AC London - I Predict A Riot

[ToMexico!!]

2029/30 - Manager Round-Up

Premiership 

Arsenal         Diego Simeone (joined from PSG in 2028)
Brighton        Gary Sawyer (6th club since retiring in 2021)
Chelsea         Antonio Conte (666 games in charge and spent over £2 billion on players)
C Palace        Andre Schembri (took over in 2029 after leaving Spurs in 2028)
Everton         Yaya Toure (into his 5th season with the Toffees)
Leeds           Marc Campbell (former Wolves U18 AssMan, managed Sheff Weds and Ipswich before getting Leeds promoted)
Leicester       Rajko Rotman (retired from playing in 2025, joined current club in 2028)
Liverpool       Unai Emery (been with Liverpool since 2023)
Man City        Massimilliano Allegri (on 190k p/w, been here since 2019)
Man Utd         Jose Mourinho (still here, on 250k p/w, now won 35 major trophies with Utd)
Middlesbrough   Patrick Vieira (joined in 2027 after 3 seasons with no club)
Newcastle       Danny Cowley (the former Lincoln boss has managed Birmingham, Brighton, Aston Villa, Southampton and Watford previously)
Preston         Shaun Derry (rattled around the lowered leagues before getting Preston promoted)
Southampton     Paul Tisdale (sacked by Newcastle in the summer got a lucky break here)
Stoke           Mathieu Flamini (also back in management after leaving Newcastle two seasons ago)
Tottenham       Jonny Hayes (Took over in the summer after leaving Stoke, managed Palace before that)
Watford         Gennaro Gattuso (took over in 2026 after leaving Real Madrid)
West Brom       Clint Dempsey (been here since 2026 also, one season with Bristol City prior)
West Ham        Sean Dyche (joined in 2028 after leaving Brentford)
Wolves          Gareth Whalley (managed Colchester and Cardiff before joining in 2028)

Selected League Clubs

Bournemouth      Ch      Graziano Pelle (retired in 2022, took him 6 years to get a job)
Bolton           Ch      Ander Herrera (Spent a single season at both Plymouth and Crewe before taking Bolton job)
Burnley          Ch      Michael Laudrup (managed mainly Championship sides including Fulham and Bolton)
Norwich          Ch      Wilfried Zaha (retired in 2027, managed Fleetwood then took Norwich in the summer)
Reading          Ch      Oriel Romeu (retired in 2028, started at Colcester then moved to Reading in the summer)
Sheff Weds       Ch      Luka Milivojevic (took over in 2028, his only job)
Swindon          Ch      Rio Ferdinand (Birmingham, Luton, Bury and Sheff Weds are his previous clubs)
Leyton Orient    L1      Wayne Rooney (bounced around the lower leagues)
Rotherham        L1      Jonathan dos Santos (joined Rotherham in 2028 after a year out a job)
Walsall          L1      Gareth Barry (at his 5th club, his biggest club so far)
Wycombe          L1      Sadio Mane (started his career at Peterborough in 2028)
Carlisle         L2      Tom Cairney (progressed from Harrogate and Northampton to be here)
Northampton      L2      Jamie Vardy (spent 4 years at 	Maidenhead before getting a league break)
Rochdale         L2      Dedryck Boyata (retired last year and stepped into management here)

Former Player at Non-League Clubs

Bristol Rovers        Granit Xhaka
Dulwich Hamlet        Aaron Lennon
Halifax               Alan Smith
Stockport             Alex Bruce
Sutton                Jonjo Shelvey
Worcester             Jeff Hendrick
Bradford PA           Tom Ince
Hartlepool            Curtis Davies
Salford               Matt Phillips
Braintree             Liam Bridcutt
Chelmsford            Sam Byram
Maidenhead            Jake Livermore
Dartford              Benik Afobe
Hastings              Scott Hogan
Blyth                 Callum McManaman
Morecombe             Tom Cleverley

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Excellent effort winning promotion.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Congrats on promotion, you've got a decent budget for that level too which will certainly help get a few new faces in 

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Congrats on promotion, you've got a decent budget for that level too which will certainly help get a few new faces in 

Thanks  

Not used much of the budget, spent more on bringing backroom staff in than on players. Only spent 14k on a defender compared to about 50k on staff. 

[ToMexico!!]

League 2 - 2029/30

Transfers

In the close season we turned professional which opened up the potential to bring in better players on longer contracts and we did just that. First up the sales, young Spanish centre back Alberto had been wanted since about January and I finally decided to cash in. Nottingham Forest came in with a derisory offer but I negotiated hard to get £75k up front and some added extras. The other player sale was back up goalkeeper Watkins who left for Blackburn Rovers in a deal just short of £10k. Armed with a hefty transfer budget of over £300k I set about finding replacements and bringing in some much needed added depth. I scoured and scouted all the Premiership teams released list and signed a number of promising young players. Davis-Francis (Watford), Hattabi (Bournemouth) and Ricci (Man Utd) were first to join. We then raided the loan market with Robinson (Man City) and Martin-Gordon (Ipswich) coming in as first team players. An ever-green Josh Harrop signed on a free to add an option with a plethora of positions he can play. My only cash signing was Ryan Quinn from Kingstonian, he was the replacement I needed for Alberto in the heart of the defence. 

League

Expectations were to not get into a relegation battle and we did just that. Adding in a touch of quality and better back-ups that gave me more opportunity to rotate a number of players especially in the full back and forward positions, that being said we didn't sign a striker just promoted Rutter from the youth team to a starting berth as a Target Man. Considering our pre-season was awful losing all of our four games including a 6-5 humdinger against Godmanchester, I wasn't hopeful. We started the season in mediocre fashion only picking up wins over Oldham and Ebbsfleet in the first nine games but we did have four consecutive draws in that time too. We then proceeded to win five of the next seven including over eventual league winners Lincoln and a big 4-0 win over promotion contenders Tranmere. Cup exits saw a dip in league form too but a big win at the beginning of December over Harrogate improved our fortunes as we only lost one game out of seven in the month. 

The new year started with defeat to Southend and our form continued to become inconstant as we won at home and lost our away games through Feb and March especially. Three wins on the bounce consolidated our position in the league, those came against Yeovil, Port Vale and Grimsby. Poor defeats in April to Harrogate and Barrow at the end of the season (which actually saw them jump from the foot of the table to 22nd and survive on goal difference) made it a slightly disappointing end to the season. But overall we overachieved massively to finish in 10th place. 

Cups

We entered straight into the FA Cup first round and bowed out straight away losing to Wycombe Wanderers of League One, only a narrow 1-0 defeat though. Another first round this time in the Carabao Cup to Portsmouth.  The Checkatrade Trophy was not and will not be a priority for the coming future and a heavily rotated team was used. We lost all of our games, to Palace U23, Cambridge (despite being ahead) and Gillingham on penalties(?!?) 

Squad

Like I said above we added some much needed squad depth which helped up when we had injuries as we weren't relying on some poor players previously on amateur contracts. We scored the 3rd most amount of goals with 93 but did concede 80 which was more than the two relegated teams. So I will focus of the attacking threats of our team. I've previously mentioned we play the narrow 433 and that I promoted a youth player into the starting line up and it paid off, the said youth player Rutter scored 21 in 38 in his debut season, our other youth striker who came through in the same intake Tony Hill continued on from last season to contribute 17 goals in rotation with Nikos Panagi in the defensive forward role. Panagi himself scored 18 whilst making 12 assists. Those goals taking his career total for 422 for this club. Jack Joyce narrowly took the top scorer award for the club with 22 goals in an AF/P role. My player of the season was Andrew Robinson who was on loan from Manchester City, from midfield he only scored four but made 16 assists and set the team on the front foot from a DLP position. 

Club and Finances

The club made arrangements for the ground to have more seating introduced taking us to 2075 seated and over 5500 in total. Also the club agreed to improve the youth recruitment to an Established level so we should see improvements in that regard in the coming seasons. Finances took a real tumble as we hover just in the black, increased wages costs for both playing and non playing staff the main contributor. Net debt now sits at just over £1m as the club took out another loan for the additional seating required to meet league regulations. 

We had a board takeover during the season as the chairman stated he wanted to leave mid-season and in February a new one was promoted within. So no outside investment into the club. 

U18s

The U18s led by manager Fabian Delph who joined during the off season from Ivybridge Town U18s, scored goals for fun as they went on to win the league against the likes of Gillingham, Millwall and Southend's U18s involved. They went on to lose in the Division 3 Final against Norwich U18s. In the FA Youth Cup they lost in the 6th Round to Wolverhampton Wanderers after beating Plymouth, Leyton Orient, Burnley, Fulham and Reading on the way. 

Next Season

More of the same, consolidation more so and improving that defensive record. A better FA Cup run would be good to help the finances if possible. 

Season  | League                    | POS  | FA Cup         | Finances | Youth Rec   | Junior Coach | Other Achievements
2017/18 | Combined Counties Div 1   | 1st  | -	            | 24k      | Basic       | Minimal      | FA Vase 3rd Round
2018/19 | Combined Counties Premier | 1st  | FA Cup Prelim  | 56k      | Basic 	     | Minimal      | Lost in FA Vase Final
2019/20 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 6th  | 3rd Qual Round | 8k       | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2020/21 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 1st  | 4th Qual Round | -57k     | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2021/22 | Isthmian Premier Division | 12th | 1st Round      | 1k       | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2022/23 | Isthmian Premier Division | 6th  | 1st Round      | -78k     | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2023/24 | Isthmian Premier Division | 1st  | 1st Round      | -28k     | Basic       | Minimal      | Stadium Expansion 
2024/25 | Vanarama National South   | 7th  | 2nd Round      | 120k     | F. Basic    | F. Basic     | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2025/26 | Vanarama National South   | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 460k     | Average     | Average      | Promoted via Play-Offs
2026/27 | Vanarama National         | 15th | 1st Round      | 350k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | -
2027/28 | Vanarama National         | 6th  | 3rd Round      | 440k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2028/29 | Vanarama National         | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 716k     | Adequate    | Good         | Promoted via Play-Offs
2029/30 | League 2                  | 10th | 1st Round      | 35k      | Established | Good         | -

 

[cplpeters1900]

How did you start making money in the Vanarama Regional leagues, I've got up to there, and now I'm just leaking so much money.

[ToMexico!!]

1 minute ago, cplpeters1900 said:

How did you start making money in the Vanarama Regional leagues, I've got up to there, and now I'm just leaking so much money.

Solely through the FA Cup, starting in the prelims that's 5 rounds to the first round, each with prize money from a few thousand to 20k. We only turned pro last summer so I had a tight leash on my wage expenditure too as we mainly only paid appearance fees.

[cplpeters1900]

6 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Solely through the FA Cup, starting in the prelims that's 5 rounds to the first round, each with prize money from a few thousand to 20k. We only turned pro last summer so I had a tight leash on my wage expenditure too as we mainly only paid appearance fees.

Fair enough, I think my wage expenditure is way too high, but I'm already struggling just to stay in the division

[ToMexico!!]

1 minute ago, cplpeters1900 said:

Fair enough, I think my wage expenditure is way too high, but I'm already struggling just to stay in the division

It's only been in the past two/maybe three seasons where I've had a bigger squad, kept it pretty tight and not changed the squad loads through the years has kept costs like signing on fee's down too. 

Really go for a FA Cup run if you can and try and achieve a 1st Round at least, you may get an decent away draw were you will get half the gate receipts and possibly TV revenue too. 

[ToMexico!!]

Really struggling to improve the squad without paying over the odds on wages. Players on amateur contracts in leagues below are wanting nearly £3k per week which is ridiculous, considering my highest earner is on £675k per week. 

I've dipped into the loan market again this time bringing in five players, same GK as last season from Ipswich. An 18 year old Argentinian CB from Man Utd, two CMs from Brighton and QPR to add depth and a 17 year old striker from Hull. All the outfield players will be rotation players. 

I've also made five permanent signings all youngsters again with four of them on free's from higher league clubs. A CM and GK from Man City, RB from Middlesbrough and ST from West Ham with only the CM playing a first team role. The other signing was 18 year old Romanian prospect from FC Romania for £5k. I will continue to scour the market for young players to bring into the U18's and U23s.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Very good first season in the Football League.

[ToMexico!!]

15 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Very good first season in the Football League.

Thanks. 

Doing well again this season despite the lack of improvement to the first team. 

[ToMexico!!]

Panagi Looking to Leave

The time has come and Nikos Panagi has asked to leave the club after falling down the pecking order. He's only scored 1 goal this season from 16 total appearances. At 29 he feels he has achieved all he can at the club. As an influential player at the club I granted his wish to move on. It will certainly be interesting at who wants him and whether he could recapture some of his previous form. 

[ToMexico!!]

Into the FA Cup 4th Round

For the first time we are into the hat for the FA Cup 4th Round. We entered in the 1st Round beating Wycombe Wanderers of League One, we then were drawn against Vanarama National League side Accrington Stanley and we beat them 3-1. In the 3rd Round we were drawn against Championship side Bury, former loan player Andrew Robinson was on loan there from Man City, he was one of 8 loan players in the first XI. We managed to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to the heroics of Tony Hill. 

And our opponents are.....

Kerching......

[rodesire]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

Into the FA Cup 4th Round

For the first time we are into the hat for the FA Cup 4th Round. We entered in the 1st Round beating Wycombe Wanderers of League One, we then were drawn against Vanarama National League side Accrington Stanley and we beat them 3-1. In the 3rd Round we were drawn against Championship side Bury, former loan player Andrew Robinson was on loan there from Man City, he was one of 8 loan players in the first XI. We managed to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 thanks to the heroics of Tony Hill. 

And our opponents are.....

Kerching......

Oh the money...

[ToMexico!!]

The FA Cup 4th Round

An expected loss but unexpected result, the fact we only conceded four and we scored one for ourselves shows how far we have come from that big loss to Everton all those seasons ago. A tad over 60000 fans turned up for the game and that resulted in us netting just under £400k for the gate receipts which puts us back into the black, not by much though. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'd have thought a 60,000+ crowd would have netted you more than £400,000 from the gate.

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

I'd have thought a 60,000+ crowd would have netted you more than £400,000 from the gate.

I thought the same, maybe the tickets were cheaper than normal!! 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Great run in the cup, shame you didn't get more cash from the Arsenal game but at least it gets you back in the black for a while 

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Great run in the cup, shame you didn't get more cash from the Arsenal game but at least it gets you back in the black for a while 

Thanks. It all but lasted about 2 weeks. Now around 300k in the red, which is not great but its not horrendous. 

[ToMexico!!]

League 2 - 2030/31

League

I wanted consolidation, a similar position to last season, the board wanted survival the media predicted relegation. We achieved Promotion!! Unbelievable really, we were in mixed form from the off, hovering around the mid-tabled places through the first third of the season but much improved in the winter months we moved into the play-offs before a strong January into February pushed us into the automatic promotion spots. Northampton were a few points clear of us but we kept the pressure on them. With three games to go we played Northampton, some mind games with Jamie Vardy seemed to rattle him and we came away from Sixfields with a 2-0 win. We were level with them, only behind on goal difference. The penultimate game of the season was against Yeovil, we drew but Northampton didn't, they recovered and won to move 2 points clear. Last game of the season they faced already relegated Peterborough at home whilst we travelled to 4th placed Walsall. We did our bit winning 3-2 but Peterborough couldn't cause an upset as Northampton went on to be crowned champions. 

Cups

Didn't care about the Carabao Cup, out in the first round to Luton. Checkatrade Trophy was no better, lost all three group games to Gillingham, Arsenal U23s and Millwall. Like I posted previously we went on a great run in the FA Cup to reach the 4th Round, beating Wycombe, Accrington and Bury on the way to face Arsenal at the Emirates. We lost 4-1 in an admirable performance which netted us around £400k in gate receipts. 

Squad

I tried to improve the squad the best I could and relied on loans again this time five of them coming in. I felt like I didn't want to break my wage structure to bring in the top quality players which would cripple us financially, no player is on more than £700 per week. This season it was all about the front three of Tony Hill our youth product in the defensive forward role, Jack Joyce the poacher and Romone Storrie on loan from Hull in an advanced forward role. The trio netted an incredible 87 goals between them whilst producing 38 assists too. I enquired about the availability of Storrie in hope to make the move a permanent one but they wanted a hefty £1.2m 

Club and Finances

Upgrades!! The board reluctantly agreed to improve both the Junior Coaching to an Excellent level and Youth Recruitment to Well Established. When and IF i'm offered a new contract i'm going to ask for another upgrade for one of those and a senior affiliate, something we've never had, the board previously not wanting to establish a link. 

Finances are bad but not that bad, we're £300k in the red and have £875k outstanding on our loans. We're currently spending less than half of our weekly wage budget of £28k per week which is keeping things tighter than usual but its staff wages that out strip players wages as the biggest expenditure. Even more so is the Youth Setup costs which have increased from £368k last season to £960k this season. But that's not something the club should cut back in, we need to continue pushing forward. 

Next Season

Promotion this season was off the cards so next season will be extra hard being in League One and having a lower mid tabled League Two squad. Survival is paramount and hopefully will be achieved. New additions to the squad are also key, a new GK, RB, CB, CM and back up ST or two wouldn't go amiss. 

Season  | League                    | POS  | FA Cup         | Finances | Youth Rec   | Junior Coach | Other Achievements
2017/18 | Combined Counties Div 1   | 1st  | -	            | 24k      | Basic       | Minimal      | FA Vase 3rd Round
2018/19 | Combined Counties Premier | 1st  | FA Cup Prelim  | 56k      | Basic 	     | Minimal      | Lost in FA Vase Final
2019/20 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 6th  | 3rd Qual Round | 8k       | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2020/21 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 1st  | 4th Qual Round | -57k     | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2021/22 | Isthmian Premier Division | 12th | 1st Round      | 1k       | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2022/23 | Isthmian Premier Division | 6th  | 1st Round      | -78k     | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2023/24 | Isthmian Premier Division | 1st  | 1st Round      | -28k     | Basic       | Minimal      | Stadium Expansion 
2024/25 | Vanarama National South   | 7th  | 2nd Round      | 120k     | F. Basic    | F. Basic     | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2025/26 | Vanarama National South   | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 460k     | Average     | Average      | Promoted via Play-Offs
2026/27 | Vanarama National         | 15th | 1st Round      | 350k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | -
2027/28 | Vanarama National         | 6th  | 3rd Round      | 440k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2028/29 | Vanarama National         | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 716k     | Adequate    | Good         | Promoted via Play-Offs
2029/30 | League 2                  | 10th | 1st Round      | 35k      | Established | Good         | -
2030/31 | League 2                  | 2nd  | 4th Round      | -300k    | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Promoted

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Well done Usually I hate it unexpected promotions when I know the squad isn't really good enough for it but with the money in England it's best to get up and keep earning as quickly as possible, good luck for next year

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Well done Usually I hate it unexpected promotions when I know the squad isn't really good enough for it but with the money in England it's best to get up and keep earning as quickly as possible, good luck for next year

Thanks. I'm going to need it. I've been given £300k to spend so I may well just use it this season to bring in a couple of quality players who can make the difference. I've made one sale so far and that's my GK. He'd moaned about a couple of issues last season so I could see him becoming a bit of a trouble maker. Bolton came in and I negotiated a decent enough deal, considering I signed him on a free last summer. So I now need 2 new GK's as the other was on loan. 

[Theodlard]

Nice job with the promotion, good luck next season, no doubt you can stay up.  Premier league getting really close now.

[ToMexico!!]

6 hours ago, Theodlard said:

Nice job with the promotion, good luck next season, no doubt you can stay up.  Premier league getting really close now.

Thanks. Ideally I need to stay in this league for a good three seasons to build a better reputation to build a better squad as we're still of League 2 standard for sure. My squads average age is 21 as the only quality players I can attract are Premier League cast offs. 

I think the Premier League is another good 10 seasons away. 

[ToMexico!!]

Panagi flies into Gatwick

After being without a club for four months club icon Nikos Panagi has signed for Crawley Down Gatwick in the South Combination League Division 1, which is back to where it began for him in Level 10 of the English Football Pyramid. After 423 goals for AC London the 30 year old former Cyrpus U21 international will endeavour to score goals once again for his new club. 

[ToMexico!!]

Ricci Rich-er

Back in the summer my back up left back Ricci was subject to intense interest from a number of higher division teams and clubs bid up to his release clause value of 250k, his agent came to me asking for an improved deal to which I offered him but expected Ricci to sign for the likes of Leeds or Fulham. He signed a new contract and stayed but with a bigger release clause. 

Come January Bristol City offered 300k which I increased to 425k, Leeds matched the bid and off he goes to Bristol. Again not bad for a player signing on a free and being back up. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Excellent promotion.

[ToMexico!!]

League One - 2031/32

League

This season was all about staving off relegation and ensuring there was four teams worse than us. However we ended the season with seven teams worse than us as we finished a respectable 17th in our debut season in the league. We had excellent wins over Exeter and Coventry early in the season but then went four games without one. Back on track against Plymouth, a couple of draws were followed by back to back 1-0 wins. Into December we beat Rotherham and Notts County but had a poor holiday season with losses to Exeter and AFC Wimbledon. Mid-Jan saw us finally pick up a league win over Mansfield which saw another two wins follow. Big wins over Wigan and Plymouth were either side of 3-3 draws with Wycombe and Nottingham Forest. Our last win came against Fleetwood as the last six games of the season we went without a win, another two of them were 3-3 draws again. 

Cups

We beat Championship side Swansea City in the first round of the Carabao Cup but then suffered a heavy defeat to Millwall to bow out in the next round. In the Checktrade Trophy we topped the table beating Crawley, Dagenham and Brentford U23 in the group stages. We were then drawn against Burton Albion in the next round and we beat them 3-1. AFC Wimbledon were out 3rd Round opponents and in a ding dong battle we succumbed to a 5-3 defeat. In the FA Cup we reached the 4th Round before bowing out to QPR. Prior to that we beat Barrow in the first round, Corby in the second round and Birmingham in the third round.  

Squad

I really struggled to bring in players of quality so I relied on the squad I had built plus around half a dozen fresh faced kids thrown out of Premiership clubs academies. I re-loaned Romone Storrie and Luciano Jones from Hull and Man Utd respectively and they slotted straight back into the first team. Storrie was once again flanked by youth academy products Rutter and Hill. It was Storrie who was the star of our season as he scored an incredible 38 goals in 46(3) games. He was back up by Hill who contributed 20 goals and 10 assists. 

Club and Finances

No change in the club stature as we made no improvements to the facilities for the lack of the finances. The finances were in the red throughout the season except in January when we sold back up left back Ricci to Bristol. They dipped back into the red before the league solidarity payment steered us clear for the time being. We still owe £700k on the loans. The main expenditure again was the Youth Setup at £1.3m. 

Next Season

Same again next season, I expect another two seasons before potentially challenging for any attempt of promotion. We need to ramp up the quality in the first team exponentially to match up to the some of the teams in this league; Charlton, Millwall, Birmingham who remain in it and Portsmouth, Bolton and Blackburn who were all relegated from the Championship. 

Season  | League                    | POS  | FA Cup         | Finances | Youth Rec   | Junior Coach | Other Achievements
2017/18 | Combined Counties Div 1   | 1st  | -	            | 24k      | Basic       | Minimal      | FA Vase 3rd Round
2018/19 | Combined Counties Premier | 1st  | FA Cup Prelim  | 56k      | Basic 	     | Minimal      | Lost in FA Vase Final
2019/20 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 6th  | 3rd Qual Round | 8k       | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2020/21 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 1st  | 4th Qual Round | -57k     | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2021/22 | Isthmian Premier Division | 12th | 1st Round      | 1k       | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2022/23 | Isthmian Premier Division | 6th  | 1st Round      | -78k     | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2023/24 | Isthmian Premier Division | 1st  | 1st Round      | -28k     | Basic       | Minimal      | Stadium Expansion 
2024/25 | Vanarama National South   | 7th  | 2nd Round      | 120k     | F. Basic    | F. Basic     | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2025/26 | Vanarama National South   | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 460k     | Average     | Average      | Promoted via Play-Offs
2026/27 | Vanarama National         | 15th | 1st Round      | 350k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | -
2027/28 | Vanarama National         | 6th  | 3rd Round      | 440k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2028/29 | Vanarama National         | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 716k     | Adequate    | Good         | Promoted via Play-Offs
2029/30 | League 2                  | 10th | 1st Round      | 35k      | Established | Good         | -
2030/31 | League 2                  | 2nd  | 4th Round      | -300k    | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Promoted
2031/32 | League 1                  | 17th | 4th Round      | 535k     | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Survival

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Brilliant work to stay up, great points total for a first season in a new division tbh 

[ToMexico!!]

Moving on Up!

Made the biggest leap up the pyramid...

Loughborough Uni      League 2                 5 Promotions followed by 2 Relegations then a double promotion back to League 2
Frome Town            Vanarama National        3 Promotions in 4 Seasons
Romulus               Vanarama National        Promoted to League 2, relegation followed a season later
Hebburn Town          Vanarama North           4 Promotions in 6 Seasons
Paget Rangers         Vanarama North           4 Promotions in 5 Seasons
Winterton Rangers     Vanarama North           5 Promotions starting in 20/21. Were releagated from National League in 29/30
Exmouth Town          Vanarama South           4 Promotions in last 4 Seasons
Hordean               Vanarama South           4 Promotions since 2025/26
Loxwood               Vanarama South           4 Promotions in last 4 seasons from Southern Combination Div 1

Going Down!

The biggest falls from grace in the game so far...

Curzon Ashton       North West Counties Div 1      Relegated 4 Divisions from Vanarama North
Cheltenham Town     Southern League Div 1 West     Relegated from Leauge 2 in 2021/22, fallen another 3 Tiers
Doncastor Rovers    Northern Premier Division      Relegated from League 1 in 2018/19, promoted back but 4 subsequent relegations followed
Blackpool           Vanarama North                 Relegated 3 times after originally starting in League 1           

 

New into Management 

Former players making the move into management...

Emiliano Marcondes        Barnsley       Former Brentford player
Jack Hobbs                Burnley        Took up management in 2030
Raphael Guerreiro         MK Dons        Started in 2031 with Lincoln
Thomas Lam                Plymouth       Started in 2030 with Grimsby after 11 Seasons with Twente
John Stones               Crawley        First job taking over in 2031
Tin Jedvaj                Scunthorpe     Took up management in 2030 with Peterborough
Islam Feruz               Blyth          First job taking over in 2030
Ivan Toney                Torquay        Started with Salisbury in 2030

 

[ToMexico!!]

International Array

Something I've not really covered in my brief looks at the save is the International scene..

World Cup

Year   Winners     Runners Up
2018   France      Senegal
2022   Portugal    France
2026   Argentina   Holland
2030   France      Portugal

European Championships

Year     Winners        Runners Up
2020     Italy          Spain
2024     Germany        Italy
2028     France         Germany 
2032     France         Spain

African Cup of Nations

Year     Winners        Runners Up
2019     Egypt          DR Congo
2021     Ivory Coast    Ghana
2023     Senegal        Morocco
2025     Ivory Coast    Morocco
2027     South Africa   Mali
2029     Ivory Coast    DR Congo
2031     Morocco        South Africa

Asian Nations Cup

Year     Winners        Runners Up
2019     South Korea    Japan
2023     South Korea    Uzbekistan
2027     Australia      Japan
2031     South Korea    Australia

Copa America

Year     Winners      Runners Up
2019     Peru         Brazil
2023     Brazil       Argentina
2027     Brazil       Argentina
2031     Colombia     Peru

Gold Cup

Year     Winners       Runners Up
2019     USA           Mexico
2021     Costa Rica    Mexico
2023     USA           Honduras
2025     USA           Mexico
2027     Mexico        Haiti
2029     Mexico        Costa Rica
2031     Costa Rica    Mexico

Oceania Nations Cup

Year    Winners        Runners Up
2020    New Zealand    Papua New Guinea
2024    New Zealand    New Caledonia
2028    New Zealand    New Caledonia
2032    New Zealand    Papua New Guinea 

 

International Managers

England        Danny Cowley (left Newcastle after 3 Seasons)
Germany        Jurgen Klopp (managed Bayern for 10 seasons prior)
Holland        Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (been here for 4 years)
Italy          Stale Solbakken (3rd International Team after Switzerland then Belgium)
Portugal       Marco Silva (recently joined after departure from Dortmund)
Russia         Andre Breitenreiter (was previously Hannover manager for 13 years)
Spain          Gennaro Gattuso (just joined after 6 seasons with Watford)
Turkey         Sean Dyche (left Presten after one season)

All other managers are AI Regens

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Very well done staying up.

[ToMexico!!]

League 1 - 2032/33

League

After last seasons 17th place, same again was expected and some form of consolidation within the league. We did better, much better. We finished a seriously impressive 8th place, surprisingly I think it wasn't the strength of us be able to finish that high up the league it was more now to the rest of the league being weaker over all. In comparison to last season we won three more games which bumped us up those nine places. We only scored seven more goals whilst conceding seven less too. 

Cups

We bowed out of the Carabao Cup in the 2nd Round again, this time to Cardiff after beating Southend on penalties in the first round. We also reached the 2nd Round of the Chekatrade too, beating Spurs U23s and Dagenham in the groups saw us meet Portsmouth in the said 2nd Round, we went on to lose 2-0. The FA Cup was more of the same as we reached the 3rd Round again, we beat Chesterfield in the 1st Round and Bradford in the 2nd Round, both 3-1 scorelines. That set up a tie with Premiership giants Chelsea, unfortunately though at home, we succumbed to a heavy 5-0 loss. 

Transfers/Squad

We only lost one player on a permanent transfer but he had spent the previous season out on loan. We supplemented the squad nine players overall with three of those as first team players, Ethan Clarke and Jake Bell come in as a first choice centre back pairing after being released by Manchester United and Arsenal. The other first team player was a new GK in Sam Lawrence, I spent £16.5k to nab him from FC United of Manchester. My HOYD made a couple of dubious signings so I then relinquished his opportunities to sign such players in the future. I made one of other signing of note, I looked through some of the better African squads and signed Waly Mariko from Stade Malien for 14k, unfortunately he didn't get a work permit but I signed him still, instantly worth 80k, I can sell him for a profit. Most importantly we had renewed the loan services of Romone Storrie for another season. 

We largely kept with same starting eleven from last season, just adjusting some of the roles within the team. Tom Bond took over from Rutter in the Target Man role and did well with 10 goals and 15 assists, Tony Hill scored 13 and assisted 10 in the defensive forward role whilst the main man Storrie scored another 28 goals as an advanced forward role. The Irish midfield trio had a better season scoring 11 and assisting 20 between them, something they need to improve on again next season. For much of the season we had three teenagers in the back four, that didn't detract from some very good performances throughout the season.  

Club/Finances

Finances are a shambles massively in the red which saw no possible improvements to the clubs facilities. Despite the poor finances we've been given £290k to spend but the wage budget has been slashed by £6k p/w to £24k p/w, we are spending less than that however. 

Fortunately a new sponsorship deal injected 210k into the club whilst the board themselves provided a cash injection of 250k. We then received a solidarity payment of nearly 800k for competing in the League 1 which took us back into the black. 

Next Season

I said after last season I wanted consolidation and next season is no different. I'm going to try and emphasise a bit  more on the academy products I've had come through in the past few seasons, especially in the cups. A mid-tabled finish would be perfect and an improvement on the finances is paramount. 

Season  | League                    | POS  | FA Cup         | Finances | Youth Rec   | Junior Coach | Other Achievements
2017/18 | Combined Counties Div 1   | 1st  | -	            | 24k      | Basic       | Minimal      | FA Vase 3rd Round
2018/19 | Combined Counties Premier | 1st  | FA Cup Prelim  | 56k      | Basic 	     | Minimal      | Lost in FA Vase Final
2019/20 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 6th  | 3rd Qual Round | 8k       | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2020/21 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 1st  | 4th Qual Round | -57k     | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2021/22 | Isthmian Premier Division | 12th | 1st Round      | 1k       | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2022/23 | Isthmian Premier Division | 6th  | 1st Round      | -78k     | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2023/24 | Isthmian Premier Division | 1st  | 1st Round      | -28k     | Basic       | Minimal      | Stadium Expansion 
2024/25 | Vanarama National South   | 7th  | 2nd Round      | 120k     | F. Basic    | F. Basic     | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2025/26 | Vanarama National South   | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 460k     | Average     | Average      | Promoted via Play-Offs
2026/27 | Vanarama National         | 15th | 1st Round      | 350k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | -
2027/28 | Vanarama National         | 6th  | 3rd Round      | 440k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2028/29 | Vanarama National         | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 716k     | Adequate    | Good         | Promoted via Play-Offs
2029/30 | League 2                  | 10th | 1st Round      | 35k      | Established | Good         | -
2030/31 | League 2                  | 2nd  | 4th Round      | -300k    | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Promoted
2031/32 | League 1                  | 17th | 4th Round      | 535k     | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Survival
2032/33 | League 1                  | 8th  | 3rd Round      | 400k     | Well Estabd | Excellent    | - 

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Think you're being a bit tough on your side there, it's a good bit of progress on last year 

[ToMexico!!]

27 minutes ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Think you're being a bit tough on your side there, it's a good bit of progress on last year 

Thanks, I know what you mean but we're outplaying our ability so it feels all a bit fake and we've advanced too much too soon. But nevertheless I'm going to crack on with the save and see what happens. 

[ToMexico!!]

The Future of AC London

From this season forward I have decided to put more emphasis on youth from my intakes and as the quality of the players coming through are increasing I thought I would show off a few of them. Including a couple of new signings for the future. 

Sheridan - promoted to the first team the season before last and done well, played in 30 first team games last season. 

Kane - promoted to the first team this summer after I sold Rob O'Brien to Coventry, will be a bench player but will get plenty of opportunities.

Leonard - not a tagged player but has potential

Johnson - a natural AMC, a position I don't use but can become a useful bench player in a couple of seasons

Coxall - another un-tagged player and has poor potential but ranks better than Tony Hill who has been a first team regular for the past few seasons

Coleman - apparently the most gifted player to come through last seasons intake, horrid tackling but good starting stats elsewhere. 

Gonnella - signed on a free from Arsenal this summer, straight into the U23's for a season. 

Ortner - the Austrian midfield signed from Southampton, great mentals and could do a job now but a year in the U23's and needed when called upon. 

[turnip]

Impressive progress

[ToMexico!!]

On 12/06/2018 at 20:45, turnip said:

Impressive progress

Thanks!! 

[ToMexico!!]

Someone I hadn't previously considered to be a exciting prospect was George Lake, I knew I had him, he was loaned out to Scunthorpe last season as he plays in a position I don't use. I was even more alerted to him by HOYD, Rajiv van la Parra who sent through his report card on his progress when I noticed something I hadn't seen before. 

"Lake's potential could lead to him becoming a Premier League right winger in the future" that's the first. Now Rajiv doesn't have the best judgement stats but its the best I can do for HOYD. Here he is; 

And here's Lake; 

His finishing stat is horrific, that's really put me off retraining him as a ST but his raw pace and acceleration makes me want to persevere with him and give him an opportunity. 

[ToMexico!!]

8 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Lake; 

 

With this kid I saw the vultures had started to circle so I broke my modest wage structure to tie him down for another four years, taking his wages from £450 p/w to £1300 p/w in the effort to get some future money for him, Brighton and Preston are still both interested in him. He made his League One debut for me, assisting a goal in the process. He's also scored 23 goals and 32 assists in 30 U23 games for the club. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Another great season progressing.

[ToMexico!!]

21 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Another great season progressing.

Thanks very much!!

[ToMexico!!]

Its been coming...

Shame he won't sign a new contract. We rejected many bids and no club would offer over £100k for him, now I know why, I'll only get 98k if this transfer goes through. He will have to improve considerably to become a first team player for the 3.3k per league appearance to come into play.

Off he goes to Watford. I accepted same bids from Newcastle, Bournemouth, Swansea and a few other clubs. 

[ToMexico!!]

And on Deadline Day off goes my promising young CB, Gonnella gone for pittance. 

[ToMexico!!]

2034 Youth Intake

Another Golden Generation for us but in the words of the late Ray Wilkins "My Word" 

A closer look sees an OK intake but Tony Wright's CA already matches his PA with potential of another star worth. Haynes isn't that great but worth tagging and my other tag will be Francomb the GK. Here is Tony Wright in all his glory. 

Just wow, already on par with my current first team LB Jack O'Donnell. I just hope, HOPE I can tie him down to an incredible contract when he turns 17 and doesn't think he is bigger than the club like Barry Sheridan did. 

[ToMexico!!]

League One - 2033/34

League

After last seasons 8th placed finish which I saw as an over-achievement, I told the squad I wanted mid-table and they agreed. We opened the season with a disappointing loss to Cambridge but soon got the first win under our belts against Carlisle. Form was patchy into September but a decent unbeaten run of 7 games before a loss to Walsall saw us clamber up the table. A very good win against promotion contenders Millwall highlighted how well we were playing. November saw three wins on the bounce but form dipped with no win until Boxing Day when we sought revenge in beating Cambridge. New Year celebrations continued with wins over Lincoln and Bolton. In the new year form became very inconsistent, January was OK but no wins in six through February and March really hampered a decent season. However we picked up a couple of wins whilst teams around us lost to pull us back into play-off contention. Two big wins saw us with a real chance of achieving that last play-off place going into the last game of the season, we sat in 7th, one point behind Gillingham. We faced Exeter whilst the Gills faced Grimsby. Romone Storrie took it upon himself and we found ourselves 2-0 up at half-time whilst Gillingham were 3-1 down at home. The 2nd half was horrendous, Exeter pulled it back to 2-2 before nearly taking the lead. In the 87th minute Adam O'Brien finished a well worked move to seal the win and 6th place. 

In the play-offs we faced Hull and as soon as I saw that, I knew we wouldn't be getting to the final. On loan Romone Storrie was ineligible to play against his parent club and there went 35 league goals not even to the subs bench. In the first leg at home we need to stop Hull from scoring to stand any chance, we got to half-time with the game goalless but the stronger side Hull came away with a 2-0 win by the end of the game. We needed a miracle in the second leg, we scored twice but so did they, the game finished 2-2. 4-2 the aggregate score. An unbelievable season in all seriousness to get a play-off place and to have an improvement on the season before. 

Cups

We reached the second round of the Carabao Cup again before being knocked out to Colchester in extra time. In the Checkatrade we were drawn against Ebbsfleet, Leyton Orient and Cystal Palace, beating the former two, losing to Palace. In the 2nd Round we were well and truly thumped 5-1 by Exeter. In the only cup I care about, we were drawn against Winterton Rangers in the 1st Round, dispatching them comfortably 6-2. Rochdale awaited us in the 2nd Round and away from home we came out 3-1 winners in a professional performance. In the 3rd Round we were drawn at home against Premiership big boys from the blue side of Manchester. We took it to them but came out eventual losers in a 7-4 scoreline. I was so pleased to have scored four goals against a team with such calibre. 

Squad

Only fours players joined the club, three on free's in pre-season and one on loan in January. Gonnella signed in the summer was sold in the winter by the chairman, the other two Ortner and Hall went into the U23s. Four other players were sold through the season, the other O'Brien to Coventry (87k), Chaikamdee to Mansfield (10k), Cooper-Mason to QPR (100k) and Sheridan to Watford for 95k. In total those transfers netting us just under half a million. We could be due another £250k from those in the future. 

Undoubtedly the star of the season was Romone Storrie on loan from Hull. His fourth spell with us saw the striker score 35 league goals plus another seven in the cups. Those goals seeing him top the leagues scoring charts, clear of second by 6 goals. Four players achieved double figures for assists but no big stand-outs. Two players in Adam O'Brien and Matt Allanson played started every game this season with 57 being played. 

Club and Finances

Again due to the poor finances there were no chances to improve the facilities but those initial improvements have now seen decent back to back youth intakes. We did start the season in the black but soon fell into the red but player sales kept us from falling further into the negative. We've been given just under £400k to spend next season and an increase in the weekly wages available to us at £31.5k p/w. However our kit and stadiums sponsors both run out in a few game days so hopefully the board can striker a couple of decent improved deals. 

Next Season

In the end of season meeting, I told the team I wanted a top half finish, which was received with great admiration. Same again this season will be perfect as we still don't have the squad to compete in the most competitive league in the world. The chance to improve the youth players we have will be better served in this division for the a couple more seasons. 

Season  | League                    | POS  | FA Cup         | Finances | Youth Rec   | Junior Coach | Other Achievements
2017/18 | Combined Counties Div 1   | 1st  | -	            | 24k      | Basic       | Minimal      | FA Vase 3rd Round
2018/19 | Combined Counties Premier | 1st  | FA Cup Prelim  | 56k      | Basic 	     | Minimal      | Lost in FA Vase Final
2019/20 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 6th  | 3rd Qual Round | 8k       | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2020/21 | Isthmian Division 1 South | 1st  | 4th Qual Round | -57k     | Basic       | Minimal      | -
2021/22 | Isthmian Premier Division | 12th | 1st Round      | 1k       | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2022/23 | Isthmian Premier Division | 6th  | 1st Round      | -78k     | Basic       | Minimal      | - 
2023/24 | Isthmian Premier Division | 1st  | 1st Round      | -28k     | Basic       | Minimal      | Stadium Expansion 
2024/25 | Vanarama National South   | 7th  | 2nd Round      | 120k     | F. Basic    | F. Basic     | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2025/26 | Vanarama National South   | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 460k     | Average     | Average      | Promoted via Play-Offs
2026/27 | Vanarama National         | 15th | 1st Round      | 350k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | -
2027/28 | Vanarama National         | 6th  | 3rd Round      | 440k     | Adequate    | AboveAverage | Lost in Play-Off 1st Round
2028/29 | Vanarama National         | 3rd  | 3rd Round      | 716k     | Adequate    | Good         | Promoted via Play-Offs
2029/30 | League 2                  | 10th | 1st Round      | 35k      | Established | Good         | -
2030/31 | League 2                  | 2nd  | 4th Round      | -300k    | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Promoted
2031/32 | League 1                  | 17th | 4th Round      | 535k     | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Survival
2032/33 | League 1                  | 8th  | 3rd Round      | 400k     | Well Estabd | Excellent    | - 
2033/34 | League 1                  | 6th  | 3rd Round      | -210k    | Well Estabd | Excellent    | Lost in Play-Off Semi

 

[ToMexico!!]

First Big Sale

Off the back of George Lake signing a new contract I have now sold him to future Premier League side Derby County for £2m plus 50% of any future sale. A number of other clubs like Burnley, Middlesbrough, Brentford and West Ham had all made similar bids. This deal will see us have stable finances for a season or two and/or make some potential facility upgrades. 

[ToMexico!!]

Club Improvements

Off the back of the sale of Lake and that of another couple of young players; Ortner to Leeds for 200k and Hobbs to Huddersfield for 250k that means we are in a good financial situation for the first time. We've spent no money on new players once again with seven free transfers of which just one is a first team player and three more loan signings. 

With this financial clout behind us I took advantage and got the board to reluctantly upgrade the youth recruitment but no luck with upgrading the junior coaching. I have also taken the opportunity to upgrade the back room staff at the youth levels. Some are upgrades with a few brought in purposefully to improve the scouting knowledge. The most change came in the U18s.

The four joining staff members Dimarco (former Italian international), Bartlett (South African who starts at Newcastle), Jaaskelainen (son of the Finnish legend Jussi) and Regan Poole (of Man Utd youth fame) aren't all the greatest but possess potential to improve with all being varying national level qualifications. I will shortly be asking the board to increase the amount of coaches allowed to further increase the quality. 

 

[Dexter_Morgan]

Another good season of progress, nice to see you getting decent money for a player at last