegrin Winger Ivan Pejakovic,  who had a fine season considering he was just a stopgap option providing cover was Liverpool Loanee Lee Baldwin who did okay when called upon.

In the Centre of Midfield playing as my Deep Lying Playmaker was Portuguese Midfielder Leonardo Da Silva-Lopes who had a fine season and moved around each of the three central postions before settling on the deeper role, he also has the advantage of being HG and English after coming through Peterboroughs Academy. Playing alongside him in the Box-to-Box Role was Mauritanian Hacen who added some extra quality in the second half of the season though he proved to be fairly wasteful in front of goal. Providing cover was Italian Marco Martinelli who did well but not sure if he is going to be good enough next season, whilst Dutchman Noa Lang did okay but that long-term injury has set him back and he might be moved on aswell, the other option I had was Young Englishman Colin Wharton who showed glimpses of his potential.

For my Attacking Midfielder I switched over from the Shadow Striker to an Advanced Playmaker and brought in highly rated Brazilian Caio who'd been released by A.Madrid and after a slow start he started to improve and was looking impressive until injury ended his season, he is also our first £1m rated played Providing cover was highly rated Englishman Malcolm Porter who'd been snapped up after being released by City and after a bit of a slow start ended the season in good form, he also turned down a £1m move to Brentford after his agent demanded I accept the offer.

Upfront Italian Striker Gabriele Gori was again in excellent form, he made a slow start after missing the start of the season through injury but when he got going he was on fire, especially in the cups where he was scoring for fun with his 33 goals and 15 Man of the Match Awards being new club records. Providing cover was Everton Loanee Brad McAuliffe who I tried to sign when City released him before Everton got him, though grabbing him on loan for free was too bad and well he did well he didn't quite perform as I would have hoped and never really put Gori under much pressure, the other option I had was Newcastle's Jamaican Striker Jake Brown who stepped up in the run in when the other two strikers were injured grabbing six goals in just five starts.

Dream Team - LB Steadman is the only one named in the team, with my Keeper overlooked and the rest not making enough appearances to make the team.

Best XI - I'd agree with that considering Caio and Hacen arrived midway through the season, though not sure how Brown got on the bench.

Overall XI - Game still keeps the Diamond, with Depaoli the only new member, though Demalija, Gartenmann, Martinelli and Gori all make the bench, with each of them having a good chance of making the team if they play next season.

Salary - We somehow got promoted with half the salary of the next worse team, though the Championship should be fun...

Attendance - Still bottom, but on the plus side we half filled the staduim which is a solid improvement.

Finances - Thanks to the Solidarity Payment and Playoff Final money we actually have a decent amount of money in the bank, that should hopefully ensure the board carries out their promise to finally improve our facilities. Income wise Gate Receipts were up to £1.9m from £700K last season, match day income went up £100K, transfer fees brought in over £300k, we also nearly £500K prize money (half from the Trophy win, the other from the FA Cup), season tickets also jumped up from £70K to ~£220K, whilst League One bumped our TV Money up by ~£150K, though we only earned £50K from sponsors and according to the sponsors page we don't actually have any so hopefully the board will be signed some bumper new deals for next season. Outgoings wise bonuses more than doubled to nearly £700K, Match Day expenses, Non-Football costs and other costs all doubled to nearly £300K each, taxes also went from £200K to over £500K, which explains where all our money went, though staff wages did double to £700K as the board actually allowed me to sign quite a few new members, though player wages only went up ~£150K, youth costs also jumped from £20K to £100K not that I got any decent youths this season but it takes time for the game to catch up.

Profile - Reputation increases to Fairly Good as I grab my Continental C Licence which adds a couple of points to most of my attributes, I also managed my 300th game this season.

Plans For Next Season

The goal next season is to hopefully stay up and try and keep hold of my better players, though keeping hold of my players is going to be tough - Gori wants to go to Hibs and is wanting more money than I can offer to sign a new contract, Swindon keep on bidding for Depaoli and now Caio wants to go player for a Spanish team who just got relegated. Signings wise we could do with some better defenders and some cover.


State of The World

Premier League - Arsenal pinch Utd to the title with only them two having won the title so far, with Chelsea and City making up the top four which is the first time they have all finished in the top four. At the bottom Burnley, Derby and Huddersfield will be joining us in the Championship next season.

Manager wise Bournemouth hire Eddie Howe for the third time, rehiring him after firing Rodgers, Burnley fire Mancini after getting relegated and West Ham replace van Gaal with Conte.

In the Transfer Market Brexit didn't have any real impact as City spent £100m on Kingsley Coman and upto £40m on Austrailian Keeper Matthew Ryan, Chelsea signed Romagnoll from AC for £72m. The biggest English player moving was a 20yo regen who Burnley bought from Everton in a deal worth over £30m.

In the Championship Aston Villa and Wolves go straight back up and are joined by Bolton who have gone straight up after winning League One last season which could be a good sign for us and is a bit different than FM16 where they were in non-league about now.

In League Two Fylde get relegated back to the Conference.

FA Cup - Man Utd make it two in a row beating Middlesbrough and they have now made the Final every season bar two.

League Cup - Bit of a surprise here as relegated Burnley beat Bournemouth to claim their first piece of silverware.

Champions League - Man Utd make it two in three years beating Spurs in the Final, with Spurs unlucky having knocked out Bayern, Juventus and Barcelona on their way to the final. Whilst both City and Arsenal fell in the Knockout Round.

Europa League - More bad luck for Palace as they lose the final again this time being beaten by Napoli, who become the first Italians to win the trophy and knocked out Chelsea (SF) and Liverpool (2KO) on the way

China - Shanggang reclaim the title on goal difference. A bit of big spending in the last year as Croatian Rog arrived for £34m as did Argentine Vada, Brazilian Otavio arrived for £27.5m, whilst Spurs signed a young El Salvador RB from Tianjin for £26m

France - Paris hit the 100pt mark for the third time, but lost the Cup Final to Toulouse.

Germany - Bayern finally get the title back from Dortmund. With Leverkusen winning the cup.

Italy - AC Milan become the fifth side to win the league, with Napoli struggling to third and Juventus in fifth. Milan also claimed the cup winning the double.

Portugal - Benfica dominate yet again

Scotland - Celtic walk to the title this season, with relegated Hamilton beating Hibs in the cup final.

Spain - R. Madrid grab the title with 100 points, whilst A. Madrid beat them in the Cup Final.

World Cup - I missed this last season but England beat Germany on pens.

Leading Transfers - Man Utd break the World Record to sign Dybala from Paris for £117m, who'd set the record when signing him for £104m from Juventus, Paris also spent big signing Sanches from Bayern for £99m and Asensio from Madrid for £95m.


Leaderboard points (FM Mode)
(My Steam Username is same as here if anyone wants to add me)
(points / position)
Single Game: 3,006,148 (121,461)
Single Season: 1,099,379 (117,351)
Single Season England: 1,099,379 (62,308)
Single Season League One: 683,801 (9,907)
Single Season League Two: 733,684 (1,204)
Single Season National League: 1,099,379 (100 :cool:)
Single Season National South: 436,272 (175)
(looks like a test game with Utd that didn't even get to Sept has more points than this so far so a score was only obtained for the NLS)

Career Overview
 

Season	League	League Finish	Achievements	Leaderboard Points	Av. Attendance
17/18	National South	11th	-	10,825	246 (8%)
18/19	National South	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	436,272 / 447,097	270 (9%)
19/20	National League	1st	Promoted - Champions!!! FA Trophy Winners	1,099,379 / 1,546,476	571 (16%)
20/21	League Two	16th	-	42,187 / 1,588,663	1,095 (21%)
21/22	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	733,684 / 2,322,347	1,671 (30%)
22/23	League One	6th	Promoted - Playoff Winners!!! Checkatrade Trophy Winners	683,801 / 3,006,148	2,902 (52%)

[Tecmo]

Quite the dogfight we have going atop the VNLS

[Vipertitan]

Havant & Waterlooville for me just starting this today. after taking time out on my long turn save.

initial Squad 

Overview (Club)

Profile (Manager)

Domestic Leagues History (Club)

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Well it's taken 338 games, 2,320 days and 508 goals but one of my players has finally won Goal of the Month

[bufferz]

Due to a save corruption problem, I lost my Skem save - This meant a new start this afternoon, after spending the day trying to get a team I fancied.  So, here it is, my new LLM team:

 

 

Marine AFC are another club geographically nearest to me.  Depending on how you look at it, they aren't in too bad a shape.  Other than myself, there is only a physio, whose contract expires at the end of June 2017,  with stats no worth worrying about.  So after paying her off (£30), I now have no staff whatsoever, and a squad of 15 players.  However, I do have a £5.3k a week budget to work with

 

 

[Quasar]

Nice! I was thinking about doing Marine when I started, they seemed interesting

[stevebook]

Just starting out at Billericay (I live in chelmsford a few miles down the road!) wish me luck!

[dafuge]

12 minutes ago, stevebook said:

Just starting out at Billericay (I live in chelmsford a few miles down the road!) wish me luck!

Will you be doing this?

 

[stevebook]

6 hours ago, dafuge said:

Will you be doing this?

 

Probably won't be looking for R-Kelly inspiration! Ironically i have just drawn Tonbridge angels in the 3rd qualifiying round of the FA Cup, top of league after 10 games, they have an incredible wage budget for low league!

Had a great start to season with this win!

 

[Andrew Haines]

Just starting up my first Dafuge on FM2017 having only bought it following the final patch in March. I was delighted to see that Merthyr have had a significant boost in reputation with the patch by the look of it and came up on my second reload.

I've got a soft spot for Merthyr, my first dafuge challenge was with them. I reckon that was in 2009 or 2010ish. This is still the most enjoyable game of FM I've had in twenty years of playing. Unfortunately I didn't post about it or take any screenshots but I can still remember a few of the players. I had three players come through my youth team in the conference south(?) who were all still in the first team when I was in the championship and all played for Wales. Shaun Roberts was the name of the striker. Not sure if it's sad that I remember this.. I remember I got to the premiership, consolidated but managed to get relegated. I stuck with it and came back and at least made it into the top six before I finally lost interest after about 25 seasons. I had another chap who I signed on loan in League 1 from Villa and then permanently and was still with me at the end of the game. He did 10 seasons on my right wing. I always pictured him as James Milner. He was the weakest player in my premiership side but always delivered so kept his place, I think he got England caps as well.

Anyway, enough reminiscing.. my profile

[Tecmo]

Slough Town FC - 2023-2024

Very good second season for us, spent most of the year in the playoff positions but fell short finish in 6th.

League Table

We dominated possession again and this helped us to one of the best defenses in the league. Striker issues kept us from taking advantage on the offensive side though. We had a revolving door at the position. I signed Emmanuel Uzeh from AFC Hornchurch where he scored 22 goals last season. He started well, then the goals dried up and he finished with 7. With Meng Qianglong starting out injured I brought in Abubakar Diallo on a 4 month loan from Cambridge United. He was outstanding, a physical beast who scored 11 goals in 14 games. Unfortunately he refused to extend his loan stay even though his team was willing. Meng was healthy at that point and started chipping in goals, then he blew out his achilles and was out for the season with 5 goals to his name. Jake Simpson saved us though as our leading scorer with 16.

I finished 2nd place for coach of the year and we were selected as over achievers of the year.

Cups

We knocked off Barnstaple easily in our first FA Cup game 2-0, then slipped against Billericay, losing 1-3.

We made up for that disappointment with an excellent FA Trophy run.  We eased by Tooting & Mitcham 1-0, then defeated local rival Maidenhead 2-1 at home. Next up was Stalybridge from the VNN. We managed a 1-1 draw at their place, then demolished them at home 3-0. Next was Chorley, who finished 2nd in the north. Took that game pretty easily 2-0 at home, then an epic game against Eastleigh, who won our league, saw us win a back and forth 3-2 game. That took us to the semifinal and our first National League opponent, Wrexham. We played them well, had a very even matchup and drew the first leg 1-1.  Played with them in the 2nd leg as well, leading for much of the game before a late equalizer sent us to extra time 2-2. We gave up the losing goal in the 118th minute to end an exciting run.

In retrospect, our extended run may have proved costly as we lost our next 3 league games after the semifinal.

Key Players

Left fullback Daniel Martin was our player of the year and young player of the year once again and very deservedly so this year.  Led the league in distance covered per 90 and finished with 12 assists and 11 PoM awards in all competitions.

Midfielder Nick Carter was hugely important in the middle for us scoring 8 goals and helping out on both sides.

Defender Robbie Slater, on loan from Coventry, was tremendous on defense. We'll try to bring him back but he's probably too good for this level now.

Spanish Goalkeeper  Tony Aghayere was a good signing, rarely giving up weak goals, the main thing I ask from my goalkeepers. 

Going Forward

Finances are not an issue currently as my board keeps pumping money in.

Not much to say for my youth intakes, not seeing any likely contributors so far.

Promotion is definitely the goal for next season. Getting a striker up front with some speed would help add some needed variety to my attack I think.

[Andrew Haines]

Merthyr Town - 2017/18

National League South - 7th

 

A good first season. At times we looked like we might be in contention for promotion but form dropped off towards the end of the season. As is fairly typical in a first season, I went through a lot of players as I brought in better and better players. By the end of the season I had a side I was fairly happy with but will need to strengthen my strikeforce for next season.

Key Players

Billy Bingham - Ex-Crystal Palace Midfielder signed from Crewe after his release last summer. Adds class to the midfield.

Callum Saunders - The prolific Welsh striker scored 11 goals in 13 games in the run in.