Nobbying Around FM18

[Nobby_McDonald]

New laptop, new game (well FM18 is new for me) and a new save...

I have downloaded some databases (Ivan Wright's being one - I think the World Megapack is another). I have then loaded England to level 8, Scotland to level 5, Wales to level 2 and the top league in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Northern Ireland and Spain.

I am starting with Bishop's Stortford in the Southern League Premier Division, having been relegated the previous season. Why them? I let the league pick a random team for me and they were the first one to come out from England levels 7 and 8, Scotland levels 4 and 5 or all of Wales.

Bishop's Stortford play at Woodside Park which holds 4,000 with 298 seats. Training facilities are below average, youth facilites are basic, there are no data analysis facilities, corporate is average, junior coaching fairly basic and youth recruitment is basic.

The board expect the playoffs, the media say 6th while the bookies have us at 7-1.

I'm given a 1 year contract on £725 per week, a lot for this league.

A look at the squad and a meeting with the backroom staff shows we have a really hard working squad who are a close knit group. Our strengths are passing and heading, though we have low levels of aggression and oddly for a hard working squad, commitment.
Our weakest area of the team is the entire midfield, both in quality and numbers. And while we have some really good strikers there are only four at the club. One of them is on a season long loan and another is only 16.

 

Will this be one club or journeyman? Time will tell. One thing I do know, I'm really enjoying so far going into September.

[withnail316]

Had a good run with them on FM 11, got up to League One and solidly established before moving on. The tiny stadium held me back, but it was fun.

Best of luck with this, Nobster.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Thanks Withnail. I should do the August update on Thursday. The reason I've not posted it yet is because I want to post highlights of match of the month, uploaded to Youtube. However, my game won't upload to Youtube, saying there is no channel associated with my account, even though I have a Youtube account - NobbyM2. Does anyone have any idea why this might be the case? My Youtube account has highlights from FM11 saves uploaded six years ago.

Edited September 10, 2018 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

AUGUST 2017

We are the only team in the division not to sign a single player in pre season. I have four strikers at the club - one of whom is on a season loan from Stevenage and one is 16 years old.
In our opening game at Tiverton we looked like Milan in our red and black stripes but we played like my Nan. And she's lying in a hospital bed.
Things improved and we had a really good month, winning our next four matches and scoring a bagful of goals in the process (with Williams getting consecutive hat-tricks) before earning a hard earning draw at Weymouth to close out the month in 4th place.
In the second game at home to Hitchin, on loan striker Akinyemi breaks his leg and will be out for eight to ten months. We terminate his loan.
Thankfully by the end of the month we have signed four players, including two more young strikers. The board also increase our junior coaching to Average and our youth recruitment to Fairly Basic.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Tiverton Town 3 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Akinyemi)
Bishop's Stortford 4 Hitchin Town 1 (Williams 3 (1 pen), Bickerstaff (og))
Slough Town 3 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Williams 3, Casey)
Bishop's Stortford 5 St Neots Town 2 (Owusu 4, Grant)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Gosport Borough 0 (Owusu, Grant)
Weymouth 1 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Owusu)

MATCH OF THE MONTH
A feature of my updates where I intend to upload highlights of the best match of the month will appear here if I can get Youtube to upload my highlights. This could be the most entertaining match, a big league game, a cup game, anything... and we don't necessarily have to win the game.

NEXT MONTH
We kick off our FA Cup campaign and have a highly frustrating league game against a club at the bottom end of the table.

[noikeee]

On 10/09/2018 at 21:46, Nobby_McDonald said:

However, my game won't upload to Youtube, saying there is no channel associated with my account, even though I have a Youtube account - NobbyM2. Does anyone have any idea why this might be the case? My Youtube account has highlights from FM11 saves uploaded six years ago.

I've had some confusion in the past with multiple Youtube accounts, due to Google creating a 2nd account associated to my Google+ real name rather than the nickname. Perhaps this is what's happening to you.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Yeah, I have one that is my Youtube account NobbyM2 and for some reason one is linked to my hotmail email, though I never remember making that one. Is it easy to delete the hotmail account and not touch the NobbyM2 one? I'm a Youtube novice.

[noikeee]

On 17/09/2018 at 22:07, Nobby_McDonald said:

Yeah, I have one that is my Youtube account NobbyM2 and for some reason one is linked to my hotmail email, though I never remember making that one. Is it easy to delete the hotmail account and not touch the NobbyM2 one? I'm a Youtube novice.

In my case I couldn't get rid of neither account! Didn't want to delete the old one associated to my nickname, and the new one associated to the Google+ account couldn't be deleted... and when I noticed I started having stuff in there as well (ex started creating playlists there thinking I was on the other account etc).

Maybe try logging in to youtube in FM with your email address.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I've already tried that bud.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Right, I've managed to sort out the actual uploading of videos but now I have a new problem. When I tried to upload the highlights package for August's match of the month which should last 117 seconds, only 23 seconds in the first attempt and 26 seconds in the second attempt is uploading, which only covers the first goal. It's beginning to really annoy me. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

Edited October 1, 2018 by Nobby_McDonald

[turnip]

Honestly, I just use FRAPS and make sure I've got plenty of hard disk space

[Nobby_McDonald]

Surely though as the game has the function to upload highlight packages to Youtube then it should work properly.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I'm going to give up on the YouTube highlights match of the month I was going to do. I'll update September when I have done it. I've not played in three weeks (real life beating Bishop's Stortford at the moment).

[Nobby_McDonald]

SEPTEMBER 2017

A very good month on the whole as we play a whopping nine games. League form in the main is good, starting with a win at Chesham and only let down by a home defeat to Biggleswade Town where we had two goals disallowed for offside. We finish the month in 7th place and at this stage I'm expecting at least the playoffs, which is what the board expectations were at the start of the season.
Our FA Cup campaign began and ended, and we did well. We defeat two teams in different leagues at the same level as us before we fight valiantly but go out in a seven goal thriller at National League North high fliers Kidderminster before a crowd of 3,336 which seems a lot at this stage of the competition even at a well supported club like Kidderminster. We were 3-1 down after 81 minutes and lost to a goal in the fourth minute of injury time. Arse.
And we go out of the Southern League Cup, but I couldn't give a **** about that.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Chesham United 1 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Owusu, Williams, Richefond)
Bishop's Stortford 1 Biggleswade Town 2 (Robinson (pen))
Bishop's Stortford 3 Kettering Town 1 (Grant, Drury, Owusu)
Dorchester Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 0
Bishop's Stortford 2 Royston Town 2 (Williams, Rees)

FA CUP
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND - Dorking Wanderers 0 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Williams, Owusu 2, Robinson (pen))
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 1 Shaw Lane 0 (Owusu)
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND - Kidderminster Harriers 4 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Robinson (pen), Owusu 2)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE CUP
SECOND ROUND - AFC Dunstable 3 Bishop's Stortford 0

 

Adam Drury won goal of the month for his 26 yard screamer versus Kettering. If I can get round to it I will upload it to Youreatube as I seem to be able to upload goals, just not matches.

NEXT MONTH
Matches continue to come thick and fast with two most weeks and the majority of them will be league games this time.

[Nobby_McDonald]

OCTOBER 2017

The goals are flying in as October sees us score at least two goals in every game. This is despite playing a bog standard 4-4-2, or as Mike Bassett would put it "four four ****ing two". Both my strikers are clearly too good for the Southern League. However, having lost loanee Dipo Akinyemi to a broken leg in only the second game of the season, our back up consists of two youth team players, playing a winger up front or going with one striker. If either Owusu or Williams are out for any length of time, I'm going to have to seriously consider my options... including signing someone on a free or on loan.
Four wins and two defeats (yes we lost two despite scoring at least two goals) sees us finish the month in 6th.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Stratford Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu, Dowsett)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Banbury United 1 (Owusu 2, Drury)
Dunstable Town 4 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Owusu, Rees, Williams)
Redditch United 4 BIshop's Stortford 2 (Owusu 2)
Frome Town 2 Bishop's Stortford 5 (Owusu 2, Williams 2, Robinson)
Bishop's Stortford 4 Farnborough 0 (Williams 3 (1 pen), Dowsett)

FA TROPHY
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 3 Tonbridge Angels 0 (Williams 2, Dowsett)

MATCH OF THE MONTH
No contest here as we rip apart then league leaders Farnborough, who had their misery rounded off by having a man sent off when 3-0 after 83 minutes.

NEXT MONTH
Games are scheduled thick and fast again with eight games... though the weather turns a little nasty.

[Nobby_McDonald]

NOVEMBER 2017

What a month. Six wins out of six (two games postponed) and scoring twenty five goals in the process. I'd go as far as say it's the best single month I've ever had playing Football/Championship Manager and I've played ever since the original. The whole team is on fire and I'm very optimistic for the immediate future.
I win the Manager of the Month, Adam Drury wins Player of the Month and Joe Robinson wins Young Player of the Month. Robinson, a centre back has now scored nine goals this season though he does take the penalties including five this month.
We also beat a team from National League North in the FA Trophy.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Kings Langley 1 Bishop's Stortford 5 (Rees, Robinson (2 pens), Owusu, Drury)
Bishop's Stortford P King's Lynn Town P - waterlogged pitch
Basingstoke Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Williams 2, Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford P Tiverton Town P - waterlogged pitch
Bishop's Stortford 8 St Ives Town 0 (Owusu 2, Robinson (3 pens), Drury 2, Richefond)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Tiverton Town 1 (Drury, Williams, Owusu)

FA TROPHY
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 4 Tiverton Town 1 (Owusu 2, WIlliams, Genovese)
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 2 Blyth Spartans 0 (Drury, Williams)

MATCH OF THE MONTH
I would have gone for the FA Trophy win over Blyth, but considering our ruthlessness and we recorded the biggest win I can remember on FM, I went with the win over bottom of the table St Ives. We simply ripped them apart and showed them no mercy. Owusu opened the scoring after just 21 seconds, we had scored 4 after 18 minutes, 5 at 21 minutes and we were 6-0 up at half time. I really thought we would get 10.

ELSEWHERE
A little country where I spent my honeymoon, Cape Verde Islands, have qualified for Russia 2018 and will take part in their first ever World Cup. They will find out their opponents next month.
Meanwhile, in the FA Cup First Round, Shrewsbury Town hand out the biggest beating of the Metropolitan Police since the London riots of 2011.

[DazRTaylor]

London riots.  

[Nobby_McDonald]

I don't normally get laughs so quickly.

[Nobby_McDonald]

DECEMBER 2017

We had a perfect November, winning every game and scoring goals for fun. We enter December full of confidence and optimism. We come back down to Earth with a bump as we only take two points out of our first four league games of the month. Our last game came after the FA Trophy matches (those played and those not) where we finally chalked up a win.
Mentioning the FA Trophy, we do fantastically well to beat a National League team, even if they are the one at the very bottom of the division.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Bishop's Stortford 1 Slough Town 2 (Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford 0 King's Lynn Town 0
Hitchin Town 2 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Hereford 2 (Owusu, Williams)
Gosport Borough 0 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams, Owusu)

As we enter 2018, here's the league table.

 

FA TROPHY
FIRST ROUND - Bishop's Stortford P Bromley P - waterlogged pitch
FIRST ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 3 Bromley 3 (Owusu 3)
FIRST ROUND REPLAY - Bromley 0 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Williams)

MATCH OF THE MONTH
The first game against Bromley was a battle, as we expected against a team two divisions above us. We went behind three times yet every time Christian Owusu scored an equaliser, with the third one being in the third minute of injury time. We performed very well and worked our socks off and fully deserved getting a replay. We then only went and won it.

ELSEWHERE
The World Cup draw took place. England were handed a tough group while debutants Cape Verde were handed either the dream group or a nightmare, depending how you look at it. Grouped together are Brazil, Cape Verde, England and Netherlands. Even scoring a goal will be an achievement for the nation of islands around 500km off the coast of Senegal, but they earned their place and they will love every minute of their first World Cup.

Edited December 20, 2018 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

JANUARY 2018

A very busy month as we play nine games. League form is inconsistant, to the extent that the board demand a result in the Chesham match or I face the sack. Thankfully the boys pulled through that day with a convincing victory courtesy of a double from our vice captain and a young striker scoring his first ever league goal. Most of the rest of the month was rather disappointing as we lose a bit of ground on the playoff positions, though we progress again in the FA Trophy by knocking out a team who were 6th in the National League South.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
St Neots Town 3 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Drury, Williams)
Bishop's Stortford 1 Kings Langley 0 (Owusu)
Merthyr Town 4 Bishop's Stortford 0
Bishop's Stortford 2 Weymouth 3 (Robinson (pen), Hughes)
Kettering Town 3 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Owusu)
Biggleswade Town 2 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Grant)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Chesham United 0 (Drury 2, Genovese)
Bishop's Stortford 0 Basingstoke Town 0

FA TROPHY
SECOND ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 3 Wealdstone 1 (Owusu 2, Williams)

MATCH OF THE MONTH

Far from our finest game or overall performance, but it was the game that provided the most drama for those watching. We were two goals up and cruising before we missed a penalty, scored and own goal and managed to throw away three points and lose. To say I was mad as an understatement.

ELSEWHERE
Liverpool sit four points clear in the Premier League and have a game in hand.
Celtic have reached the First Knockout Round of the Champions League where they play Shakhtar Donetsk.

[Nobby_McDonald]

FEBRUARY 2018

After a very busy January, February is a far quieter month as we only take to the pitch four times. First up is another trip to a higher division club in the FA Trophy. This time we can't pull off an upset. Although we take the lead we get knocked out, though the scoreline really flattered Bath as we chased the game in the last ten minutes.
We hit form in the league though as we win three out of three, including a very impressive win at the league leaders in our only away game.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Royston Town 2 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Williams 2, Rees)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Dorchester Town 0 (Williams, Robinson (pen))
Bishop's Stortford 2 Stratford Town 0 (Owusu 2)

FA TROPHY
THIRD ROUND - Bath City 5 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Grant)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH

No surprise, this is the tremendous win at Royston Town, who were league leaders at the time. We went two up in the first half before Royston pegged us back before we grabbed the winner. Great performance and result.

 

ELSEWHERE

In the Championship, Brentford are chasing promotion, Leeds are fighting relegation while Sunderland sack Ryan Giggs.

[Nobby_McDonald]

MARCH 2018

Now out of all the cups, we are free to concentrate on the league. After an iffy start to the month our other three games see us pick up maxium points in three thrilling games.
The first match at St Ives, Joe Robinson missed a penalty on 84 minutes which would have won us the match. We were poor at Banbury, then came Dunstable at home... well more on that shortly.
We then beat Redditch after being pegged back to 2-2 from being 2-0 up, before a superb win at Hereford where despite playing defensively we were 2-0 up after 10 minutes before being level after 15 then going 4-2 up in the second half.
The good finish to the month still has us within distance of the playoffs, but we need a four wins in April to have a chance...

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
St Ives Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Owusu)
Banbury United 2 Bishop's Stortford 0
Bishop's Stortford 7 Dunstable Town 6 (Williams 3, Grant, Owusu 2, Hughes)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Redditch United 2 (Owusu, Drury, Richefond)
Hereford 3 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Williams 2, Owusu, Drury)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH

Any other month this would have been the Hereford away game, but the 7-6 win over Dunstable Town was the most thrilling, pulsating match I've ever been involved in.
Dunstable kicked off but Williams scored after only 32 seconds to give us the lead. Grant got a second after 3 minutes before Owusu netted the third after 8 minutes. We were in total control and looking like scoring every time we attacked.
At half time it was 6-3.
The crazyness didn't stop and we led by three goals on three seperate occasions. At 7-5 and 12 minutes to play our goalkeeper Jeffers strains his wrist. He had to play on - we had no goalkeeper on the bench. Thankfully Dunstable could only score one more through Waddle before the referee blew his whistle to bring an end to a fabulous game of football.

 

ELSEWHERE

Manchester City sacked Pep Guardiola and replace him with Carlo Ancelotti.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

APRIL 2018

With playoff hopes still there, though needing to gain 6 points on the team in 5th, they evaporated completely when we lost the first two games of the month. This allowed us to try out (selected) fringe players in the first team to see how they fare, including the very promising Teddy Ford, a defensive midfielder who came through this year's youth intake and became Bishop Stortford's youngest ever player.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Farnborough 1 Bishop's Stortford 0
Kings Lynn Town 3 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Williams)
Bishop's Stortford 4 Frome Town 1 (Owusu 3, Robinson)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Merthyr Town 5 (Dowsett, Drury)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH

Merthyr were outstanding against us. They totally outplayed us for over an hour, showing no mercy and scoring five goals in the process. We only scored once they started taking it easy with one eye on the forthcoming playoffs. Had I not been on the receiving end, it would have been wonderful to watch.

 

ELSEWHERE

Pretty much immediately after losing out in the playoffs, Hereford turn professional. That doesn't bode well for the rest of the division next season as they will be the only professional team.
 

[Nobby_McDonald]

Season by Season Summary

SEASON   TEAM                         DIVISION                                                                       POSITION   FA CUP                                             OTHER CUPS
2017/8     Bishop's Stortford   Southern League Premier Division                                 9th        Third Qualifying Round                 FA Trophy Third Round
 

Note: Bold indicates promotion, italics indicates relegation

 

Trophy Cabinet

LEAGUES
None

CUPS
None

AWARDS
Southern League Premier Division Manager of the Month

Edited May 13, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

Highest rating: Christian Owusu 7.5
Top goalscorer: Christian Owusu 49 in 52
Top goal scorer: Christian Owusu 37 in 42 (top in league)
Most assists: Jason Williams 26
Most man of the match: Christian Owusu 12

Player of the Year & Young Player of the Year

Christian Owusu was named in the league team of the year.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Roll of Honour

 

PREMIER LEAGUE
Champions: Manchester United
Champions League qualifiers: Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur
Europa League qualifiers: Arsenal (League Cup winners), Manchester City (6th), West Ham United (7th)
Relegated: Huddersfield Town, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion

CHAMPIONSHIP
Champions: Middlesbrough
Promoted: Brentford, Hull City
Relegated: Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield United, Burton Albion

LEAGUE ONE
Champions: Bury
Promoted: Milton Keynes Dons, Fleetwood Town
Relegated: Bristol Rovers, Southend United, AFC Wimbledon, Plymouth Argyle

LEAGUE TWO
Champions: Lincoln City
Promoted: Luton Town, Exeter City, Wycombe Wanders
Relegated: Newport County, Morecambe

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Champions: Eastleigh
Promoted: Ebbsfleet United
Relegated: Chester, Dover Athletic, Bromley, Solihull Moors

NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH
Champions: Salford City
Promoted: Southport
Relegated: Gainsborough Trinity, North Ferriby United, Curzon Ashton

NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH
Champions: Welling United
Promoted: Wealdstone
Relegated: Bognor Regis Town, Eastbourne Borough, Weston-super-Mare

ISTHMIAN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Champions: Billericay Town
Promoted: Dulwich Hamlet
Relegated: Lowestoft Town, Dorking Wanderers, Brightlingsea Regent, Tooting & Mitcham United

NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Champions: Shaw Lane
Promoted: Warrington Town
Relegated: Buxton, Halesowen Town, Lancaster City, Coalville Town

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Champions: Royston Town
Promoted: Merthyr Town
Relegated: Frome Town, Dorchester Town, St Ives Town, Chesham United

ISTHMIAN LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION NORTH
Champions: Barking
Promoted: Haringey Borough
Relegated: Tilbury, Potters Bar Town, Soham Town Rangers

ISTHMIAN LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION SOUTH
Champions: Greenwich Borough
Promoted: Guernsey
Relegated: Thamesmead Town, Phoenix Sports, Herne Bay

NORTHER PREMIER LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION NORTH
Champions: Glossop North End
Promoted: South Shields
Relegated: Mossley, Kendal Town

NORTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION SOUTH
Champions: Bedworth United
Promoted: Market Drayton Town
Relegated: Carlton Town, Chasetown

SOUTHERN LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION EAST
Champions: Hayes & Yeading United
Promoted: Hartley Wintney
Relegated: Arlesey Town, Fleet Town

SOUTHERN LEAGUE FIRST DIVISION WEST
Champions: AFC Totton
Promoted: Salisbury
Relegated: Kidlington, Larkhall Athletic

TIER 9 PROMOTIONS
Chertsey Town, Wroxham, FC Romania, Wantage Town, Worcester City, Worksop Town, Bishop Auckland, Maine Road, Loxwood, Whitstable Town, Welwyn Garden City, Boston Town, AGC Portchester, Bridport

 

FA CUP
Liverpool 1 Manchester United 3

LEAGUE CUP
Chelsea 2 Arsenal 3e

FOOTBALL LEAGUE TROPHY
Leicester City under 23s 1p Peterborough United 1

FA TROPHY
Torquay United 2 Ebbsfleet United 0

 

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Atletico Madrid 1 Manchester City 0
NSC Olympiyskyi, Kiev

EUROPA LEAGUE
Lyon 1p Red Bull Leipzig 1
Groupama Stadium, Décines-Charpieu

 

FRANCE: Paris-Saint-Germain
GERMANY: Red Bull Leipzig
IRELAND: Shamrock Rovers
ITALY: Juventus
NORTHERN IRELAND: Linfield
SCOTLAND: Celtic
SPAIN: Real Madrid
WALES: The New Saints

[Nobby_McDonald]

2018 World Cup
Hosts: Russia
Holders: Germany

GROUP STAGE

The opening match saw hosts Russia beat South Korea 7-3. Despite this, both these teams were eliminated by Mexico and Switzerland.
Portugal and Chile progressed from Group B unbeaten at the expense of Honduras and Czech Republic.
France and Germany got through Group C as expected with Mali third and USA pointless.
Belgium topped Group D. Croatia got through with 4 points with Australia and debutants Guinea going home.
Uruguay and Wales qualified with 6 points each ahead of Romania and the winless Japan.
Colombia and Spain progressed through a comfortable group containing Algeria and whipping boys Iran who lost 8-1 to Spain, 3-1 to Colombia and a shocking 9-2 defeat to Algeria.
Cape Verde had a group of dreams in a group the others dreaded. They went home pointless and goalless, but emerged with far more credit than Iran did as Netherlands and Brazil put three past them and England four. Not too bad all things considered. The other three teams all finished on 5 points with all other matches drawn. The 2-2 draw between Brazil and England saw both teams through on goals scored with the two Netherlands games finishing 1-1. England topped the group courtesy of scoring one more goal against Cape Verde.
The final group saw the only real shock as Argentina went home early behind Italy and Costa Rica. Egypt were pointless.

Not one team won all three games. A first?

 

SECOND ROUND
Belgium, Italy and Spain all eliminated, while the real life final was played out in this round...
Chile 0 Mexico 1e
Switzerland 0 Portugal 1
France 2 Croatia 0
Belgium 1 Germany 4
Uruguay 2 Spain 0
Colombia 1 Wales 0
England 1 Costa Rica 0
Brazil 2 Italy 0

QUARTER FINALS
None of the really big boys got knocked out, despite having some scares while England got hammered...
Mexico 2 Germany 3
Portugal 1 France 1p
Uruguay 0 Brazil 1
Colombia 5 England 2

SEMI FINALS
A big surprise here...
Germany 2 Colombia 3
France 2e Brazil 1

THIRD PLACE PLAYOFF
Germany 4e Brazil 2

FINAL
At Luzhniki in Moscow, we weren't treated to a footballing spectacle, more like a bit of a grind. A France win mirrors real life.
Colombia 0 France 1

[Nobby_McDonald]

Pre season

We lose our best centre back Joe Robinson. He also scored double figures last season, thanks in the main to taking our penalties. He joins Hampton & Richmond Borough in National League South. We sign Sam Goode on loan from Cambridge United as his replacement.

Elsewhere Ralph Hassenhuttl is the new manager of Arsenal, having taken Red Bull Leipzig to the Bundesliga title last season while Roberto Mancini is the new man in charge of Newcastle United.

[CityAndColour]

11 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Egypt were pointless.

How did they perform though?

[Nobby_McDonald]

Far better than Iran, they didn't get hammered in any games while also not threatening to nick any points either.

[Nobby_McDonald]

AUGUST 2018

The new season starts with a terrible performance at promoted AFC Totton. Things quickly improve as we rip Redditch apart before scoring 4 in consecutive games which see Daniel Wakeham and 16 year old Teddy Ford scoring their first goals for the club. Christian Owusu scores 8 goals in the 3 games after Totton.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
AFC Totton 3 Bishop's Stortford 0
Bishop's Stortford 5 Redditch United 0 (Owusu 2, Williams, Wakeham, Ford (pen))
Kings Langley 1 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Owusu 3, Tumwa (pen))
Bishop's Stortford 4 Farnborough 1 (Page (og), Owusu 3)

MATCH OF THE MONTH
We dominate Redditch from the opening whistle and are helped further when the visitors are reduced to ten men after 26 minutes. We look very strong, potent up front and comfortable here.

[Nobby_McDonald]

SEPTEMBER 2018

A very busy month as we play 9 games in the 30 days of September and things largely go well, with the most pleasing aspect being we didn't have any particularly bad performances. We did lose a couple of games in the league but both were away and we won all three of our home league games. We also progressed in both cups we play in this month. A happy month.
Young striker Simon Pennock becomes the third player this season to score his first senior goal and no less against professional Hereford on his first start.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Hitchin Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 0
Bishop's Stortford 3 Weston-super-Mare 0 (Owusu 2, Drury)
Bishop's Stortford 4 Gosport Borough 1 (Owusu 4)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Hereford 2 (Drury, Pennock, Owusu)
King's Lynn Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 0
Tiverton Town 4 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Owusu 2, Williams)

FA CUP
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND - Thatcham Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Grant, Wakeham, Ford (pen))
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND - Dunstable Town 2 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Owusu 3)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE CUP
SECOND ROUND - Wimborne Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 5 (Ford, Williams 2, Pennock 2)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
This was the home win over Hereford, the only professional side in our division. Hereford are the favourites to win the league and we went toe to toe to them in an entertaining and tight match. Our win puts us, albeit briefly, top of the table, before two league defeats to close the month.

OTHER NEWS/ELSEWHERE
Our junior coaching is upgraded, and is rated adequate.
Christian Owusu wins Player of the Month after scoring 12 goals. He's a goal machine, I'm surprised clubs in higher divisions haven't been sniffing around.
Eastleigh are unbeaten in their first 9 games in the debut Football League season.
And Brexit is happening at the end of the season. It should do, as the game doesn't simulate the shambles that is real life Brexit.

Edited June 10, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[kevhamster]

Good stuff.  And nice to hear Eastleigh are doing well - it's my hometown

[Nobby_McDonald]

Yes, they have started very well Kev.

[Nobby_McDonald]

OCTOBER 2018

A decent month overall. We were poor in a home defeat to Biggleswade Town though we won all six of our other league games. In the FA Cup we had a tremendous win at Alfreton of the National League North before we got thumped at Marine. We're looking very good in the league and Christian Owusu is again named Player of the Month.
Cameron Jeffers becomes the fourth player this season to score his first senior goal... he's our 17 year old goalkeeper.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Bishop's Stortford 2 Basingstoke Town 0 (Grant, Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Biggleswade Town 4 (Williams 2 (1 pen), Hughes)
St Neots Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu 2)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Hayes & Yeading United 1 (Hughes, Williams)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Slough Town 1 (Owusu, Williams (pen))
Stratford Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Jeffers (pen), Williams, Owusu, Grant)
Dunstable Town 1 Bishop's Stortford 4 (Owusu 3, Williams)

FA CUP
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND - Alfreton Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams, Owusu)
FOURTH QUALIFYING ROUND - Marine 4 Bishop's Stortford 0

MATCH OF THE MONTH
It had to be the tremendous win at Alfreton Town where not only did we beat a team from the division above us, we did it away and looked comfortable doing so. Just a shame we fell at the next hurdle to a team that was 13th in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

OTHER NEWS
Our board agree to improve the youth recruitment, which on upgrade is now Average.

[Nobby_McDonald]

NOVEMBER 2018

November started very well with victory at a lower division team in FA Trophy qualifying followed up by two league wins. Another qualifying win over lower division opposition is followed up this time by two defeats. Very frustrating.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Hartley Wintney 1 Bishop's Stortford 3 (Owusu 3)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Bedworth United 1 (Owusu 2, Jarrett)
Redditch United 4 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu, Pennock)
Salisbury 3 Bishop's Stortford 0

FA TROPHY
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND - Trafford 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu 2)
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND - Bishop's Stortford 2 Canvey Island 0 (Hughes, Owusu)

SOUTHERN LEAGUE CUP
THIRD ROUND - Hartley Wintney 2 Bishop's Stortford 0

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
Away to Redditch United, we were two nil up and looking good.
Step forward Spencer Weir-Daley. An outstanding individual performance from the Redditch striker turned the match on it's head and his four goals earned three points for the home side.

 

ELSEWHERE
A lot to report this month...

In Bishop's Stortford, Christian Owusu is named Southern League Premier Division Player of the Month for the third straight month.
The board offer me a new contract after approaches for me from League Two sides Cambridge United and Crawley Town. I sign an 18 months deal on £750 per week (up £25) and also get the board to agree to upgrade the training facilities (currently below average) at a cost of £400,000 and the youth facilities (currently basic) costing £350,000. Both are scheduled to be complete in November 2019 but will leave us seriously in debt.

In the Premier League, Brighton & Hove Albion are 2nd after 12 games, Tottenham Hotspur languish in 12th and new boys Brentford are bottom and winless with only 3 points.

And Brexit is confirmed, showing cyber Theresa May is a lot more competent than real Theresa May.

Edited June 24, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald
Missed the d off Canvey Island

[DavidBeckham]

Good luck on your new save mate! I would love to see you do a one club save and bring Bishop to glory!

[Nobby_McDonald]

Thanks David.

I still haven't decided whether to do one club save or have a career save so to speak. Almost all of my long term saves on many versions of the game have been one club saves, hardly any have been career saves. Hence, I am slightly leaning towards that. I'll see how Bishop's Stortford turn out though.

Edited June 24, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

DECEMBER 2018

Not the best month. Outclassed in defeat at National League South side Dulwich Hamlet has now seen us knocked out of all cups and more defeats than wins in the league saw us slip down the table, cumulating in a heavy defeat at Weston-super-Mare where we had two men sent off. Need in regroup in the new year.
Jason Williams scored the 50th league goal of his career against Banbury.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Kettering Town 4 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams 2 (1 pen))
Bishop's Stortford P AFC Totton P - waterlogged pitch
Bishop's Stortford 2 Banbury United 0 (Williams 2)
Bishop's Stortford 1 Kings Langley 1 (Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Weymouth 4 (Owusu, Williams)
Farnborough 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams, Owusu)
Weston-super-Mare 5 Bishop's Stortford 1 (Drury)

FA TROPHY
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND - Dulwich Hamlet 2 Bishop's Stortford 0

MATCH OF THE MONTH
We were much the better side against Weymouth, enjoying considerably more possession and having 23 shots to their 7. The problem was that all four of Weymouth's shots on target hit the back of the net as we lost. Bloody frustrating.

 

ELSEWHERE
The draw has been made for qualifying for the 2020 European Championships.
Group D sees Scotland and Wales drawn together along with Azerbaijan, Iceland, Latvia and Slovenia. A very open group.
England and Ireland are in Group H with Belarus, Lithuania and Turkey.
Northern Ireland don't have an easy task trying to get one of the two qualification places as they have to finish ahead of France and Switzerland. Hungary and Faroe Islands complete the group.

Mauricio Pochettino has been sacked as manager of Tottenham Hotspur with them 12th in the Premier League.

[Nobby_McDonald]

JANUARY 2019

January went very well. Five games, all in the league saw four wins and the only defeat was at title favourites and the only professional club in the division, Hereford who were 1 point ahead of us with a game in hand. Very pleasing and looking promising for a playoff place this season.
Sam Goode scored his first goal for the club against Hitchin, Williams two goals against AFC Totton took him to 20 for the season while Owusu's goals in the 74th and 76th minutes of a tepid game at Gosport took him to 41 in the league.
Jason Williams won Young Player of the Month.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Bishop's Stortford 4 Hitchin Town 0 (Owusu, Drury, Goode, Williams)
Bishop's Stortford 3 AFC Totton 0 (Williams 2, Owusu)
Bishop's Stortford 4 Hartley Wintney 1 (Owusu 2, Williams 2)
Hereford 1 Bishop's Stortford 0
Gosport Borough 0 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu 2)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
It's tight at the top with AFC Totton sitting just behind in 8th, though with two games in hand. A comprehensive victory was very pleasing and saw Williams get to 20 goals for the season.

 

ELSEWHERE
No less than five non league teams reached the FA Cup Third Round. Two were drawn against each other, while one got a dream draw.
Cheltenham Town 4 HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE 1 (2,352)
Derby County 1 SALFORD CITY 0 (13,728)
HARTLEPOOL UNITED 1 YORK CITY 0 (7,856)
Liverpool 5 MORECAMBE 0 (54,074)
Hartlepool got a home draw in the Fourth Round, but not the plum draw they would have wanted as they were drawn against a League One team.
HARTLEPOOL UNITED 1 Blackburn Rovers 3 (7,856)

Meanwhile, the top transfers in the January transfer window were...
Timo Werner - Leipzig to Tottenham for £59,000,000
Erik Lamela - Tottenham to Quanjian for £30,500,000
Danilo - Manchester City to Bayern Munich for £18,500,000

Edited August 12, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[kevhamster]

It's extremely close between 1st and 6th there.  Good results for the month!

[noikeee]

Cmon Bishops, playoffs are for the taking this season, surely. 

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 13/08/2019 at 15:36, kevhamster said:

It's extremely close between 1st and 6th there.  Good results for the month!

Thanks Kev. It is close. Makes it very exciting. And there is an exciting couple of months ahead...

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 16/08/2019 at 00:20, noikeee said:

Cmon Bishops, playoffs are for the taking this season, surely. 

Indeed, though with my playoffs record over the versions of FM I won't win them.

[Nobby_McDonald]

FEBRUARY 2019

We continue our good form as we win our first three games of the month, with the second match at Bunbury my 100th game in charge. The third game see us beat table toppers Tiverton who had beaten Hereford in the previous match to go top. We're third going into the match, which sees Jason Williams score his 50th league goal for the club.
We are sent crashing down to earth in the last match of the month at Basingstoke as despite having more shots, we are four down at half time. A second half rally sees us threaten a comeback as Owusu scores his 50th goal of the season, but it doesn't happen.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Bishop's Stortford 1 King's Lynn Town 0 (Williams)
Banbury United 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Owusu, Dowsett)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Tiverton Town 2 (Williams, Rees, Drury)
Basingstoke Town 4 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams, Owusu)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
The match at Basingstoke takes it. An unlikely large half time lead thanks to a hat-trick from Hammett before a turnaround in the second half threatens an equally unlikely comeback, along with a landmark goal from Owusu.

 

YOUTH INTAKE
One of my favourite times of the season. Our Head of Youth Development tells me we have a "golden generation" with Calvin Sinclair the "diamond". Too be fair, he has a very good point regarding Sinclair. He is 3.5* CA and 4-5* PA and while regular left back Mutombo has been OK, he's not been particularly good, so he could well make the left back position his own.

Only three players out of the twelve aren't offered youth contracts after their trial period ends.

ELSEWHERE
Manchester United lead Chelsea by 8 points in the Premier League with the Londoners having two games in hand. Nobody else is likely to win the title this season. Brentford are still cast adrift in their debut Premier League season and a fairytale survival looks very unlikely.

[King Costly]

Best of luck with this Nobby. Only having one automatic promotion place can be a killer in Non-League but it looks like you have a squad capable of challenging for the title.

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 20/08/2019 at 12:09, King Costly said:

Best of luck with this Nobby. Only having one automatic promotion place can be a killer in Non-League but it looks like you have a squad capable of challenging for the title.

Thanks King. The one automatic promotion place is a by product of having a pyramid system. Too many teams would be getting relegated if it were more.

In terms of my squad... My goalkeeper Jeffers is improving nicely every week. In central midfield we are strong with club captain and Assistant Manager Hughes playing alongside Rees with the young trio of Richefond, Ford and Nicholls capable of stepping in and have time on their side. Left side of midfield is a little weak - Grant is the best of the three, Jarrett has been very disappointing and is retiring at the end of the season while Pennock can play there but is really a striker. On the right, Drury is quality. Up front we have Owusu and Williams who are too good for this level and score a bag full of goals. Cover is a little weak though.
Defence is where we are weakest. We are OK at centre back with on load Goode and Dowsett building a decent partnership without being particularly great players. Full backs are the weakest part of the team, though recent youth graduate Sinclair may solve the problem long term at left back.

[Nobby_McDonald]

MARCH 2019

We followed the disappointing loss at Basingstoke with two draws, though the second was a great comeback from 3-0 down in 36 minutes at Biggleswade to draw 5-5. We looking likely we are slipping away and playoffs will be our only chance.
We then beat St Neots with Williams missing a penalty when on a hat-trick, we win at Hayes & Yeading with Williams scoring his 30th and 31st goals of the season before being fantastic beating Kettering in a 3rd v 4th match on a day which saw both Hereford and Tiverton draw at home. We're right back in with a shout again, though need Hereford to slip up.
Other milestones saw Owusu score his 100th goal for the club against Salisbury and Calvin Sinclair becoming our youngest ever player when making his debut at Biggleswade aged 16 years and 5 days.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Bishop's Stortford 1 Salisbury 1 (Owusu)
Biggleswade Town 5 Bishop's Stortford 5 (Drury, Owusu 2, Williams 2)
Bishop's Stortford 2 St Neots Town 0 (Williams 2)
Hayes & Yeading United 1 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams 2)
Bishop's Stortford 3 Kettering Town 0 (Owusu 3)

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
We bossed the match against Kettering from start to finish. We threatened every time we advanced up the pitch while we restricted Kettering to a few hopeful long shots and the odd half chance. We fully deserved the win.
Any other month and it would have been the 5-5 draw at Biggleswade.

 

ELSEWHERE
Championship sides Birmingham City and Ipswich Town will face each other in the FA Cup Semi Finals, with Chelsea playing Manchester United in the other.
England drew 0-0 in Turkey in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier.

[Nobby_McDonald]

APRIL 2019

Things look really good. We go into April having won our last three games and we keep our form going by winning our first three games in April. These wins put us top of the table by one goal from Hereford with Tiverton (better goal difference by 10) and Kettering (worse goal difference by 6) three points further behind. Brilliant form has given us the smallest advantage possible, but it's an advantage and with the run we're on I'm confident of winning the league and being promoted.
Then we host Dunstable Town, 21st in the table and the team we beat 7-6 in this fixture last season. We lose 3-1. All our rivals win. What should have been a banker win looks like costing us the title.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION
Slough Town 0 Bishop's Stortford 2 (Williams 2)
Bishop's Stortford 2 Stratford Town 0 (Grant, Williams)
Bedworth United 0 Bishop's Stortford 2 (scorers not noted - whoops!)
Bishop's Stortford 1 Dunstable Town 3 (Williams)
League table to be added - here's the basics with one game to play...
1. Hereford 94 points, +43 GD
2. Tiverton 91, +53
3. Bishop's Stortford 91, +40
4. Kettering 91, +37

 

MATCH OF THE MONTH
It's the Dunstable debacle. We were poor and it may well end up defining our season which will be a big shame as we have had a very good one.

ELSEWHERE
Birmingham City beat Ipswich Town to reach their first FA Cup final since 1956 where they will play Chelsea.
Premier League bottom dwellers Brentford have appointed Ryan Giggs as their new Manager.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

MAY 2019

The final league game of the season see us travel to the South cost to visit 6th place Weymouth. After the Dunstable debacle, we need to win and hope other teams do us a favour.
At half time, things don't look good as we trail. As things stand at the break, Tiverton are the team going up...
AFC Totton 3 Hereford 1
Kettering Town 1 Salisbury 1
Stratford Town 0 Tiverton Town 1
Into the second half and Jason Williams nets us an equaliser. Things also turn round at Stratford, who take the lead against Tiverton though Kettering take the lead. If we can bag a winner, we will go up. We go gung ho...

...but fail to get the winner. To make things worse, Christian Owusu picks up a knock and will miss the semi final of the playoffs.
AFC Totton 6 Hereford 3
Kettering Town 3 Salisbury 2
Stratford Town 2 Tiverton Town 1
This sees Hereford beat Kettering to the title by 2 goals and win promotion.

 

We play Kettering Town in the Playoff Semi Final. Owusu misses the game through injury. Williams then gets injured in the 35th minute (ankle ligament) before substitute Wakeham, who has spent the season on loan at Hythe Town, gets injured himself only 5 minutes later (groin strain). This leaves Simon Pennock as our only fit, senior striker and only one left in the match day squad. Thankfully, Pennock and Drury have already put us 2-0 up by this stage, before Drury himself goes off with a bruised ankle (though he will be OK for the final). We hang on in front of a crowd of 1,481.

 

In the final, we face King's Lynn Town. Drury is back, as is Owusu, still recovering from his knock received at Weymouth. Pennock is tired having carried the front line effort last time out so I had a debut to under 23 striker Chris Rainey.
Things start well when Ian Rees puts us ahead. Pennock comes on for a struggling Owusu on 62 minutes. King's Lynn equalise on 66 then Pennock himself goes off injured on 69. This leaves us with Rainey as our only striker and he's a reserve making his debut.
Fortunately for us, King's Lynn lose a player to injury on 81 having made all their subs. With players on both sides getting tired after a long season, the game peters out into a slog, and one with very few chances, through extra time and into penalties.
We miss our first one. King's Lynn miss our fourth. Every one is scored before Chris Rainey steps up to take his second one and misses, to send King's Lynn up to the National League South after a 12-11 shootout win. Arse.

 

Edited September 9, 2019 by Nobby_McDonald

[Nobby_McDonald]

Season by Season Summary

SEASON   TEAM                         DIVISION                                                                       POSITION   FA CUP                                             OTHER CUPS
2017/8     Bishop's Stortford   Southern League Premier Division                                 9th        Third Qualifying Round                 FA Trophy Third Round
2018/9     Bishop's Stortford   Southern League Premier Division                                 3rd        Fourth Qualifying Round              FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round
                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Lost in Playoff Final
 

Note: Bold indicates promotion, italics indicates relegation

 

Trophy Cabinet

LEAGUES
None

CUPS
None

AWARDS
Southern League Premier Division Manager of the Year
Southern League Premier Division Manager of the Month