[FM19] Devon Is a Place on Earth

[Mandy42]

fingers crossed you stay up  

[Northernpilgrim]

August began with a defeat at Sunderland, but the response was incredible

and we end the month top of League 1

and I won Manager of the Month

Edited January 30 by Northernpilgrim

[Northernpilgrim]

I did manage to get the two loan signings I wanted. Cameron Archer is a striker who joins on loan from Aston Villa

and Bobby Adekanye is a winger, loaned from Charlton

 

[Northernpilgrim]

Hurrah

[Northernpilgrim]

September was solid rather than spectacular

but the defeat to Portsmouth sees us drop to fourth, with them climbing above us

[Mandy42]

straight up at the 1st time of asking  

[Northernpilgrim]

2 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

straight up at the 1st time of asking  

Not going to happen. I'd take top half even after the start we've had.

[Northernpilgrim]

Another solid month in October

but the late defeat to Hull sees us drop from 1st going into that match, to third

[Northernpilgrim]

We've had a takeover, but it's from within

and the new Chairman's first act was to offer me a 1 year contract extension, which I've accepted

 

[Lenzar]

Going pretty well. 4th round in the Carabao's not to be sniffed at!

[Northernpilgrim]

November was a poor month, and showed why I'll be happy with midtable

although we are currently still in a playoff spot, there are a lot of teams very close behind us

[Northernpilgrim]

3 hours ago, Lenzar said:

Going pretty well. 4th round in the Carabao's not to be sniffed at!

Very pleased with the Carabao Cup, and also the league until this month. Need to arrest the decline, before we get sucked into a relegation battle.

[theBlackPrince]

Got the quality to push on this season but your right, anything in top half will be a positive year and something to really build on!

[Northernpilgrim]

December was a massive month, and we didn't disappoint, taking 13 points from a possible 15. Our only defeat of the month came in the Checkatrade Trophy

and we sang Auld Lang Syne from the top of the table

I don't think we'll go down now

[Mandy42]

18 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Not going to happen. I'd take top half even after the start we've had.

I still believe!

Portsmouth have only lost 3 games, both of them this month, they are beginning to crack under the pressure 

[Northernpilgrim]

I won Manager of the Month again too

[Hootieleece]

Good start to the season. Congratulations on Manager of the Month!

No matter what season or what team I'm with the "Relegation Safe" Number is "ALWAYS" my first season priority goal. And the earlier I meet or exceed it the more likely my team of making other goals.

Any extra funds from the Takeover?

Any players are you willing to sell to improve the Bank Balance(funding of Youth Academy and recruiting)?

[Northernpilgrim]

6 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Good start to the season. Congratulations on Manager of the Month!

No matter what season or what team I'm with the "Relegation Safe" Number is "ALWAYS" my first season priority goal. And the earlier I meet or exceed it the more likely my team of making other goals.

Any extra funds from the Takeover?

Any players are you willing to sell to improve the Bank Balance(funding of Youth Academy and recruiting)?

Thanks Hootieleece!

Agreed, getting safety is always the first priority. Especially for a team that had avoid relegation as the preseason target. I am hoping we can get a playoff spot, but I would still be happy with anything inside the top 10 (slight upgrade after a really good last month).

The takeover didn't generate any extra money, and I don't really want to sell anyone right now. If we go up, the squad will need a total overhaul, if we don't, I'll look to tie as many players as possible to longer contracts, and ship out players who are no longer good enough, as long as replacements can be found first.

Edited February 1 by Northernpilgrim

[Northernpilgrim]

Another steady rather than spectacular month in January

but it was enough to retain top spot

We added one player in the transfer window, on loan, and two departed

Ormonde-Ottewill will provide cover at left back

[Northernpilgrim]

An underwhelming February, including blowing a 2-0 lead against Portsmouth

and we drop out of the automatic promotion spots as a result

 

[deltablue]

That looked like a very good set of signings so I'm not surprised you've been going so strongly. I also agree about survival being all that matters at first. 

[Northernpilgrim]

March. We didn't win a game. We could have won all of them, and we were superb against Bradford and Hull

but despite the winless run, we are in a playoff place, and not far off second place

Edited February 3 by Northernpilgrim

[Neotropolis]

Get that automatic promotion!

[Northernpilgrim]

6 hours ago, Neotropolis said:

Get that automatic promotion!

10 points from 5 games in April

 

means that we've taken the fight for automatic promotion to the final day

[Northernpilgrim]

It's a straight shootout between us and Oxford for the second automatic promotion spot. We face a trip to Bury, who have a theoretical (but unlikely) chance of survival, and Oxford are away at Chesterfield. We need to match Oxford's result to go up.

[Northernpilgrim]

Sorry for the delay in posting the final update of the season. Finished the last match just as MOTD2 was starting. So, the results are in, and Oxford took maximum points from their trip to Chesterfield. Could we match them?

[Northernpilgrim]

Yes we could. We destroyed Bury, relegating them in the process

so we are promoted to the Championship

and the final table looks like this

[Rikulec]

Great job.

[Northernpilgrim]

Time for some stats and background from the season, beginning with the Golden Boot

We had two players among the leaders for assists

Mike Cooper conceded the second fewest number of goals, and played every match

and kept the most clean sheets in the division

We had four players amongst the leaders for average rating

Rob Hunt won Player of the Year

I got Manager of the Year

and we had three players in the Team of the Year

 

 

 

[Northernpilgrim]

47 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Great job.

Thanks Rikulec

Staying up is going to be bloody difficult though, as we were expected to be on the fringes of the League 1 relegation battle this season. We'll be odds on to go down from the Championship!!

[Lenzar]

Excellent job!

[Mandy42]

I 

TOLD

YOU

SO

!!!

(congratulations)  

All to do to hang onto the championship!!

[Hootieleece]

Congratulations on the unexpected promotion!

Remember the target is 50 points next season....

Like you said you might not make it but give it an all out effort.

My guess is you will have to do well in "dead-ball" situations.

[Neotropolis]

Awesome job! Back to back promotions. Should be a shoe-in for the England job now  

[Northernpilgrim]

Thanks guys

[Nobby_McDonald]

Very well done Pilgrim.

[Northernpilgrim]

6 minutes ago, Nobby_McDonald said:

Very well done Pilgrim.

Thanks Nobby

[Northernpilgrim]

We had an excellent preseason, despite facing some very good opposition

The following players have all been released as their contracts have expired and they aren't good enough to play in the Championship

I've been busy in the transfer market too, bringing in six players

This is the squad on the eve of our first league match of the season

but the bookmakers have us at 1/5 favourites to be relegated, and 1,000/1 to win the Championship

 

 

[Hootieleece]

Do you have problems with your Tall Striker with good heading hitting every Header over the Goal in open play?

My Tall players only seam to keep the ball down when heading set pieces.

Good Luck in Championship! I think you need a little bit of it.

[Northernpilgrim]

7 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Do you have problems with your Tall Striker with good heading hitting every Header over the Goal in open play?

My Tall players only seam to keep the ball down when heading set pieces.

Good Luck in Championship! I think you need a little bit of it.

Definitely. Have hardly any headed goals from open play. Have had to find other ways to score instead.

[Mandy42]

7 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Do you have problems with your Tall Striker with good heading hitting every Header over the Goal in open play?

My Tall players only seam to keep the ball down when heading set pieces.

Good Luck in Championship! I think you need a little bit of it.

N'Golo Kante and Mason Mount are my two best open play header goal scorers, Olivier Giroud used to boom them over the bar every chance he got

[Hootieleece]

4 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Definitely. Have hardly any headed goals from open play. Have had to find other ways to score instead.

 

3 hours ago, Mandy42 said:

N'Golo Kante and Mason Mount are my two best open play header goal scorers, Olivier Giroud used to boom them over the bar every chance he got

That seems to be a trend I remember people complaining about it in both this years and last years ME's. I thought they had fixed it in one of this year's updates, but it seems to have returned.

I have a 6'5" Striker on my Liverpool Team...he heads EVERYTHING over the Goal. 

I have started using the Low Cross Shout and now he actually heads them in...(only about 5 game sample though)

[Northernpilgrim]

It's been a tough start to the season

but at least we're not bottom

and this doesn't tell the whole story of the month. We led against Hull until the 90th minute, conceding two in stoppage time. We led 2-0 against Sheffield United, trailed 3-2 but levelled within 1 minute, only to concede the winner after 89 minutes. We conceded after 5 minutes against Ipswich, but led 3-1 until 82 minutes, and they equalised after 85. We trailed 1-0 and then led 2-1 against Millwall, conceding an equaliser on 74 minutes, 14 minutes after taking the lead. Crystal Palace opened the scoring on 51, but we were level on 52, but they scored after 80 and 85 minutes to take the win in what was a very close game. I know that we're close to getting results, but we're also at a point where we're close to going into a season long tailspin and I need to find a way to stop that.

[Northernpilgrim]

No win in September, but only one defeat

and somehow we remain outside the drop zone

[Northernpilgrim]

TWO wins in October, but only after three defeats

and we're back out of the drop zone again

[Northernpilgrim]

An unbeaten November, which means we're now 7 GAMES UNBEATEN!!

and as a result, we've pulled clear of the relegation zone

Ahead of the Bristol City game, I've signed a contract extension

[Hootieleece]

Remember the goal: Always have more points than games played!

You had a good November and were rewarded with a contract...great job!

Are you doing anything different from your poor run of form?

[Mandy42]

halfway to 50 points before halfway in the season, just got to keep grinding out those points

[Northernpilgrim]

53 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Remember the goal: Always have more points than games played!

You had a good November and were rewarded with a contract...great job!

Are you doing anything different from your poor run of form?

Same formation but changed two midfield roles, one am role and my striker role.

[Northernpilgrim]

December results 

and the league table showing that we remain clear of danger ahead of our next match against Ipswich at Home Park