FM18: Barnsley - "Lets Play Moneyball"

[Jamesbfc1887]

 

Life has never been dull as a Barnsley fan over the last couple of years with a relegation and a promotion coming just 2 years apart. Barnsley haven't hit the heights of the Premier League since the 98/99 season and have spent more time seasons than any other in the second tier of English football 76 years to be precise, the club are also the first club to play 3000 league games in the second tier.

The club has undergone huge changes to how it does its business over the last 5 years, from signing the dark days of signing past it journeymen like Jonathan Greening and Emmanuel Frimpong and the Prince of Egypt Mido, to being one of the first sides to invest in young home grown talents like Alfie Mawson and Conor Hourihane (Irish but it still counts) and sell them on for profit a concept very similar to that of “Moneyball”, which I will get onto to in a minute, which is a strategy now being copied by many a club, some with a lot more financial clout than ourselves meaning to survive we must adapt! 

“Unless?......”

An investor with the financial clout to compete against even the biggest of spenders in the Championship, Chien Lee and Paul Conway are in current takeover talks with currently terminally ill owner Patrick Cryne (who doesn't expect to see the end of the season alive), Chien Lee is the co-owner of Nice Football Club and has seen Nice rise to 3rd in Ligue 1 behind only Monaco and PSG a remarkable achievement. Despite the two clubs obvious disparities there are a lot of similarities between the clubs do business. Under the new ownership at Nice a large crop of young players have been brought in and developed to be some of the most sought-after in Europe with the likes of Jean Michel-Seri, Malang Sarr and a prime example of how the “plan” works with Dalbert moving onto Inter Milan this summer for £18,000,000 which is 10x what he was bought for in the summer of 2016 by Nice. The reason I mention “Moneyball”, is because Billy Beane former General Manager of the Oakland Athletics Baseball Team, famous for devising the new stratergy for scouting based on ffinding hidden values in players you might not think are worth anything, is set to be a major part of this proposed takeover, leaving Barnsley with a very interesting narrative going into this years FM.   

After a successful 2016/17 season, where Barnsley were comfortably stationed above the drop zone in 14th position the Sky Bet Championship, exceeding all expectations, I've decided that it is my turn to try and once again guide my home town club to safety in the 2017/18 season.

The 2016/17 season got of to a fantastic start with wins over Derby and QPR in 2 of the first 3 weeks in the season. The Reds went on providing a great style of play which we had continued from the 2015/16 season which had seen the club win promotion from League 1 back to the Championship at the second time of asking, having come from 24th in the league on November the 28th 2015, under our tactical genius of a manager Lee Johnson, who then preceded to leave and join Bristol City and spend millions to finish just above the drop zone single-handedly thanks to Tammy Abraham. Under hometown her and ex-player Paul Heckingbottom we went on to win the last ever Johnstone's Paint Trophy beating Oxford 3-2 thanks to one of many Adam Hammill inspirational moments. The club then went on to win promotion through the play-offs with a last day win at Wigan (who were already champions) 4-1!!! Sailing past Walsall in the semi-finals 6-1 on aggregate, we went on to face Millwall at Wembley for our second visit in 2 months. Thanks to an Ashley Fletcher early goal, an Adam Hammill wonder goal and a Lloyd Isgrove header the Reds went on to win the final 3-1 securing promotion back to the Championship.

The start of the 2016/17 season saw a fresh intake of a number of players including Tom Bradshaw from Walsall and George Moncur from Colchester. the season saw the reds rise to 1 point of the play-off positions thanks to star performances from Conor Hourihane, Sam Winnall, Marc Roberts. However in January a mass exodus -of some of the best players the club had seen fro a good number of years- occurred adding to Alfie Mawson who had gone to Swansea late in the summer, with Hourihane, James Bree going to Villa and Sammy the Snake ending up at Swillsborough (Sheffield Wednesday) this meant that coupled with money made from the sales of Mason Holgate to Everton and the sell on fee of 15% of John Stones' move to Man City from Everton the club had taken in around £15,000,000 - £20,000,000 of transfer money in which £500,000 was spent on Alex Mowatt from Leeds who now finds himself on loan at Oxford United with questionable fitness and work rate issues and Matty James was brought in from Leicester on loan to prop up a stuttering end of season, where collected less points than everybody apart from Rotherham, thus we finished in 14th which I would have snapped your hand off for at the start of the season and would do again this season!
Following the 2016/17 season a massive rebuild job faced Paul Heckingbottom and the club, this summer has seen Barnsley bring in 13 players to the club 9 permanent and 4 on loan, including Cameron McGeehan from Luton and the very exotic signing of Mamadou Thiam from Dijon, however once again we found ourselves being raided by teams with more brass leading to the departure of Marley Watkins to Norwich, Josh Scowen to QPR and Marc Roberts (along with the whole Brentford squad) to Birmingham City.
This season will surely be our biggest challenge in recent years with a 21st place finish being success (for me at least).

Hopefully you'll all join me on possibly one of the hardest challenges on FM18!   

[Jamesbfc1887]

The Database:

A reasonably large one with a heavy bias on local regions.
Manager Stats:

I've gone with the recommended by the game but gone heavy towards mentals rather than coaching to try and get everyone on side.

Season One Aim:

Ah well then 24th, not a great starting point this year with what the game reckons is the worst squad in the league, outlining what a real challenge this will be. Staying up this year has to be the number one priority, but it'll be tough for sure.

The Squad:

Goalkeepers:

Adam Davies is certainly your number one, with Nick Townsend is a player who I'll probably be seeing out of the door as I want to give Jack Walton who may well turn out to be something quite special the 2nd keeper spot.

Defenders:

Did anyone say injury crisis?

The starting pair looks to be Liam Lindsay who's out for 6 weeks to 2 months with a groin strain is a stand out player you just have to keep around and the captain Angus MacDonald, with Adam Jackson the main cover Ethan Pinnock is awful on FM not happy about that one and Matty Pearson can play anywhere across the back 4. At fullback Andy Yiadom is the stand out man who can play at either left or right back but starts the game injured for 3-4 months with a lower back problem, Jason McCarthy  is pretty good bet for the right back spot and has got plenty of room for improvement, Dimitri Cavare is  great back up but is unfortunately injured at the start of the game for 7-8 months with a torn hamstring so any development he has will probably be stunted, Zeki Fryers at left back is also out for 2-3 months with a hamstring strain and will probably be pushing for a start when he returns. Matty Pearson rounds out the defence as a versatile utility player who can play wherever you want in a limited back up role but someone who knows what their good at and sticks to it a good old fashioned "If in doubt" player.

Midfielders:

Gary Gardner is the key man in the centre of the park on loan from Aston Villa for the year, Cameron McGeehan, George Moncur and Stevie Mallan are all very similar in their style of play with none really offering any "Bite" in the centre of midfield, that's down to Joe Williams on loan from Everton for the year. Brad Potts is for some reason down as a winger, but again he's also a very similar central midfielder as Mallan, McGeehan and Moncur. That had a nice ring to it . Jared Bird is rubbish on FM wish is so unfair he's so much better than the game suggests. And Alex Mowatt is out on loan at Oxford United and is another very similar midfielder to the 4 mentioned above who don't really wan to make a tackle.

On the wing Adam Hammill, will proably be paried up with whichever of Ryan Hedges (injured for 2 weeks with a fractured cheekbone), Lloyd Isgrove (injured for 3 months with a damaged foot) and Harvey Barnes on loan from Leicester .

Strikers:

Tom Bradshaw will be leading the line for the foreseeable future as your star man upfront who could hopefully bag you 15-20 goals a season backed up by Ike Ugbo on loan from Chelsea and Mamadou Thiam the cult hero already! Jacob Brown probably won't feature at all.

Review:

Overall on FM this squad just simply isn't good enough to keep us in the championship with very little championship quality or experience in the team I'll have to bring in a few more than I would have liked this year.

I think this year will probably be a very difficult with a relegation quite possible I just have to hope their are 4 worse teams than us in the league this season.

 

[john1]

Good luck with Barnsley  

[Jamesbfc1887]

6 minutes ago, john1 said:

Good luck with Barnsley  

Cheers

[Jamesbfc1887]

Strengths and Weaknesses:

Well if there was any doubt who are two main players are! 

There are lot of things to worry about most noticeably here physicality and a leadership void both mainly down to our young squad.  

Not too pretty reading here either, well at least we're the youngest squad in the league so we ain't gonna get any worse. But I worry the leadership and age problems will lead us to through vital points away went we need experience and a bit of fight in our team.

Again not too much to be positive about here, huge work ahead.

Average wage of £2K per week! And our top earner Adam Hammill on £6.5K  compared to John Terry on £60K!!!!! We've got our work more than cut out! Our finances are fine after recent sales but we just don't have the muscle power to offer people big contracts that other teams can do.

Ooooooh interseting!

[Jamesbfc1887]

The Players:

Goalkeepers:

Our best goalie and sought after as well Crystal Palace in the hunt for him early doors.

 

 

He'll be of just not tall enough 5'11 is way too small for a goalie!

 

Number 2 goalie and could turn into something special.

 

Centre Backs:

Captain and leader, starting centre half but at the moment he looks out of place and exposed without Marc Roberts at his side. But he's only 23 and he'll develop.

 

The word average springs to mind! Back up centre half and on £2.6K a week is cheap as chips.

 

A centre half with more quality than Jackson or MacDonald he's young, left footed! and a new signing from Partick Thistle for £350k

 

Awful just awful, under rated and a fairly expensive signing this summer

 

Full Backs:

Our best full back and one of our best players he needs a new contract as clubs will come circling for him i'm sure when his contract expires at the end of the season.

 

Another liability but a useful utility player for season one but he wont be here any longer than that.

 

A great prospect at right back and has formed a great partnership with Adam Hammill this year, if his mental's can grow he'll be fantastic for us.

 

Aaaaggghhhhh!!!!!!! Injured for 7 to 8 months which is bound to destroy his physicals which is his real strong point as well. 

 

Just quick this man is just quick, he has very little to give elsewhere.

 

Central Midfielders:

A new signing from Blackpool this summer for around £750K he's down as a winger but I intend on using as a physical battering ram down the middle, due to a lack of technical skill.

 

Another player who's criminally underrated he'll never get a chance here I don't think.

 

The Roles-Royce o out midfield and a definite starter, he'll have to be a wise shoulder for our team to lean on at just 25. No pressure!

 

Great going forward with a fantastic strike on him, just a complete liability defensively but he'll he be fantastic if we can get a system that allows him to bomb forward without killing us defensively.

 

On loan from Everton for the season, the only ball-winner in our team but he's just not physically up to the championship and I worry that he'll be bullied the opposition.

From St. Mirren for £250K in he summer and another advanced playmaker style CM he looks like he could develop fantastically at just 21

 

The marquee summer signing and quite a hefty fee of about £750K to £1mil, he's young and will develop into a good player for us if he can work on his defensive game a bit. 

 

I don't know what to make of Mowatt at one point he was one of Leeds' hottest prospects and he was supposed to be the Hourihane replacement but he's flattered to deceive at Oakwell and now finds himself out on loan at Oxford United. 

 

 

Wingers:

A real fan favourite after a loan spell helping us secure promotion back to the Championship and signed on a free after being released by Southampton, I just hope he doesn't have the same problem he had last time he was here which was he had no end product! 

 

A young exciting winger with a powerful long shot on loan from Leicester for the season he'll probably be rotated a lot this season depending on form

 

He's impressed this season IRL and may find himself starting this season due to the potential he seems to have.

 

A club hero almost legend after scoring a screamer against Millwall and we need him to have a great season here 10+ assists if we are to stay up. He's our best winger and will start every game he's fit for.

 

 

Strikers:

On loan from Chelsea for the year and he could be great whilst counter attacking with 16 Acceleration and 15 Pace hopefully he can chip in with a few.

 

Our main man up front a man who scores goals and he needs to have 20 of them by the end of the season for us to still be in the league.

 

Brown looks like he may develop and has the start of being a real good striker.

 

Mamadou!!! Cult hero without really doing anything. He's physical and could do a real job for us his season.

 

 

Hot Prospects:

Wow! Berkovits is our best youth prospect the Israeli is being trained at left midfielder and is being tutored by Adam Hammill.

 

He'll probably never be anything special but we'll see.

 

He's got the making of a solid centre half but hopefully we'll out grow him.

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Just started a Barnsley save myself so I'll be keeping an eye on this, good luck mate.

[Jamesbfc1887]

7 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Just started a Barnsley save myself so I'll be keeping an eye on this, good luck mate.

Cheers and good luck as well. It'll be tough that's for sure

[Jamesbfc1887]

Squad Dynamics

A real lack of leaders in the squad is something that is really concerning and something I'll try and change.

Nothing really to be said here fairly balanced though which is nice.

Backroom Staff:

A lot of change is needed in the backroom staff as their just not good enough.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Tactics:

I feel this should give us the best of both worlds when by playing a formation giving us defensive protection to hopefully grind some results out, whilst still being able to attack teams on the front foot.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Transfers:

An interesting transfer window to say the least, I brought in a few more players than I thought I would but a lot of them are ones for the future.

Well I didn't expect this to happen! Kalvin Phillips joins us on loan from Leeds with an option to buy for £1.2 million

Jack Price is another man to join us on loan. He's here for the season with an option to buy for £1.2 million, he's a huge upgrade on Joe Williams and gives us some much needed defensive steel. His contract is up at the end of the year so hopefully I can sign him for free come next season.

Jacques Maghoma is yet another loanee with an option to buy but for £900K although his contract is up at the end of the season and I hope they don't extend his contract and I can snatch him for free!

Would ya believe it another loan signing Ollie McBurnie gives us an out ball with his height and aerial ability, a striker who we desperately needed.

Oscar was one of 3 transfer deadline day signings, he joins for £300K from Real Madrid of all places he's got fantastic potential to be a great player here.

Andreas Lind is a decent find from Molde in Norway, a relatively cheap deal as well nut his stats look amazing! He may even push Davies out of his starting spot.

Patrick Kammerbauer is another cheap deal from abroad he starts the game transfer listed for £140K and is a great steal in my opinion at right or in the centre of midfield.

Martin Bjornbak is yet another cheap signing from Scandinavia at £135K and is in contention for a start straight away.

The Ivorian is a bit of a journeyman and has never found a home and at first glance he won't be finding one here. A mistake on my half for bringing him here.

Diego is a bit of a hidden jem on FM he starts out as a free agent and may well develop quite nicely in the future with a low risk being a free transfer. One I would really recommend picking up.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Preseason and August:

What a fantastic start to the season! Preseason was as usual meaningless, but after that an opening day win away Bristol City thanks to a Mamadou Thiam last minute winner in a game we slightly edged using our 433 formation, having more shots and more possession.

We overcame Grimsby pretty easily and it really should have been more than 1-0.

First home game of the season and a really good performance once again dominating, which should have been enough to win it but Dave McGoldrick's strike gave Ipswich the lead before Tom Bradshaw equalised for us in the 74th minute. 1-1

2-2 A disappointing collapse as the game let me know once I opened my inbox a game we dominated but Forest hit back with 2 goals from corners.

It was all going so well! Sheff Utd went 2-0 up through a penalty and a long throw in within the first 10 mins and we hit back through Tom Bradshaw but Jack Price got himself sent off stopping our comeback.

A rotated side struggled past Bury but Tom Bradshaw got 4!!! To spare us embarrassment

1-0 against Sunderland a very satisfying game everything tactically went to plan we stopped them and hit the on the counter to give us a deserved win.

After August we were sitting pretty in 12th a very solid start.

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

September

Not such pretty reading and we really are starting to struggle we've ditched the 4-1-2-3 and gone with a 4-4-2 but at the end of the day our players just aren't good enough we've been competitive and battered Millwall yet we just can't finish Bradshaw is hot and cold about a 1 in 2 or 3 striker which as our only goal scorer is not enough. The only game we could actually finish in we put Brentford away with ease. 

October

A mixed month with some great fighting performances the only down being against two quality sides just far better than us. Against Huddersfield we performed admirably but it wasn't enough. Finally some form and two amazing wins a massive one (no pun intended) at Hillsborough! Yes Barnsley have won at Hillsborough, I sh*t you not which would be the second time ever in my life time and they still scored a penalty! Typical 

A huge! huge! Win also at Burton a real lack of quality between two teams in the bottom three but we deserved it and it left the league looking like this.

You can see why we desperately needed those two wins as we were beginning to get cut adrift at the bottom.

Star performers really being Tom Bradshaw and Jacques Maghoma pulling us through this difficult run. 

[Jamesbfc1887]

November to New Year

Pretty nice form from us, hopefully the worst is behind us and we can look to maintain are league position well above the drop zone we leave ourselves in 15th 8 points above the drop zone.

I've changed once again to a new tactic this time a 4-3-3 which has provided us with a great run of performances and based on a Liverpool tactic I've tried to develop, with quite a lot of similarities to Klopp's system high pressing and closing down etc...

The run at defence bit is what i'm still concerned about as I just don't think we're good enough individual to take on teams one on one, but it fits in nicely to the counter mentality when we break with speed.

 

[kstoyle]

Good luck. How is Angus Macdonald doing in the game and real life? Saw him really develop at Torquay and deserved his move to you guys.

[Jamesbfc1887]

3 hours ago, kstoyle said:

Good luck. How is Angus Macdonald doing in the game and real life? Saw him really develop at Torquay and deserved his move to you guys.

Thanks.

In real life he's our captain this season and a fan favourite. He's struggled this year despite being the captain and hasn't started too many games but Adam Jackson's kept him out of the side but did his pcl a week or two ago so he'll be starting every game now.

In game he's my starting centre back along with Adam Jackson and without checking he's 3 1/2 or even 4 stars and has been part of the worst defensive record in the league but individually he's averaged about 6.9 -7.0 which is ok but not spectacular.

[shakey.bridge]

Good write up James  and a good squad assessment, I've just loaded up a Barnsley save as my first on FM 2018 so I will let you know how I get on, terrible injury list and unbalanced midfield make it a real challenge to keep them up, I have transfer budgets turned off as well so will use the current squad until January.

[Jamesbfc1887]

2 hours ago, shakey.bridge said:

Good write up James  and a good squad assessment, I've just loaded up a Barnsley save as my first on FM 2018 so I will let you know how I get on, terrible injury list and unbalanced midfield make it a real challenge to keep them up, I have transfer budgets turned off as well so will use the current squad until January.

Thanks

Transfer budgets turned off!!! You must be mental .

The midfield is definately imbalanced way too many attacking types who are number 10's really but are forced into a deeper role.

Look at Fanol Përdedaj as a free agent I brought him in in December for £6K a week as a defensive midfielder with a bit more "bite" as I like to call it.

Good luck and keep me informed on how you go.

[Jamesbfc1887]

January and February:

Things have dropped of a fair bit I think it's fair to say we've struggle for form and only picked up two wins in the league. A nice victory over West Ham distracted from our pretty poor form. But we did pick up a win against rivals Sheffield Wednesday thanks to a Kalvin Phillips 90th minute winner. But we are starting to dominate games a lot more and if we can  just sought our defence out we could have something going for us here.

This was our January business:

Fanol Perdedaj came in on a free in November and is in my opinion a class ball winning midfielder perfect as back up for Jack Price on just £4.8K p/w.

Josh Morris on a free! I don't why he's transfer listed in the first place let alone for nothing at all, he'll play left back for me so Yiadom an be utilised down the right and we can have a left footer on the left and a right footer on the right swinging in crosses is key in a system using CWBs which I think Morris is perfect for.

Both from our senior affiliate Tottenham, neither of them well play unless sh*t hits the proverbial fan. They both have great potential and hopefully Tottenham won't extend Brown's contract and I can have him for free.

Yet another loan sighhhhh, Mamadou Thiam just isn't doing it for me and McBurnie is absolute garbage. We've got a £220K optional buy cluase which I'm desperate to activate but he's not willing to join - apparently our recent form in the league is concerning, which is barmy considering Forest are two spots above us and the other two teams that wanted him on loan were Swindon and Luton both in League 2! No disrespect to either of them.

Kenyy McLean will also joins us next season on a free from Aberdeen with his contract expiring, I was desperate to get Jamie Walker and Louis Moult but neither of them wanted to negotiate and wanted to let the deals run down - or sum rubbish like that- only for Walker to accept Rangers pre-contract and Louis Moult signed a new deal at Motherwell!

This Nigerian newgen/regen will join in July I thought he looked quite good until I noticed after I'd confirmed the deal I had to pay £525K compensation, when I thought I was stealing him for free. Hopefully though he'll grow nicely with 19-20 determination and already decent technical and physical stats. Africa looks again this year like it's another hotbed of talent.  

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I will be starting a save with Barnsley once the full game is released, any tips mate, who do you regret signing, also how has Coulibaly done as I had him in an old FM2016 save and done well for me so always had soft spot for him, I might literally sign everyone you have signed as you have a better ability of finding players then I do lol.

Also how big is your player database ?

[Jamesbfc1887]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I will be starting a save with Barnsley once the full game is released, any tips mate, who do you regret signing, also how has Coulibaly done as I had him in an old FM2016 save and done well for me so always had soft spot for him, I might literally sign everyone you have signed as you have a better ability of finding players then I do lol.

Also how big is your player database ?

That's the database mate.

I am by no means an expert at the game, but I feel I'm fairly competent.

My biggest advice would be look at the loan and transfer list frequently every day in the transfer window and maybe once a week outside the transfer window and anybody you want to sign add to a shortlist, look at players with 12 months on their contract at the start of the season and if you want to sign them add them to a different shortlist called "Contracts expiring" or something. Look at the staff and fill in the spare places but maybe don't ask for more coaching spots allowed cause your gonna need every pound of wages budget available at some point sack the head of youth development Bobby Hassell and maybe second season get rid of the assistant manager and get someone better people in. But I'm sure you'll be fine doing that.

Look at this it's really useful and that's how I find some players.

But as you'll see most of my signings are from English or British Leagues and they're players I know of through my knowledge and love of football. But on FM 18 the transfer and loan list has got some real quality available for cheap.

I regret signing Coulibaly I haven't really used him and ended up loaning him out in January which I forgot to mention in my update along with some others.

Try and sign:

Jack Price

Josh Morris

Oscar

Diego

Chuma (Celtic got him before I could)

Jacques Maghoma

Kalvin Phillips

Andreas Linde (try and get him on rotation or backup as he's complaining about not playing)

Fanol Perdedaj

Jason Cummings

Kenny Mclean, Louis Moult and Jamie Walker

Avoid:

Oli McBurnie

Coulibaly

Patrick Kammerbauer has been indifferent to be honest but if you get another left back in you won't need him as Yiadom can then go to right back.

Martin Bjørnbak can't distribute the ball at all.

Targets:

1 Goalie

1 Left Back

1 Centre Back

2 Defensive Minded Centre mids

1 Left winger

1 Striker

 

Cheers and good luck.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Cheers mate, much appreciated, keep up with your updates as I helps my shifts at work go quicker lol.

[SpillBlood]

15 hours ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

This Nigerian newgen/regen will join in July I thought he looked quite good until I noticed after I'd confirmed the deal I had to pay £525K compensation, when I thought I was stealing him for free. Hopefully though he'll grow nicely with 19-20 determination and already decent technical and physical stats. Africa looks again this year like it's another hotbed of talent.  

Really interested in how he turns out.  How come the scout only rates 55?  He looks like he could be a great winger, minus his size.

[BoxToBox]

2 hours ago, SpillBlood said:

Really interested in how he turns out.  How come the scout only rates 55?  He looks like he could be a great winger, minus his size.

That can happen with reports from countries you don't have much knowledge of, and has only been scouted briefly. That rating also includes value for money, so you could get two players that are identical, except one might get a much better rating as he's half the price. In this case, it's a player they didn't get a great look at(probably) in a country where the clubs knowledge might not be great, and as the "don't wan't to sell", the scout will likely see it as a very risky transfer.

[Jamesbfc1887]

13 hours ago, SpillBlood said:

Really interested in how he turns out.  How come the scout only rates 55?  He looks like he could be a great winger, minus his size.

Hopefully he's fantastic, cause that's all my spare budget gone. It's annoying there's no faces enabled though. 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Well then!!!!

[Jamesbfc1887]

March

Another promising yet frustrating month we could have won all 5 and definately should have taken 3 points against Millwall

Aaaggghhh almost 30 shots! but Millwall are in the dizzy heights of 7th and it's clear to see why with Lee Gregory having 15 goals in the League already.

Tom Bradshaw was injured during this spell and I risked playing him with very poor condition an we missed him dearly Jason Cummings has been average and Mamadou Thiam has only got 6 for me this season.

Oh and this happened

Great just great my best centre back and captain has broken his leg, that means Bjornbak is on the bench God help us!

But on the plus side George Moncur is reveling in the advanced playmaker role and is proving to be one of the most crucial players in our team with the most key passes in the league.

This is where we find ourselves just after the Forest game in April.

Almost 50 points and I'm over the moon with our season but we have to finish strong for us much prize money as we can.

The Run In

A fantastic end to the season.

A derby day revenge against Sheffield United to deepen their relegation concerns, a great win over Ipswich, a frustrating draw against Bolton who are 23rd and pretty much down.

Leeds are 2nd and dominated us in a game I just can't be annoyed at losing we tried but they're just better than us well Lasogga is ,just the 20 goals for him this season.

Our last home game of the season was a successful one,  Jacques Maghoma and Gary Gardner giving the fans a parting gift with both of them set to return to their parent clubs.

And the last game of the season away at Derby was a dead game but a great game for us Derby didn't look up for this one but we did Brad Potts who's begun to flouish at the end of the season on the right, Gary Gardner once again showing how he'll be missed next season before Adam Hammill finished the game off in the 92nd minute taking from 16th up to 13th in the table (above Sheffield Wednesday). #Carlosin

The final table, 13th is more than I'd have wished for at the start of the season.

A season review will be out over the next couple of days, thanks for reading.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Please no!!!!

[Jamesbfc1887]

Hope remains!

[DavidBeckham]

Quality end to the season, and congrats on the 13th place finish! Lets hope the takeover goes through! 

[Jamesbfc1887]

12 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Quality end to the season, and congrats on the 13th place finish! Lets hope the takeover goes through! 

All will be revealed

[Jamesbfc1887]

Well hurry up then!

[Jamesbfc1887]

Hooray!!!! It's finally over and we have a new owner Andy Ambler, who hopefully has more money than the last  owner Patrick Cryne.

But he wants Mick McCarthy to be the next manager "Gulp", surely he can't sack me after the last season. 

[shakey.bridge]

21 hours ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

Hooray!!!! It's finally over and we have a new owner Andy Ambler, who hopefully has more money than the last  owner Patrick Cryne.

But he wants Mick McCarthy to be the next manager "Gulp", surely he can't sack me after the last season. 

I think your days are numbered James, start clearing out your office!

[Jamesbfc1887]

Season 1 Review

Going into the start of the first season, I wasn't exactly optimistic  a media prediction of 24th and an unbalanced side particularly in midfield led me to believe that his season may lead to my demise as well as the club's. But fortunately for me we were able to finish comfortably above the drop zone in 13th. I won't waffle but here's the over view of the season.

Clearly goals aren't the problem here much thanks to Tom Bradshaw who racked up 13 in the league this year despite being injured for much of it.

And here we find the problem the second most goals conceded, we were leading this particular table by about 15 goals in January before we switched to a 4-3-3.

Another stat we were leading by miles, we must have conceded almost 10 goals from corners in the first 10 games then I changed the corner tactic, which seem to broken this year if you leave them in the preset state.

 

But for me the Season Awards are as followed:

Player of the season:

Gary Gardner - Mister consistent nether put a foot wrong and our best player with an average of 7.04 with 6 goals and 1 assist in 37 games.

Unsung Hero:

Lloyd Isgrove - A great season that went under the radar, top of the assists table with 8 and 4 goals rounds of a solid season for the Welsh winger.

Most Improved:

George Moncur - He could have easily won player of the season, his ability to change games with his attacking brilliance was nurtured by a system built around him, 3 goals 5 assists and the most key passes in the league.

Best Newcomer:

Jacques Maghoma- On loan from Birmingham and a key part of our squad on the left wing scored some cracking and important goals he will be missed next season, 9 goals, 4 assists in 40 games.

 

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

1 hour ago, shakey.bridge said:

I think your days are numbered James, start clearing out your office!

 Haha funnily enough I cleared out my office this week to give me some much needed space.

[DavidBeckham]

Ahhh lets hope the new owner keeps you in the job!

[shakey.bridge]

Finally got underway James, was waiting for the full game to be released, have just finished pre season which has gone quite well, did a lot of tactic tweaking, manage to get everyone 100% fit and luckily stayed injury clear apart from the long termers, have decided to go with 2 tactics for the season :-

This is my home tactic which went well in pre season with Bradshaw prolific as a F9 and McGeehan behind him as a SS chipping in with a few, have been using Gardner and Moncur as my 2 holding Mids.

My away tactic is basically the same with the wingers withdrawn to a 4-4-1-1 and counter/structured.

I will update after the first month, has big Mick McCarthy taken your place yet?

 

[ajcardall]

Good read so far mate. Always had a soft spot for Barnsley, despite being a Wednesday fan 

[Jamesbfc1887]

8 hours ago, shakey.bridge said:

Finally got underway James, was waiting for the full game to be released, have just finished pre season which has gone quite well, did a lot of tactic tweaking, manage to get everyone 100% fit and luckily stayed injury clear apart from the long termers, have decided to go with 2 tactics for the season :-

This is my home tactic which went well in pre season with Bradshaw prolific as a F9 and McGeehan behind him as a SS chipping in with a few, have been using Gardner and Moncur as my 2 holding Mids.

My away tactic is basically the same with the wingers withdrawn to a 4-4-1-1 and counter/structured.

I will update after the first month, has big Mick McCarthy taken your place yet?

 

Good luck, my summer transfer window update will probably be out midweek as this weekend I'm playing a different save to try and not burn out on my Barnsley save.

And as for big Mick, it was eventful but I'm know in the moddle of the transfer window.

[Jamesbfc1887]

7 hours ago, ajcardall said:

Good read so far mate. Always had a soft spot for Barnsley, despite being a Wednesday fan 

Thanks mate.  I think we all have random teams we have a soft spot for no reason that we just can't explain.

[Jamesbfc1887]

Long time no see I hear you cry but after a so far turbulent summer I'm still here and fighting on .

Finally, I've kept my job and I can focus on building this team up again.

So far I've found this transfer window a tough one, the takeover was a major set back due to the embargo placed on us meaning a few pre-contract options fell through the net.

My summer transfer window round up WILL be up soon once I've finished the end of July and August as I've pretty much done all my business early on this summer.

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Solid finish to the season and a great position too. Hopefully you can continue to make further progression next season.

[danlov]

Just finished a season with Barnsley. After a really mediocre middle season the ending was brilliant securing 10th place with 67 points. Only 7 off the playoffs. 

Made some awful transfers on the whole but bought two wingers in Jan who were really decent. Berthier and Morgan. 

We also got the takeover. By the guys that until recently owned forest. 

Very interesting top two in my league. Ipswich 1st and Brentford 2nd. Norwich in the playoffs. 

[danmcconnell1]

Interesting to see how much you like Maghoma. I know in real life I've never been a huge fan, he's one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen. But in game he is half decent for Championship level, although I've barely used him in my save due to my formation, he's a good option to have for a bottom half Championship club. Keep up the fantastic progress though, hopefully with a good summers' recruitment you could potentially push for the top half next season. 

[Jamesbfc1887]

On 30/11/2017 at 10:52, danlov said:

Just finished a season with Barnsley. After a really mediocre middle season the ending was brilliant securing 10th place with 67 points. Only 7 off the playoffs. 

Made some awful transfers on the whole but bought two wingers in Jan who were really decent. Berthier and Morgan. 

We also got the takeover. By the guys that until recently owned forest. 

Very interesting top two in my league. Ipswich 1st and Brentford 2nd. Norwich in the playoffs. 

Good start who are you playing in the team, I'll be posting my transfer update tomorrow finally life is really getting in the way atm 

[Jamesbfc1887]

11 hours ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Interesting to see how much you like Maghoma. I know in real life I've never been a huge fan, he's one of the most frustrating players I've ever seen. But in game he is half decent for Championship level, although I've barely used him in my save due to my formation, he's a good option to have for a bottom half Championship club. Keep up the fantastic progress though, hopefully with a good summers' recruitment you could potentially push for the top half next season. 

Cheers, 

Watch out for tomorrow the aim realistically is to push for the top half despite what the board and media would have you believe. Maghoma was really good early on in the season, dropped of in the middle and then gained form right at the end of the season.

As for real life I've only seen him twice live and a couple of times on the TV, he seems lively but I can well imagine he's the kind of player that gets you on the edge of your seat only to go for the workshop rather than deliver any end product.

[danlov]

7 hours ago, Jamesbfc1887 said:

Good start who are you playing in the team, I'll be posting my transfer update tomorrow finally life is really getting in the way atm 

Haha, I know the feeling. I tried a lot of combos and formations before 442 finally clicked. 

Davies

Yiadom/ Udol 

Lindsay

MacDonald

McCarthy

Morgan

Gardner

Williams/ Moncur

Berthier 

Thiam

Bradshaw

 

Williams served a lot of suspensions. Bradshaw and thiam went through a lot of lean spells. 

Got Williams back in for another season and now looking to replace Gardner and get decent back up strikers. Keep getting turned down by players who sign for league 1 clubs. 

Really struggle to shift players though 

[Jamesbfc1887]

Finally I've finished the transfer window 

It's been abit of a slog recently I'm not gonna lie.

I've been struggling with motivation to play fm and his save particularly thanks to Barnsley amazing recent form!(sarcasm if you didn't realise) and the fact I've been both busy and under the weather (I hate this time of year with sounding like a Christmas scrooge an all)

I just need to take screenshots and write up and then I'm ready to go again.

 

 

[Jamesbfc1887]

The Summer

A busy window for us 15 in and 11 out.

With a new owner many fans would have been assuming megabucks were to be splashed! But no a net spend off only £200k tells you all you need to know about the disappointing new owners unwillingness to pump money into the club which once again finds itself with the 4th lowest wages in the league.

But our wage spending has gone up by about £30,000 a week which is a lot for us even with a new owner who did no provide any extra money this season hopefully he will do next.

Ins

Lewis Morgan joins from St. Mirren after we activated a non-promotion release clause, he'll be battling for a start that's for sure.

Well then the Nigerian youngster we brought in last January has finally arrived and he's not half bad for about half a million pounds.

Barry Douglas a huge upgrade on Fryers and Pearson for sure and at left back he's just a better version of Morris, his 16 crossing will hopefully provide a great attacking threat this year.

Marvin Johnson joins from Middlesbrough for just a tenth of the price they paid for him a year ago a steal if I may say so myself.

A familiar face joins permanently, again for a fraction of the price paid for them a year ago after never playing for Forest, to give us more depth upfront.

A low risk transfer on someone who I hope will develop. I've heard about this lad IRL and I thought lets see what he's like on fm.

A very exiting signing this, on a free from Southend to replace Gary Gardner in the BBM role.

Another returning face from last season. I got my way with this one Wolves released him unlike with Maghoma who Birmingham offerend £10K a week to which I wasn't going to pay, let alone the fact he's 30.

A strange one this I saw he'd been released by Everton and thought why not? Great for Crewe in League 2 then went to Donny in JAnuary in League 1 and was for want of a better word Sh*te! 

What a steal! He'll operate on either wing for me  For some reason he was released by Fulham Oh wait I know why they've got this guy hows probably better than any of my players at 16! 

"Midfielders R us" particularly "Advanced Playmakers R us", I'm beginning to wonder why I signed him in the first place. I've got Moncur, Mallan, McGeehan, Mclean and Mowatt (bit of a theme there) to play that advanced playmaker role now.

Another face familiar to Oakwell a loan spell 2 years ago and he's back, I don't rate at all IRL but he was favourite player on FM 17 and it just wouldn't be an FM save if I didn't sign him.

Reece Burke will provide us with CB cover for the upcoming season

Oh and he's back as well. After a good loan spell, I know there's a player in there.

Looks okay but there's some worrying stats in there too like 4 kicking and 3 positioning.

An Ivorian as well as a Nigerian now, how exotic!