dafuge's FM17 challenge

[Quasar]

WOW!!!!!!! Congrats! How did the penalties go?

[profii]

BS - PSG
X - O
X - X
O - X
O - O
O - X

We are always poop at penos, I'm amazed we scored 3

[Quasar]

You must have been dying right after the second missed pen lol

[smp20]

League Table ~ Domestic Cups ~ Facilities ~ Finances ~ Transfers ~ Awards ~ Player Stats

Youth Intake ~ Luke Jones ~ Abdul Ibrahim

Three Kings of Lynn 2017/18

Cameron King ~ Louis McIntosh ~ Dion Frary

An excellent first season . There were a lot of players coming in and going out as I built my East Anglian-bred club but we still managed to tear the league apart with a 20 point lead and win the FA Trophy. We're looking good financially thanks to our Wembley appearance. Only downside was a poor showing in the FA Cup, losing out to lower league Corby. We had a very good first youth intake; both Jones and Ibrahim look set to have bright futures at the club. 

 

[smp20]

congrats @profii!!

[smp20]

League Table ~ FA Cup ~ FA Trophy ~ Facilities ~ Finances ~ Transfers ~ Best 11

Youth Intake

Three King's of Lynn 2018/19

Jamie Eton-Collins ~ Louis McIntosh ~ Rossi Jarvis

Back-to-back promotions sees King's Lynn in the football league for the first time in our history . We backed an impressive league campaign up with a great FA Cup run (beating Preston and Middlesbrough before losing to Liverpool) and retaining the FA Trophy. We've got some money behind us now which is helping towards facility and stadium upgrades. Our youth intake this year was poor; not one player worth mentioning.

 

[profii]

21 hours ago, Quasar said:

You must have been dying right after the second missed pen lol

For the last few seasons every time we get a peno I just assume it won't go in

[XaW]

I've been looking for a challenge, and once again I find myself here. I've made it to the Premier League, but never won it. I'll give it another go. I really want to have done this at least once! Loading the game now, and will update with my profile and selected team.

[wicksyFM]

40 minutes ago, XaW said:

I've been looking for a challenge, and once again I find myself here. I've made it to the Premier League, but never won it. I'll give it another go. I really want to have done this at least once! Loading the game now, and will update with my profile and selected team.

Im always looking at this challenge. i feel my FM time is coming to an end and this and the youth academy challenge i have never completed. I may have to start this. Good luck

[XaW]

29 minutes ago, wicksyFM said:

Im always looking at this challenge. i feel my FM time is coming to an end and this and the youth academy challenge i have never completed. I may have to start this. Good luck

Thanks! I really like this challenge, so it will be fun to play it again. I've decided for something a bit different this time as I went outside England! Yes, I'm heading to Wales and Merthyr Town! My profile is here. Let's see if I can get a Welsh team to win the Premier League!

[smp20]

This was an unreal performance. It ended 6-0 but could really have been 10+!!! Football League Cup first round vs 2 league higher Birmingham...

[smp20]

Best of luck in Wales @XaW - good choice!

[smp20]

Screwed over royally with the stadium. We had an 8k+ ground. Now down to a 3k all seater....

[Andrew Haines]

Merthyr Town - 2025/26

Championship - 13th

Overview

An uneventful first season in the Championship. We finished comfortably in mid-table, never looking in danger of either promotion or relegation. The team has a number of very promising youngsters who could well take us into the Premier League in years to come if they develop to their potential. We do need to strengthen in certain areas, particularly defence.

Key Players

Andy Park - Scottish u21 striker signed from Rangers for 1 million at the start of the season. He showed promise, hitting 18 goals in his debut season.

Henry Sheppard - Signed from Chelsea on a free, Sheppard has a very exciting future. He was excellent in a midfield position and contributed 11 assists.

David Freeman - Freeman, a 20 year old Welsh Midfielder has been a mainstay of the team for two seasons. He is knocking on the door of the full international team.

Record

Season          League                                   League Finish     Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama National League South           7th              
2018/19         Vanarama National League South           3rd              Playoff Finalists
2019/20         Vanarama National League South           1st              Champions, Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2020/21		Vanarama National League		 1st		  Champions, Promoted
2021/22		League Two				 2nd		  Promoted
2022/23		League One				 7th		  
2023/24		League One				 7th		  
2024/25		League One				 1st		Champions, Promoted		  
2025/26		Championship				 13th				  

 

[XaW]

Thanks @smp20! 9 CCCs is amazing!

@Andrew Haines: You table screenshots goes to a League One table, I'm guessing last years table? Anyway, very solid to finish midtable after promotion. I'm looking to emulate you with Merthyr!

[XaW]

A mini update as I've just reached January. We are currently in 3rd place, and in the contest for the playoff spots. I've gotten in a couple of great players such as George Swan on loan from Eastleigh, Mark Travers on a free from Bournemouth and Marcus Forss from West Brom. I'm out of both the FA Cup and the FA Trophy, but got as far as the 1st round in the FA Cup where we got knocked out by League Two outfit Shrewsbury. We also got £70k in TV rights to that match. Things are going very well, and with some luck we could compete for the promotion already this season.

[Andrew Haines]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

 

@Andrew Haines: You table screenshots goes to a League One table, I'm guessing last years table? Anyway, very solid to finish midtable after promotion. I'm looking to emulate you with Merthyr!

Oops.. your right. I've changed it now

I've been waiting for years to play as Merthyr again. I've yet to have a youngster come through the academy of any quality but I'm looking forward to providing a good few players to the Welsh national team. Maybe the next Bale...

[Collzy]

So much reloading trying to get Burgess Hill

Desperately want to be them, as they're only 3 miles away from where I live, my grandparents live there, my Mum was born and raised there, my younger brother plays football for one of the junior sides that play on the pitches right next to the stadium, and I actually went to watch quite a few of their games a season back when I wasn't attending Arsenal games (I still try to go now but work gets in the way). However this could be a while before they show, comparing their rep. to other clubs in the South, they have a lot of good clubs to compete with.

In the time I've been reloading I'm sure all the Southern teams EXCEPT B'Hill and Worthing have shown up, which (I think?) are the 2 closest teams to me geographically

[Quasar]

I've seen Burgess Hill in my save so don't worry. They were relegated straight away though so you may have a challenge

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2017/18

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So I took a look at my team when I started and noticed we had a couple of talented players in Eliot Richards, Alexander Mulrooney-Skinner and especially in Kyle Copp. When I then managed to bring in Marcus Forss I had a very good forward four. They lead most games for us, and we started better than I had expected. We soon found ourselves in the middle of the fight for the playoff. As the season went we hit a bad spot around February/March and slid a bit down and out of the playoff spots. With one game left we were just below the playoffs. We managed to win our final game and when Welling United lost theirs we overtook them on goal difference to give us a chance to get promoted. We drew Maidenhead United, but in the first match, at home, we were 4 goals down within the first half. So we kind of screwed ourselves, but we had to score a lot of goals, so I went on the offence. We managed to hit back twice, but still lost 2-4 at home. In the away leg I continued my offensive play, but we gave away a pen early on to another goal down. In the second half we got two goals to at least win the leg, but we couldn't get any more and got knocked out. Still, much better than I had expected.

In the FA Cup we beat Hemel Hempstead Town, Dulwich Hamlet and Slough Town to get to the 1st round where we got knocked out by League Two winner Shrewsbury Town. In the FA Trophy we lost in the first match, 3rd qualifying round against Eastbourne Borough.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)  |   Lost in the playoffs

[Andrew Haines]

Merthyr Town - 2026/27

Championship - 3rd

Overview

The pre-season saw big revenues with young midfielders Henry Sheppard and Nigel Walker leaving for 5.75m to Fulham and 1.8m  to Brentford. These revenues were put mainly into the wage budget with only Gary Jones and Trevor Davis commanding significant fees, both from Man Utd for a combined 1.1 million. I was able to put together a much more well rounded squad with strength in depth and good players in all positions. This meant it was disappointing when we started the season poorly and after 14 games only had two wins to our names. We were bottom of the table and I was revising my ambitions to avoiding relegation. An extra time 2-1 win over Arsenal in the League cup was a catalyst however and we won the next 11 games putting us back into contention. We were to reach the semi finals of the league cup where Chelsea were to prevail with a 9-4 aggregate win. Form dipped again in the new year but in the last 15 games we won 10, losing only once. We finished a way adrift of automatic promotion but easily the strongest of the play-off teams. It was therefore disappointing that we surrendered easily to Reading in the playoff semi final, losing 2-0 in the first leg and only managing a 1-1 draw at home.

I am hoping for a run at automatic promotion next season. Big bids came in for a number of players, most significantly 7.5 million for Nicholas Lindley. I am looking to recycle the funds and build a team to take us into the Premiership.

Key Players

Nicholas Lindley - Creative midfielder signed on a free following his release by Arsenal. Left at the end of the season for Watford in a 7.5 million deal.

Josh Baxter - England u19 striker struggled in an advanced forward role following his free transfer from Chelsea. Thrived when moved back into a deeper no. 10 role and contributed 18 goals.

Trevor Davis - English centre-back signed from Man Utd for 450k. Had a good season and barely missed a game.

Record

Season          League                                   League Finish     Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama National League South           7th              
2018/19         Vanarama National League South           3rd              Playoff Finalists
2019/20         Vanarama National League South           1st              Champions, Promoted, FA Trophy Winners
2020/21		Vanarama National League		 1st		  Champions, Promoted
2021/22		League Two				 2nd		  Promoted
2022/23		League One				 7th		  
2023/24		League One				 7th		  
2024/25		League One				 1st		Champions, Promoted		  
2025/26		Championship				 13th				  
2026/27		Championship				 3rd		Playoff Semi-Finalists, League Cup Semi-Finalists		  

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Met Police - Premier League 2028/29 - Season 12

After securing a European place last season the board were just Expecting a top half finish, but were expecting a Quarter Final place from our debut season in Europe, the Bookies expected a safe mid-table position, with the Media Predicting we'd finish 10th - also my Chairman seems to have got himself onto the favoured panel which is a bit random?

Reputation - We reach four stars and are the best of the National sides. Though there does seem to be a weird thing going on with the World Reputations as everyone in the German and French top leagues has at least a Continental Reputation and there doesn't seem to be any reason why - the only thing Germany and France top is the Nation Co-efficient screen and I have no idea what that is for as it seems separate to the one that determines European places.

Rich List - We climb back up the Rich List making the first page.

Transfers - Quiet season as I mainly snapped up some promising youngsters with me able to snatch some kids from other english sides, the big transfer was the £22m spent on French Winger Traore from Real, I also spent nearly £10m on a promising Brazilian Attacker and signed English Defender Bennett from Chelsea for £10m which was rather ironic considering they have spent the last year trying to poach my two English Centre-Backs and weirdly they let him go for half what he was worth which was a third of the £30m they paid for him a couple of seasons back and he wasn't even listed or unhappy. There weren't that many outgoings either I let Full-Back Mehmet go after Stoke gave me silly money for him, losing want-away Aurelio was disappointing but at least I made a profit, whilst I let Attacker Gomez join Leverkusen for a deal worth £30m.

The January window was also quiet I didn't really need anyone and whilst everyone was after all of my Midfielders this season no-one would pay up, though half of my kids wanted out on loan, though for some reason English sides just won't offer for my players, so I sent the unhappy ones to my feeder clubs so they can still become homegrown.

EFL Cup - Thanks to being in Europe we went straight into the Third Round where we drew Arsenal and proceeding to throw the game, first blowing a 2-0 lead, conceeding yet another direct free-kick and then gifting them a goal in injury time, in extra-time we eventually retook the lead after Wood headed home a corner (this was also the first goal I've seen where a player cleared the ball from behind the line with the goal being given) but then we conceded in the last minute again this time a long-range effort was deflected past my keeper, which sent us to pens and whilst we started well we missed our last three to send us straight out.

FA Cup - In the Third Round my kids easily beat fellow Prem side Stoke 2-0 and did the same to League One strugglers MK Dons in the Fourth Round. In the Fifth Round thanks to the way the fixtures fall I fielded my first string against Chelsea and a double from Pinau-Beauvue saw us through even after we lost our Keeper to injury. In the Sixth Round we brushed past West Ham.

This set up a Semi-Final against an Arsenal side we'd failed to beat in 10 tries so far, however with Arsenal resting several key players we took advantage and dominated the game with French Winger Akbulut grabbing the only goal just before the hour mark, which sent us to our first ever FA Cup Final.

In the Final we faced Man City a side we'd only beaten once nine attempts, however for a change City didn't turn up and a hat-trick from Pinau-Beauvue secured our first FA Cup trophy.
 

Europa League - Thanks to our fifth placed finish we would go straight into the group stage where we were a third seed, which gave us what could be a tricky group drawing Italians Roma who'd made it the the Champions League Quarters twice and the Europa Semi's once, Dutch side PSV who'd been knocked out of the Champions League, where they'd only made it past the groups once, and had made it to the Europa Quarters once, making up the group were Bosnian side Zrinjski who'd also dropped out of the Champions League and were in the Group stage for the first time.

Group Stage - We easily topped the group, we drew to Roma in our opening game, then a second string side easily beat Zrinjski, then thrashed PSV in Holland, before my second string beat them in the Return Game to qualify with two games to spare, my second string then went to Italy and beat Roma with just 10 men to secure top spot, then the weakest side I could field secured a win over Zrinjski with Gori grabbing a double on his first European start.

In the First Knockout Round we drew French side Stade Rennais who'd become a top five side over the last several years and had made the UCL Knockout stages twice and had made it past this round three times, though not this year as we hammered them 5-1 in the First Leg in France, though things didn't start well giving away an early pen that my keeper saved, before Full-Back O'Shea got himself sent off with two stupid bookings in a minute, however that kicked us into gear as Pinau-Beauvue grabbed a hat-trick, in the Second Leg I fielded my second string who secured a comfortable 1-0 win.

In the Second Knockout Round we drew German side Schalke who'd only been in the UCL once losing in the Knockour Round, though they had made the Europa Semi's three times. The First Leg in Germany didn't go well, Akbulut opened the scoring within five minutes, but then we conceeded a free-kick that deflected off Norris in the wall and then fell behind after a goal mouth scramble. In the Second Leg we at least turned up with Akbulut again scoring early, before Schalke equalised however Pinau-Beauvue leveled the tie with a pen, before two quick goals in the second half put us in command, before a defensive error gave Schalke hope but we held on to go through, and at this point were the last English side left after West Ham went out to AC Milan and Liverpool lost to Valencia.

In the Quarter Final we faced another German side Wolfsburg who'd never got this far before, and the First Leg in Germany went a lot better as we thrashed them 5-1, Russian Wonderkid Udaly opened the scoring with a fine effort from the edge of the area, though Wolfsburg struck back straight away they then conceded a shocking goal as two of their defenders got into a mess with one hitting his clearance from a cross against the other which saw the ball roll into the net, we then took control in the second half with Brazilian Fabricio heading in a tap-in before Pinau-Beauvue scored twice late on. In the Second Leg a second string secured victory with Gori grabbing another goal in Europe.

In the Semi-Final we drew Italian giants AC Milan who struggle to get out of the groups in the UCL and had only made it this far was before losing to Palace. With the First Leg in Italy we controlled the game with French Winger Traore opening the scoring a close range header from Akbulut's cross, then in the second half Pinau-Beauvue doubled our lead beating Donnarumma to another Akbulut cross - meaning we scored more headers in that game than we did all season in the league. In the Second Leg we again controlled the game and secured victory when Pinau-Beauvue scored from another Akbulut cross.

In the Final we entertained Spanish side Valencia who had failed to get past the Knockout Round previously, with the Final being weirdly played at Serie B side Bari's ground (though it does have a ~60,000 capacity) and the Final proved to be frustrating as we dominated the game but just couldn't score it was also a minor miracle that no-one got sent off as the ref booked half the players on the pitch and with neither side able to score it went to pens and my Keeper proved to be the hero saving all three of their pens leaving Akbulut to score the winning pen which saw us lift the Europa League at the first time of asking aswell as secure a Champions League Group Spot becoming the first English side to win the trophy since Arsenal beat Palace back in 21/22.
 

Italian Youth Club Invitational - My U23 side were randomly invited to this (not sure why it was the U18's as the rules limit you to U18's) and with my U23 Manager having recently been poached I decided to take charge as my kids battled through to the final where of course we faced Arsenal but beat them to become the first English side to win this tournament (it is also worth eight hall of fame points :)), with my board seeming to be more impressed with this trophy than either the FA Cup or Europa League, also the attendances seemed a little weird no-one watched us beat Milan or Roma but 3,500 watched us beat an Iranian side? My U23's also won their league winning every game though that is more because we are still facing mainly non-league sides, with my U18's also winning their league though they are in the second tier which is championship/league one sides.

Premier League - An excellent season as we finish fourth to secure a Champions League spot that wasn't needed in the end. We started well winning over first two games, before drawing the next three and then getting beaten by City and Chelsea.

Then four straight wins before we somehow lost to Palace after dominating and conceding in injury time saw us climb to sixth place at the half-way stage - 23 points behind leaders City, who were 16 clear of Utd (though Utd had three games in hand) but much closer to us were Newcastle and Spurs who were both four points ahead of us but having played one more game than us, whilst Leicester were two points above us but had played two more games.

Following that we won five of our next six games claiming a 1-1 draw at Utd in the process before losing to City, but then thrashing Chelsea 4-0 a week after beating them in the cup, but then went and lost to Leicester after missing a pen, conceding a pen and having a man sent off. This meant with 10 games left we were fourth four points behind Spurs, two points ahead of Arsenal and seven clear of a Newcastle side who'd fallen away.

However we then lost ground drawing 0-0 to Everton, then drew 0-0 at Arsenal before drawing 1-1 at Spurs after we scoring in the 90th minute they scored in the 92th minute, which meant with six games left we were level on points with Arsenal and three behind Spurs, in the next round of fixtures Utd did us a favour beating Arsenal as we beat Wolves to open up a three point gap on Arsenal, we then grabbed narrow 1-0 wins over Boro and Liverpool and with Arsenal drawing to Soton and Spurs losing to Utd we climbed upto third ahead of Spurs on goal difference and five points clear of Arsenal with three games left, but then my second string went and lost to Stoke in-between the Milan games, though Bennett getting sent off after 20 minutes didn't help especially as both Arsenal and Spurs won.

With two games left we were given a chance when Arsenal drew to Derby winning a win in our next game would secure fourth, too bad we were playing Utd, however we put in a great performance claiming a 2-1 win which secured Champions League football next season.

Stat-Pack - A solid defence helped us out this season as we kep a joint high 21 clean sheets, and had the second best defence by one goal, as we secured seven 1-0 wins, we also had the second best Away record in the league.

There were a few Manager changes this season with both Chelsea and Arsenal harshly firing their managers over Christmas, whilst Liverpool spent most of the season flirting with relegation and replaced former Brazil Manager Menezes with former Barnsley Manager Paul Heckingbottom who'd only lasted six months at Wolves before being fired, though he was the guy who got Brentford to the FA Cup Final.

Squad, Home and Review.

In Goal Russian Valery Yefimov had a good season and should go down as a legend for his penalty saves in the Europa Final, providing cover was South African Daniel Mokhele who rotated in when Yefimov's form dropped and did okay, though I do have Argentine Wonderkid Aldo Perez who could push them and was named Best GK at the South American U20 Championships, so I might cash in on Yefimov the next time he moans about wanting out.

At Right Back Brazilian Renato Quinhones had another good season and has slotted in well, providing cover was Bosnian Ismet Mujic who was a solid backup option. At Left Back Brazilian Paulo Henrique had a good season but is being pushed hard by Irish Wonderkid Alan O'Shea who is developing nicely and should hopefully take over next season.

At Centre-Back Matthew Norris was in fine form and along with Clive Wood gives my side a solid backbone, providing cover was Simon Bennett who did well when called upon.

In the Centre of Midfield was Brazilian Luiz Eduardo Lima who was in fine fine doing the defensive duties as my Deep Lying Playmaker, playing to the left of him was Russian Wonderkid Georgy Udaly who had a good season after missing the first three months due to injury, whilst on the right was another Brazilian Jeferson who had an excellent season and proved to be a danger from the edge of the area. Providing cover was Serbian Wonderkid Nemanja Krneta who covered well for the injured Udaly at the start of the season, but is now moaning about wanting to join Spurs, another option I had was Nigerian John Mohammed who put in some good performances.

On the Right Wing was Frenchman Ardiouma Traore who was my big signing from Real and after a bit of a slow start had a good season after he got settled in, providing cover was Norwegian Sigurd Larsen who did ok but hasn't really pushed on and it might be time to cash in on him.

On the Left Wing Frenchman Ercument Akbulut had another good season and was named Players' Young Player (still feels wrong having 24yo winning this award), providing cover was Brazilian Wonderkid Fabricio who made an impressive start and meant Gomez was quickly forgotten.

Upfront was the third part of my French attacking trio Gregory Pinau-Beauvue who again was in good goal scoring form, providing cover was Scot Grant Ferrier who I'd had my eye on for a few years when he was a kid but Hibs wanted silly money for him, however with him outgrowing them I snapped him up for a bargain £3.5m and proved to be a decent squad player, whilst it looks like Gabriele Gori's time at the club has come, though he did enjoy a couple of camoes in Europe and I might give him a new contract as he is a good tutor for my kids depending on his wage demands.

Academy - The best of this years class is promising Keeper Adam Nicholas.

Best XI - About right well apart from Krneta getting the nod ahead of Lima.

Overall XI - Finally updates with Wingers Akbulut and Larsen making the side, with Wood and Pinau-Beauvue making the bench, though I have no idea how Lesi got into the team he hasn't played for me for three years and has less appearances and a worse rating than Gallagher who he replaced or Martinelli who dropped off the bench?

Takeover - My chairman decided he'd had enough after just under 10 years (seems he has turned into a pundit after making it to our favoured panel), with a new guy coming in and floating us on the Stock Market which raised £35m and he doesn't seem to have made much of a difference - he did at least approve an American feeder club but I had to leak to the press to get him to improve our below average training facilities.

Finances - Bit of profit this season, largely due to the new board pumping some money into the club, though we did have a ~£30m net transfer spend so without that we'd still have made money.

Expansion - The board decide to expand our new ground by 50% which means we'll be using West Ham's old ground (which I guess has been rebuilt considering it now looks like this) which at 35K is over twice the size of our ground so it should be fun if we fill it next season, and it looks like it is 60 miles away on the other side of London - not sure why we didn't use Wimbledons new ground or Millwalls again as they are big enough and closer?

Youth Category - We finally got increased to level 2, no idea how many years it will take to get to level 1.

Manager Profile - I gained my Cont. Pro Licence, whilst my Reputation went upto four stars, I also reached 600 games and was named Manager of the Year again. I was also offered the England job at the start of the season which I had to turn down so I guess that job is now gone.

Nationalities

15 ENG
5 BRA
3 FRA
2 RUS, KSA, SCO
1 ARG, BEL, COL, ECU, ITA, CIV, NED, NGA, NOR, POR, IRL, SRB, SVK, RSA, KOR, TRI, VEN, WAL

Squad Rules

Currently I have 6 FGN players, with a further 21 U21's, with a max of 17 Over 21's allowed.

For Homegrown rules we have 10 Club Grown and 8 Nation Grown with a further 20 due to become Homegrown.

Plans For Next Season

The plan is to enjoy our debut in the Champions League and see if we can get back in next season, whilst with the power of both Manchester clubs a title challenge isn't likely.

Transferwise the priority is to keep hold of my players as it seems getting Champions League football as just cause everyone to descend on them, though my player values have gone through the roof so it will cost people to poach my players. Signing wise there isn't much we really need at the moment so I'll give my kids a chance, though at the moment I am just snapping up some kids from england now I can attract them, as the league rules will start affecting us soon, they are also not helped by English sides not being interested in loaning any of my players for some reason which means loaning players out losing their homegrown status and also delays how long until they become English.

Though the plan to keep my players has failed already as Krneta has gone to Spurs in a deal worth £45m, but then City blew that out of the water with an £89m bid for Akbulut


State of The World

Championship - Forest return to the Prem after 30 years.

League One - My feeder club Wycombe storm up the table after I loaned them some unhappy players in Jan and end up winning the playoffs, it's just a shame I had to cancel the link to improve my facilities.

National League - Salford get themselves promoted to the Football League for the first time.

EFL Cup - Arsenal beat Spurs to retain the trophy.

Champions League - City beat Utd in the Final to deny Utd three in a row, and this makes it four all-english finals in a row, with English sides winning the last seven. Arsenal fell to City in the Semi-Final, whilst Chelsea lost to Real in the Knockout Round.

France - Paris reclaim the title from Monaco but only just.

Germany - Dortmund make it five in a row, with Hertha a surprise third placed side.

Italy - Juventus make it two in a row.

Portugal - Benfica reclaim their title.

Scotland - Shock here as Hearts become the first team in 17 years to beat Celtic to the title

Spain - Barcelona win the title for the first team in five years, whilst Sociedad beat Real to third place.


Leaderboard points (FM Mode)
(My Steam Username is same as here if anyone wants to add me)
(points / position)
Single Game: 6,145,789 (71,418)
Single Season: 1,489,941 (159,959)
Single Season England: 1,489,941 (92,558)
Single Season Premier League: 1,489,941 (91,011)
Single Season Championship: 961,478 (6,593)
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)

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%)
23/24	Championship	5th	Playoff Finalists	153,622 / 3,159,770	5,530 (100%)
24/25	Championship	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	961,478 / 4,121,248	5,530 (100%)
25/26	Premier League	12th	-	168,015 /  4,289,263	20,146 (100%)
26/27	Premier League	10th	-	176,865 / 4,466,128	20,102 (99%)
27/28	Premier League	5th	Europa League Qualification	189,720 / 4,655,848	15,055 (100%)
28/29	Premier League	4th	FA Cup Winners, Europa League Winners	1,489,941 / 6,145,789	15,055 (100%)

[Quasar]

Wow good season!

[Tecmo]

Slough Town FC - 2025-2026

Progress but not quite promotion.

League Table

Strong season finishing in 3rd, only 4 points off the lead. Went on a hell of a run to end the year, winning 8 of 9 and only losing 1 of our last 12. In the playoffs we faced Dover in the first round, playing to a 1-1 tie at their place, then taking a 0-0 score into extra time before we scored the game winner to advance. Unfortunately we then faced a Eastleigh team we've always had trouble dealing with and lost 0-3 although it was closer than the scoreline. Our result was good enough for me to finish 2nd for Head Coach of the Year, behind Dover's coach (boo)

Cups

Pretty much punted on the cups this season. Hendon, a team that got relegated from the North this season, beat us at their place 2-3 in the FA Cup. We got past Dover 1-0 in the first round of the FA Trophy but then lost on the replay to Havant & W.

Key Players

Left fullback Daniel Martin was our player of the year for the 4th year in a row with 0 goals and 9 assists and a ton of ground covered.

PotY should have been ST Shaun Patterson, on loan from Bristol. I brought him in with the intention that he would place shadow striker behind last year's 20 goal scorers Rudd-Woods and Simpson. Well, through and injury and ineffectiveness they both lost their places and Patterson went crazy with 23 goals and 12 assists. 

Dillon Edwards ended up taking over the shadow striker and 2nd goal scorer role with 15 goals to his name. I had signed him last year from Havant & W but he was a disaster and spend most of the year on the U23s. But he came out big time this season.

DC James Ellis was our young player of the year and best centerback. This was his 4th season with us and he's gradually claimed more playing time until now he is an undisputed starter.

We also brought in a new goalkeeper this year after our starter was signed by Northampton. We started our year with a youngster we've been grooming from Northern Ireland but after a slow start that was partially his fault, I brought in Graham Budd from Oxford City, where he had 24 clean sheets in 34 games the previous season. We played far better with him and noticed his absence to injury during a midseason slump.

Nothing in youth intake and still losing money, survived a board takeover though.

Next year, promotion dammit. Most of our players are resigned, just hoping to keep Patterson, maybe add a centerback next to Ellis.

 

[michaeltmurrayuk]

I think Man City might be sick of me now as we've just thrashed them in the Community Shield and then beaten them on pens in the Super Cup (which was played on a stupid almost square pitch) with an injury Keeper and that's all after they poached my best player

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2018/19

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

The off season started with a big clearing of the unwanted players. I also got in a couple of great players to fill up the gaps with better players than we had. When the season started we were really got only losing once in the first 19 matches. Granted, we drew quite a bit, so Ebbsfleet really pulled away from the pack. Then we hit our usual bad December and lost 5 in a row. Luckily, we got back in form and kept our spot in and around the playoffs. Towards the end we started to gain a bit on Ebbsfleet and with two matches left we were only a point behind. Unfortunately, we got trounced 1-4 at home to Havant & Waterlooville while Ebbsfleet won their match to give them a 4 point lead and the title. With us winning the last match while Ebbsfleet lost theirs we finished a point behind them though we had Welling United only a point behind us. A very close league. Thanks to the second place we went into the playoffs. We got Maidstone United in the playoff semi. In the away match we lost 1-2, but managed a 3-1 win at home to get to the final. Here we got Welling United, the team finishing third. In the first half we had the initiative, but didn't create many chances so at half time the score was 0-0. In the second half they had one of their only big chances then a cross from our right got tapped in to set up down a goal. We bounced right back though, when a one-two between veteran striker Andy Mangan and midfielder Conor Tee ended with a low shot by Mangan only 3 minutes after the Welling United goal. We tried to get the winning goal, but their goalkeeper shut the goal and at 90 minutes it was still 1-1. In extra time both teams got tired and it resulted in very few chances. However, just before it went to pens our left back Calum MacDonald crossed from the deep and found a really good run from attacking midfielder Kyle Copp who finished it in style. With too little time left Welling United was unable to answer and the promotion was ours. A great season and I'm looking forward to trying the team at a national level.

In the FA Cup we beat Shortwood, Hendon, Woking, Darlington and Oldham before we lost to Championship side Swansea 1-2 away in the 3rd round. I'm really happy since we beat Oldham from League two and actually had the lead away to Swansea. The cash also helped a lot. In the FA Trophy we beat Corinthian-Casuals before losing to Maidenhead United in the 1st round.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)  |   Lost in the playoffs
2018/19	|   Vanarama South    |       2nd	   |      N/A 	  |    Ashley Pope  (31)  |   Won in the playoffs

[eat260]

Giving this a go with Blyth Spartans Wish me luck  https://gyazo.com/227580cbe135777ab4685350ae11a7b2

[XaW]

West Brom are after my midfielder! Set his value to millions to scare them off. Hopefully they will leave him alone.

Edit: The board sold him. He had an amazing 1.5 years with us and I'm sad to see him go. I had hopes he could be with us on our journey up the ladder.

[darren1983]

Feels like I've hit the ceiling on my youth only save and can't progress much further (12 straight seasons as a mid table championship side) but it feels odd playing as anyone but Dulwich in FM17 so I'm gonna give this a go. Profile

 

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2019/20

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

A real exciting times in Wales as we got our first try in the Vanarama National League this season. We got rid of a lot of players this summer, but a lot of good players also came in the doors. I was unsure how we would fare against the teams from a higher tier, but we did much better than I expected. We did get a rather rough start though as we lost a drew quite a bit. Then, in October, we suddenly found a little bit of form and won 5 in a row to rocket us up the table. We played some amazing games such as an 8-0 win away to Ebbsfleet. We continued to play good football, and picked up a great deal of points. Before we knew it we were just around the playoff spots. As we went into the final 10 matches our strikers, who had been on a great streak, suddenly couldn't hit a barn door anymore. This caused us to draw a lot of matches, 5 in a row, in fact, but the teams around us also struggled. In the penultimate match we played Wrexham away. They had already won the title, but they still beat us 3-0 to end our small hope of playoff. It didn't matter that we won our final game of the season, as we ended in 7th place. Much higher than I had imagined, but still some bitterness due to how close we were. We did lose our best player this season when West Brom snagged Antonio Diaz in January. I've struggled to find a good enough replacement for him, but hopefully the summer will yield some talents released from the top tier clubs.

Some of the standout players we have at the moment are fellow Norwegain goalkeeper Kjetil Haug who got released by Man City before the season, defender Charlie Scott and striker Marley Blair. However, the real player of the season were our other striker Rob Green who finished the season with 28 goals and 20 assists. Just maddening how much he contributed and I hope he can do the same next season.

In the FA Cup we Eastleigh before losing to Blackpool in the 1st round after a replay. In the FA Trophy we beat Gosport Borough, Bath City and FC United before losing to Chester in the 4th round.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)  |   Lost in the playoffs
2018/19	|   Vanarama South    |       2nd	   |      N/A 	  |    Ashley Pope  (31)  |   Won in the playoffs
2019/20	|  Vanarama National  |       7th	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (28)    |   Upper mid table

[XaW]

3 hours ago, darren1983 said:

Feels like I've hit the ceiling on my youth only save and can't progress much further (12 straight seasons as a mid table championship side) but it feels odd playing as anyone but Dulwich in FM17 so I'm gonna give this a go. Profile

Good luck! Dulwich just got promoted to Vanarama National in my game, so you know, no pressure or anything!

[darren1983]

7 minutes ago, XaW said:

Good luck! Dulwich just got promoted to Vanarama National in my game, so you know, no pressure or anything!

Media prediction has us first and bookies have us 2nd favs to go up  

[darren1983]

Dulwich Hamlet - Season 2017/18 - National League South

First season was all about doing best I could, though media and bookies tipped us for top 2 placing

League - strange season, we dominated the league but I never felt comfortable. Our defence won us the league with 23 clean sheets.

FA Cup - won one lost one, not the best start in this but then I never do well in cups

FA Trophy - made it to the 2nd round where we dominated Tamworth - 73% possession, 30 shots to 3 so yeah we lost 1-0.

Squad - need to fix the attacking side but rest is working really well

Transfers - the usually high turnover at this stage

Finances - not great

Key Players

Josh Ruffles - on loan from a Championship side, too good for national south

Krisopher Da Graca - CB released from Arsenal. Rock at the back

Cole Dasilva - released from Chelsea and able to cover both FB positions, did so well he got a Wales U21 cap

Sofiane El Bekri - our French playmaker, was already at the club and made the role his, 5 goals and 10 assists from him this year

Jamal Lowe - brought in on loan around the New Year and top scored with 15 goals

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions

 

[XaW]

My Brexit just happened. Don't quite know how I should feel about this.

[darren1983]

That's a really hard Brexit @XaW ouch. I had a similar one in my youth only save where everyone outside of England needed a work permit but as I wasn't buying players it didn't bother me  

[reerdo]

I am going to jump in on this challenge and give it a go though I am a little late to the party

I am quite pleased with who I have gone for as they are local-ish and I have actually played there in a random friendly when I still played Sunday League myself.

 

EDIT: Damn the don't want much do they . . . .

[roseboy64]

Going to start this challenge this week. Was fun when I was doing it a few editions ago.

[Quasar]

3 hours ago, reerdo said:

I am going to jump in on this challenge and give it a go though I am a little late to the party

I am quite pleased with who I have gone for as they are local-ish and I have actually played there in a random friendly when I still played Sunday League myself.

 

EDIT: Damn the don't want much do they . . . .

Wow that's a lot for the first season!

[XaW]

20 hours ago, darren1983 said:

That's a really hard Brexit @XaW ouch. I had a similar one in my youth only save where everyone outside of England needed a work permit but as I wasn't buying players it didn't bother me  

Yeah, it won't affect med for some years though as I have enough problems attracting decent English (and Welsh) players released from the top clubs, nevermind players from outside UK. Though it will be rather weird for Irish players to need work permits.... 

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2020/21

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

We had the usual clearout of players who had been with us for a while, but no longer were in contention for the first team. I also managed to get in some greatly talented players to give us both better players as well as better depth in the squad. When the season started we struggled to win matches and drew 5 of the 7 first matches. Then everything clicked into place and of the 20 next league matches we amazingly won 16, drew 2 and lost 2. This of course put us on a solid top spot. After that we won a lot, but not to the extent we did earlier. Still, we drifted away from the rest of the teams and with 5 games to go the title was secured. League Two are up next season! Amazing work by the players!

In the FA Cup we beat Gloucester City, Woking and Leyton Orient before losing to Watford in the 3rd round. In the FA Trophy we lost to Eastleigh in the 1st round.

Since we got promoted we went professional, and we are getting an expanded stadium as well.

Some of the standout players we have at the moment are central defender Jack Fitzwater, attacking midfielder Kyle Taylor and striker Rob Green. And an honorable mention to our half Brazilian attacker José Amilton who used his flair to win us matches singlehandedly when the opponent went into park-the-bus mode.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)  |   Lost in the playoffs
2018/19	|   Vanarama South    |       2nd	   |      N/A 	  |    Ashley Pope  (31)  |   Won in the playoffs
2019/20	|  Vanarama National  |       7th	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (28)    |   Upper mid table
2020/21	|  Vanarama National  |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (23)    |   Promoted as champions

[roseboy64]

On 6/26/2017 at 20:29, roseboy64 said:

Going to start this challenge this week. Was fun when I was doing it a few editions ago.

And so I do with Ashton United

 

[darren1983]

Dulwich Hamlet - Season 2018/19 - National League

First season at this level and my target was survival, while the board wanted mid table (bookies had us 18th)

League - slightly better than planned, defensively we were solid again (took us 5 games to even concede) but with added goal threats we broke into the top 5 after 15 games and never dropped out. Towards end of the season we looked well out the title race but a win away to leaders Hartlepool left us 8 points off with 3 to go, Hartlepool lost and drew while we won to leave us 3 off going into the final day. Wasn't to be as even though we won so did Hartlepool to secure them the title. In the playoffs we had Eastleigh (who did the double over us in the league) a good away performance saw us draw 2-2 before we raced into an early 2-0 lead in the home leg, despite a couple of scares we won 3-2 to progress 5-4 on aggregate. In the final we played Wrexham (draw and win in our favour in the league) a scrappy game was settled just before half time when Jordan Bowery pounced on a mistake. 1-0 and we were up!

FA Cup - made the 1st round buy league one Wigan were too good. We gave them a real game though

FA Trophy - a good run as we made our first ever final, took the lead twice but a red card for Kamara (his 3rd of the season) saw them come back and beat us 3-2. Frustrating

Transfers - my policy of not bringing in players durning the summer meant we were able to add quality through the season.

Squad - heroes the lot of them, need to upgrade a few roles for next season though

Finances - looking good after 2 trips to Wembley

Key Players

Jared Thompson - keeper signed on a free after Chelsea released him. 21 clean sheets in 33 games was great. 21 conceded in the others not so much

Sindri Scheving - Icelandic U21 LB signed from Reading on a free. 

Chris Smith - our rock at the back. On loan for the season from Ipswich and hardly missed a game

Savas Mourgos - our main playmaker, released from Arsenal but was a standout for us

Jordan Bowery - singed to provide some experience for the young forwards I had brought in and ended up with 20 goals and 7 assists

Career Overview 

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions
2018/19		VNL		2nd 		Promotion via playoffs, FA Trophy runner up		

 

[wicksyFM]

31 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

Dulwich Hamlet - Season 2018/19 - National League

First season at this level and my target was survival, while the board wanted mid table (bookies had us 18th)

League - slightly better than planned, defensively we were solid again (took us 5 games to even concede) but with added goal threats we broke into the top 5 after 15 games and never dropped out. Towards end of the season we looked well out the title race but a win away to leaders Hartlepool left us 8 points off with 3 to go, Hartlepool lost and drew while we won to leave us 3 off going into the final day. Wasn't to be as even though we won so did Hartlepool to secure them the title. In the playoffs we had Eastleigh (who did the double over us in the league) a good away performance saw us draw 2-2 before we raced into an early 2-0 lead in the home leg, despite a couple of scares we won 3-2 to progress 5-4 on aggregate. In the final we played Wrexham (draw and win in our favour in the league) a scrappy game was settled just before half time when Jordan Bowery pounced on a mistake. 1-0 and we were up!

FA Cup - made the 1st round buy league one Wigan were too good. We gave them a real game though

FA Trophy - a good run as we made our first ever final, took the lead twice but a red card for Kamara (his 3rd of the season) saw them come back and beat us 3-2. Frustrating

Transfers - my policy of not bringing in players durning the summer meant we were able to add quality through the season.

Squad - heroes the lot of them, need to upgrade a few roles for next season though

Finances - looking good after 2 trips to Wembley

Key Players

Jared Thompson - keeper signed on a free after Chelsea released him. 21 clean sheets in 33 games was great. 21 conceded in the others not so much

Sindri Scheving - Icelandic U21 LB signed from Reading on a free. 

Chris Smith - our rock at the back. On loan for the season from Ipswich and hardly missed a game

Savas Mourgos - our main playmaker, released from Arsenal but was a standout for us

Jordan Bowery - singed to provide some experience for the young forwards I had brought in and ended up with 20 goals and 7 assists

Career Overview 

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions
2018/19		VNL		2nd 		Promotion via playoffs, FA Trophy runner up		

 

Was thinking about starting this challenge with Dulwich Hamlet. What happened to youth academy challenge

[darren1983]

Just now, wicksyFM said:

Was thinking about starting this challenge with Dulwich Hamlet. What happened to youth academy challenge

I've still got it but feel like I've gone as far as I can, been lower half championship for 11 seasons now and with no even half decent prospects coming through the best I can hope for is more of the same. Decided to give this a go instead. May return back to youth only in time but we'll see. 

[wicksyFM]

Just now, darren1983 said:

I've still got it but feel like I've gone as far as I can, been lower half championship for 11 seasons now and with no even half decent prospects coming through the best I can hope for is more of the same. Decided to give this a go instead. May return back to youth only in time but we'll see. 

I really enjoyed that. Ive been looking at a few challenges and its either a youth academy challenge or dafuge. As its nearly july i think i will leave the youth challenge. wont complete it buy FM18.

Just cant find a team to do this with. Might just start in the vanarama south with Hampton and richmond

[darren1983]

6 minutes ago, wicksyFM said:

I really enjoyed that. Ive been looking at a few challenges and its either a youth academy challenge or dafuge. As its nearly july i think i will leave the youth challenge. wont complete it buy FM18.

Just cant find a team to do this with. Might just start in the vanarama south with Hampton and richmond

I've really enjoyed the youth only save but England can be a real slog at times, I'll probably attempt it again on FM18 but probably somewhere other than England. 

[wicksyFM]

1 minute ago, darren1983 said:

I've really enjoyed the youth only save but England can be a real slog at times, I'll probably attempt it again on FM18 but probably somewhere other than England. 

I will give it a go on FM18. Good luck with this. I will be following

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Met Police - Premier League 2029/30 - Season 13

So after finally reaching the Champions League the hopes were to get stay their though at least the Board were only expecting a Europa place but were wanting us to make it through the UCL Group Stage. The Bookies didn't give us much chance of getting top four again, with the Media Predicting we'd finish sixth. We also had two players who were in with a chance of being named Young Player.

Reputation - Last seasons success pushes us upto Continental rep and into the top half, we also just about made it into the European Top Clubs List.

Rich List - We climb 10 places to 14th ahead of German giants Bayern.

Club Rankings - We make our debut in 43rd which is not bad after just one season.

Transfers - Sales first as it was going to be a quiet season until Spurs offered me a deal worth up to ~£50m for wantaway midfielder Krneta, but City blew that transfer away giving me nearly £90m for Winger Akbulut (a deal that was enough to just about make the leading transfer list) which I couldn't turn down, then on deadline day MBoro gave me nearly £10m for Defender Ayovi and in Jan Liverpool took both of my backup full-backs for ~£30m.

In the Summer window I didn't really do much apart from raiding the English academys for some promising kids and bringing in some cheap kids once they turned 18, I also brought in Marcus Rashford on a free to add some experience. Then in January I spent my money splashing out a record £81m on World Class Italian Grande and then spending £25m on Spanish Wonderkid Rodriguez.

Leading Transfers - Grande pushes Akbulut off the list, though he should reappear once City activate one of his clauses, whilst Monaco broke the seven year record splashing £118m on Real's Brazilian Full Back. With the next eight top transfers all involving Paris which may explain why they have utterly dominated in France. Paris lead the way with six signings, followed by City, Utd, Barcelona and Chelsea with four, then their is us, Monaco and Bayern with one each. Paris also have the most sales with five, whilst three people make the list twice and the closest an English player has got is Carcel who was sold by Norwich to Barcelona who actually came through Forest's academy when they were in the Championship.

Community Shield - We started the season as we finished the last hammering City to claim the Shield for the first time in front of a record low which was 10K less than watched Leicester in the first season, with Fabricio quickly making the fans forget Akbulut who didn't even make the City squad.

Super Cup - Another strong performance against a City side who must be sick of playing us, though we just couldn't score not helped by playing on a stupid almost square pitch (90m by 70m!) so it went to pens where my Keeper again proved the hero despite having a stubbed finger saving City's third pen after they'd missed their second as we scored all four to claim our second European Trophy and a 'minor' cup double.

EFL Cup - We opened our campaign in the Third Round with a narrow 1-0 win over rock-bottom Forest. In the Fourth Round we entertained Arsenal and just about beat them thanks to a last minute goal from Fabricio who smashed home a nod down from a corner, though it was a star performance from my Young Keeper Perez that kept us in the game. In the Quarter Final we of course faced Man City yet again this season and what followed was a classic in a delayed game that took place on New Years Day, we went 2-0 down against the run of play thanks to two free-kicks before two late goals in five minutes pulled us level which sent the tie to extra-time, but promptly went behind again before Pinau-Beauvue drew us level again and that's how it stayed as we'd go to a shoot-out again and things didn't start well as we missed two of our first three kicks whilst City scored their first three, meaning they needed one to go through but my Keeper again stepped up saving Da Silva's pen (who'd missed in the Super Cup as well) he then saved the next two as we scored our two sending the game to sudden death where Young Midfielder Mohammed stepped up to send us through.

In the Semi-Final we faced Championship side Bournemouth and the First Leg went horribly wrong as we just didn't turn up and lost 1-0, thankfully we turned up in the Second Leg and smashed them with Grande and Traore both grabbing a brace.

In the Final we faced an Everton side who'd won the cup back in the second season but had lost two other finals since then. In the actual Final despite controlling the game we just couldn't score though most of our shots were wasted long shots though Winger Fabricio managed to miss two golden chances to win the match and in extra-time things got worse as record signing Grande got himself stupidly sent off, though it didn't really change the match as we went to our third shoot-out of the season and my Keeper again stepped up as we scored our first three pens, Everton hit the bar with their first, scored their second but my Keeper saved their third and then their fourth to secure a Cup 'treble'
 

Also rather weirdly within the last year we have won four shoot-outs, but in the same time have only managed to score four of the nine normal pens we've been awarded, whilst we saved two of the four we conceded in the league (the game doesn't seem to keep track of the conceded ones like the awarded ones).

FA Cup - Third Round we smashed Championship leaders Derby with Traore scoring a hat-trick though we did have to come from behind. Fourth Round we entertained Chelsea and in a close fought game were unlucky to lose after Defender Woods mistimed his jump late on leaving Chelsea's £100m Striker Mirza with a free run at goal - though weirdly despite scoring goals for fun he was reduced to a super-sub role this season for them, though he did still end up their top scorer. In the Final Utd beat Arsenal for their first win in four years and their sixth overall

Champions League - The Bookies didn't give us much of a chance, and we were third seeds in our group which meant we had what could be a tough group - Top Seeds were Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar who were at least the weakest Champions (and will be replaced by Belguim next season) who'd only made it out of the group stage three times but have been in the UCL every season so far. Second seeds were Portuguese Giants Porto who'd made it to the Quarters on three occasions, finally we had Danes Kobenhavn who'd made it to the Group Stages seven times but never made it past them.

Group Stage - We made a good start winning in Denmark, though our Home Debut went badly as we somehow lost 3-0 to a Porto side who only had two chances, thankfully we picked ourselves up and went to Ukraine to claim a 1-0 victory and then beat Shakhtar at Home to secure qualification with two games left, in the next game my second string were unlucky to draw to Kobenhavn after my Keeper bundled a free-kick into his own goal, we missed a pen had a man sent off and then conceeded with the last kick of the game Then with nothing to play for a weakened team went and beat Porto in Portugal.

In the Knockout Round we faced French Giants Paris, who despite their domestic domination had been poor in Europe losing the final once and losing three Semi's, though they had won the Europa League in their only attempt. With the First Leg at home despite controlling the game our finishing would again let us down, though a 0-0 wasn't that bad as anything but a defeat would send us through. In the Second Leg we got off to a great start as Lima bundled home after their keeper flapped at a corner, however our lead didn't last long as Paris soon equalised and then took the lead after half-time however late on Grande scored from close range to level the tie and sent us through on Away Goals.

In the Quarter Final we of course drew Man City and the First Leg didn't go well we fell behind after my Keeper flapped at a corner, Pinau-Beauvue then came off the bench to draw us level, before my Left Back got himself sent for a silly shirt tug and with 10 men we were unable to cope as City scored two late goals, though Lima gave us hope when he scored a longe-range deflected free-kick. In the Second Leg we played out a poor 0-0 as neither team could break down the others defence though our wayward shooting and inability of my Strikers to stay onside let us down.

In the Semi-Final City would then get hammered by Utd who would go onto the beat Spurs in the Final for the fifth all English final in a row and Utd's third in four years.

Premier League - Frustrating season as this was our best chance to win the league, City and Chelsea had poor seasons (with them both benching their star strikers), Arsenal started badly but recovered to very nearly pinch the title, as Utd's points total was the second lowest since the game started and would only have got them third last season.

We started the season off well enough keeping pace with Utd though both of us were behind a Leicester side who started strongly and by the time the Champions League Group Stage ended we were still third with eight wins, four draws and two defeats from our 14 games, however after that we just fell apart - December brought three draws, two defeats including a first win for Forest and just the one win over Leicester as we only managed three goals, which meant at the half-way stage we'd dropped to four nine points behind leaders Utd, four behind Leicester and level with Arsenal who'd played a game less and four points ahead of Everton.

The second half of the season started well as Grande grabbed a hat-trick on his league debut as we smashed Huddersfield 5-0 and even managed to miss two pens and was more goals than we'd scored in our last eight games, however that was a false start as we lost to Mboro and Soton and drew 0-0 to Spurs and Stoke.

In Feb we recovered to beat Newcastle 2-0, claim a good 0-0 draw at Utd before losing 2-0 to City and Watford which meant with 10 games left we were still somehow in fourth place but now 17 points behind leaders Arsenal, 15 behind Utd, but only six behind Leicester who had a game in hand, though the problem was behind us as City, Everton and Norwich were all on the same amount of points as us, Chelsea and MBoro were only one point back and 10th placed Stoke were three behind us, thankfully we'd already claimed a Europa spot which is what the board wanted so a bad end shouldn't have cost me my job.

Thankfully we kicked into gear in March beating Norwich 4-2 thanks to a double from Traore and new Striker Rodriguez, my second string then beat Wolves 2-0 and they then beat Arsenal 1-0 inbetween the City games, two late goals from Grande were enough to beat West Ham and with five games left we were still fourth - 13 points behind leaders Utd, 10 behind Arsenal, five behind Leicester, but only ahead of Everton by two goals, four points clear of Chelsea and five clear of City.

Next up we faced Chelsea and robbed them as Traore scored two injury time goals to secure an important win, though luck wasn't with us in the next game as we blew a 2-0 lead to draw against Everton as it was our time to conceed in injury time, in our next game we needed a late Rodriquez goal to claim a win over relegated Forest and with Everton losing to Utd we had a three point cushion in fourth we two games left, City and Chelsea could no longer catch us, whilst Leicester were just about catchable being five points ahead in third. Next week City did us a favour as they smashed Everton, but Leicester won leaving us pretty much in fourth of course we then went and lost to Palace to give Everton an outside chance of catching us, and in the final game we played out a dull 0-0 draw to secure fourth place, though we did have an anxious two week wait to see if Spurs would snatch our Champions League place if they beat Utd, thankfully Utd didn't let us down as they secured the real treble.

Stat-Pack - Goals was what let us down this season we had seven 0-0 draws (when you include the Leicester game), six 1-0 wins and five 1-0 defeats. We failed to score in 14 games and only scored once in another 11 games and their were only two games we failed to win when we scored twice. We were at least solid in defence having the third best defence and keeping a third best 19 clean sheets.

Manager Movements - It was a busy December as first Spurs fire Williams when they were down in 15th and replace him with former Bury Coach Sedgwick who they poached from Newcastle. Next up Liverpool fired Heckingbottom and replaced him with former Basel U19 Manager Wicky after they dropped into the relegation places but he didn't really improve them and failed at Bolton, Palace and Fenerbache. Next Chelsea fired Nagelsmann who returned to Hoffenheim with Chelsea struggling in 15th, he was replaced by Czech Manager Hubschman who spent five years managing Czech youth sides, before becoming Shakhtar's U21 Manager for six months before taking the main job where he stayed for five years but seems a little inexperienced for the Chelsea job though he did climb them back up the table. Then there was a bit of a shock as City fired Guardiola for the second time which was harsh considering they'd won the World Club Cup, Champions League and Prem in the last year, though they were down in 11th when he was sacked and replaced him with former Monaco Manager Jardim at the end of the season who won the World Cup with Portugal and dominated with Dortmund in Germany over the last four years.

Squad, Home and Review.

In Goal Russian Valery Yefimov had another solid season proving the hero in three shootouts, though he did make a few costly mistakes with the biggest one against City in the Champions League, providing cover was South African Daniel Mokhele who did ok but hasn't really pushed on and with his agent pulling out of contract talks he'll be moved on as I have Argentine Wonderkid Aldo Perez who put in some good performances and is pushing to be number one.

At Right Back Brazilian Attacking Full-Back Renato Quinhones had another solid season and is looking a bargain at £30m. At Left Back Irish Full-Back Alan O'Shea was also in good form well apart from picking up silly bookings.

At Centre Back was World-Class Englishman Matthew Norris who had an excellent season and continues his fine partnership with Strong Centre-Back Clive Wood and thankfully teams have stopped tapping either of them up (though as I type this Arsenal are now after both of them :(), providing cover was Simon Bennett who again a solid backup option though Chelsea want him back.

In the Centre of Midfield is where our problems started as Brazilian Luiz Lima had a poor season and with his contract up he'll likely get his move to Barcelona, playing alongside him was fellow Brazilian Jeferson who also had a poor season and is more interested in pushing through a move to City, and continuing the theme Russian Wonderkid Georgy Udaly also had a poor season offering nothing and all of them have a fight to stay at the club next season as I have some youngsters pushing for a place the best of them was Nigerian John Mohammed who had a good season and scored the third best goal in the Champions League, whilst Korean Kim Min-Kyoo showed glimpses of his potential.

On the Right Wing French Winger Ardiouma Traore had a mixed season he was woeful in Europe, but enjoyed the domestic cups and was inconsistent in the league but was somehow named Young Player of the Year? Providing cover was Norwegian Sigurd Larsen who did well when called upon but isn't really good enough and will be moved on once a youngster comes through. On the Left Wing was Brazilian Wonderkid Fabricio who started the season in fine form but then just utterly switched off in the second half and I expect a better season from him next year, providing cover was French Wonderkid Serge Diallo[/URL] who showed glimpses of his potential though I spent most of the season fending off bids for him and with the big boys tapping him up I doubt he'll be here much longer.

Upfront Frenchman
Gregory Pinau-Beauvue had an awful season as he just looked utterly disinterested, to give him a kick I brought in Spanish Wonderkid Alain Rodriguez in Jan and didn't quite make the impact I'd hoped for though he improved as he settled and I tend to give Jan signings a free pass until next season.

The other option I had was record signing Mattia Grande who became the most expense Italian and near enough single handly dragged us through the second half of the season, the only problem being I need to work out where to play him as I needed him both upfront and in Midfield.

Best XI - Shows how poor my Midfield was that none of my first choice trio made the team, though the rest of the squad was correct.

Overall XI - Couple of changes as Wood replaces Ballard in Defence and Traore replaces Larsen on the Right Wing, with Norris making the bench and he should make the team next season. Whilst thanks to a woeful season from my midfield Lesi somehow stays in the team, though Grande might replace him next season or one of my first choice if they turn up.

Prem Select - Traore surprisingly is named in the team and becomes my first player to make the team, though my defenders were unlucky to miss out.

Academy - Produced a timely player in Midfielder John Parker.

Finances - Slight loss last season after a net transfer spend of ~£25m, though the board have increased our sponsorships for next season from £18m to £40m.

Attendance - Rather disappointed we only managed to fill two-thirds of Upton Park, though it does tally with our newly expanded ground so at least we won't be seeing a loss in match income next season.

Profile - No real changes this season.

English Hall of Fame - I finally made it onto one of the Hall of Fame lists, becoming the seventh best English Manager of all time, as I have now won everything but the two trophies that are actually part of the challenge, I also haven't won a single thing twice.

Nationalities

24 ENG
5 BRA
3 FRA, SCO, ESP
2 RUS, KSA, WAL
1 ARG, COL, IRN, ITA, NGA, NOR, IRL, SRB, SVK, RSA, KOR, TRI, VEN

Squad Rules

Currently I have 7 FGN players, with a further 18 U21's, with a max of 17 Over 21's allowed.

For Homegrown rules we have 21 Club Grown and 12 Nation Grown with a further 14 due to become Homegrown.

Plans For Next Season

Hopefully we can push on next season, though it is a little weird to complain about a season where you won three trophies and finish fourth. Transferwise a World-Class Striker or Midfielder is the priority, though with only £50m to spent I'll need to sell off some squad or underperforming players.

Though attempts to sign World Class Players isn't going well Chelsea Listed Striker Mirza and I had a ~£50m bid accepted only for Monaco to blow my offer out of the water, two midfielders have wanted £300K p/w wages and another two stormed out of talks in the second round


State of The World

Championship - Cardiff also make their return to the Prem, reaching it for the first time in game.

League Two - Salford drop out of the Football League after just one season

National League - Blackpool return to the Football League after a five year absence.

Europa League - Schalke beat Villareal in Dublin for their first win and Germanys fourth. Arsenal could only make it to the 2nd Knockout Round losing to Leipzig, with Everton (Sevilla) and West Ham (Wolfsburg) losing in the 1st Knockout Round.

France - Paris easily retain the title whilst Marseille finish rock-bottom

Germany - Dortmund make it sixth in a row, with Leipzig a surprise runner up, also something weird seems to have happened as Schalke finished fifth and won the Europa League but it looks like they have failed FFP so their Champions League place seems to have gone to sixth placed HSV, whilst 7tn, 8th and 9th are all in the Europa League which seems wrong as England didn't get an extra place last season? Whilst Wolfsburg finish rock-bottom after being one point from the Champions League last season.

Italy - AC Milan finaly win the title, whilst Napoli finish second but fail FFP.

Portugal - Sporting win the title, Porto are second with Benfica third for the first time.

Scotland - Shock here as Hearts become the first team in 17 years to beat Celtic to the title

Spain - Real Madrid claim their first title in four years, A. Madrid lead by 36yo Harry Kane finish second ahead of Barcelona.

World Cup 2030 - Quite a few shocks this year as hosts Spain fail to get out of the Group Stage losing to Colombia and Albania, Holland failed to get out of a group containing Iran and Switzerland, England finished bottom of their group though they did have France and Argentina. In the end Italy beat Holders Portugal in the Final thanks to an extra-time winner from my player Grande


Leaderboard points (FM Mode)
(My Steam Username is same as here if anyone wants to add me)
(points / position)
Single Game: 7,055,964 (60,738)
Single Season: 1,489,941 (159,959)
Single Season England: 1,489,941 (92,558)
Single Season Premier League: 1,489,941 (91,011)
Single Season Championship: 961,478 (6,593)
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)

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%)
23/24	Championship	5th	Playoff Finalists	153,622 / 3,159,770	5,530 (100%)
24/25	Championship	1st	Promoted - Champions!!!	961,478 / 4,121,248	5,530 (100%)
25/26	Premier League	12th	-	168,015 /  4,289,263	20,146 (100%)
26/27	Premier League	10th	-	176,865 / 4,466,128	20,102 (99%)
27/28	Premier League	5th	Europa League Qualification	189,720 / 4,655,848	15,055 (100%)
28/29	Premier League	4th	FA Cup Winners, Europa League Winners	1,489,941 / 6,145,789	15,055 (100%)
29/30	Premier League	4th	EFL Cup, Super Cup, Comm Shield Winners. UCL QF	910,175 / 7,055,964	22,261 (62%)

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2021/22

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Another summer where I cleared out quite a bit of the squad, and brought in better players. The season started far better than expected and were in the top part of the table throughout the fall and in November I saw my old favourite Antonio Diaz were transfer listed by West Brom. I guess his adventure up the leagues didn't quite pan out with only a single sub appearance in the cup for them, so I thought I'd look at the possibilities to bring him back. The board sold him for £83k, and I managed to bring the sum down to £12k. So we brought him in in January! He scored in his comeback, but other than that his return have been less than expected. As the season went towards the latter part we were firmly in the fight for promotion, and we were close to the leaders Sheffield United. They had a horrible finish and only won 3 of their last 10 matches to allow us to overtake them to be crowned champions! A very surprising promotion, but I'll take it! It's going to be exiting to see how we are going to fare in League One next season.

In the FA Cup we lost to Peterborough in the 1st round. In the EFL Cup we beat Gillingham on pens before narrowly losing at home to Premier League outfit Crystal Palace in the 2nd round. In the Checkatrade Paint Trophy we were in a group with Chelsea U23s, Forest Green Rovers and Oxford United. We won once and lost twice and didn't progress from the group stage.

Some of the standout players we have at the moment are our two strikers Matthew Gillam and Rob Green, along with defender Jack Fitzwater and attacking midfielder Kyle Taylor.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)   |   Lost in the playoffs
2018/19	|   Vanarama South    |       2nd	   |      N/A 	  |    Ashley Pope  (31)   |   Won in the playoffs
2019/20	|  Vanarama National  |       7th	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (28)     |   Upper mid table
2020/21	|  Vanarama National  |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (23)     |   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|     League Two      |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |   Matthew Gillam  (30) |   Promoted as champions

[XaW]

Season Summary - XaW - Merthyr Town - 2022/23

Table | Past Positions | Squad | Transfers | Finances

The summer started with the usual clearance of players who no longer have the skill needed to play for us as we have rocketed up the divisions. We did bring in a lot of talented players to replace the ones we had let go though. I also managed to get a bit of cash for a couple of players as well. When the season started it went much better than I had feared as we ran away along with Bolton early on. I guess the difference between League One and League Two aren't that big. As we went towards the winter we had solidified our spot at the top though Bolton were never far behind and Birmingham had also gotten involved in the title race. The fight continued all the way until around late February, early March when we started to pull away from them. And with 5 games remaining the title was ours. The Championship are our playground next season and I hope we can keep improving to survive. With some of our cup results this season I have hopes we can stay away from the relegation battle, but I'm not taking anything for granted since we have gone up the ranks so fast. A lot of our players have been with us for several tiers, and I'm not sure how many will continue to play well enough at the higher level.

We are finally getting a new stadium after playing all this season in our 3.5k stadium. We are building a new one who will be ready after next season with a capacity of more than 10k.

In the FA Cup we beat MK Dons, Scunthorpe and Rotherham before losing to Newcastle after a rematch in the 4th round. In the EFL Cup we had an amazing run where we beat Wycombe, Crystal Palace, Barrow, Aston Villa and Brentford before losing to Man City in the semi finals. In the Checkatrade Paint Trophy we got a group with Shrewsbury, Chelsea U23s and Forest Green Rovers, almost the same group as last year. We won all the group stage matches to progress. We beat Wycome, Crawley, Exeter and Southend to get to the final. Here we thumped Chesterfield 4-0 to give us our first cup trophy!

Some of the standout players we have at the moment are our two strikers Jamie Coulson and Matthew Gillam who scored a total of 78 goals for us this season! Other notable players are right back Charlie Scott, a player who somehow just plays well even though I can't figure out why, box-to-box midfielder Andy Irving, who both scored and assisted far more than expected, and stalwart central defender Jack Fitzwater who just keeps getting better and better as we face tougher opponents.

We have also just produced the first youth player I think might have a great future in Martin Wesson. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to play him yet, as I think he will be a great deep lying playmaker, but that's a role I don't use in my current tactic. I might let him grow a bit in general before I try to steer him in a direction. Any suggestions are welcome here.

Season	|       League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |      Top scorer       |    Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	|   Vanarama South    |       5th	   |      N/A 	  |    Marcus Forss (17)   |   Lost in the playoffs
2018/19	|   Vanarama South    |       2nd	   |      N/A 	  |    Ashley Pope  (31)   |   Won in the playoffs
2019/20	|  Vanarama National  |       7th	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (28)     |   Upper mid table
2020/21	|  Vanarama National  |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |    Rob Green  (23)     |   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|     League Two      |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |   Matthew Gillam  (30) |   Promoted as champions
2022/23	|     League One      |       1st	   |      N/A 	  |    Jamie Coulson (40)  |   Promoted as champions