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57 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

I am 1 and a half seasons in now, i have noticed that not one player has increased in any attributes beyond determination, in fact most have decreased slightly. I know the club has only basic training and it is part time but most of the players are young and some have played quite well in 40+ games.

Is anyone else noticing the same?

Only one of my players improved and he kept an 8.5-9.5 training rating all season. The rest have all declined ever so slightly.

Hard to say if it's the facilities or my awful schedules. :D

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XaW - Kettering Town - 2021/22

KetteringTFC.png

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

Going up last season, we had only a single goal this season, and that was to survive. So I kept the 4-4-2 hoofball strategy that worked well last year. It worked well enough, but I we have some severe issues with player quality. Since we are semi-pro we are just about not doing any training, so all improvements are from matches for most of the players in the first team squad. This means, of course, that there aren't that much improvement in stats. This especially shows in defense. David Liburd 20b is the heart of our defense, but other than him, the rest are sorely lacking in quality. This means we are leaking goals and we are making a lot of mistakes. This is part of the issue playing with youngsters, but hopefully they keep getting experience and won't do as many next season. It was clear from an early stage that the quality of the players here are higher than in the division below. After a decent start we hit poor form an lost 7 games in a row. This of course meant we were flirting with the relegation spots. Luckily for us, Welling Utd and Havant & Waterlooville fell behind early on and never looked like catching up, so only two spots were the places to avoid. It was only towards the end of the season we found anything resembling form and in the end we stayed up by quite a gap, finishing in a very decent 16th place

In the FA Cup we got to the 1th round, but lost away to League One outfit Wigan. In the FA Trophy we made it to the 4th round once again, but lost out to Salford after a replay.

Here is the youth intake and I'm very excited about Nigel Ellis 22h.

Season	|       League	             | Position |   FA Cup      |   Europe	|   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   National League North    |   9th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Just of playoffs
2020/21	|   National League North    |   1st	 |  4th qual     |   N/A	|   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|   National League          |  16th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Survived
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South Shields Mariners F.C.

SEASON 1 (2019/20)

Table / Position Graph / Squad / Finances / Transfers / Manager / Facilities / Annual Injury Report / Confidence / Competitions / Reputation

 

Summary

This should be a relatively short season wrap-up.  Predicted 22d, we well outperformed expectations.  I opted to keep a small squad early, and possibly kept it too late and then had to scramble when fixture congestion kicked in and left me with too many tired legs.  Initially we soared up the table, climbing as high as 2nd around match day 15----before the castle began to crumble.  Thru October, I signed a total of 7 players -- more than half of these after the season started --- most of whom were backup/rotation players  Two notable exceptions were Jordan Hickey (who played a starting role as needed in DC, DM, and MC positions) and Darren Brannigan (who went on to score 25 times and bag a dozen assists as well).  This to go with the barely-enough-to-fill-the-bench team that I inherited originally.  I did inherit some decent players overall, and they would see me thru the early successes.

 

Then....in October....something inexplicably happened...and I'm still not sure what it was.  From Mid-October until...about mid-January, we just lost all consistency.  Late goals, missing empty nets, everything that could go wrong did.  We dropped from an average of nearly 80% passes completed across the board to just over 60%.  It just....all went to pieces.  

I made a couple tweaks to the tactic, brought in 4 more players in the Jan-Mar time frame, and things started gelling again...for a while.  With 7 to play we were in 6th, and a playoff spot looked a lock.

Then, it fell apart again.  We conceded late goals in 3 frustrating matches, including a swing match in match day 39 against 8th Harrogate.  A win would have given us an 8 point lead with 3 to play...but an blatant offsides was not called---the keeper fumbled the cross, made no move to pick it up (assuming it was offsides?), and a striker strolled up and tapped home.  Dropped US to 8th...and left everything in doubt, with our next two matches up against #2 York and #1 Blyth.  In another of these 4 matches, I decided to turn the keeper in to sweeper-keeper (his stats better suited him to that).  Then I watched as not once, but twice, he rushed out to edge of box as if he was going to charge down a deep ball into our territory.  He stopped.  He watched the ball drop.  He watched a striker run up, pick up the ball, round him, and score into an empty net.

Any one of those 4 matches end up a win and we're not left hoping for assistance with 2 top teams to play.

We lost 1-0 to a York team that absolutely dominated us --- they had 18 shots to our 5.  Next up was #1 Blyth....and we made a match of it, conceding early, equalizing in the 52 w/ a Morse header off of a corner, conceding again in the 72, and winning a penalty kick in the 89th.  Foley, who had scored 4 times from the spot this season, stepped up, and missed the net a foot wide.

Drop us to 9th, only one point from the playoffs, but absolutely needing a win against #11 Workington AND two of the 4 teams above us to drop points in order for us to make the playoffs.  Somehow.....it happened.  Those who watched my channel saw us not only pick up a solid 2-0 win, but every team in front of us dropped points, moving us to 6th and a playoff appearance in our first season.

Promotion / Playoffs

Well, we made it.  Now, we've got to navigate the tricky playoffs to improve.  First up was a Nuneaton Boro team whom we faced FOUR times this season --- getting only a single draw to force an FAC replay (which we lost), and losing twice in league matches.  Tired of facing 4-3-3(St) formations so often this season, I countered with my own attacking 4-3-3.  Players didn't agree, they thought it too attacking for this away match considering the opposition.  I prevailed, and we played our hearts out.  It all started badly as we conceded an 8th minute goal on an over-the-top breakaway.  Then we settled down and took the match to them.  Our equalizer came from a fluke goal, as left back Calaghan chased a ball down on the end line, and, while trying to just keep the ball in play fired a left-footed cross from the left side of the net----which curved back against the grain, over the outstretched keeper's hands, and into the net.  Then MC Turnbull got into the action with a sweet strike from the edge of the box that somehow eluded everyone, hit the right post and bounced in.  Our first lead against Nuneaton Boro!  Then, the inevitable happened, as so often in the season, a corner conceded in the 86th minute, a man unmarked, and it's 2-2...and extra time.

Cue up one of our winter signings, striker Huggins, who wastes no time scoring in extra time.  Two minutes in, we get a break-away chance.  Huggins has striker partner Foley running alongside with what is probably a wide open net.  Instead, Huggins takes a step splitting two DCs, fires a shot to the far post, out of the keeper's reach, and into the net.  3-2  a scoreline which we would hold for the next 28 minutes!  This was a crazy match, featuring a combined 35 shots (Boro w/ 17(6) shot count, us w/ 18(8)), 39 offsides (boro w/ 20, us w/ 19).  Boro commited 14 fouls to our 3.  But in the end...our first win vs Nuneaton and on to the semi-finals.

Amazingly, we are to face ANOTHER 4-3-3 team in the form of Guiseley, with whom we lost once and drew once.  They have the advantage with a day of rest, and that would possibly be the telling point here.  A much more tame affair saw us fairly dominating the match, and grabbing the first goal once again via a Dillon Morse shot off of a corner kick.  The lead didn't last long, as 20 minutes later a long ball found striker walters in space for an easy tap-in.  The match then settled down to a second half slog ---- with us dominating nearly 65% of possession but unable to break the deadlock.  A couple of missed opportunities cost us dearly, as Guiseley take advantage of a long diagonal ball down my right flank...with my right on tired legs unable to get back...a simple cross and tap - in and....we're consigned to another year in the VNN.

All things considered, ti was a good season.  We performed much better than expected.  If it weren't for the inexplicable slump from mid October, we might have challenged for the title.  I'm hopeful with a few additions we can do that this coming season.

Cup Competitions

The best I can say here is we met/exceeded expectations.  We faced lower division Rushall and Sutton Coldfield (a team I managed back in....the FM16 version of this challenge?) and handled them easily (3-1 and 2-1 respectively).  Then we faced VNL AFC Fylde who crushed us in the 4QR, and that was that.

A similar story in the FAT, with a match against lower division AFC Dunstable which saw us post our biggest win of the season, a 6-1dismantling of the opposition.  Then we faced another VNL team, this time Wrexham, and, while we put up a fight, we eventually succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.

Better to figure out what our problems in the league have been and fix them, at any rate!

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees

Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season  I was a bit surprised, as top Scorer Darren Brannigan only took 3rd in this award (23%), with MC Daniel Wright (28%) in second, and the best player on the team, Phil Turnbull taking 1st w/ 34% of the vote.  Wright, in particular, didn't impress me much thru the season, garnering only 5 assists --- but he did feature in 75% of the matches, so that must be something!  Looking more closely, he did have the highest AvR at 7.06...I guess that's what the fans appreciate!  Meanwhile, Brannigan led both the goals (25) and assists (11) categories, and PoM (6) for the team.  David Foley had the best pass completion (87%).

Signing of the season went to Darren Brannigan

Young Player of the Season: Daniel Wright

Goal of the Season: Daniel Wright

TOP ACADEMY GRADUATE

  1. Season 1 Academy Class:  Top Graduate Samuel Godwin looks to be a potentially useful starting DC if he can get pace and tackling up early.  3.5-4.5* potential

TEAM, INDIVIDUAL, AND LEAGUE RECORDS

A host or records were set or broken this year:  (*denotes ongoing record -- bold indicates record broken this season)

Spoiler

South Shields FC -- Team

Highest League Position -- 6th in Vanarama North (2019/20)

Most points in a season -- 64 (2019/20)

Most League Wins in a Season -- 19 (2019/20)

Most League Goals in a season -- 71 (Vanarama North 2019/20)

Highest Attendance -- 2381 (vs York, VNLN 7 Dec 19)

Highest Gate Receipts -- £31.41K (Vs Sutton Coldfield, FAC3QR 5 Oct 2019)

Average Attendance -- 1792 (2019/20)

Biggest Win -- 6-1 (vs AFC Dunstable, FAT1R, 26 Dec 19)

Highest Scoring Match -- 5-3 (vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019)

Most Matches won in a row -- 6 (27 Aug - 21 Sept 2019)

Most matches w/o Losing -- 10 (27 Aug - 9 Oct 2019)

Most matches lost in a row -- 3 (12 Oct - 22 Oct 2019)

Most Matches w/o Winning -- 6 (28 March - 25 April 2020)

Most Matches w/o Scoring -- 3 (9 Oct - 19 Oct 2019)

Most matches w/o conceding -- 3 (7 Sept - 14 Sept 2019)

South Shields FC -- Individual

Most League Goals for club -- Carl Finnigan (69)*

Most League Appearances -- Rob Briggs (164)*

Total Goals in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 25 (2019/20)

Total League Goals in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 21 (2019/20)

Highest Average Rating -- Daniel Wright -- 7.06 (2019/20)

Most goals in a match -- Carl Finnigan -- 3 (vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019)

Most goals in a League match -- Carl Finnigan -- 3 (Vs Chorley, VNLN, 28 Sept 2019)

Most assists in a season -- Darren Brannigan -- 11 (2019/20)

Most Clean Sheets in a season -- Brendan Pearson -- 12 (2019/20)

Most Player of Match awards in season -- Darren Brannigan -- 6 (2019/20)

Oldest Player -- Carl Finnigan -- 33y217d

Youngest Player -- Bob Devitt -- 16y215d

Oldest Goalscorer -- Phil Turnbull -- 33y119d

Youngest Goalscorer -- Thomas Cole -- 18y114d

Fastest Goal -- Darren Brannigan -- 1m18s (vs Nuneaton Boro, VNLN -- 14 Mar 2020)

 

The Rest of England

Spoiler

 

PROMOTED FROM THE REGIONAL PREMIER DIVISIONS

Merthyr T, Stalybridge, Farnborough, AFC Hornchurch, Salisbury, Gainsborough

LEAGUE WINNERS (PROMOTED/RELEGATED)

EPL:  Liverpool (Sheff Utd, Newcastle, Southampton)

Championship: West Brom (West Brom, Watford, Blackburn // Ipswich, Portsmouth, Sheff Wed)

L1: Norwich (Norwich, Luton, Bradford City // Doncaster, AFC Wimbledon, Carlisle, Blackpool)

L2: Coventry (Coventry, Lincoln, Cambridge, Rochdale // Leyton Orient, Yeovil) 

VNL: Gateshead (Gateshead, Aldershot // Torquay, Maidstone, Kidderminster, Solihull Moors)

VNN: Blyth (Blyth, Guiseley // Spennymoor, Bradford PA, Ashton Utd)

VNS: Chelmsford (Chelmsford, Concord // Slough, Weston-Super-Mare, Whitehawk)

CUP WINNERS

English FA Cup: Chelsea (vs Stoke)

Carabao Cup: Man Utd (Vs Arsenal)

Checkatrade Trophy: Arsenal U23s (vs Liverpool U23s)

English FA Trophy: Wrexham (vs Billericay)

EURO QUALIFACTIONS

Champions Cup Group Stage: Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Man Utd

Euro Cup Group Stage: Chelsea, Man City

Euro Cup 2QR: Everton

CONTINENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Arsenal -- Eliminated from European Super Cup (by Juventus)

Everton -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Group Stage

Man City -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup First Knockout Round (by Real Madrid)

Liverpool -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup First Knockout Round (by Borussia Dortmund)

Man Utd -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup Quarter Final (by Barcelona)

Chelsea -- Eliminated from European Champions Cup Semi-Final (by Arsenal)

Tottenham -- Eliminated from Euro Cup Semi Final (by A. Bilbao)

Arsenal -- Won European Champions Cup (against Barcelona)

 

Extra Details

 

What's Next

I've got about 10 players locked up for next season, 5 slated to be released...and another 8 or so that I'm holding the decision on.  There are a lot of good players coming up on end-of-contract that I'm keeping an eye on.  If I can get a couple of these really good players, I can let some of the more marginal/rotation players go.  If I lose on the wage-bidding wars, than at least some of what I'm holding on to can be useful until they CAN be replaced.  Really looking for a solid title challenge this year and avoid the playoffs altogether.

Career Overview

         

Spoiler

 

        SEASON        TEAM               Division               League Position        FAT        FAC        JPT        LC        UEFA        CL

  • 2019/20      South Shields FC      Vanarma North                           6 (22)                          1stRd           4QR          -                 -                 -                  -                            

 

Care to watch my progress?  I stream a number of my matches live -- check it out at https://www.twitch.tv/castinar

Edited by G_D_K
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Dafuge..... I loved the Welsh league dominance thread you did with Caersws before moving on to other clubs in the league. 

For FM19 do you have any plans of revisiting the Welsh leagues? Perhaps this time take a club from the lower Welsh leagues to the top? 

I would loce to see you take over at Llangefni FC (Clwb Pêl Droed Llangefni -C.P.D. Llangefni) and getting them promoted to the Welsh Premier League before making them the dominant force in the league.

Getting them qualified into the Champions League group stages would be an incredible achievement!! It would possibly be one of your most challenging saves ever or Football Manager! 

So how about it? .... you up to the job? Lol.

 

Thanks- Owen.

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2 hours ago, Thebaker said:

@XaW - seems like a very good youth intake. What level is kettering at and have you managed to improved the facilities?

Kettering starts with pretty good facilities for this level, and a philosophy of giving youth a chance. So it was logical to start here. I've not improved the facilities, but I've gotten some improvements to youth coaching and youth recruitment.

jme0UNI.png

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25 minutes ago, XaW said:

Kettering starts with pretty good facilities for this level, and a philosophy of giving youth a chance. So it was logical to start here. I've not improved the facilities, but I've gotten some improvements to youth coaching and youth recruitment.

jme0UNI.png

You have really improved it from the start, they are better than most premier league sides apart from youth facilities

Edited by Thebaker
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2 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

You have really improved it from the start, they are better than most premier league sides apart from youth facilities

Yeah, that's why I picked Kettering since I were going for a youth only challenge at the same time.

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2 minutes ago, XaW said:

Yeah, that's why I picked Kettering since I were going for a youth only challenge at the same time.

I picked Worthing since they have better facilities than most and because St Neots or Beaconsfield would not come up.

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KetteringTFC.png.6001701b22e3577a037658b671430bfa.png

Kettering Town - Season 21/22

"Kettering had been expected to be amongst those settling for mid-table safety at the start of the season but they were able to break out of the pack and secure a playoff berth."

League Table - We finished exactly the same amount of points than season before. This year however it got us 5th place instead of 6th. We met Stockport in playoff 1st round and won 3-1 AET. Next up was Crewe away. Unfortunately our players were still tired after last match and we didn't play particularly well. In the end we lost 3-1.

Cups - We did well in FA Cup. We beat League Two side Carlisle away but League One Blackpool was eventually too much. However highlight of the season was FA Trophy which we managed to win.

Transfers - Usual amount of business here. We spent some money on few players. No notable sales this year.

Finances - Looking good. Almost one million pound. I have asked board several times to go professional but unfortunately they keep rejecting.

Key Players

Simon Shaw - On loan from Sheff Wed. He scored 21 times but unfortunately he was very inconsistent. His low determination didn't help.

Fergal Hale-Brown - It's pretty rare that you see GK here. However he did well. 14 clean sheets total and over 7.00 avere rating.

Wade Hobbs - He didn't have the most impressive stats but he is very talented and by far our biggest prospect. Ass man seems to think that has potential to be an EFL Championship attacking midfielder int he future.

Next Season

Third time's the charm? I'd rather avoid playoffs next season if possible. However winning the league will be tough because Billericay were relegated. Last time they were here their annual salary budget was over four million pounds. We spent around 650k this season. Yet I reckon we might have a chance. This is the first time that I feel that we have some solid building blocks here. Maybe 4-5 new starters and depth would be enough during summer. So far we have been playing 5-3-2 every season but it's fairly difficult to find good WBs at this level so I might consider some other options too.

Season

League

Position

Notes

19/20

National League North

1st

Promoted

20/21

National League

6th

Lost in Playoff 1st round

21/22

National League

5th

Lost in Playoff SF, FA Trophy Winners

 

 

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9 hours ago, G_D_K said:

Then....in October....something inexplicably happened...and I'm still not sure what it was.  From Mid-October until...about mid-January, we just lost all consistency.  Late goals, missing empty nets, everything that could go wrong did.  We dropped from an average of nearly 80% passes completed across the board to just over 60%.  It just....all went to pieces.  

 

Ah, so it's not just me then. 

Whitby Town, 2019/2020 Vanarama North:

i8OmbFR.png

Easily the most confusing season I've ever had. I came in expecting to struggle as we had in the first season in FM18 but it was just cake at the start. We conceded only 7 goals in the first two months and were the better team in every game. After 12 unbeaten to start the campaign, we lost a 4-1 game which must've been pretty close to even in xG. Bouncing back with two straight wins had me thinking it was just bad luck, then the ship started to take on water.

fqHrWWO.png

Our offense stopped clicking and our defense was getting picked apart. I may have signed a few too many players as I kept finding people who should've been improvements but played worse than the players who were already at the club. We went through a number of tactics until finally settling on the thing that seemed to be beating us the most: just pumping balls over the top. Thankfully we saved all our luck until the promotion playoffs.

Spoiler

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Plenty of drama filled games in FM18, but here is the first in FM19. 2-0 up after 6 minutes and I was feeling great. We held on to a 2-1 lead going into the break and I thought we'd be able to hold on to it. Instead we allowed 4 goals in the first 20 minutes of the second half. Throwing everything into the attack, we managed 2 relatively quick goals to keep our chances alive, and an equalizer had me scrambling to decide what to do tactically. We rolled back to a controlling style but managed to push in a 6th in injury time. With 7 goals already scored, we still had another 5 minutes to defend after that.

Spoiler

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This is where the season should've ended. We held them to mostly half chances as we tried to play on the counter and we actually never trailed this game despite Kettering's absolute dominance. Very interesting that another newly promoted team was as good as us for most of the season (the third promoted team didn't fare as well, going down in 20th). A drama-free final would've been fine.

Spoiler

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Or some late drama is fine, I guess. This was a brutal game to watch, as their 65% passing (384/582) was a shining example of the beautiful game compared to our 53% (227/421). 

Transfers were anyone who showed up in my scouting meetings and looked good while on trial with us. Some didn't work out, others did. I'm gonna try to keep anyone (save one player) who played in more than 10 games; with a new wage budget this allows us to get 3 or 4 new players in so hopefully I won't be signing as many next year. Dale Hopson was my favorite transfer as he left in July before the season. He refused to re-sign for under 800 p/w even though we could only offer 500 (I think because 800 was our highest earner at the time) and when I tried after he was released he said our squad wasn't strong enough. He changed his mind and signed for 300 p/w in January after not finding another club.

Season stats leave us with an interesting problem. Junior Mondal was a key player for us, leading the team in appearances and contributing 5 goals and 10 assists from the right midfield position. He is on 800 p/w though and wants a slightly larger contract now. His attributes look pretty good even for the Vanarama Premier, but he only had a 6.83 this season so despite being ever-present I think we may be able to find someone better. Other than trying to find new players, this will be the biggest transfer decision of the summer. 

 

 

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Well thats season 1 done with Merthyr Town. Not a bad season was close to the last playoff spot till the last 5 or 6 games where we fell apart no special signings or anything or I'd show you that gonna rebuild most the team but on to next SEASON! Also was able to get my National C licences and currently working on my B!!!! 

 

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Edited by titan1019
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SFC.png.1d5084793ff7d03a179938559ff76ba4.png

SEASON 20/21 REVIEW

 

Was tipped to finish bottom again, We had a very up and down season, went on great runs and terrible slides. Ended up finishing 10th which i was very happy with. we were up at 2nd at one point but dropped off quickly and stayed around the 10th spot for the majority of the season.

We signed around 8 people with a couple on loan but only a couple made an impact, Murdoch was top goalscorer again with 25 goals. For next season we need better mids to back up Gavin Scott and another solid CB and a striker to help Murdoch. We have a little bit of money to spend so i'm hoping to attract a few quality players to add and push for playoffs next season.

Sorry for the lack of info but work has been manic atm, Next season i'll be back to full posting.

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image.png.c1c3a7d4ba0e1ad43280a06ff0f092a2.png

 

Table | Squad | Transfers

 

The board wanted the playoffs as a minimum so there was a lot of pressure on from the start. Lost the first 2 games but went on a 9 match unbeaten run to get up to 2nd. in Nov and Dec the team only won 1 game in 8. The board and press were complaining about the underachievement and i was probably only a game or 2 from the sack with the board confidence down to 45%. The team went 7 unbeaten before  6 without a win and 5 wins in the last 7 (one loss was after ending with 8 players!). The end result was they just squeaked into the playoffs. The team overall was stronger away from home with my home tactics not quite right, the performances against the top sides was also really poor this season.

In the first playoff round the team was away to Welling but 2 goals in the first 3 mins led to a comfortable 3-0 win. In the semi-final the team were away to Bath and in spite of dominating the match the game was drawn 2-2 and the match was won on penalties.

In the final the team were away to Chippenham and had not beaten them in the last 5 games which was all of them. However the team dominated the game to win promotion.

In the cups the progress was limited. In the FA Cup, got past Potters Bar and Weymouth before losing 0-2 at home to VNL Aldershot. The team were trashed 0-4 at home by VNL Eastleigh in the FA trophy 1st Rd.

Finances fell this season possibly to a decrease of 80 for average attendance although the club made a small stadium improvement at the end of the season.

The squad seemed poor this season compared to last with the defense particularly inconsistent, it was only when i brought in 2 FB's  in dec that things picked up a bit. Youth product Padaruth would have played more if he had ever been more than 70% condition. Midfield is generally too weak, Gray did well when he played although i realized in may i have a better rated youth player. Up front  Scott came in on loan and was superb until leaving in Jan. Adeloye came good at the end of the season after missing the first 2 months through injury and Mehew started the season as backup but had a great season overall.

 

Season    League            Position    FA Cup           FA Trophy              Achievements/Notes               
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20   Vanarama South     8th        2nd Q Round      3rd Q Round               None 
2020/21   Vanarama South     6th        4th Q Round      1st Round               Promoted  

 

Edited by Thebaker
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Season 2020/21 Review - Lancaster City in the Vanarama National League North

League Table | Playoffs | Season Review | Goal of the Season

So close. :(  I got tired of getting punished by long balls whenever we misplaced a pass and changed to a deep and direct approach of my own. We now focus on keeping shape and winning set pieces over stringing passes together. It's incredibly boring to watch, but reliable in a way that's frankly more important to us right now than high scorelines. Screw the fans!

3rd. Playoffs. And they started well enough with a 3-1 win against Spennymoor. Then Barrow — the team that didn't lose a game until December, whose 2 regular strikers have 63 goals between them, who beat us twice in the regular season... And did so here as well. I can't even be mad about it; they're on a different level right now. We just 'gotta keep building toward that ourselves.

Squad | Transfers

Minor improvements, with the notable exception of Denton who came in as a dominating target man. Unfortunately, his headers rarely threaten and his link-up play is much too slow for our counter-attacking style. What's kept him in the team is set pieces where he's frankly unplayable and scores almost all of his goals. In open play we've once again had to rely on Mallass who thankfully had the time of his life chasing down long balls. 31 goals speaks for itself!

Finances

They don't look great, do they? The board did inject £80K in march, so hopefully those pockets are deep enough to keep us out of serious trouble.

Aim for next season: Promotion!

Season    League                 Finish   Notes
2020/21   Vanarama South         3rd      Knocked out in Playoff Final
2019/20   Vanarama South         8th      -

 

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@Scab - thats tough. You look like you have a good squad, goals are well spread.  Your finances seem about normal if you don't have a great FA cup run or have large crowds. Worthing have had 930 and 850 average attendance which makes a difference over every team i have ever played at this level. some teams average barely 200.

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                                                                                                 Buxton FC 2018-19 Season Review

League Table | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Cup Runs | Transfers | Top Scorer | Finances |

Well, that was rough... 

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NORTH

BOARD EXPECTATION: Avoid Relegation (1st - 19th)

SEASON PREVIEW: 21st (Relegated)

ACTUAL FINISH: 19th (Survived)

After a busy pre-season, we got off to an average start full of draws - we shared the spoils in 6 of our 11 games in August and September, although we also found goals very hard to come by. This got steadily worse throughout the season as we won just 2 matches, both at home by a single goal, between October and December. By the turn of the New Year, the board were losing patience and, after a 0-3 home defeat to Guiseley, demanded a positive result against Blyth at The Silverlands. Luckily, we delivered with an impressive 3-2 win. An unbelievably shocking run followed with 8 games without a win and this time, the board wanted 7 points in 9 games. We lost our first two games but rallied impressively to win our first two away games of the season and defeat league leaders Harrogate at home to save my neck. A tactical formation change to a 5-3-2 WB particularly helped!

Going into the last game against Halesowen at The Silverlands, we had won 4 of our last 6 games. The newly-promoted Yeltz did extremely well this season with a 13th placed finish but real-life talisman Liam Hardy scored the goal that secured our survival, and his position as our top goalscorer (his profile is above).

FA CUP

BOARD EXPECTATION: Reach 3QR

ACTUAL FINISH:  Lost in 2QR

Poor, poor, poor and more poor. AFC Rushden & Diamonds awaited us in the 2nd Qualifying Round and we played out a disappointing 0-0 draw at Hayden Road to secure a home replay. Witton Albion awaited the winners - expected to be us - but the visitors took us all the way. We nearly lost in 90 minutes only for Jack Butler to rescue us in injury time, and then it went to penalties. Unfortunately, they just kept their composure better than us and stunned us to progress. This also, understandably, disappointed the board who expected a win to reach the next round...

FA TROPHY

BOARD EXPECTATION: Second Round

ACTUAL FINISH: First Round

Faced off against a mid-table Alfreton side away from home in the 3QR and got a respectable 1-1 draw which earned us a replay at the Silverlands. However, we didn't suffer disappointment like in the FA Cup as we scraped a 1-0 win to set up an away tie vs York City. It was always going to be difficult to reach the board expectation after that draw so I wasn't too disappointed when we went out by a score of 0-2.

================================================================================

All in all, a pretty poor season. My signings throughout the season were largely below par, really hoping that some youth players and newgens can shine through and improve the squad - and indeed the morale - going into season 2. I have, however, decided that this will NOT be my save for the full game on 2 November and I will simply be using this save to work things out and get used to the game - especially the tactical side of things :) I'll see how far I get into season 2 (or indeed season 3) within the next 5 days.

Season  |     League     | Pos. | FA Cup | FA Trophy |            Notes              |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20 | Vanarama North | 19th |  2QR   | 1st Round | Nearly sacked - twice!!       | 
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Edited by oohlala111
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XaW - Kettering Town - 2022/23

KetteringTFC.png

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

After surviving quite comfortably last season, the goal was the same, survive! Everything more were just a bonus for us. The youngsters are still developing, but we are hampered by being semi-pro. There are only 4 other (Darlington, FC United, Sutton Utd and Bromley) semi-pro teams in the division this season, so against all the professional teams we had our work cut out for us. We had a tough start where we only won one of our first 6 matches, but we played quite well even though we didn't pick up as many points as we wanted. In November and December we did better and picked up some much needed wins before hitting a poor form once again. Still, we were sitting comfortably mid-table, nowhere near the relegation spots, but also not close to the playoff spots. In the closing stages of the season we once again struggled winning only 2 of the last 10, but still finishing in a very decent 14th place. 2 spots above last year. The other 4 semi-pro teams? All relegated!

We had a takeover this season, but it didn't affect us much, other than a transfer embargo that I don't bother with since I'm only bringing in youth anyway. I did get my continental pro licence just as the season ended, so that's done at least. The board continue to refuse to go pro, but somehow the thought it be good to improve the youth facilities. Not that I mind improving them, I would rather go professional though.

In the FA Cup we had a bit of a cup run as we got all the way to the 4th round were we lost away to Tottenham. Something we got about £1M for! In the FA Trophy we got knocked out in the 2nd round away to Barnet.

We had an amazing youth intake. The three top ones are Martin Mahon 23c, Colin Cole 23f and Jacub Housham 23h.

Season	|       League	             | Position |   FA Cup      |   Europe	|   Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20	|   National League North    |   9th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Just of playoffs
2020/21	|   National League North    |   1st	 |  4th qual     |   N/A	|   Promoted as champions
2021/22	|   National League          |  16th	 |  1st round    |   N/A	|   Survived
2022/23 |   National League          |  14th     |  4th round    |   N/A        |   Mid-table, good cup run
Edited by XaW
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Kettering Town - Season 22/23

"Kettering had been expected to finish in the top half of the table and will have been delighted to find themselves in the playoff places."

League Table - This year we finished 5th again. However we got three points more than last year so this count as progress. We beat Eastleigh easily in the playoff 1st round but once again playoff semifinal was too much to handle. We played fairly well but unfortunetely we didn't have answer to Hartlepool's three strikers system.

Cups - Best season so far. We made the FA Cup 3rd round first time and we were rewarded immediately with away match vs Man City. We won FA Trophy once again despite using backups all the way to the final.

Transfers - Lots of ins and few outs. This was massive though.

Finances - Very strong year. We made profit once again despite investing £1,800,000 in new training facilities. We had board takeover but nothing exciting happened. I asked professional status several times but I was rejected once again every time.

Key Players

Wade Hobbs had great season. He scored ten goals from midfield and assisted 15. Pretty much every Championship team is interested in him so this might have been his last season here.

Josh Thomas scored 25 goals. He was on loan from Luton but I have signed him already permanently. He is our first top scorer that doesn't leave club immediately.

Former Welsh international Adam Matthews was superb WB early on. However he declined quite rapidly during season and we are not going to extend his contract.

Next Season

Promotion but how? I have been thinking what went wrong on these three seasons and I have some theories. First of all we have pretty young squad. Most of our players are former Premier League or Championship academy players. They are very talented but they haven't played first team football at all or very little.  This means that their consistency is low. Therefore I try to sign few more established veteran players next season. Fitness is another issue. Most of the teams are professional and thus they have advantage over us. There's not much we can do about that. However I try to run very fitness heavy preseason and hope that helps. In the past preseason didn't matter but in this year edition it's supposed to actually make a difference. Last but not least I'm going to ditch 5-3-2. It's a solid formation but it requires that especially WBs and CMs are capable of playing two-way game. These kind of players are pretty hard to find.  I plan to switch to more simple 4-1-4-1. This allows us to have more defined defensive, midfield and attacking units. I want to use proper holding midielder and wingers so 4-1-4-1 seems logical. Hopefully next season will be ours.

Season League Position Notes
19/20 National League North 1st
20/21 National League 6th
21/22 National League 5th  
22/23 National League 5th

This table is messed up but I don't seem to be able to delete this so I just leave it here.

Edited by janneff
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SEASON 2 2021/22 LEAGUE 2

 SEASON PREVIEW   

  This was always going to be a tough season. Dorkin's first ever season in professional football. We had the lowest wage budget in the league, at just £16k a week. And were predicted to finish bottom of the pile. 

COMPETITIONS    LEAGUE TABLE

A very up and down season, with the low budget, young squad and this being our first season in league 2 the aim was to stay up which we did pretty comfortably, finishing in 18th place. We struggled to ever find real consistency, even when on a 10 game unbeaten run, we won 5 and drew 5. Bu t we had way too many losses to teams around the bottom half of the table to ever really push higher and was around 19th-15th all season.

In the cups we managed to get to the FA Cup 3rd round for the 2nd time in 3 years, but this year falling to Burton, and never really getting that big payday the little clubs crave. 

 SQUAD   

We are developing pretty well, although the players values are lower than i have ever seen. This summer I really need to add abit more quality. 

 TRANSFERS   

    Had to really rely on some loanees this season, we don't have a parent club as yet as the board don't see the point. None really stood out performance wise. Youth Intake was again disappointing, with even the highest rated player on the screenshot, now only 2 star potential ability.

 FINANCES

Not great, 0 transfer budget for the year, but do have £22k a week to spend on wages and with about £3k a week leaving this summer, have quite a lot of room for movement. However the club is losing money so need to see what i can do to help.  One good thing is come the end of the season, our home gates were up to the 1200 mark which is double last season. 

Next Seasons Aim.

Just to improve, hopefully enough to push for a play off spot. Gateshead who won the National League the same season we went up, stormed to the league 2 table this season so have now secured back to back promotions. 

 

 

Season    |     League		     | Position |  FA Cup  | Europe  | Other
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20   | National League South    |  1st	| 3rd Rnd  | N/A     | Promoted
2020/21   | National League          |  6th     | 2nd Rnd  | N/A     | Promoted Via Play Offs
2021/22   | League 2                 |  18th    | 3rd Rnd  | N/A     | Survived Relegation.

 

 

 

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2019/2020 Review

Starting with a small squad and cancelling 5 transfers was hard, after the youth intake results improved so hopeful for next year. A good cup run saw some money but with almost 400k in the bank it does not allow me to improve the youth facilities, youth coaching, etc...

Had a good youth intake:

Youth.thumb.png.dfaa3aca1f195bf96b166e73bf4c6ceb.png

And a near the bottom but relatively safe season.

FinalLeagueTable.thumb.png.2663c9154d6f15062d6d42d66ab79f6e.png

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Spent an absolute age waiting for Corinthian Casuals to come up... didn't get there so I've started a new save with Carshalton Athletic. I'm hoping that someone manages to get a save with the casuals but in the meantime I'll see how this one goes.

Benjamin%20Petit_%20My%20Profile%20Profi

Definitely seems like a tougher start than Halesowen!

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3 hours ago, tremor said:

Spent an absolute age waiting for Corinthian Casuals to come up... didn't get there so I've started a new save with Carshalton Athletic. I'm hoping that someone manages to get a save with the casuals but in the meantime I'll see how this one goes.

Benjamin%20Petit_%20My%20Profile%20Profi

Definitely seems like a tougher start than Halesowen!

I'll be adding to the list of saves on page one once release hits.  Maybe I'll get luck and find them for you :)

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31 minutes ago, Lewis89 said:

We have managed to bag a lucrative FA Cup 3rd round tie away at Arsenal. Looking forward to seeing how much money it will be worth, even if we do get a beating. :D

I got a bit over £1,1M from my game away to Spurs, so I think it should around there somewhere.

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9 minutes ago, XaW said:

I got a bit over £1,1M from my game away to Spurs, so I think it should around there somewhere.

Was thinking around the £1m mark, I got around £700k for playing Newcastle in the 1st season. 

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Kettering Town - Season 23/24

"Kettering had been expected to be in the running for a playoff place but performed even better than expected in securing promotion to EFL League Two."

League Table - Finally! It wasn't easy though. We finished second after very tight season in National League. In the end it was Carlisle that won the league but top six teams were all within seven points of Carlisle. We finished second after strong finish. We started strong and were top of the table till December when the midseason slump hit us. However we were able to recover from it and this time I had the confidence that we would do well in playoffs. That wasn't easy either. We dominated versus Tranmere but we were trailing after half time. Wade Hobbs equalised 27 minutes into the second half and it took full 90 minutes before we scored or actually they scored an own goal. In the Final we met Salford. After strong first half and thanks to Wade Hobb's two goals we had comfortable 2-0 lead. They scored seven minutes into the second half but had man sent off after 84th minute. However they somehow managed to equalise in the 91st minute. I was pretty furious at this point and players knew that too. It looked like it would go all the way to the penalties but it was our CB who scored 120-th minute game winning goal. We even scored once more one minute later to seal the deal.

Cups - I decided to use backups in both cup competions this year. They did pretty well.

Transfers - Wade Hobbs joined Blackburn in £650k + 50 % deal. It was too good offer to refuse. However Blackburn were very kind and agreed to loan him back to us immediately.

Finances - We would have made small loss without the sale of Wade Hobbs. It seems that we need to rely on player sales or lucky cup draws  from now on if we want to make profit.

Key Players

Wade Hobbs had another great season. His stats were not that impressive but his role was also different. His versatility allowed us to use him either as MC, AML or even ST. I'll try to extend his loan.

Sam Habergham was on loan from Wrexham. I wanted more experienced players this season and he represented exactly that. He performed his left back duties very well in several different roles. Sometimes he played as traditional FB, next day he was attacking WB or even IWB. 

Jack Webb had good first season but his second season was even better. He scored 18 goals from right wing and was our top scorer. He played mostly traditional winger role but his player trait Runs With Ball Through Centre influenced his game alot so he was almost playing like raumdeuter.

Next Season

My minimun goal is to achieve midtable finish. We spent four years in National League developing both our club and players. This should help a lot. This wasn't unexpected promotion by any means. We had the most amount of possession and completed passes in National League. We also had the best pass completion ratio. However we struggled to create chances. We only created 5th highest amount of chances. If we can solve this problem, I wouldn't be surprised to see us winning back to back promotions. Board gave us 38k p/w wage budget and this should be one of the biggest in League Two if we decide to use it all.

Unfortunately our current ground doesn't meet Football League requirements so board announced new stadium plans . This is not great news to be honest. This stadium is way too small for my ambitions. Meanwhile we move to The PTS Academy Stadium in Northampton.

image.thumb.png.34ababbca842884f054053810f3b1bc9.png

 

 

Edited by janneff
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Season 2021/22 Review - Lancaster City in the Vanarama National League North

League Table | Playoffs | Season Review | Goal of the Season

3rd. Playoff. Knocked out. At least we're consistent? 

Similar results aside, this season felt worse. We had a fantastic 2021, topping the table with a 17-3-3 record after a 10 match winning streak. Then it all came crashing down. 2022 saw us muster a mere 4 more wins, not a single clean sheet, and a lot of confusion about what just happened. I'm actually starting to wonder if it might be weather/pitch related and I need to start playing even more direct. There's work to be done here, for sure.

Squad | Transfers

Almost unchanged. I brought in Johnson last-minute after Statham buggered off to Partick Thistle and found the midfield threat we needed in Tomsett, but apart from them it's been the usual suspects doing their usual things to their usual standard.

Finances

Starting to recognize the same shark-tooth pattern I had with Mickleover last year, except their board kept injecting money to push the graph back in black while this board seems content to sit at £100K in the red. It isn't actually affecting me beyond blocking any board requests that would cost money, so I suppose it doesn't matter much either way.

Aim for next season: Promotion?

Season    League                 Finish   Notes
2021/22   Vanarama North         3rd      Knocked out in Playoff Semi Final
2020/21   Vanarama North         3rd      Knocked out in Playoff Final
2019/20   Vanarama North         8th      -

 

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Stalybridge Celtic Season 1 2019/20

 "All of Stalybridge's drams came true this season as they defied expectations suggesting that they would be relagation candidates and instead mounted an almost unbelievable title winning campaign"

League Table – had minimal expectations after being predicted to come dead and after the first 3 games we were living up to our expectations. That was short lived and went on a good run which included 11 league wins in a row that saw us sitting first for the majority of the season.  27 games in we had only lost 3 but then lost 4 out of the next 6 and lost the lead. Credit to York they were with us the majority of the season and had the stronger goal difference demolishing teams. With about 6 games to go auto promotion placing didn’t look like with York 4 points ahead + gd but we knew that we had them at home in the second last game so we needed them to drop some points.  They did and by the time they came to Bower Fold they were 1 point ahead of us.  Surprisingly we dominated early and took a 2 – 0 lead into half time.  They pulled one back early in the second half but we held on and took 1st spot with one game to go, away to Alfreton who were 21st and nothing to play for. Just needed to match York’s result and we were champions. A game with many chances and highlights, we took a lead around the 20th minute but then conceded just before half time.  On the live ladder York were 1st  we had so many chances to score, hitting the woodwork a number of times until my BWM scored his first goal of the season in the 71st minute.  Some late drama made my palms sweaty but we eventually held on to be crowned champions!

Season Review       Transfers      Finances      

 

Cups - Nothing really worth mentioning, used my rotation squads for most of the games as the focus was on the league once it looked like I would challenge near the top.

 

Aim for next season -  will be to consolidate. There will be a major overhaul of the team with a lot of contracts expiring as I have accumulated a large squad of unwanted players.  Try bring in a few quality signings hopefully in CD and RWB and potentially a couple good loans.   I was always hovering over the wages budget by a couple thousand per week so finances have taken a hit, I wasn’t able to improve any of the facilities during the course of the year so I think this should be the aim.   The board have announced they are wanting to build a New Stadium so this may take a while.

 

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Season 4 2022-23 League 2

SEASON PREVIEW

After our first season in League 2 ended with a decent 18th placed finish, I really wanted to push on this season. Predicted to finish 18th, I knew we could do so much better.

COMPETITIONS    LEAGUE TABLE

Turned out to be a fantastic season for us. We started slowly, but gradually grew into a good side as the season went on. A couple of key signings in Adam Lewis and Joel Latibeaudiere on free contracts really helped us shore up a leaky defence. So much so that we went on a run of  GAMES losing just once in 20. This left the league table looking this for the Run In. we dropped 7 points in our next 3 games, tried as hard as we could to throw it away but somehow managed top seal PROMOTION to League One. 

We were poor in the League Cup and League Trophy, losing in the first round and group stages. In the FA Cup we again made it to the 3rd round where we drew Arsenal away. We only made £470k from the tie though, which  was disappointing as I thought it would be more. The money still helped though and we put up a fight, losing 3-0. Still a fantastic season overall. 

SQUAD

Developed really well after Christmas, will need to strengthen for next year, but think majority of these should hold their own in league 1.  Lots of players being released this summer, most are in the reserves, which should free up a fair amount of wages.

TRANSFERS

Really productive year for the club, losing Neil Wright had me really worried at the start of the season. But the money helped the club massively and allowed me the room to up the  wage budget and bring in a fair few upgrades. Made £880k profit on transfers this season, which is key to developing the club. Another terrible youth intake, who needs good free youngsters though right? :seagull:

FINANCES

We managed to stay out of the red all season, which is very promising. But then our cup run aided this massively as did the sale of Neil Wright. Home attendances stayed at  the 1200 mark so hopefully that rises more next season. With some of the money from the transfer sale we improved our JUNIOR COACHING BUDGET and YOUTH RECRUITMENT but am yet to see anything from the few improvements made over the 4 seasons. Thinking I may just focus on the training facilities and worry about the first team. I have also got my Continental C coaching badge.

Next Season

No doubt we will be favourites for the drop again, but I think we can upset the apple cart. Have been scouting all summer and there seems to be some good players out of contract and up for sale who are interested in joining us. Whether we can afford them remains to be seen. 

Season    |     League		     | Position |  FA Cup  | Europe  | Other
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20   | National League South    |  1st	| 3rd Rnd  | N/A     | Promoted
2020/21   | National League          |  6th     | 2nd Rnd  | N/A     | Promoted Via Play Offs
2021/22   | League 2                 |  18th    | 3rd Rnd  | N/A     | Survived Relegation.
2022/23   | League 2                 |  2nd     | 3rd Rnd  | N/A     | Promoted.

 

Edited by Lewis89
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On 24/10/2018 at 20:36, phnompenhandy said:

I've never done a Dafuge challenge before, but I think I fancy joining you guys this time. I don't have the beta so I'll start with the full-fat version and keep reloading until Gainsborough Trinity pop up. I'll join XaW in a Youth Academy challenge - that's how I always play with lower league files as I prefer bumbling about at the bottom to success. In the meantime KUTGW chaps!  :thup:

Just a heads-up, fellas - as anyone who's ever worked with me will tell ya, I'm rubbish at following other people's rules and systems no matter how good they are. I just have to do my own thing. So, rather than join a Challenge here, I'll nick all your best ideas and twist them around, and start a thread in the suitably anarchic FM Career Updates forum. I think it'll be a Coady-inspired Lowest-League Journeyman Head Coach career but in my bespoke multi-national league pyramid. I'm not sure whether to take a few days to tinker with the new stuff in FM19 (don't have the beta) or just throw myself straight in. Anyroad, hope to see some of you kind spirits there in a wee bit :thup:

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9 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Just a heads-up, fellas - as anyone who's ever worked with me will tell ya, I'm rubbish at following other people's rules and systems no matter how good they are. I just have to do my own thing. So, rather than join a Challenge here, I'll nick all your best ideas and twist them around, and start a thread in the suitably anarchic FM Career Updates forum. I think it'll be a Coady-inspired Lowest-League Journeyman Head Coach career but in my bespoke multi-national league pyramid. I'm not sure whether to take a few days to tinker with the new stuff in FM19 (don't have the beta) or just throw myself straight in. Anyroad, hope to see some of you kind spirits there in a wee bit :thup:

I'll certainly check it out! :

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Season 2020/2021

The season started great with good results and my team being hard to crack, got up to 6th!!! 2 points of the leader, then it all came crumbling down, injuries and difficulty to get results. I grabbed some points here and there and at the end it was close, finished 4 points from the fist relegation place.

Season League Position Win Draw Loss GF GA GD Points FA Cup FA Trophy
2019/20 Vanarama South 16th 13 13 16 45 57 -12 52 2nd Round 3rd Q. Round
2020/21 Vanarama South 18th 9 15 18 45 69 -24 42 2nd Round 3rd Q. Round

As you can see there was a problem in defense this second season, with so few goals, 3 players that used to play roles in defense getting old very fast and the young player replacing them still having holes in their game means I will switch to a 4-4-2 and try the score more goals than the opponent strategy, since I can get more developed talent in the field that way and most reports say that opponents are vulnerable to the 4-4-2.

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Youth & Facilities

Youth.thumb.png.131dc8c71eabd6b9508683ed2988086d.png

Another good intake Zac Kennedy 21c is going to the starting eleven, Luke Hyem 21a, Liam Castle 21b, Andy France 21d and Adam Price 21o are going to be next man up at theirs positions.

Season Corporate Training Data Analysis Youth Facilities Youth Level Junior Coaching Youth Recruitment
2019/2020 Basic Basic None Basic 4 Fairly Basic Basic
2020/2019 Basic Basic None Basic 4 Fairly Basic Basic

The board keeps denying every youth related facility increase and coaching/recruitment, even with no loans and almost 500k in the bank.

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Season 2, Vanarama National League.

iRrjWru.png

 

****. We had 22 points after 15 games and then for some reason everyone forgot how to play. Worst in the league in defending corners, direct free kicks, and most penalties given away while only being less porous than Dulwich Hamlet and I wanted to fire every defender into the sun. In desperation to prepare for next time (if we can make it back up) I tried to get the board to let us go professional, but they said no. It makes sense, financials are insecure and we don't look like it'll be easy for us to come back up.

NQqmZli.png

Season stats don't even fit on a single page as I tried anyone and anything to save us but was unsuccessful. Anyone with an expiring contract has been set for release; even our second highest rated non-loan player (he is 32). We are also losing our top goalscorer to some League Two side. Platt (our best player) and Mondal have told me they want to leave, I told them I'd allow it if someone came in with a reasonable offer though I doubt anyone will want to pay their value this low down the pyramid. All non-contract players are also being released and my tactics will be re-defined based on whoever I can sign over the summer. This leaves us with 12 first-team players at the moment, so this could be an adventure. Here's hoping I don't get sacked.

Should also mention training and youth facilities are poor (and youth level 0), so I don't expect any young players to develop here but we'll see.

 

Edit: We went under a takeover bid a day before the window opened and it's now been almost 3 weeks, this is a nightmare lol

 

Edited by CMU Chips
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My pre-season with Kettering was decimated by the injuries and fitness issues, which looks to have been addressed in the new update. However, I have been put off by these issues, so will be restarting after the official game release.

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Kettering Town - Season 24/25

"Kettering had been expected to struggle for much of the season and find themselves entrenched at the bottom of the standings but defied all odds by remarkably finishing top of the pile and claiming an unlikely title."

League Table - I had good feeling about this and the team truly delivered. We didn't have the best start. We lost five out of our first eleven games and I was starting to second guess my expectations. Few simple role changes did the trick however and we only lost four more times in our remaining 35 games. We scored most amount goals but I was mostly impressed with our defending. We only conceded 35 goals and had 23 clean sheets.

Cups - Our Carabao Cup debut went fairly well. We beat League One Bury home and took Premier League Aston Villa all the way to the penalties. I used mostly backups in EFL Trophy. However I was pleased to see us progressing all the way to the Quarter Finals. There's decent money in this competion even though it seems pretty stupid. FA Cup saw us progress furthest so far. We hammered League One Barnsley 5-0 in the 3rd round but lost to Leicester in the 4th round. All in all these results made our season even sweeter.

Transfers - We made two relatively big sales in January transfer window. Both players joined only six month earlier. At this point I try not to get attached to my players too much. We are selling club.

 Finances - Profit thanks to player sales and parachute payment. I think the correct profit number here is  £451,942.

Key Players

Wade Hobbs did his thing. I'll try to extend his loan again.

Matt Blake was very solid left back. He should be starting in League one.

Technically gifted defender Saul Milovanovic did very well. He'll part of the next season squad. However I probably move him to Half Back because I'm not sure he's defensively good enough to be all day Central Defender in League One.

Next Season

This is a little bit of guess. Based on financial numbers - mainly salary per annum - we should finish bottom four. However players seem to expect that we should aim for midtable finish next year. If they think that we should be able to get midtable it usually means that we can finish even higher. Third promotion in a row would be amazing but probably not likely.

image.thumb.png.64a9fc20bbc3d28564f27a8a18b1a633.png

 

 

Edited by janneff
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