dafuge's FM17 challenge

[Warhawk]

23 minutes ago, Hypanimz said:

I just had to sell Neil Brock for £1m. I think I had a bug as he was unhappy at my not strengthening the squad after we got relegated to the Vanarama National. We have since had consecutive promotions into the Championship... Really frustrating as he would permanently have bad moral and bring the other players around him down. 

Boy, that Neil Brock is kind of a jerk, eh?

[QSF25]

1 hour ago, michaeltmurrayuk said:

Also if anyone wants any kits doing for the challenge teams (Standard 2D style and 3D) let me know as I should be able to get some throw together over the week as I don't thing their are any kitpacks out for these teams.

Just let me know what team you are and if possible upload a screenshot of the club overview screen showing the kits.

Kettering Town F.C

Please

So embargo ended but they didnt inject any money and now is run by the fans... why do i feel this is going to get worse now?

 

 

[Swindon69]

Argh 6th again in the VNS two points outside the play-offs due to my inability to beat the bottom side at home in my penultimate match.

[Moriean]

Last weeks of the season are going to be crucial for me. The VNL is very close this season. I am in 3rd place with 6 games to go, 3 points behind 1st place and 6 points ahead of 10th place. Anything can still happen. 

[Swindon69]

49 minutes ago, Moriean said:

Last weeks of the season are going to be crucial for me. The VNL is very close this season. I am in 3rd place with 6 games to go, 3 points behind 1st place and 6 points ahead of 10th place. Anything can still happen. 

Fingers crossed.

[Moriean]

1 hour ago, Swindon69 said:

Fingers crossed.

4 games to go, still really close. Next up I am away to Gateshead. 

I will probably finish this season today, at least the regular part. Need to know how it turns out. 

 

Update: The season is completed and Spennymoor Town is victorious. 

In the last 4 deciding games of the season we won only 1 and drew 3 somehow that was enough for the title, I still don't understand how.

[Quasar]

1 hour ago, Moriean said:

4 games to go, still really close. Next up I am away to Gateshead. 

I will probably finish this season today, at least the regular part. Need to know how it turns out. 

 

Update: The season is completed and Spennymoor Town is victorious. 

In the last 4 deciding games of the season we won only 1 and drew 3 somehow that was enough for the title, I still don't understand how.

That is a CLOSE table

[Hypanimz]

Great work on winning the league!

[Moriean]

Just now, Hypanimz said:

Great work on winning the league!

Thank you! Very unexpected win,  I was somewhere around 5th to 10th place all season but somehow things went well in the end. 

 

The board hasn't fully realized it yet though: 

They are turning us into a professional outfit as we are playing the National league? Did the chairmen miss the fact that we just celebrated a promotion? 

[Swindon69]

12 minutes ago, Quasar said:

That is a CLOSE table

Congrats on the promotion.

[Swindon69]

About to start season 26/27 in the VNS.

[Warhawk]

Think I might be ready to agree that the Checkatrade Trophy format is bull... just lost to Chelsea's U23 squad, who we actually beat in the group stage, but after they lost the game after that one, they've gone 20-2-0, scoring 55 and allowing 10 (if you just look at their last 10 it's even worse, 30 scored to 3 conceded).  Heck, we only lost 2-0, that's not too bad, they beat Swindon 7-0 in the previous round.

Their first team is only in 6th and just lost to Wolves (who are looking at relegation in the Premier League) in the FA Cup, who I'm now playing and managed a draw on the road in the first leg.  I think maybe Chelsea is playing the wrong players on their first team.

[QSF25]

Question who is playing with the lowest reputation team right now? And do you have the initial save?

 

Honest question, when a player shoots a penalty and he fails but the rebound get near him can he try again? or someone else has to shoot? 

 

It has happened 4 times where penalty taker just stays on the spot even though the ball is going towards him.

[Quasar]

1 hour ago, QSF25 said:

Question who is playing with the lowest reputation team right now? And do you have the initial save?

I have a 1450 with Chesham which is lower than many but there are probably a couple lower

[TheMadMonk]

 

Season 2 - 2018/2019

Slow start to the season with 3 losses in the first 4 games, but picked up a little after that but in the first half of the season scoring goals was a real problem - my first 5 wins were all 1-0 victories and these where interspersed with 5 x 1-1 draws. I then found myself a pacy striker to complement my more defensive approach - coming in the form of Khuis Metz a free agent previously with Burnley. Teaming him up front with my promising 16yr old from last year John Taylor and the goals become a little easier to come by although the defence did start to leak a little more.

Coming to the end of the season I was still in with a shot at the play-offs with 3 matches to go, but unfortunately for me they were against 3 of the top 4 teams in the league and 2 points from a possible 9 wasn't good enough to manage a play-off spot. We eventually finished a respectable 9th with 63 pts compared to 15th with 55pts the previous year. The board were happy and have given me another year in the job. The league was easily won with around 5 games to go by Chester who had dropped down from the National League - they didn't lose a match until mid-january.

I was approached by 13 other clubs this year, so I must be doing something right. I did seem to garner a large squad that was difficult to keep happy - so the end of the season saw 4 moaners offloaded, and there will be a few contracts not being renewed at the end of June. On the negative side I'm having a hard time getting the board to pay for any training courses for me, just got the a C qualification so far, and the fans player of the year is refusing to sign a new contract for the comings season

Player of the Year - Luke Foster (DC/DM) - 7.07 Avg Rating

Top Goalscorer - John Taylor - 17 Goals

There's no promise in the U23, or U18's for the coming season - so I'll need to be a little more effective in the Transfer Market this coming season, and also get some better class loanees on board, with only 2 of last years showing anything like the expected quality

An expectation of a Top Half finish given to the players at our end of season meeting, but I will be a little disappointed if we don't at least manage a Play Off berth

 

 

Season                    League            League Finish        Europe        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017-2018    Vanarama North           15th                      N/A

2018-2019    Vanarama North            9th                       N/A

[darren1983]

3 hours ago, QSF25 said:

Honest question, when a player shoots a penalty and he fails but the rebound get near him can he try again? or someone else has to shoot? 

 

It has happened 4 times where penalty taker just stays on the spot even though the ball is going towards him.

Am 99% sure the rules state that if it's saved by the keeper he can try again but if it hits the woodwork then has to be someone else.

If the keeper tips it onto the woodwork then the shooter is free to carry on.

[Dons]

Basingstoke Town

Season Update 2019-20
Vanarama National League
Position 1st

Squad - Table - Graph - Transfers - Injuries - Finances - Profile - Manager Stats - Confidence Review - Season Review - Basingstoke Awards

 

A season which went much better than expected by winning the league on the very last match day, 1 point ahead of Boreham Wood. Going into the last game, we had to play number 17 Bishop's Stortford at home. Boreham Wood were also playing at home, vs number 24 Torquay whom had conceded 100 goals. We pulled our end of the bargain being up 1-0 at half time. Boreham was leading by 2-1 at halftime. Was expecting the dreaded playoffs, but with some magic fairy dust, Torquay started to play football and turned 2-1 to 2-3 with goals scored in the 82nd and 86th minute, putting us just above Boreham. Wasn't expecting to get promoted. A change of running 3 tactics and using assmans suggestions on vulnerability worked really well.

The Cups could easily have gone better. In the FA we faced Coventry in the 1st round and lost 0-2 home. FAT was also a 0-2 loss to Dulwich Hamlet, making them get one back on us from last season.

A few new signing turned out to be great.
Aaron Martin was a great asset in the defense.
John Robertson was played as DL and made a fair amount of assists, as well as goals from free kicks.
Ethan Leek was doing wonders in the midfield, during a long injury it really showed he was missing.
Hugo Pierce was amazing in the attack, not only did he score 36 goals and was league top scorer, he also won player of the year. 

Last seasons topscorer Aaron Redford never really got it going this season. Nile Ranger, a previous L1 attacker was also only decent at best.

The finances were maintained only due to an unwanted sale. Keeper William Gregory was purchased by Bristol City on a min. fee release clause, but i have no idea why they would even pay so much for him - He went on to have 4 matches in the first season for them, and was only used in the cups.

You always get happy, when seeing newsfeed about a stadium expansion planned - only to become frustrated, when it's only a seat enlargement..

Season	League		Position		FA		FAT		Euro Cups			Achievements
19/20	VNL		1st			1st rnd		3d rnd		NA				Promoted
18/19	NLS		1st			2nd rnd		Semi Final	NA				Promoted
17/18	NLS		8th			4th Qual	1st rnd		NA				None 

 

[Moriean]

Spennymoor Town - Vanorama North - 2018/2019 [PROMOTION]

Following last years promotion, I was a little worried about this season and preparing myself for a battle to stay up. The tactic I have been using since I joined Spennymoor town focuses on us facing stronger opposition, with a counterattacking style which turned out to work really well in the Vanaroma National.  As a result we were looking contenders for the play-off spots all season, but managed to push for the title in the last weeks. Our title effort was helped by the majority of the teams in the playoff spots getting only a few points in their last games of the season and this promotion was very much unexpected for me. 

Board confidence - Season Review - End-of season awards - Transfers - League Table

Key Player Profiles:

Matty Hamilton - Top scorer once again, 21 goals and 7 assists in 37 games this season. A little less prolific than last year and I have my doubts about his abilities in the League 2
Tyrone O'Neill - Young striker that has been doing very well for us this season. Proven effective as both a target man and poacher he is the ideal 3rd striker for me

Benjamin Mbunga Kimpioka - Despite being our best midfield player this year this young Swede is likely to lose his sport next year
Tristan Jumeau - Perhaps the most talented player in my squad and leading in assists. I hope that he can be useful for us in the League 2 next season. 

Joe Cook - Vice Captain and defensive talent. Although he has the talent to one day play in the League 2 or even 1, I don't think he'll be a starter next year
Tom Murphy - Our talented goalkeeper who is unfortunately and international for his beloved Ireland meaning I have to miss him a few weeks

Next Season 
Staying in the league 2 next year is going to be a tremendous challenge, with most of our players being more suitable for the Vanaroma North/South than League football. The board however did hand me a bit of money, turned me proffesional and upgraded our scouting range. 

Career Overview

Season          League                      League Finish     	Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama North              1st	  		Promotion 
2018/19         Vanarama National           1st	  		Promotion              

 

[MadCatPT]

Blyth Spartans - 2020/2021 - Vanarama National League North

League Table | Finances | Transfers | End of Season Awards | Season Review | Youth Candidates | Injuries

Season:

Typical start to the season with me getting up with the big boys and then injuries and/or struggling to break teams when they close up against us and we drop down. This year Jarrett Rivers didn't get injured, but just stop scoring, and with ours mains forwards injured/struggling or both, we never where close to the playoffs for most of the season even if we where safe.

So when our youth candidates brought a smallish, unbrave forward that had unbelievable finishing I went all in on him, so changed my tactics to a 4-3-3 and bloodied the youngster, after 6 games and 2 goals, with the team getting ready for a too late for the playoffs spurt of form, he was injured, along with most of my forwards, so from 5 I ended the season with one healthy forward as our form crashed.

Finances:

We are on the verge of getting sustainable. Our sponsorship at the end of the season jumped from 15k to 80K! And with the new tactic some of my big earners (also the lowest determination guys) will probably be shown the door. I'm still dependent of cash injections/cup runs, but will go between being in the black or in the red during the season.

Future:

Next season I will change tactics, will probably not fight for promotion, but hopefully will pave the way for my finances being stable enough for me to get the Youth upgraded and start getting more quality youth so I can go up. My initial plan was to spend around 5 years on each division before going up and it seems I will fail that plan, so will push the objective for promotion more 5 years, so the plan is to gain entry to the Vanarama National before the 2027/2028 season begins.

Main concerns is the lack of cover/replacements for my GK and CD, if these are gone injured by any length of time I could struggle a lot.

[IainWhite]

Harrow Borough Football Club - Season 2020/21

Vanarama National

Media Prediction - 17th

Final Position - 10th

League:  So hoping to build on last seasons 17th position we went straight into the transfer market bringing in Joel Logan, Oliver Lancashire and Matt Blake to improve the defence. Also Isaac Vassell as cover on the wings Sam Warde in the middle of the park and Brandon Adams upfront.

We started very poorly and at the end of October we were in trouble struggling to keep clean sheets confidence very low we were outside of the relegation spots on goal difference with a slight margin growing with the teams above us. My trusty 442 formation had been found out i felt that our squad was a lot better than where our league position was so i went back to the tactics. Moving away from the quick direct counter attacking style that got us up and kept us there. moving to a 4-3-3 slow patient short passing style we slowly got used to it having lots of the ball we created lots but struggled to convert after 11 games with the new tactic we had won 3 drew 3 and lost 5 so i brought in a few more players who suited the potions and roles my new tactics used. New keeper Chris Kettings, Experienced centre back Jermaine Grandison Defensive midfielder Dessie Hutchinson and Forward Ben Brereton.

With the new additions we finally found some form and started flying up the league we only lost 3 games in the new year winning 11 and drawing 6 we finished 10th and are looking forward to a playoff push next season! Eric Brady became Harrows Leading appearance making this season a youngster who was my first signing has improved heaps this being his best season so far and is attracting interest from Charlton hopefully i can keep him and he can stay with me for the whole journey!

Cup: FA cup we reached the first round taking League 2 Oldham to a replay losing 1-0

The FA trophy we managed to go one further than last season and reached the final. After Extra time we lifted the cup with a 3-1 Win!!!!

 

Screenshots

Squad - Tactic - Schedule 1 / 2 - Vanarama National - Comps - Transfers - Finances

Seasons Awards

Fans Player of the Season & Young Player - Sam Warde

Top Goalscorer - Brandon Adams 14 goals

Youth Category raised to level 4

Next season

* Push for Playoffs

*Retain FA Trophy?

season competition 			pos 	achievements 
2017/18 VNS 				12th 
2018/19 VNS 				1st 	Champions 
2019/20 Vanarama National 		17th 	FA trophy semi-final
2020/21 Vanarama National		10th	FA trophy Winners

 

[Moriean]

At least the pre-season runabouts are going well:

 

[Hypanimz]

Enfield Town FC - Sky Bet Championship - 2028/29

After 3 consecutive promotions I was expecting a real challenge in the Championship. We lost our 1st game 1-0 and I thought we had a long season ahead however we lost only 2 of our next 10 games. We spent the first half of the season in the playoff positions and I was thinking about the possibility of a shock promotion push. However we then had a slump and lost every game in Decemeber and January and we slid down the table. A small tactical tweak saw us regain our form and finish strong only losing 2 games since February. Unfortunately we fell just short in making the playoffs as we were 5 points adrift. We scored 111 goals in the league however we conceded 93. If i can tighten up the defence we could have a real shot next season. 

League Table

Past Positions
 

Cups - Knocked out in the early stages. 

Squad - Brought back Smith on loan but sold Boateng and Neil Brock. Got £1m for Brock which I used to increase the wage budget to strengthen elsewhere. Need to improve the defence but struggling as I cannot get any work permits for any European players due to my Brexit. 
 

Finances - Made a profit. Only the 2nd time I have done this. Largely thanks to selling Brock and of course the £5.25m solidarity payment.
 

Key Player Profiles:

Dean Smith - 18 goals and 21 assists. Agreed to join permanently for £250k for next season. 

Sam Chandler - Top scorer who replaced Brock. 29 goals and 23 assists. 

Andrew Hayes  - Slow start but came to life once I switched him to play as a F9. 

Next Season

Another top half finish and hopefully a playoff position. 

Career Overview

Season          League                      League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18         Vanarama South              9th                  
2018/19         Vanarama South              7th
2019/20         Vanarama South              8th
2020/21         Vanarama South              2nd               Playoff Winners
2021/22         Vanarama National           3rd               Playoff Finalist
2022/23         Vanarama National           7th               FA Trophy winners and FA Cup round 4
2023/24         Vanarama National           5th               Playoff Winner
2024/25         Sky Bet League 2            24th              Relegated
2025/26         Vanarama National           5th               Playoff Winner
2026/27         Sky Bet League 2            3rd               Automatic Promotion
2027/28         Sky Bet League 1            6th               Playoff Winner
2028/29         Sky Bet Championship        9th               

 

[Wells]

40 minutes ago, Moriean said:

At least the pre-season runabouts are going well:

 

What tactics are you using

[Moriean]

1 minute ago, Wells said:

What tactics are you using

4-2-4  counterattack with a focus on fast players. Logic is that the team sits relatively deep with 4 defenders who do just that. We have a ball winning midfielder that is crucial, as he's at the start of most of our attacks.

 

Up front we have a target man and a poacher, but both of them have to be fast. For the target man it's actually even more important than for the poacher. About 50% of our goals come from the flanks crossed in to either of the 2 up front and  the other half come via the TM to the Poacher. It happens very often that defense or midfield launches the Target man who than casually passes it sideways to the Poacher to score. 

[michaeltmurrayuk]

22 hours ago, QSF25 said:

Kettering Town F.C

Please

So embargo ended but they didnt inject any money and now is run by the fans... why do i feel this is going to get worse now?

 

 

 

What colour shorts do you wear at home because there doesn't seem to be any set in the editor?

[QSF25]

7 minutes ago, michaeltmurrayuk said:

What colour shorts do you wear at home because there doesn't seem to be any set in the editor?

They are a mix of red and black? 

[SuperSubFM]

Is use of FlutSkin 17 allowed? It sadly for whatever reason shows the hidden attributes; but I like it for it's looks - If not are there any skins similar and allowable.  WLWC - SSFM

[michaeltmurrayuk]

4 minutes ago, SuperSubFM said:

Is use of FlutSkin 17 allowed? It sadly for whatever reason shows the hidden attributes; but I like it for it's looks - If not are there any skins similar and allowable.  WLWC - SSFM

What hidden attributes does it show? If its the AIs roles and duties then I doubt it is a problem.

[Moriean]

3 minutes ago, michaeltmurrayuk said:

What hidden attributes does it show? If its the AIs roles and duties then I doubt it is a problem.

Flutskin shows stuff like versatility, consistency and big matches etc. So I am guessing it would be in a way "cheating" 

[SuperSubFM]

It shows Versatility, Injury Proneness, Important Matches, Dirtiness and Consistency (player)  regardless of att. masking.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

3 minutes ago, SuperSubFM said:

It shows Versatility, Injury Proneness, Important Matches, Dirtiness and Consistency (player)  regardless of att. masking.

Yeah I expect that wouldn't be allowed as its not stuff we should have access to.

[dafuge]

Is it possible to edit the skin to remove that feature?

[SuperSubFM]

Just now, michaeltmurrayuk said:

Yeah I expect that wouldn't be allowed as its not stuff we should have access to.

Aiye, not to worry, it's a shame as it is a really nice skin, I might poke around in the files and see if I cant delete something to make a custom rules friendly version.

[SuperSubFM]

1 minute ago, dafuge said:

Is it possible to edit the skin to remove that feature?

I am having a look now, there surely has to be

[michaeltmurrayuk]

30 minutes ago, QSF25 said:

They are a mix of red and black? 

Given you some black shorts, though they might not be used as there aren't any declared for them (it looks like they have mistakenly been listed as alt shorts for the away kit, in case you ever wondered why your blue/white kit switched into black shorts).

Kits are attached, just unzip and put them into the graphics folder within your user data location and reload your skin (you might need to exit the game for the 3d kits to update).

dafugekits.zip

I've included Home, Away and Third kits in both 2D and 3D, not 100% accurate as I couldn't find any decent images of their sponsors and they just seem to use a plain style of kit, whilst I couldn't find an image of their third kit, so just used the game colours and kept the same trim as the home/away kits. I've also included kits for Met Police and will add some more over the week.

[SuperSubFM]

Indeed you can; there is a file additional attributes panel.xml which I deleted, and this is how the same profile looks now:

[michaeltmurrayuk]

5 minutes ago, SuperSubFM said:

I am having a look now, there surely has to be

Depending on how its been done you should just be able to delete the various attributes xml files from the panels\player folder of the skin and it should restore those panels back to default (if you don't want to delete them just rename them justing add 1 to the front of the filename should disable them for example).

[QSF25]

1 hour ago, michaeltmurrayuk said:

Given you some black shorts, though they might not be used as there aren't any declared for them (it looks like they have mistakenly been listed as alt shorts for the away kit, in case you ever wondered why your blue/white kit switched into black shorts).

Kits are attached, just unzip and put them into the graphics folder within your user data location and reload your skin (you might need to exit the game for the 3d kits to update).

dafugekits.zip

I've included Home, Away and Third kits in both 2D and 3D, not 100% accurate as I couldn't find any decent images of their sponsors and they just seem to use a plain style of kit, whilst I couldn't find an image of their third kit, so just used the game colours and kept the same trim as the home/away kits. I've also included kits for Met Police and will add some more over the week.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[jsar]

2018-19

Pretty uneventful season, really struggled to get any new players in and held up the bottom of the table for a majority of the season. Went all they way to the final game of the season, but fate favored us and despite losing our crunch relegation match the results around us went our way and we managed to stay up.

The Squad was mostly the same as the season before so it wasn't a surprise that it was so tough.

 

Almost at the end of my next season so another post incoming and this one has been a totally different story!!

 

Still cant work out how to do a table.... so 

 

16-17 - Vanarama South - 3rd Promoted via Playoffs

17-18 - Vanarama National - 19th

 

 

[SuperSubFM]

Before I crack on, I would like to say I shall be doing all season update posts in Role Play mode, anything else I will be quite normal

Ady "8 Years" Gallagher in Shock Exit

Lowestoft hero Ady Gallagher left role of Trawlerboys manager just 6 Days before he would have celebrated his ninth year at the helm of Lowestoft FC. Ady will be sorely missed after securing One Isthmian League North trophy and Five Eastern Counties Premier League titles to Crown Meadow.

Chairman Gary Keyzor issued a statement late yesterday evening; "While we are saddened to have parted company with Ady following his excellent promotion last year it is time to look forward and bring in a new manager as soon as possible to maintain momentum into next season."

It is hotly rumoured in line with maintaining limited club finances the club are to announce the appointment of local born SuperSub FM who has proven a great success on smash hit Football Manager 16 where he holidayed through 10 seasons get fired only 17 times

SuperSub was on hand to tell us "I am open to anything I can assure you, I have the will to bring great success to the club if they approach me. The only thing bigger than my ambition is the free space left in their trophy cabinet. As of yet however, no formal approach has been made."

Lowestoft are due to give a full press conference in the coming days.

Super Sub FM Profie I Lowestoft Squad I Lowestoft Overview I Financial Summary I Competition History

 

[QSF25]

Kettering Town F.C.

With 5 more games to play i just secured the title and promotion!!

We are the champions!! Next top League 2!!!!!

Won FA Trophy!!!

New Stadium!!

We turned Pro

Sponsorships and earnings

[Quasar]

2 hours ago, QSF25 said:

Kettering Town F.C.

With 5 more games to play i just secured the title and promotion!!

We are the champions!! Next top League 2!!!!!

Won FA Trophy!!!

New Stadium!!

We turned Pro

Sponsorships and earnings

Wow great! Hopefully with all that you can keep going up!

[Warhawk]

Enfield Town FC

Sky Bet League One 2021-2022

Year-End Update

Calendar

   

Competitions

Sky Bet League One

While I looked on the market for potential upgrades to get the squad sorted for League One play, I determined that, for the most part, the squad I had was better than the players who were willing to sign with me.  We had no real issues with the payroll budget, though I spent most of the season well below it, only coming to within about $5,000 p/w of our $44,000 p/w budget later in the season as I signed a few younger players for my reserve squads.  While a few other players did see occasional playing time, there were five signings of note.  First, we signed Harley Willard for $14k, a winger originally from Southampton but most recently with Margate.  He was brought on as a backup to Brittain and Hooper, and split duties as backup with Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson, who's been on my reserve squad for a couple years now and spent time both playing with the first team and on loan at Ebbsfleet this season; he may be a starter next season.  For his part, Willard performed relatively poorly, but he improved a bit later in the season.  He'll be around next season again as a backup, and I'll see if he improves somewhat.  Second, I brought in Jake Doyle-Hayes from Aston Villa for $12k, again as a backup, and he performed quite well in limited action.  Third, I acquired striker Liam Davies from Harrogate for $9k, who may have been my best signing, leading the team with 23 goals and picking up the slack from a surprisingly disappointing Ollie Bayliss.  Fourth, as previously discussed, I brought in a central defender named Niall Mason from Dungannon for $4k, to team with my other central defender, Niall Mason.  He got off to a bit of a slow start, but by the end of the season he was my best central defender, and with Tommy Smith and Fraser Horsfall being inconsisent (and for much of the season, frankly not very good), I relied a lot on Niall Mason and Niall Mason to carry the defense.  Finally, on the day of the August transfer deadline, I shelled out $62k to Peterborough to acquire Callum Chettle, who replaced Aaron Mitchell in the starting lineup and was very effective alongside Callum Wright and Cassian Thomas (as a side note, I now have 3 players named "Callum", along with Callum Brittain, in addition to the pair of Niall Masons).

Preseason was reasonably successful with a good record, but a bit sluggish on the offensive end at times, and we had a disappointing loss to Coventry and draws to Oxford and Boreham Wood.  We sold 1,084 season tickets, as compared with 448 last season.  The season started in dramatic fashion with a 5-2 whipping of Port Vale after going down a goal early, and Bayliss scored twice.  This was, unfortunately, the highlight of his season, however, as despite starting 32 more games in the league, he would only score 4 more goals.  The 5-2 win was actually good enough for the top spot, for a few days at least, and we had a generally rough early time of it in the league.  We had quite a few ties early, too, including allowing an equalizer in the 90th minute to Wigan in a game where Davies scored his first competitive goal, a game against York where we conceded an own goal late and had to settle for a 1-1 draw, and a game against Portsmouth where Wright scored a fantastic goal in stoppage time to salvage the 2-2 draw.

Playing an away game in our own stadium (or rather, their stadium that we are leasing), Bayliss was injured, but we win 2-1 to move us up to 7th, which would be a meaningful position for us.  A couple games later, though, we suffered one of the worst defeats of my tenure, a 4-0 demolishing at the hands of Milwall.  For much of the rest of the season, we would bounce around the mid-table, and in fact for a 3-month period never got higher than 11th or lower than 13th.  There were some highlights, including a 3-0 win featuring a hat trick by Davies against eventual league champions Blackburn, our first away win in over two months at Port Vale which required a Hooper goal on a header off a Brittain cross at the end of the 90th minute, and an incredible comeback against Plymouth where we went into the half down 2-0, both goals by Domenic Poleon, including one in stoppage time.  Chettle scored two goals in the 51st and 55th minutes to tie it, but Poleon got his hat trick against us to make it 3-2.  Thomas then scoed in the 70th minute, and Davies, who came off the bench at the half, scored in the 84th to give us the 4-3 comeback win.

Also around this time we had our third takeover attempt, this time form a local investor.  The offer was made just before our 1-1 draw with Gillingham, putting us under a transfer embargo, and the takeover was finally completed just before our home game against Peterborough.  To no one's particular surprise given our success, I kept my job without further inquiry.  We went on to have a couple tough losses to Fleetwood and Wigan despite being the better team in both matches, but got things going again, and would only lose 3 more games (in a row, in fact) in the league the rest of the year.  Most of our performances in the next couple months were pretty efficient, and we played fairly well with the exception of our consecutive losses to Milwall, Bradford City, and Blackburn, and after that stretch we got back on track with a 2-0 win over Yeovil in a game that ended 10-on-10.  On March 23rd, we played away at Bury, and found ourselves up 2-0 in the 76th minute.  But in the 77th and 78th minutes, Bury scored two quick goals and we were left with a disappointing draw.  That draw would come back to haunt us.

After a win against Wycombe that ensured our place in the league for next season, we got off to a bit of rough start against Gillingham, but were only down 1-0 at the half due to two shots of their that hit the post.  We manage to escape from that one with a draw, and draw our next game against Walsall as well, which put us in 9th, 5 points out of the playoffs with 4 games to go.  Brittain was injured in the game; he came back in time for our next game vs. Fleetwood, but Hooper was also injured in the interim, so I ended up starting Willard and Davies as the wingers with Bayliss as the striker.  Fortunately, we were playing one of the worst teams in the league; unfortunately, despite racking up 13 shots in the first half, it was still 0-0 at the break.  At this point, I subbed in Brittain and Joe Ward, in the latter's first league appearance since November 27th.  In the 51st minute, he has an opportunity, and when his first shot is saved by the opposing keeper, he hammers home the rebound, giving us a 1-0 win and pulling us within 2 points of the last playoff spot.

Our third to last game was away at Shrewsbury, who were 1 point ahead of us in the standings.  Again starting Davies at winger, Brittain hooks up with him immediately, sending a cross which Davies scores in the 6th minute.  After a 1-1 halftime tie, Mitchell came on in relief of a banged-up Chettle, and scores two goals, the second on an assist from Ward who also was a halftime sub.  We go on to win 3-1, leapfrogging Shrewsbury and passing Wigan on goal differential, but still 2 points back of the team in 6th, the last playoff spot - Bury.

In our second to last game, a poor first half ends scoreless, and in the second half, Davies scores in the 51st minute.  But the Bristol Rovers tie it up, and we are left with a 1-1 draw, now two points back of both Bury and Wigan going into the last game.  If we won and Wigan drew, we would pass them on goal differential, but to pass Bury on goal differential would have required a herculean effort, so all realistic scenarios required them to lose.  Our final game was away at Plymouth, a team on the verge of relegation, while Bury had to play Bradford City, who were fighting with Swindon for the second automatic promotion spot, and Wigan had to play a solid team in Shrewsbury.

Shewsbury did us a favor by beating Wigan 2-1, and we set out to do our job.  Which we did - with style.  Goal after goal after goal went in, and we destroyed Plymouth 5-0, perhaps the most emphatic win the team has had under my leadership.  Keeping an eye on the scoreboard, at one point my hopes rose when I saw Bradford City take a 2-1 lead after having fallen behind 1-0 early, but just 2 minutes later, Bury tied the game at 2.  I kept my eye on them while we carried out the demolition job on Plymouth, but the winning goal never came, and Bury escaped with a tie against Bradford City.  And so the final league table shows us in 7th place, tied with 6th place Bury with 72 points, and just 2 goals out of the playoffs.  We beat Plymouth 5-0; 7-0 would have done it.

Final Table

FA Cup

Again we were successful in the FA Cup, and surpassed our performance from last season.  We started off at home against a feisty North Ferriby team who scored less than 3 minutes into the game.  With Davies having been injured in training before the game and Bayliss still working to get back from his earlier injury, Ward got the start, and was able to tie the game at 1 in the 27th minute.  They had a man sent off before the half, and while we dominated the second half, it took us until the 88th minute to take the lead on a goal by Wright, giving us a 2-1 lead in a game in which we out-shot our opponents 20 to 4.

This was followed by a pair of home draws (both where we went down 1-0 and Davies scored the equalizer) and road wins in the second and third round, against Yeovil and Hull (who narrowly avoided relegation from the Championship), respectively.  In the replay against Yeovil, McCracken made a brilliant save to preserve the draw at 90 minutes, and we held them off in extra time to force penalties.  They missed their second and third, while we made our first four, with Davies scoring the winner.  In the replay against Hull, Davies put us up 1-0 in the second half, which was followed by a failed penalty shot by Chettle that the opposing keeper saved and a potential equalizer from Hull that hit the crossbar.  Davies scored his second of the game in the 88th minute to lock up the victory.

In the fourth round we were surprised to be facing Wolverhampton, who had beaten Chelsea in their own replay.  Wolves were battling relegation in the Premier League, and indeed managed to stay up by 1 point in the end.  In the first match, our defensive approach kept the game scoreless in the first half, before Bayliss scored a close-range header early in the second half.  They tied it up, but we held out to force the home replay, where we rode a good first half to a 1-0 lead on a Bayliss goal, and withstood a much improved opponent in the second half, with the help of a second yellow for a Wolves player in the 84th minute, for the 1-0 win.

Finally, in the fifth round, we faced Man City on the road, and while we gave a good accounting of ourselves and scored to lead 1-0 in the 23rd minute, before they tied it at 1.  Ultimately, they would score two goals late in the second half, and we would go out of the FA Cup in the fifth round, 3-1.

EFL Cup

For the second season in a row, we go out in the first round of the EFL Cup, this time away at Brentford, who ultimately ended up winning the Sky Bet Championship and promotion to the Premier League this season.

Checkatrade Trophy

The draw saw us facing Chelsea's U23 squad along with League One Gillingham and League Two Colchester in the group stage.    Against the Chelsea U23s, we gave up a goal in the 5th minute, but had tied it up by the half, and Brittain scored the winning goal in the 89th minute to wrap up a much better second half for us.  We then had one of our best games of the season at home against Gillingham, running up the score to 3-0 at the half, including two goals by Davies.  Davies misses two penalty shots in the second half and so is denied the hat trick, but Chettle chipped in a goal late and we ended up winning 4-0 and clinching advancement from the group.  In our thid game against Colchester, we were the better team, but were unable to find the back of the next, leading to a penalty shootout loss in which we missed 3 of 5 shots.

In the second round against the Tottenham U23s, McCracken saved a penalty, then Mason (the elder) scored his first goal of the season to give us a 1-0 lead at the half.  After a bit of a rough start to the second half, Bayliss missed a couple good opportunities, and Tottenham hit the post on a free kick.  A few minutes later, a mistake by Travis led to a Tottenham goal, but in the 88th minute Davies, having come on for Bayliss, received a long pass from the defense, ran through a couple defenders, and put the ball past the keeper toward the far post, giving us the win, as well as the record for consecutive games unbeaten in the competition at 12.  Then in the third round, after a postponement due to snow, we easily handle Newport Co., out-shooting them 21-9 on the way to a 3-1 win, featuring two goals by Thomas.

The quarter-final saw us face the Chelsea U23 team we had beaten in the group stage, but this was a very different team.  After their loss to us, they lost to the Derby U23s, then went on a 20-2-0 run, outscoring their opponents 55-10 in that span, and 30-3 in their last 10 games.  They were coming off a 7-0 pasting of a Swindon team that won automatic promotion from League One this season, and we were ultimately out-shot 15-5 in a 2-0 defeat.

Despite their dominance, they were surprisingly upset in the semi-finals, by the ultimate winning of the competition - none other than Coventry, the League Two champions this season, making this the second season in a row (with us previously winning the competition) where the Checkatrade Trophy was won by the League Two champions.

Squad & Awards

Aside from the aforementioned new players, Brittain and Hooper were excellent on the wings, contributing a combined 25 goals and 24 assists.  Travis and Tonks were an effective combo on the right side of the defense (as Tonks got more playing time late in the season), and Melbourne picked up 5 Player of the Match awards at the left back position.  McCracken set the team mark for most league appearances, previously held by Jack Willbye.

This is where I'd normally put interesting statistical notes, but there really weren't many.  We finished in 7th in the league, and that's around where we were in most relevant statistics - we were 7th in average possession, tied for 7th in goals scored, 6th in pass completion ratio, 3rd in shots on target ratio and cross completion ratio, tied for 5th in goals conceded, and 8th in tackles won ratio.  Callum Wright was the #2 player in the league in average rating, while Chettle and Hooper also made the top 20.  Davies had the second best average minutes per goal, and Hooper and Brittain were first and third, respectively, in shots on target ratio.  Wright was third in pass completion ratio, and Davies led the league in cross completion ratio.  Wright was the September Young Player of the Month.

Fans' Player of the Season: Callum Wright

Manager's Player of the Season: Liam Davies

Fans' Signing of the Season: Pat O'Rourke (FYI, since I haven't mentioned him before, this is a left fullback I signed in January at the end of his contract from Limerick, he looks pretty good, so I guess the fans think he's going to be pretty fantastic, but he hasn't yet played a single game for our first team).

Manager's Signing of the Season: Liam Davies

Fans' Young Player of the Season: Callum Wright

Manager's Young Player of the Season: Liam Davies

September Young Player of the Month (Callum Wright)

League One Team of the Year (Callum Wright, Max Melbourne, James Hooper)

 

State of the Club

From a financial perspective, the club essentially broke even last season, weighing the cost of an improvement to our youth facilities and upgrade to our youth level, and upcoming training facility improvements (approximately $800-900k apiece), against the solidarity payout we got from the league and the windfall from the Man City FA Cup game in particular.  We sold one player this season, a 16 year old named Greg Wood we had signed on a free transfer from Queen's Park, who we sold to Derby for $300k and 50% of his next transfer (my coaching staff weren't enamored with this personality attributes, so I wasn't too reticent to let him go).  Our payroll budget, which was at approximately $45,000 per week, has been increased to approximately $60,000 per week, and we have been given a transfer budget of approximately $1,000,000 (an increase of about $800,000 from last year).  We have re-signed many players, but currently plan to let Mitchell, Ward, Edwards, Horsfall, Tingey, and Durrant at the least leave, and am evaluating whether to keep Melbourne, Brittain, and Mason (the elder) - I'm almost certain I'll be bringing Brittain back at least.  Our average attendance was 3,593, or 41% of capacity, a substantial increase over our average attendance last season of 1,992.

Goals for the upcoming season are as follows:

• Make the Playoffs
• Reach the FA Cup 3rd Round.
• Get to the Second Round of the Checkatrade Trophy.
• Look for potential upgrades at various positions.

[Scab]

Season 2027/28 Review - Burgess Hill Town in the Sky Bet Championship

League Table | Playoff Semi | Final | Final Goals | Cups | Season Review

Football is funny sometimes. In many ways, this season was a step back. More goals conceded, fewer scored, a failed mid-season formation change, players making noise about moving on... And with one match to go, we were still 7th on poor form and relying on results elsewhere to make the playoffs. Thankfully holding up our end sufficed, and the ensuing matches... Well... Let's just say I wouldn't count on repeating them!

The home game against Cardiff was no doubt our most convincing and I felt we deserved more than the draw, but we're set up to counter-attack and truthfully rarely do well when forced to be the ball-playing side. My heart sank when we conceded a penalty just 7min into the 2nd leg, but Cardiff blew it and never truly threatened from open play. Neither did we, but with free-kick takers like Diaz I guess you don't have to! This has never been a team to thump the opposition 5-0 - we work hard and grind our way through - so I suppose 2-1 on aggregate was in many ways characteristic.

As for the final... We were largely outplayed. Rotherham played fantastically while we didn't manage a single clear-cut chance in 120 minutes. But finals are about concentration and mentality, so I'll take a bungled header back and a fortunate deflection if that's what's on offer! I'll have to credit the players for keeping morale and commitment to the end - we came out the more positive side after half-time despite trailing, and there's nothing quite like a stoppage time equalizer by your substitute in the most important match of your career! Rotherham seemed to completely lose their initiative in extra time, and after two incisive set-pieces we'd done what I thought impossible this season! 

In my eyes, there's some extra beauty in Çetinkaya being the one putting a bow on the proceedings with that cannonball of a shot. He's been a fantastic servant on our way up and this may just be his last competitive match for the club.

In less exciting competitive news, the cup runs were fun but short. Arsenal and Man Utd are just not opponents I'm ready to take on...

Squad | Transfers | Finances

All heroes in my book:

GK - Jakob Haugaard
FB - Derek Docherty
DC - Damien Dunleavy
DC - TJ Eyoma
WB - Callum Crane
WP - Liam Smith
CM - Luke Moran
BBM - Ramiz Ibrahimovic
WM - Efosa Ohen
DF - Toni Martínez
DF - Sean Haseldin

It's worth noting that the new stadium won't be done for another year. Will we be playing Premier League football at 5000 capacity Leylands Park? 

Aim for next season: Stay up!

Season    League                 Finish   Achievements
2027/28   Sky Bet Championship   5th      Promoted through playoffs
2026/27   Sky Bet Championship   4th      Playoff semi-finalists
2025/26   Sky Bet Championship   7th      -
2024/25   Sky Bet League One     2nd      Promoted
2023/24   Sky Bet League One     9th      -
2022/23   Sky Bet League Two     1st      Winners
2021/22   Vanarama National      1st      Winners
2020/21   Vanarama National      8th      FA Trophy runner-ups
2019/20   Vanarama South         1st      Winners
2018/19   Vanarama South         4th      Playoff semi-finalists
2017/18   Vanarama South         6th      -

 

[FrankFizzle]

Hi all

Great reading everyone's successes.

I started with Weymouth and had initial success - stormed to the top of the league after 19 games. Team wasnt that brilliant and it showed as a horrendous drop in form meant I fell to 19th where I survived relegation on the last day of the season.

Next season Im now struggling again. Basic 4-4-2 formation with wingers on attack and support, with fullbacks the same on opposite side.

Signed a lot of newgen "kids" and think this may be the reason of season slump. Too late now as the season has started. 

Need a bit of advice - what did people have success with? Currently I would bite your hand off If someone offered me a safe 17th place finish!

[michaeltmurrayuk]

My new striker who has been at the club for one month has just broken our all-time goals record

Having scored seven goals in four games

[Scab]

Breaking them Premier League records. 

[QSF25]

1 hour ago, Scab said:

Breaking them Premier League records. 

Congrats Scab!

You are like Moyes!

[Mr_Demus]

In this again.

 

This time I will be managing Havant & Waterlooville - mainly because of their brilliant name

[SuperSubFM]

Chapter One: Season One Preview

SupersubFM Feeling the pressure as season approaches -25th June 2017

The new Trawler Boys boss has been in the job less than 24 hours and he's already feeling the pressure of life at Crown Meadow. Sources at the club have indicated chairman  Gary Keyzor has set the lofty target of a mid table finish at very least despite Lowestoft being the new boys.  SuperSubFM's chances of achieving this goal is in doubt with the book makers who predict Lowestoft to finish 19th, one spot shy of relegation.

The problems do not end there for the new manager as club favourite Striker and U18s coach Danny Crow has resisted signing a new contract reportedly due to a disagreement in the terms of his contract.  FM will also set lose the services of Jamie Forshaw, Kelly Youga and Jamie Waite who have all left the club in protest of Ady Gallagher's departure.  Dymon Labonne, Ian Pino, Shaun Bannant and Joe Marsden's contract negotiations remain ongoing.

 

Home is not where the heart is -1st July 2017

Lowestoft fans have wasted no time voicing frustration toward the new management of the club with the controversial pre-season fixture list being released this morning.  The Trawler Boys are set to play all away games with the intention of keeping the pitch in as best condition as they can for the Vanarama North opening match against Alfreton on Saturday 5th August.  The club issued a statement saying whilst they understand the fan's concern, they made sure all friendly matches were local to Crown Meadow. 

Date	Opposition	Time	Venue	Competition	Stadium	Weather
Sun, 5/7/2017	Gorleston	19:45	A	Friendly	Emerald Park	Downpour 13°C
Mon, 8/7/2017	Kirkley & Pakefield	15:00	A	Friendly	Walmer Road	Cloudy 15°C
Thu, 12/7/2017	Great Yarmouth	19:45	A	Friendly	Wellesley Recreation Ground	No forecast available
Sat, 15/7/2017	Clacton	15:00	A	Friendly	The Rush Green Bowl	No forecast available
Wed, 19/7/2017	Diss	19:45	A	Friendly	Brewers Green Lane	No forecast available
Wed, 26/7/2017	Thetford	19:45	A	Friendly	Mundford Road	No forecast available
Sat, 29/7/2017	Felixstowe	15:00	A	Friendly	Dellwood Avenue	No forecast available

Dymon Labonne has joined Danny Crow in rejecting new terms with the club.  The Journal understands that  Ian Pino will not be offered a new contract.

It is happier news for SuperSubFM however as he is set to welcome Greg Young - Assistant Manager, Aron Hyde - Goalkeeping coach and Pat Harding - U23s Manager later today.  Fans will no doubt be over the moon that Shaun Bannant has signed a one year extension and Joe Marsden is expected to make a decision on his contract later today. 

5th July 2017 Result: Gorleston 0 - 2 Lowestoft - Chris Henderson '74, Dymon Labonne '76

8th July 2017 Result: Kirkley & Pakefield 0 - 2 Lowestoft - Jake Reed 47' Dymon Labonne '74

Breaking News: Three New Faces, and some old ones too! - 9th July 2017

The Lowestoft Journal Online can today reveal the club has secured the services of Dylan McEvoy from Gainsborough Trinity.  Product of the Sunderland youth academy McEvoy has made 25 competitive appearances the last year with Gainsborough being relegated from the Vanarama North.  The pacey winger is expected to play on the left in a 4-4-2 athough we understand he can fill in as a full back if needed.  The move was a free transfer however it is reported Gainsborough will receive £5250 compensation.

22 year old full back Dieter Downey has also joined from relegated Brackley.  Another signing for the left side, Brackley made 38 appearances last season scoring once. Another free transfer though Brackley will be due £8000 compensation.

Experienced winger Graeme Montgomery also joins the team. At 29 years of age Montgomery can cover a variety of midfield roles though is most at home on the wing.  Given the signing of Dylan McEvoy plays on the left, left footed Montgomery will likely play on the right.

Not only have three new signings been made, but Danny Crow has signed a last minute contract extension which will no doubt leave supporter relieved.  Joe Marsden will also remain at the club for another year, while it is understood Dymon Labonne has also been offered a last ditch contract, as of yet no news has come from the  club regarding the outcome.

12th July 2017 Result: Great Yarmouth 1 - 2 Lowestoft Graeme Montgomery 7' 41'

15th July 2017 Result: Clacton 0 - 2 Lowestoft Jake Reed 26' 31'

Transfer Update - 18th July 2017

Released Fulham youngster Jerome Opoku has joined the Trawler Boys in a pay-as-you-play contract. At an impressive 6'3" the pacey youngster is expecting to learn the ropes at Crown Meadow as a central defender.  Joining from Colchester on loan, also in a central defender role, is 6' Joshua Pollard.  The Dymon Labonne saga has ended with the right winger opting to stay with Lowestoft on a pay-as-you-play deal.  Irishman Michael Spillane, has been signed from Lowestoft by Margate in a free transfer presumably to take pressure of an already stretched budget.

20th July 2017 Result: Diss 1 - 8 Lowestoft Danny Crow '15 '33 Graeme Montgomery '34 Ryan Jarvis '59 Dylan McEvoy '63 Jake Reed 68' 81' (Chris Hall O.G. '64)

26th July 2017 Result: Thetford 4 - 1 Lowestoft Dylan McEvoy '3 Ryan Jarvis '9 Graeme Montgomery '34 Harvey Hodd '52

29th July 2017 Result: Felixstowe 0 - 1 Lowestoft Dymon Labonne '80 

Words from the Gaffer - 4th August 2017

Tomorrow marks the managerial debut of SuperSubFM and Lowestoft's return to the Vanarama North.  In a busy preseason SuperSubFM will be working with a squad mixed with a large number of new faces. We asked for SuperSubFM's thoughts on the coming season?

The lads are itching to get their teeth stuck into some league action following an impressive preseason campaign.  Obviously I am keen to get a result out of the gate being my first match as a Football Manager, but also for the lads who have been put through their paces in training.  I have spent a lot of time scouting the new boys to add some much needed quality on the wings and I am obviously delighted for Crow and Labonne to have decided Lowestoft will be their home.  Mid table is the goal this season but I also want to put a good run together in the F.A. Trophy and F.A. Cup qualifiers as the club would benefit greatly from the prize pot

 I Transfer Summary I Preseason Results I