BoxToBox Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Right, this isn't the first tread I've tried with Bradford, the last one was ruined by a tycoon takeover, and myself going all in with that, this one should be a bit different as there'll be a few limitations to focus on youth development, but not all in on youth only. Quote U18's can be signed from domestic clubs of at least two divisions lower.League 1 clubs to be paid minimum 1,250,000 per player. League 2 clubs to be paid minimum 750,000 per player. Conference and lower clubs to be paid minimum 500,000 per player. All deals include 20% of next sale, and friendly match. All prices doubled in seasons with European football. U21's released from clubs can be signed freely, if...They come from clubs in a higher division. They are signed for senior squad roles(max senior squad size - 23 players). Maximum of two senior players can be signed per season.One of whom, must be of English nationality. Minimum age 24. Reasonable tutoring personalities. All youth intake to be given youth contracts, minimum. Domestic affiliate clubs only. Players to be developed as well rounded players, rather than just suit current club's tactics. This should give lots of scope for developing youth players, and focusing on what we have, but without the frustration of youth only saves where you're missing a certain player for the odd decade or so. Also, early on lets up pick up big club castoffs and help them kick on, but not enough that we can just fill our u21's with them on random punts. So, the club, Bradford City have a storied history, their most major success being winning the FA Cup in 1911, coincidentally, the year the Cup was made in it's current design, crafted in the city of Bradford. Also one of football's great tragedies in the Bradford Fire. In FM terms, the have a lot of scope. A good stadium, and decent team, but the youth ranks are bare and facilities not so hot, work to be done. Vincelot is the star man, and handy all over the pitch, Cullen is a potential Irish international, and Law is quite handy too. Devine is expected to be the brightest young prospect... Staff is in an absolute state... Much work ahead. Senior side is handy, but the youth teams are a a ghost town, potential wise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Looking forward to this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 1 hour ago, kidthekid said: Looking forward to this Seconded. Very excited for this! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Champs league at valley parade Leeds won't be happy but Yorkshire will party Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 25, 2017 Author Share Posted August 25, 2017 Cheers fellas! First window has just shut, and there were no player movements, could have done with a bit of depth(usually I'd loan a load in). We're in fine form, but are already stretched quite thin. Took Stoke to penos in the League Cup, and we looked good in the match too, surprisingly 50/50, and they played their starters. Massive overhaul of the staff, though, we're in much better shape in the backroom. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 20 hours ago, BoxToBox said: Cheers fellas! First window has just shut, and there were no player movements, could have done with a bit of depth(usually I'd loan a load in). We're in fine form, but are already stretched quite thin. Took Stoke to penos in the League Cup, and we looked good in the match too, surprisingly 50/50, and they played their starters. Massive overhaul of the staff, though, we're in much better shape in the backroom. Derek Langley... I had him at a club but I can't remember where. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 3 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said: Derek Langley... I had him at a club but I can't remember where. Good luck! I sign him at most clubs, only mistake was not making him chief scout. Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Midseason update. January 1st, and in the league we are dominant. 13 points clear after 24 games, still in the Checkatrade Trophy(ugh), and have a very winnable 3rd round FA Cup tie with Pompey coming up. Three of our relatively notable young footballers have been getting game time. Webb-Foster hasn't scored, but is developing a bit, training as a False 9 in an attempt to round his game. Hanson's growing well enough, and is useful as depth. The star though, is Devine who's played regularly, played well, and is growing nicely, growing from a National League level player to a League One level and reliable rotation for either of my CM's. Also, just concluded was two free transfers, our pair of senior signings for the season, in fact all of our business for the season. O'Brien is an immediate upgrade in our defence, Upson is more useful depth but as a model pro also a great tutor. I'll not have him tutor anyone yet, waiting for our first intake just in case a good defender pops up. Also, Josh Cullen's loan was extended until the end of next season, and West Ham also waived the wages percentage we had been covering. Excellent news. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Great start to proceedings! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 36 minutes ago, Keano16 said: Great start to proceedings! Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Transfer window ended fairly quietly. We chucked Wyke as he moaned about playing time, despite never scoring, ever. Late in the window Norwich came in for Webb-Foster, but I managed to talk up a better deal with Villa, who paid 1m up front(Norwich offered 400k up front), a 50% sell on and the loan back for the season. Which was desperately needed as we'd otherwise have had only the one striker and I'd already made my two senior transfers for the season(a bit if leniency, I believe is acceptable when the loan back is part of the transfer). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 Good luck ! Bradford City is a nice club to build upon , i had a blast managing there in journeyman careers in fm 17 . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 29 minutes ago, setzel said: Good luck ! Bradford City is a nice club to build upon , i had a blast managing there in journeyman careers in fm 17 . Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Youth Intake Day! We're after having the first intake, and they're mostly.... ehhh.... The pick of the bunch though, ooh boy, he looks like a real gem. Look at that! At purely attacking, he's already better than anyone in the senior squad! In fact, only for his personality, he'd be straight in the senior squad. Speaking of, personality is a major issue, and we don't have any great tutors, but we can improve(from red negative to yellow, if it goes well) it a little and hopefully pick up a striker with a good personality to tutor him in the summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 We had an easy run up to this point, and somehow outplayed Bournemouth on the day! Sunderland at Wemberley.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 Turns out that Moyserland are quite realistic. Goal was pretty sweet, too. Chelsea in the final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 So, I expected Chelsea in the final was a write off, and it looked that, as they dominated the ball, and we didn't get much of a look on goal for the first 25 minutes. Then after a nice bit of play, Jones found a moment of space outside the box and scorched the top corner! We got into the game a bit then, held them off until half time, fired the boys up and they kept it up until the hour, and in the next 10 minutes we were undone. Costa on the end of a cross, badly defended, and Fabregas with a baffling bullet header 10 minutes later.... Fabregas lads, Fabregas?! Still, we were here, we had been competing to this point, may as well go for it, so I chucked on super-sub Jordy Hiwula and switched from my fluid 4-3-3(a 4-1-2-3 DM Wide), to my battering ram 4-3-3(4-1-2-3ST). Hiwula proved his worth, with Meridith, pouncing on a defensive error by January Chelsea signing Zica, to bring us level. We weren't done there though, as the team pulled a beautiful passing move together, shredded the Chelsea defence, and Hiwula popped up again! Could we hold on?! Sure could!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesGuy Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Great work winning the FA Cup final! Anything you did different tactically to beat those three big sides? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Congrats on winning the FA Cup, man -- absolutely tremendous for 2017. What a match! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 4 hours ago, BluesGuy said: Great work winning the FA Cup final! Anything you did different tactically to beat those three big sides? Cheers! I didn't do anything special against Bournemouth and Sunderland, and I stuck to my guns with Chelsea until they took the lead, then it was just the switch to a 3 striker system that I fairly regularly use in chase the game situations. 1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said: Congrats on winning the FA Cup, man -- absolutely tremendous for 2017. What a match! Cheers! Never expected it this season, not against a Chelsea team playing a proper side, that's for sure! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 Season Review. What a season that was, I knew we could compete for the league, but the FA Cup? Madness! Next season cold be difficult, the Championship is a long slog, two cups, and the Europa League which I believe we enter from the groups. Been given an extra 33kpw wages and 1.9m transfer budge to work with. Transfer rules prelude us having a massive overhaul, though. Two senior signings(one English) 24+, any u-21's on a free from Premier League sides, and u-18's from League 2 or lower(though I don't see any of these currently interesting me). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fer Fuchs Ake Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 A newly promoted Championship side in the Europa League. Good work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 3 minutes ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said: A newly promoted Championship side in the Europa League. Good work. Cheers! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjaferrie Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Incredible, good luck in Europe! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 6 minutes ago, mjaferrie said: Incredible, good luck in Europe! Cheers! I can't see us doing much, I'd be happy with not being embarrassed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wavelberry Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Winning the FA Cup in your first season is all sorts of unfair... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 It definitely took the edge off any potential financial issues. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 27, 2017 Author Share Posted August 27, 2017 Winter was fairly quiet, as I went into the window with what I'd planned to do already lined out. Also, to go with two Junior Coaching upgrades last season, the board added a Recruitment upgrade in the summer, so the academy is coming along nicely. On the downside, Joey O'Brien missed the entire preseason and first 9 games with a slipped disc, and (now) backup keeper Colin Doyle is suffering knee tendonitis, and I can't replace him adequately without breaking the squad rules, sadly I'd already released Sattelmaier before the injury happened. Quite a few clubs have their eye on Jose Sanchez, Leicester bid constantly and topped out at over 2.5m, all rejected. Incredibly quiet by my standards! The two senior signings. Will Keane is the key move, a risk as in real life he's brutally injury prone(but my staff made no mention of it at any point during the deal), but he's pretty ideal, a well rounded forward that can play in all kinds of roles, and later can tutor Sanchez to the next stage. Nestor I debated, much better than what I had, but I could really have used that signing on a defender.... Lucky I did in the end! The rest are U21 castoffs. Zelalem slots in as an offensive metronome/pivot in our midfield. Harrop is a surprise, planned as a backup to develop, he'd played well even time he's given a shot, left wing or CM. Riley is planned as a backup left wingback, but similarly to Harrop has played well so far, on either side. Bryan is a late addition as we're in desperate need of fresh blood at CB. Pretty mean Europa group, but I guess any should be for us... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 FA Cup in the first season is very impressive well done Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Fa cup first seasons hats off to you Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 10 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said: FA Cup in the first season is very impressive well done 10 hours ago, SixPointer said: Fa cup first seasons hats off to you Cheers fellas! I feel, no matter what we achieve long term, that is already the highlight of the save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 A brief interlude from Bizarro World... I watched the entire thing and I'm still not sure how we done that. I wouldn't mind being this lucky every week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubson Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 25 minutes ago, BoxToBox said: A brief interlude from Bizarro World... I watched the entire thing and I'm still not sure how we done that. I wouldn't mind being this lucky every week. Just BoxToBox things lol Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 Midseason update. We're doing well, very well, far better than we have any right to be doing, to be honest. Flying in the league with back to back promotions looking a real possibility. This is fantastic, but comes with issues, we've a quite old squad of mainly League One level players, and a few key loanees. Of course, so far they've been good enough to get us where we are, but they can't last forever. Add in the recruitment restrictions which means if we're promoted, we can sign two players 24 or older, and u18's from League One or lower, and we could be in for quite the long season.... On the upside, West Ham extended Josh Cullen's contract, and agreed to continue his loan for a further season past this, albeit we now have to pay his quite large 12kpw wage packet. Worth it though as he's key to the team. Also, there's an offer with Newcastle for a similar deal with Alex Gilliead. I can't believe we managed these results in Europe. Borussia ChunkyMonkey up next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Wow amazing to see you won FA Cup in first season Doing well in Europa League Surprised to see Biesla, said you got lucky even you won 7-1?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 January was quiet, of course we couldn't do any business, but a backup DM was sold to NY Red Bulls for 550k, a great deal as his contract was running out, he was unhappy and Dundee were in talks to sign him on a free. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 1 hour ago, john1 said: Wow amazing to see you won FA Cup in first season Doing well in Europa League Surprised to see Biesla, said you got lucky even you won 7-1?! I'd understand if we won one or two nil, but geez, seven! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 Youth Intake Day! We've picked up one player that looks excellent, and practically made to fit our system, barring a slight issue. Other than that, it's a bad bunch, but considering our status, and facilities, that's two hits in two years, which is fantastic. Our HOYD reckons Simon Beadle is the standout, and it's quite obviously a number of levels beyond his fellow youth grads, despite being tiny. So yeah, comfortable on either wing, quick and decent physically, professional. Last season he'd fit in with the senior side, even this I could use him as a bench/backup option and try to help his development. A growth spurt and that's one less player I need to buy, and some pressure off. Jose Sanchez, last year's star, will probably be promoted ready or not..... Oh, the issue, "Hugs Line", we play with inside forwards, so I may need to try and get him to unlearn that. Missed a few key players, or we could have gotten over the line! EDIT: New boy has usurped Sanchez as the top prospect! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneronaldo Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Should have walked over to Bielsa's dugout and told him "SIT DOWN YOU SMURF" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 Season Review! What a season at that, form continued, and we blasted our way to back to back promotions, and did well in Europe, hit all our cup expectations. Delighted with everything. So, two senior signings next season, and any u18's from League One or lower.... As the best 11 is indeed the preferred starting 11 for the season, I thought it might be nice to have a look at the boys that powered us to the Premier League. Keane is the standout here, what must Hull be thinking? Didn't play him once, sold him for half what they paid and he absolutely rips it up for his new club leading them to promotion. Abel Hernandez led the line for them and got 13 in all comps... I'm worried about Cullen, when asked to extend the loan again(he still has one season), West Ham said they want to give him a chance in the first team, they might recall him when the window opens.... Meredith and McArdle have been with Bradford a long time now, joining in 2012, and playing in League 2.... Nestor has amazingly grown at pace, and is turning into an absolute cracker of a keeper, way better than expected, and is showing no signs of slowing down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Another successful season Nice to see Cullen, improved alot since he joined you on loan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 29, 2017 Author Share Posted August 29, 2017 41 minutes ago, john1 said: Another successful season Nice to see Cullen, improved alot since he joined you on loan He's coming along very nicely, even getting Ireland games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Some season specially to do well in Europe and the league knocking el loco as well! Think you could actually be the best player I've came across Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 12 hours ago, SixPointer said: Some season specially to do well in Europe and the league knocking el loco as well! Think you could actually be the best player I've came across Cheers! Cleon etc. are all much better though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 You'll be winning the Champions League in no time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 I certainly hope so! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubson Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Well time for the Premier League title next year, eh? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoxToBox Posted August 30, 2017 Author Share Posted August 30, 2017 14 minutes ago, Kubson said: Well time for the Premier League title next year, eh? I'd give it a few more years than that, but we'll do what we can! That said, we're off to a good start... They should have battered us, a few heart in mouth goalmouth scrambles they should have put away. Billy Clarke is out for four months though after damaging his achilles. He's our only senior RW player, and a striker when we play with three up top..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneronaldo Posted August 30, 2017 Share Posted August 30, 2017 Will Keane, not a big game player according to his coach report....yeah right like Liverpool and Valencia are gonna believe that Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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