[FM18 Network Game] Harrogate & Salford [Seasons Complete: 54 | Total Trophies: Harrogate: 95 / Salford: 114] Finished

[Nobby_McDonald]

Both well established now.

Oli needs to learn some patience though.

[olliep]

This thread is a great idea. Great to see you both doing so well.

[oliscott]

On 21/12/2017 at 23:15, Nobby_McDonald said:

Both well established now.

Oli needs to learn some patience though.

I’ll normally Scout or have a look at training whilst he’s taking his sweet time Nobby but he usually has FM on the go and then farming on Warcraft or being chased by bears on rust lately.

[santy001]

An exciting prospect that came through this season is George Hughes, joined me from Norwich (I didn't sign him, but he was at Norwich before he was actually in the game)

[santy001]

Season 14: Champions League Qualification, the joys and anguishes.

Well season 14 was interesting, I was never really in the title race at Salford, but I was comfortably in the mix for the top 4 for a large portion of the season. @oliscott began a surge up the table post Christmas and went into the final day with it all up for grabs. Manchester United lost 4-0 to Southampton in the second to last game, and then lost 1-0 to Everton on the final day to put it firmly in Oli's lap. In traditional Harrogate fashion, they lost 2-1 to Brighton and ended up finishing 5th. At this point there's not a lot that can be said about his final game blunders. 

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

Harrogate Signings Profile Page:

Daniel Cunha: https://i.gyazo.com/5aa5f687d94b18ab34cb1345b6d5a3bf.png

Samir Jeannin: https://i.gyazo.com/ebd041a0d35d0ca01d4fcc70377a1f18.png

Cristian Coronel: https://i.gyazo.com/cf3eba4bf2f60d32bf4463bbdd87a133.png

Alejandro Percudani: https://i.gyazo.com/6a67cb67596ce762694d4e33adae89c4.png

Harry Lewis: https://i.gyazo.com/d72b258e36cb42ca04e25f551b7512d0.png

Paulo Renato: https://i.gyazo.com/9990e1d92144badc34d7c1a5e6cb6d95.png

Argeu: https://i.gyazo.com/c9439102d3c82c7da7b7e0ad11f8575d.png

Edin Mravac: https://i.gyazo.com/f1d217c175faa369a0e6949463095c65.png

Kabiru Azeez: https://i.gyazo.com/c26fe08173d89f47712898df96c27723.png

German Nunez: https://i.gyazo.com/490a754efadf2dd800974e8da132e44b.png

Salford Signings Profile Page:

Lee Jordan: https://i.gyazo.com/476abafb0da529b1cd137ab469cee9f3.png

Garry Webb: https://i.gyazo.com/c82a0256ed655c1f47d968bf652b5453.png

Tim Tantram: https://i.gyazo.com/a6d9b49b91ee2daae02eaea5a171e43c.png

Bruno: https://i.gyazo.com/aaabeeed4455d57640e4cd5e8fdefeab.png

Philipp Gobel: https://i.gyazo.com/116904e015918373e578d21955b3e94f.png

[santy001]

Gus Mafuta has also decided to call it a day, the last player from the Vanarama National League North. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Both in Europe now. Well done.

If Santy is playing other games at the same time, he deserves to be auto continued.

[SmileFaceGamer]

On 12/11/2017 at 18:58, santy001 said:

Sometimes in life you have an upcoming game against the team bottom of the league.. and then Chesterfield decide to hand an 18 year old lad his debut and this happens. 

I've been meaning to find a goalkeeper since the first season, but never been able to find one I wanted to bring in permanently who would actually join me, so I've been getting by with what I had and loan signings. 

Wait what the flighing monkeys??? I have never seen anything like it!

[SmileFaceGamer]

On 19/12/2017 at 20:37, oliscott said:

Come on you know you want to invest...

 Started an Ajax save. A couple of weeks in this happened

”the consortium targeting Ajax has said they wish to appoint Frank De Boer should they buy the club!”

thank god it didn’t happen

[oliscott]

Just exiting the January transfer window and my title hopes are starting to slip away

[santy001]

On 26/12/2017 at 07:49, SmileFaceGamer said:

 Started an Ajax save. A couple of weeks in this happened

”the consortium targeting Ajax has said they wish to appoint Frank De Boer should they buy the club!”

thank god it didn’t happen

Oli nearly had a Mexican tycoon take over after the consortium didn't manage to takeover, but that takeover also collapsed.

[SmileFaceGamer]

2 minutes ago, santy001 said:

Oli nearly had a Mexican tycoon take over after the consortium didn't manage to takeover, but that takeover also collapsed.

Did they intend to replace him?

[oliscott]

After about sixteen failed takeover attempts Im now in the hands of new owners.

[SmileFaceGamer]

On 29/12/2017 at 18:38, oliscott said:

After about sixteen failed takeover attempts Im now in the hands of new owners.

Bank balance?

[Nobby_McDonald]

£253,000,000? Can you give me 0.3% of that so I can pay off my mortgage?

[SmileFaceGamer]

15 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

£253,000,000? Can you give me 0.3% of that so I can pay off my mortgage?

In other words 2+2=4-1 that’s 3 quick maths

[santy001]

I think both @oliscott and myself are high in the wealth stakes on FM now. I'm not tycoon owned, but my chairman does give me £200m+ budgets per season. 

As I've largely kept transfer spending restricted (£26m was the highest each year prior to the 15th season which the update will be up for on Friday) and the wage bill spent the majority of its time gradually growing from £500k to around £900k.  The money has been flowing in, especially with a Champions League campaign. 

I haven't really begun selling players yet either, and buying cheap, selling high is something of my FM speciality. My greatest successes last year were 2 Brazillians, one signed on a free from @oliscott at Portsmouth and getting a solid year or two from before selling to tycoon owned Tottenham for over £70m I believe and another from Valencia who I had a fantastic year from and sold for £65m. 

I have had a bit of a tendency to sign players on a free from @oliscott I also picked up a RB who was a solid player for a good 10/11 years and sold him for close to £30m as he was reaching 30.

[MikeCollins]

As someone who is also managing Harrogate Town, and currently struggling in the first season of the Championship, I found this to be an interesting thread. Nice work!

[santy001]

Season 15: The Comeback!

Season 15 actually ended about a month ago, but christmas/new years, then I've been ill for a while and had a few meanderings on other games but we're finally back in FM territory.

For @oliscott he secured champions league qualification himself this year, but I had a desperately disappointing year finishing down in 9th. At Salford I have been trying to build financial reserves for a number of years, wanting to slowly build up a large amount of cash to allow me to best do what I do. However, this season I was extremely cheap (didn't spend any money in the summer, just making 4 free transfer signings) and come January the panic stations were in full flow and I blew through £60m. 

Meanwhile at Harrogate, there was a solid amount of investment in multiple positions which helped to presumably provide him with a lot of strength through his squad. While I definitely suffered with the addition to my schedule of champions league football, next year we'll see how Oli copes with it as I get a Europe-free year.

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[mrdanbartlett]

What are both of your attendances like now?

[Nobby_McDonald]

You won't need your passport next season then Santy.

[oliscott]

On 1/24/2018 at 11:42, mrdanbartlett said:

What are both of your attendances like now?

My stadium holds just short of 21k  and Im getting max attendance every game now. There in planning stages for a new stadium at the moment so hopefully this year that will be finalised.

[MichaelBrown]

This thread is great, been following it from the start even though I've not posted. KUTGW

[santy001]

Season 16: Whittling through the years

After resuming our game session we got through season 16 pretty quickly. There is also the first sign that perhaps @oliscott is beginning to pull ahead and get on the right track to winning some major trophies. He made the Champions League semi-finals at the first attempt and despite myself having a very strong season to start with, still being firmly in the top 4 come Christmas I wilted in the second half under injuries, finishing 6th. Meanwhile Oli pulled himself up from a terrible start to the season and finished 3rd. 

It's the beginning of some interesting times, in the next season we both have European campaigns to contend with. 

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[oliscott]

Just made a record sale of 97 million to Real Madrid for my main striker who I picked up on the cheap from Dortmund a few years ago, I never used to sell my best players as I like to build squads but on the last save Sant was signing players for small sums making them superstars and then flogging them and doing it all over again. Everyone is replaceable. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Five Yorkshire teams in the Premier League for one season.

[oliscott]

When Sant decided to update the thread, he’ll tell of the heroics of my two lost cup finals and losing the league on the final day. Could be my year this year.

[santy001]

Season 17: Frittering it all away - but Harrogate becoming the dominant force.

This year was a massive disappointment for myself at Salford. I spent big and wanted to push on in the league. However, I couldn't manage to string much together all season in the premier league but Europe was a different story entirely. At home I was spending more time worrying about relegation than anything else. Eventually I pulled myself up to 13th and was the leagues highest goalscorers but apart from that there was nothing domestically. In Europe I cleaved my way through the Europa League like no ones business, by the time the quarter finals came along I had set a record for most goals in a season in that competition. While it ended on a good note my season paled in comparison though. For @oliscott it was truly a year to remember. I believe @Nobby_McDonald mentioned before about Oli's bottlers.

Harrogates fixtures:

A cup final against Stoke turned up nothing, yet undeterred he made his way through the season and smashed many along the way into submission. Going into the final game in the driving seat with Roberto Martinez Man City team in 2nd and 2 points behind one hand was on the title. Man Utd were down in midtable and had faded away heavily this season. So they proceeded to beat him 3-1 and Man City won the title. With the champions league all that was left to play for now that too ended 3-1 not in Oli's favour after extra time.

My own cup final game against Tottenham was somewhat interesting, I don't play with a sub keeper on the bench. In the 54th minute my keeper was stretchered off and I replaced him with a defender. We still secured a 2-0 win and despite finishing 13th I'm in the champions league as a result.

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[oliscott]

Going into the business end of the season now.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Oli has made bottling it an art form.

[Borussia Teeth]

Wow, that league title is next season, I think (Spurs will probably win this one)

To get this far in less than 20 seasons is incredible, and I hear a lot of good stories, having made a thread about them in general discussion.

Keep up the good work and we will see if either of you can get your hands on the trophy this year. Good luck!

[oliscott]

Sant will write up the review at some point but spurs won the league and are also looking very likely to do so again this season.

now in January of the next season and I think it’s either a point or four separate me and Sant in fourth and fifth I think it is. However I have already been knocked out of the champions league in the group stages and into the UEFA.

[santy001]

Season 18: All Levelled Up

It had begun to look like @oliscott was becoming more dominant after his run in 2033/34 saw him miss out on the title on the final day of the season and reach the Champions League final. While Barcelona had crushed his dreams I actually played Barcelona myself 3 times in 2034/35, winning all of them and pointing out to Oli if only he could've been more like Salford.

That aside, the league became very close towards the end of the season with it being up for grabs. Both myself and Oli tailed off though, finishing 3rd and 4th. Roberto Martinez at Man City has wasted a brilliant team and they now seem to be in decline, but it is Tottenham who have surged into the void left after Man City's 7 straight titles. 

With no major trophy to either of our names yet it's really taken us by surprise. With our Crewe/Portsmouth game last year it was the late 2020's when we both rose to a strong position. Both of us are suffering in the sense that we can attract a few big players, who come on large wages but we can't touch the realm of 200-300k per week squad players. 

While Oli does have a new, larger stadium on the way I am still 6 years out before my board will consider upgrading the 12,500 capacity ground Salford have right now.

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[santy001]

On 24/12/2017 at 22:53, santy001 said:

An exciting prospect that came through this season is George Hughes, joined me from Norwich (I didn't sign him, but he was at Norwich before he was actually in the game)

George Hughes has developed, but really not as much as I was hoping for. 

He's now something of a fringe element on the first team:

[santy001]

My finances are also not quite a concern, but the strain of pushing to try and get established as a top 4 side and the wage bill that comes with it is taking a serious toll on the bank balance.

It follows a somewhat largely predictable model now, of the season costing me big money and then being propped up at the end, but I have to look at perhaps cutting back a bit and going to youngsters to try and build again. A few years struggling and changing my mind on how I wanted to play from season to season were very expensive processes.

[oliscott]

Living up to the title as always @Nobby_McDonald

[oliscott]

When it rains it pours

[Nobby_McDonald]

Oli's bottlers strike again!

[oliscott]

End of an era

[santy001]

Season 19: Harrogate Throwaway Another Title Chance

It was yet another season for @oliscott to rue as going into March he was in touching distance of leaders Tottenham, with 2 games in hand and Tottenham still to play.  You can see his results in the fixtures he posted above for the abject performances his team offered. Meanwhile at Salford there was a very brief window in which the title was possibly up for grabs but it never looked likely. As Oli had a poor finish I had a strong finish. I was a lot more conservative in the transfer windows, as mentioned above as well my finances were showing the strain of several years of pushing. 

From a purely Salford perspective, for the last 2 seasons now I've been looking at aggressive budget trimming to save the club money. Off-loading players with subsidised wages just to get them off the books as I had arguably overpaid to get/keep them at the club at times I needed them. 

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[oliscott]

Here we go again

[oliscott]

Securing the title after beating your rival, just posting this as a reminder of the good times when Sant has his team set and is winning multiples of everything.

[santy001]

Season 20: Premier League & Champions League Glory.

Finally, the biggest trophies on offer come home. Harrogate secured their first Premier League title with a thumping 5-1 win at their new Anthony Farley Stadium over my own Salford side, meanwhile down at Salford we secured our first Champions League title with an equally thumping 6-3 win over Harrogate. After having lost the title to @oliscott I was somewhat concerned for the CL final as my team had no answer to his in the league. However, flying out the traps we scored 3 before he really knew what had hit him and from there it was all fairly secure although he did manage to pull 3 back. 

So after 20 years the scores come to a big 1-1. 

While the quality is poor, myself and Oli had been talking about some of the goals set to certain music earlier, so I decided to rush upload this for some gentle ribbing as it was Gary Webb's 6th goal to secure the game more or less...

Going into this season my finances were a big concern, which saw me sell off a massive £263m worth of players. What was probably the clinching signing though was Gianluigi Donnarumma - signed at the ripe old age of 37 he joined and then sadly announced he was retiring at the end of the season but he was phenomenal in goal for the short period I had him. Retiring at 38 is retiring far too soon but these things happen.

League Table:

Harrogate Transfers:

Salford Transfers:

[Nobby_McDonald]

Bloody hell, Oli has finally done it.

[BoxToBox]

What a season!

[santy001]

Indeed it was a good year all around @BoxToBox and it was strange to see Oli not actually bottle it again @Nobby_McDonald. Arguably he did bottle the CL final against me though, losing 6-3. 

Had I signed Donnarumma in the summer I think I could have made a good fist of a title challenge myself. After selling my keeper, Amrani to PSG for over £50m (second goalkeeper sale in a few years to PSG for over £50m) I replaced him with a low budget option in Luis Rodriguez from Swansea. What a disaster. Really was what cost me so many points early season, I dropped him for the free transfer signing Alan Kiernan who was 35/36 after just a few games. 

Still devastated Donnarumma decided to retire at the end of the season, at 38 there was still several more good years in the tank. 

[oliscott]

13 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Bloody hell, Oli has finally done it.

This is how most of our games tend to go I’ll start strong in regards to winning the big titles and then Sant will get his team setup and formation along with with the conveyer belt of youth to replace the players he sells for big profits and steam roll the game until I have a few years of winning. Rinse and repeat.

[oliscott]

Down to the wire now

[Nobby_McDonald]

1 May could be the title deciding date.

And the goals are flying in.

[oliscott]

18 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

1 May could be the title deciding date.

And the goals are flying in.

It was the game against Arsenal that decided the swing of things for the title but Ill let @santy001 explain that in his season wrap up later tonight.

Into about October now anyway on the new season, flying high again.