dafuge's FM20 challenge

tremor · February 16, 2020

Thanks man... it's going to take 2 years to build it though!

Currently in pre-season and i'm finding it harder to attract players than i was in the championship... really weird. Lots of issues with contracts and i'm desperately trying not to kill the harmony in the dressing-room by not having the complete overhaul i think the squad needs.

Still miles inside my new budget - still got £262k available! insane money by comparison to last year.

_JHTB_ · February 16, 2020

Bognor Regis Town 2027/28

Season Overview

League 1 – 2nd place – Back to Back Promotions

Our first back to back promotion so far and similar characteristics to last season, score plenty goals and don’t concede too many, it varied slightly with the increase in quality, more goals conceded, less scored, but still healthy. The season started fairly strongly, however, we succumbed to 2 defeats in the opening 7 games, 2-1 to Coventry on the opening day and 2-0 to Crewe at the end of August – both the teams who eventually ended up promoted alongside us. The rest of the year saw us have pretty strong form but not sensational form, in fact, the whole division seemed to, us in 5^th were about 5 points clear of the team in 15^th at one stage. A lot of the rest of the season followed suit, a lot of draws and wins but for the most part very good at avoiding defeat. Towards the last 6 games we had found ourselves amongst the race for automatic promotion, following 7 wins from 8 games the other a 0-0 draw we faced 1st place Crewe, they completed the double on us a convincing 2-0 win for the Railwaymen. A win to bounce back and the promotion run in began, we received the article outlining the run in for all the top 6 for promotion with the strange occurrence that all the top 6 were playing one another on the final day. Our run in started in disappointing fashion, a heavy 3-0 defeat as Crawley also completed the double on us, luckily it seemed nobody else wanted to win either so we maintained our 2^nd place position. Two consecutive clean sheet wins 2-0 and 1-0 left us 2^nd with a 3 point buffer to 3^rd placed Coventry with a better goal difference and 3 points behind first placed Crewe with a worse goal difference, Coventry’s only chance of autos a big win against Crewe, our only chance of consecutive league wins a big win for Coventry and a win for ourselves. Ultimately, we did not even win ourselves a 2-0 win for Ipswich in which we were outclassed, I think this result may indicate the step up next time round. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway as Coventry and Crewe drew confirming Crewe as League One Champions.

FA Cup – 4th Round

Our first proper cup run yet, our opponents for the 1^st and 2^nd round at our level, 3^rd round level below, so a relatively easy passage through where we held Southampton to a 1-1 draw at home before bowing out 3-2 at St Mary’s through a late winner for the Saints.

Carabao Cup – 1^st Round

Past the first round for the first time before losing on penalties to York after a disappointing 0-0 draw

Leasing.com Trophy – Group Stage

Our first time out in the group stages, with how the games are scheduled the first fixture saw us head to Colchester with a lot of our team away on international duty so a 2-1 loss, a convincing win in the second fixture followed by a penalty loss to Norwich U23, would have been nice to try and win this one as a cup win would be very good.

Awards --- Stats --- Fixtures (1) --- Fixtures (2) --- Season Review --- Hot Prospect --- Key Player --- Overall Best XI --- Squad --- Records

Transfers – Again a lot of players in, and a lot out on loan, though this time we did rake in fairly decent transfer profit selling on some of the players on our books who weren’t looking as though they were going to make it with us. We broke our transfer record splashing a colossal 19k for Dave Williams, though he was not likely to get a sniff upfront with Terry Hart still here. We also finally have somewhat dealt with our left wing issue with Mark Mooney signing in January. We also received an offer of 900k plus addons for Cesar Gonazalez in the Summer which was accepted as he kicked up a fuss and it was close to his release clause before he rejected the contract offered before Premier League Sheffield United bid 1.5 million for David O’Brien on the last day of the Transfer window. I quickly got him on a new contract but it is promising for his ceiling if they were willing to spend that on him.

The ‘Terry Hart’ Player of the season Award – Terry Hart: I have never had a player manage to step up so many leagues scoring as consistently as Terry Hart. In spite him having periods of not fantastic form he was ever present for us (in all competitions no less) and managed another 25 goals in the League. And as the saying goes, ‘there are only 3 things certain in life, death, taxes and Hart wins the league top goalscorer award'. Cesar Gonzales yet again claimed second spot, not quite as strong on overall stats but a solid season nonetheless. Third was right winger David O’Brien, I’d probably have had him in second place myself 15 assists and 8 goals in a very strong season for the Northern Irishman.

Squad Overview – I thought I’d do a player by player overview of the first team squad I’ve but a spoiler here just so it takes up less space if you don’t want to read it

Spoiler

Goalkeepers:

Adam Lake: Before preseason I wasn’t really planning to change my first choice keeper, but with my coaches only rating Udoh as 3 start potential, I thought it best to blood in a youngster in what I thought would be at best a midtable season, he isn’t awful in terms of attributes but certainly not sensational either. He managed 19 clean sheets though so not all too bad. The end of the season saw him rated by my coaches as a Vanarama National League quality player so I’ve either bad coaches or an overachieving Player.

Abdullahi Udoh: As I said I was planning to play Udoh as my first choice but his ceiling put me off, he still played a few cup games. Despite him being very solid for us in the league below I am going to let his contract run out, thought there are some intriguing teams interested in him, so food for thought.

Left Full Back:

Paulo Tavares: The on loan left back was my first choice left back he’s a fairly solid all round player though probably lacking on the assists front to what I’d expect, he’s here for next season as well, but I’ll have to work out if that is as first choice or not.

Anthony McGarvey: A less attacking full back from attributes, but much faster than Tavares, also much, much shorter. In spite of his apparent worse attacking attributes for fullback, he only contributed one less assist than Tavares in less games, and he’s actually contracted to the club so has potential sale value in the future, he may be promoted to first choice next term.

Stuart Stevens: Was unsure which position to put him in for this overview, but Stevens was very much a back up for both Centre back and left back, I primarily brought him in as a centre back but his physicality and pre-existing knowledge of how to play left back allows him to be a solid utility player. He’ll likely play the same role next season also.

Right Full Back:

Dan Wilshaw: Our right back being more fruitful in terms of contribution collecting 5 assists in a pretty solid season. He is very much a defensive fullback that I’m choosing to play in a more attacking role, but his defensive aptitude a large contribution to him playing, the team goals conceded per game less on a whole.

Andy Wigglesworth: Absolute opposite kind of fullback attributes wise, very strong attacking stats to me he’d probably be best played as a winger, but back up right back was his role for us, two goals and 4 assists a good return for a bit part player. I do not think I’ll be renewing his loan however, I do have some ok fullbacks in the wings that I’d be happy enough having them as back up freeing up a loan slot too.

We did have a 3^rd fullback who played when both Wilshaw and Wigglesworth were injured for 5 weeks, he did ok, and then fell out with me as I’d not loaned him out as promised so I sent him out on loan, to develop so I can get money for the guy, thought first team football would be better than a loan but hey-ho.

Centre Back

Ben Dixon: Considering our defensive strength from the previous year it did seem harsh bringing in a new starter at centre back, though Dixon presented a good option for us good techincal attributes helped by strong mental attributes for his age. I don’t fully focus on star ratings, but the coaches suggest he is the best centre back and I’m not going to argue too much especially as he has good potential to grow. A goal and two assists to boot, not too bad.

Tobi Blackwell: Blackwell kept his place in the back line acting as a dependable player, he did miss ten games of the season, mostly through suspension, he loves a yellow. Another Centre back with decent stats, 3 goals and 2 assists for Blackwell. I do think that I’ll be replacing Blackwell as starting centre back were I to find the right fit, but he’s been good for us as a whole just perhaps not improved as much as needed for him to remain first choice.

Jamie Jones: Jones is the casualty of Dixon being in the side still a very solid player, but perhaps not as good as Dixon, or certainly not as much potential. Jones is probably more comfortable as a defensive midfielder, but as I have never really utilised that position he only really was a potential option if we needed to switch to a DM formation. He has a promotion contract extension clause so he'll be here as back up again next season.

Stuart Stevens: See Left Fullback for Stevens overview.

Centre Midfield

Francis Aluvisia: After a couple of solid seasons in league 2, we retained the services of Aluvisia for another year a solid 7.07 average rating for the Deep Lying Playmaker, but a fairly disappointing contribution only 1 assist to show for the season. He is retained once more but may find himself more of a back up going forward.

Cesar Gonzalez: Our highest paid player, perhaps not fully warranted but it was required to keep him at the club. He ended the season with a lower average rating than Aluvisa, but contributed more in goals and assists, 5 and 2 respectively, still a pretty poor return to what I wanted from him.

Stuart Lea: I brought in Lea prior to the League 2 promotion season as a 16 year old from Maidenhead, his attribute progression since then has been incredible forcing himself into first team consideration. He was largely a back up for most of the season but managed to contribute 4 goals and 3 assists. It’s likely he’ll take the Mezzala spot next season with Gonzalez moving over to Deep Lying Playmaker. Lea is also well capable of playing in Attacking midfield offering a back up option there also.

Toby Cooke: I brought Cooke in on loan last January from Liverpool as a back up player and managed to secure his services on a permanent basis in the Summer to again play back up, he played very infrequently due to pretty strong showings elsewhere. Ideally, he’ll be out on loan next season playing regularly with another player brought in for midfield back up.

Left Attacking Midfield

Cesar Dias: Dias was actually very solid for us in the first half of the season scoring 9 and assisting 4 and does have plenty attributes to like, but he when not scoring he often did not have a good game but his goalscoring was a welcome symptom of our lacking at left wing. 9 goals did actually mean he was our second top scorer so I’m probably a bit harsh in replacing him, but he’ll likely be out on loan next season.

Mark Mooney: Mooney did not arrive at the club till January, I’d secured his services some time before but had to wait till he was 18 before securing him permanently. An even taller winger than Dias, he took his place in the team scoring 1 in 3, similar to Dias, he didn’t manage to get any assists which was a shame but I feel he can grow more into the role than Dias did. He has a ‘runs with ball through centre’ trait which is curious for a winger, but he seems to play ok. He’s likely to be our first choice next season, though there is a left winger I’ve my eye on for the transfer window.

Phil Atherton: Atherton was actually signed to be my first choice left winger in the summer, unfortunately he was not completely natural in the more advanced position I play with. Which, combined with Dias goalscoring form meant Atherton did not get a great deal of opportunity, and when he did he didn’t play well. Another who may benefit from loan time next season providing I can make sufficient signings on the left.

Right Attacking Midfield

David O’Brien: Very good player for us, signed from Warrenpoint last season, this season he was much more of a creative force than last, but scored fewer, 8 goals and 15 assists a very good return. His strength at freekicks undoubtedly contributing to his assist count, though his extremely good long shot attribute has not really reaped any rewards, I’m sure the vast majority of his goals were headers, we may struggle to keep hold of him in the summer if teams come knocking, but his release clause is set at 15 million, so he’ll not leave without a fight from us. Hopefully we can keep him and he continues his strong form in the Championship.

Dale Bird: We first signed Bird on loan as a striker to play alongside Hart, we shortly after changed to a one striker system so Bird was more often deployed as a right winger, he eventually became natural in the position and was deployed as our second choice winger this season whilst having the capabilities to play up front if needed. He did not have a particularly productive season, just 1 goal and 2 assists, but he’s back on loan again next season to play as the back up on the right again an depth up front.

Trevor Middleton: Middleton came off a very strong loan season with Ebbsfleet forcing himself into my thinking for this season, though he was very much a back up this season for us. Like Toby Cooke, he will be heading out on loan next season with another player acting as back up.

Centre Attacking Midfield:

Barry Blair: The player that is in large part the reasoning we switched to the formation we are now utilising. He probably did not have as good a season as I was hoping but 2 goals and 8 assists isn’t awful. He’s probably lacking on technical attributes, but he is a very solid player overall and has a resolute personality so I’m happy for him to remain as our first choice attacking midfielder ging into the new season.

Daniele Gasparini: Gasparini is probably a player that would benefit from regular football, but he’s the second best attacking midfielder at the club who isn’t first choice of pushing first choice in other positions. 3 goals and 2 assists not a bad return for a player with not many minutes. He also filled in at left wing on occasion, it is likely that he will remain as back up next season unless of course we can find a better alternative.

Stuart Lea: See Midfield centre for Lea, he is capable of playing in attacking midfield, but centre mid is where I see his future.

Striker:

Terry Hart: The best player at the club, he just scores goals, and goals. The only gripe I have is that he doesn’t assist many, but really, if he’s scoring I don’t really mind that, just the 2 assists this season. In spite of him not having the best natural fitness he never once was in need of a rest through jadedness and just kept playing and scoring; 32 in all competitions. If there’s one player that is safe from getting replaced it’s Hart, I may sign a new striker in the off season, but he’ll be understudy to the Welshman (Criminal that he hasn’t earnt a cap yet in my opinion too).

Dave Williams: As stated in the transfer section, Williams came into the season as our record signing aged just 17, very pacy, and decent finishing meant he came into the season as our back up to Hart, unfortunately for him, Hart never gave him a sniff, though he did get a goal and an assist off the bench. I’m intending sending him out on loan next season, game time is something he needs especially with our poor facilities.

Dale Bird: See Right attacking midfield. 3^rd choice striker for us, he may back up as 2^nd choice next season if I don’t manage to get any better.

We also signed previous Loanee Mark Fox on a permanent contract, but he did not feature for us this season, we may extend his contract just to have further option up front but unsure on that.

Finances – We almost broke even through transfer income and a solid cup run, but in the red for the season, hopefully additional money from Championship will help us out with higher attendances hopefully helping us out.

Youth Intake – Stuart Smith and Freddie Doyle the ‘bright sparks’ for us this year, not overly fantastic. Previous intake Lee Butterworth is likely not to make it with us however, Damian from the same year is making some solid progress and had a decent season out on loan, I have hopes he will be a decent asset for us in the future. Ryan Davis also had a season out on loan.

Next Season

If last season anything above avoiding relegation, this season anything above would be akin to winning the lottery. I’m unsure if my tactic is just very strong or if our form is down to the tactic being ok but a good team cohesion through not many changes in first team personnel, but I can’t see how we can finish anywhere near the upper echelons of the table, from previous experience the quality of players in Championship is significantly better to those in League One. I am fairly confident we can avoid relegation however, we’ve performed admirably the past few seasons and I think that will at least get us a strong footing on lower mid table. There’s only mainly centre back that I probably want a new first choice, but another left winger is yet again something that wouldn’t go amiss, plus back ups for other positions.

News

The board are reluctant to accept my requests for an affiliate for additional income, or any increase in training or youth facilities, they did however agree to increasing both Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment so there is at least that.

_JHTB_ · February 16, 2020

Congrats on the promotion @tremor your season gives me some hope that we could go back to back to back, though I'm happy to sit at Championship level for a little while anyway.

tremor · February 16, 2020

52 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

Congrats on the promotion @tremor your season gives me some hope that we could go back to back to back, though I'm happy to sit at Championship level for a little while anyway.

Thanks man, there is a bit of me that worries that we've gone too far, too fast... Hopefully getting relegated from the premier League won't be more damaging than an extra year in the championship.

I'm sure you'll be fine, I would recommend going for power, speed and workrate above technical skills. In particular fast pressing forwards seem to work like a charm in the championship.

Good luck! 👍😁

lfc7 · February 17, 2020

@Winti26 Unlucky with the sacking its hard to take when put so much effort in

@CMU Chips @kingjericho hopefully you can make playoffs next year

@tremor Congrats :applause: Good luck in the prem

@_JHTB_ Congrats also :applause: good luck in the championship

I am unable to start my save until stadia release the update. Its ridiculous its been near two weeks now since update was released for pc

Cloondawg · February 17, 2020

Here we go again!

lfc7 · February 17, 2020

@Cloondawg Good Luck

tremor · February 20, 2020

Chesham United Update 2025-26:

Really struggling for the first time... getting turned over a lot and can't seem to get any attacking swagger... formations not working, i've started going defensive to try and grind results out and then i get criticzed by the board! Last time i went attacking we got spanked 4-0!

Still getting their backing though, they've just agreed to a load of new upgrades... hopefully this will help attract some new signings to bolster the squad.

KVJ92 · February 20, 2020

Enfield Town - Vanarama National League - 2022/2023

League Table – 93 points and still ended 2nd in the league.. We had a period in the last part of the season with 10 draws in 13 matches...

Playoff Semi - We were the best team. We scored a late goal.

Playoff Final - We looked nervous at the beginning. We conceded and I told them I demanded more. 2 goals in 2 minutes and we were in the lead. We kind of cruised from here. With an early 2nd half goal we were never troubled.

FA Cup – Lost in the first game. Early lead. Disappointed.

FA Trophy – 3rd round loss again. Don't really care about this cup.

Squad – I have offered contracts to Søndergaard, Smith, Shackleton, Roberts, Wade and Ogedi-Uzokwe even though they have a year left (might be stupid). Hopefully I can extend Paul Gibson's contract as well but he still has a year left.

Transfers - £20k profit! Sold Max Hunt as I found Shackleton and Gibson in Wales.

Finances – Massively saved by the Playoff Final being played at Wembley. Went from 192k in the red to 18k plus.

Key Player Profiles:

Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe - Topscorer and 9 assists. Will be staying for League two.

Frederik Hammar – Re-loaned him for this season. Highest average rating. 5 goals and 16 assists from the MC. Might consider to keep or reloan again.

Paul Gibson – Found him in Wales. Easily my best defender and already have the ability for League two!

Career Overview:

Season          Team              League                                     Position     Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/2021       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League South             2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)
2021/2022       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   5th          n/a
2022/2023       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)

Next Season:

Survive!!

G_D_K · February 21, 2020

Season Review (Season Five, 2024-25)

Table / Position Graph / Squad / Finances / Transfers / Manager Attributes / Facilities / Annual Injuries / Competitions / Reputation / Club Vision

SUMMARY

Season Five was, quetly, very successful overall. At least, we achieved my own private goal of challenging for the playoffs. By the players and board's standards, it had to be hugely successful, as neither of those two entities shared my opinion of our capability to achieve that type of goal. However, by matchday eight, it was pretty much a surety. We didn't have any really long stretches of greatness as we had a couple of times in the previous seasons -- just a steady plod up the table, beating the teams we should have, beating the teams that we needed to, and getting some draws against some tough competition that showed we could fight for the right to be in the top 8 or so.

As in the previous years, the attack was led by striker Tom Fielding, whose 22 league goals was two shy of qualifying for top-goalscorer for the 2nd straight season (the leader, from Stevenage I believe, had 23 league goals, but in 10 fewer matches). Unlike last season, where Fielding did not score in the Cup matches, this year Tom Fiedling scored 8 times, including a modern-day record setting SEVEN in the FA Cup). Joining him in the attack were fellow striker/TargetMan Harvey Bradbury (14 goals, 5 Assists), Left Winger Rio Campbell (12 goals/9 assists), and newcomer MC/Set-piece taker Harley Johnson (7 goals/8 assists). Overall the team would finish around top-8 in league goal-scoring, but these players really stood out.

Joining Johnson in Midfield was the ever present Sakyi (with us for the 4th season, and team's top rated passer at 82% completion), Tommy Best, also with us for four seasons, and a disgruntled Tom Sharpe who spent most of the season on the transfer list (by his request), before coming off the list (also by his request) near the end of the season. The three would contribute 2 goals and nine assists, but did a fairly good job at controlling the midfield for us. With Rio Campbell on the left wing we were set for all but the right side --- an area I need to improve in the coming season.

Defensively, I had to rely on veterans Moloney and Bradley-Green, joined by newcomer Oliver Casey to hold the back line. Casey became my top rated defender overall with his signing, and will hopefully be enough to anchor the back four in the coming season. Fullbacks didn't change much, barring the addition of loanee Josh Hosie from Alfreton (whom I had to sign as an emergency replacement when we suffered a rare spate of injuries, including Pata, for an extended time). I will definitely be looking for a new right (and perhaps left) back in the coming season.

Finally, at keeper, Ryan Hall was joined by new signing Joshua Roach....the same keeper I had tried to sign in season two. East Thurrock was letting him go, and as he is better in most key attributes than Hall, I opted to sign him and groom him as my upcoming starter (he only wanted to sign on as a backup, which was fine for his first year, despite his 2.5x salary committment). The two would play roughly equal numbers of games, and both did well in their appearnces. Hall has been outstanding thru 5 seasons but, looking to the future, I think Roach is the better and is the one I opted to keep going forward.

Of course, the real news of the season has nothing to do with the players, with the results, or with me...instead, it is the board (the one-man board named Chairman Sam Taylor) that takes center-stage...again. For the 2nd consecutive year, Taylor opts to deal with our £1M (plus) debt by...cutting wages. Twice.

We started with a wage budget of £7.4K/wk, and, right on schedule, come the first of October, we have a cut. I believe the first cut was to roughly £5.7k/wk -- putting me immediately over budget (despite the fact I had left myself some room knowing a wage cut was coming -- I was only spending £6.4k/wk). Of course, Taylor was immediately put off with me for not staying within my wage budget (a key part of the team vision). Well...DON"T CUT MY WAGE BUDGET if you want me to satisify your vision!!!! To rub salt in the wound.....(and I predicted it on my twitch channel) January 1st --- TWO DAYS PRIOR to an away FAC3R match -- the chairman cut our wages again (this time to roughly £4.5k/wk) to nearly half of our starting wages.

Two. Days. Prior. Uh....the chairman can't be bothered in the team enough to look at a calendar? Or he's just too dumb to do simple math and realize we are just about guaranteed to have a decent pay-day? (We made just about £200K in gate receipts in our away match to Championship Bristol Rovers, putting us temporarily with a profit on the season, if only just).

He just has to go. Really, Really, HAS. TO. GO. NOW.

We started the season with takeover rumors (as we had in season 1 and 2 both), then they died off. Then, for the first time, we started getting takeover rumors again near the end of the season. So....maybe this is the year?

Or did I ruin the chances by making the playoff finals with a very nice Wembley gate receipt??? If he sticks around another year....I am not sure I can handle it. Our wage budget is already set at £7k/wk for next season --- which is lower than our current season started at. This also means that by Oct 2 we'll be down to £5.5k/wk, and January ......£3.9K/wk???

I just can't ahndle that another season!

Promotion / Playoffs

Well, well, well. We made it. Actually, we were never very far from the playoffs, but with players getting tired with regularity I wasn't always convinced. Playoffs were my personal goal, but neither the players nor the board were convinced by my aspirations. Barring Boston Utd, we had at least played tough against all other playoff contenders, so I had hoped to make it at least some distance, and the team did not (completely) dissapoint.

First off was Hartlepool, whom we would face at home. We'd faced them twice in the season, suffering a 0-1 loss and manageing a 1-1 draw, so it was not going to be easy. The match did not disappoint, but took a lot of patience (and, for once -- a ref that wasn't biased in our opponents' favor!) Harley Jonhnson started the scoring with a goal from the run of play (as opposed to most of his goals, which were set-piece creations) in the 17th minute, and we held strong until Hartlepool answered with an equalizer in the 62 minute. The tide of the battle changed in the 72d minute, when Hartelpool had a player sent off with his 2nd yellow (the 6th of NINE hartlepool would pick up total), but we were unable to cash in in regulation time. That took us to extra time, where DR Pata gave us the go-ahead goal in the 96th minute with a shot into an open net at the far post. Hartlepool then suffered the indignation of having a 2nd player sent off in the 118th minute before left winger Rio Campbell sealed the deal in stoppage time for a 3-1 win, and a trip to the semi-finals.

The Semi-finals would pit us against a Gillingham team that had never beat us -- but neither had we beat, having faced them down to a 0-0 draw and a 1-1 draw earlier in the season. This match is where a bit of luck came in. Okay, face it.... a lot of luck. And some good, old-fashioned defense, at which we do well usually. Unlike the previous match....this time the yellow cards went against us, as we would draw 6 in total (DR Pata getting two, which would mean missing the final...if we made it). And, it did not look like we would make it. There is a huge gap in the quality of our two teams, and it showed, as Gillingham made attack after attack after relentless attack. In the end, they managed 20 shots -- but the tenacity of our defence ensured that they had no real chances -- indeed, they only manged 5 shots on target. Meanwhile -- we were also having problems making any attacks of our own---and only managed 3 shots (2 of which were on target). In the end, this match was decided.....by a fluke goal -- not even counted as a shot -- as Rio Campbell made a far-post cross from the left touch line....which completely eluded the keeper and drifted inside the far post for a 1-0 26th minute lead which we would cling to until the final whistle.

WEMBLEY---- HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!

Wembley would see us face off against a vastly superior Boston United that had bested us in 4 of 6 previous meetings (the other two matches were a 1-1 draw back in the VNN, and a 2-1 win in our first meeting together in the VNL). Both of us had graduated from the VNN in the same season, but they have a real chairman and board (and the top budget in the VNL at something like £2M/yr (to my £300k/yr). I'll chalk our 4-0 defeat at Wembley up to the difference in the chairmen, rather that tactics or squad :P

Yep..not much to say about the final --- other than the fact that we made a tidy gate receipt in it, ensuring our first ever profitable season (sadly, because a profitable season might just keep my chairman interested in hanging around another year )

So...no league football next season, and while I think we can achieve the playoffs again next season.....we really need some overall quality based on our ability to face down the....top 6 overall teams we will have to fight off for the honor of promotion. Without a change at the top (above me, that is)...../shrug

Cup Competitions

Needham Market had an exciting cup run this season, making the 3rd round of both the FA Trophy and the FA Cup.

The FAT saw us enter the first round with a 2-0 win over VNS St. Albans, before a fiarly tough matchup vs Braintree. This matchup featured a 1-1 scoreline at home, forcing an away replay that featured a whopping 11 yellow cards (5 for Braintree, 6 for us -- leaving us a man short for most of the 2nd half). It looked to be headed for extra time and penalties, before Tom Fielding popped up with an 84th minute tap-in at the near post to seal a win, and a 3rd round matchup vs a then-in-form FC Halifax. By this point, we were suffering from a long campaign, and I had to rest multiple starters if we were going to continue to press our league for the playoff spots, which we were holding onto. As such, Fielding, Hall, Sakyi, all were left off the bench, and the weakened team was not up to the task despite the home advantage--and we crashed out with a 2-0 loss.

The FA Cup was much more interesting, as we managed to score 13 goals in our 4-match run. Tom Fielding netted seven times in total, setting modern-day FAC Record (which actually kind of surprised me!). The wins included a 3-2 win over Altrincham, 5-0 demolishing of Hornchurch, and another 5-1 Thrashing vs FC Halifax (who would repay us shortly after by knocking us out of the FAT!). All three matches were home matches, but the final win set us up for one of our biggest money-makers so far in the challenge -- an away matchup vs Championship Bristol City. I even had hopes of snatching a win, as they were struggling mightily at the time...but the difference in quality was just too much; we marched out of the stadium with our heads held high however, as we limited the Rovers to a 2-0 win --- and we had a chance to score twice, with Fiedling being denied by an acrobatic save in the early 2nd half, being denied by an offside flag, and the team also had a penalty saved (which, I believe, just about summed up our shots in total!).

Still, it was a great run, and the 3rd round matchup gave us a profit both on the month and (temporarily at least), on the year (after the match, we were showing a profit of about £30K on the year). Sadly, just 2 days prior, our chairman had already cut our wage budget for a 2nd time on the year --- not being foresighted enough to look at the calendar and realize we were about to earn a moderately decent gate receipt :P

Additional Details

Team of the Season

Best XI Inductees Center Back Moloney was the top pick of the three new inductees, having made the squad 119 times and scoring 2 goals in his tenure. Joining him this year are Winger Rio Campbell and Goalkeeper Joshua Roach.

Historical Best XI

Fans Player of the Season -- Tom Fielding (30 goals, 6 assists, 10 PoM, and a 7.27 AvR) was the clear choice in the voiting again this year, garnering 64% of the votes. while left winger Campbell (12 goals/9 assists/7.13 AvR) and Set PIece Taker (MC) Harley Jonshon (7 goals/8 assists/7.11 AvR) got 15% and 12% respectively.

Signing of the Season DM/DC Hugo Jenkinson (Free)

Young Player of the Season Let's just round it out by introducing Tom Fielding as the young Player of the Season as well.

End of Season Stats -- For the second consecutive year, Fielding dominated the team stats, as top goalscorer (30), Highest AvR (7.27), and most PoM awards (10). Rio Campell on the left wing contributed with the most team assists (9), while Sakyi was best passer (82%). On the negative side, Josh Hosie (loanee DL) had 14 yellow cards, while 5 players (Blanchfield, Bradley-Green, Pata, Rio Campbell, and Tylyer Daly) all saw red once.

Youth Intake Top Graduate

Spoiler

Season 1 Karl Ward, Midfield could slot into the wide spots of my 4-4-2 and 4-1DM-3-2 Wide formations. Rates to be better (if he reaches his potential) than my current wingers.

Season 2 GK Tommy Black was deemed the best of a very lackluster crop. This class was so bad I took the rare (early-challenge) step of only signing 5 of the class to a youth contract.

Season 3 AM(C)/AM(R), ST(C) Marc Baxendale could potentially develop into something useful, at least for the lower levels, but I can't see a long-term future for him.

Season 4 DR/MR Gary Mitchell is probably the best -- he could actually start in a pinch for the senior squad. Left to be seen if he will develop into something better.

Season 5 Midfielder Iain Jeffersappears to be the best of a bad lot. Not sure if any of the current class will ever make the senior team (or develop into something worth selling for that matter).

TEAM, INDIVIDUAL, AND LEAGUE RECORDS

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

Spoiler

Needham Market -- Team Records

Highest League Position -- 4th in Vanarama National League (2024/5) / Previous record -- 14th in Vanarma National League (2024/5)

Lowest League Position -- 15th in Vanarama North (2020/21)

Most Points in a Season -- 103 (2022/23) / Previous Record -- 73 (2021/22)

Fewest Points in a Season -- 57 (2020/21)

Most League Wins in a Season -- 32 (2022/23) / Previous Record -- 20 (2021/22)

Fewest League Wins in a Season -- 15 (2020/21)

Most League Defeats in a Season -- 19 (2020/21)

Fewest League Defeats in a Season -- 7 (2022/23) / Previous Record -- 13 (2021/22)

Most League Draws in a Season -- 13 (2021/22) / Previous Record -- 12 (2020/21)

Fewest League Draws in a Season -- 7 (2023/23) / Previous Record -- 12 (2020/21)

Most League Goals in a Season -- 79 (2022/23) / Previous Record -- 73 (2021/22)

Fewest League Goals in a Season -- 48 (2020/21)

Highest Attendance -- 3000 (vs Leeds, FAC3R, 31 Dec 2022) / Previous Record -- 884 (vs Bost Utd, VNLN, 6 Mar 2021)

Highest Gate Receipts -- £47.67K (vs Leeds, FAC3R, 31 Dec 2022) / Previous Record -- £10.23K (vs Maidon & Tiptree, FAC2QR, 19 Sept 2020)

Average Attendance -- 874 (2024/25) / Previous Record -- 841 (2023/24)

Lowest Attendance -- 286 (vs Halesowen (H), VNLN, 31 Aug 2021) / Previous Record -- 301 (vs Matlock, VNLN, 17 Apr 2021)

Biggest Win -- 5-0 (vs Hornchurch (H), FAC1R, 9 Nov 2024) / Previous Record -- 5-1 (vs Blyth (H), FAT3QR, 19 Nov 2022)

Biggest Defeat -- 1-5 (vs Harrogate (A), VNLN, 26 Dec 2021) / Previous Record -- 2-4 (vs Merthyr (A), VNLN, 20 Oct 2020)

Highest Scoring Match -- 5-5 (vs Chelmsford (H), FAC4QR, 15 Oct 2022) / Previous Record -- 4-5 (vs Brackley (A), VNLN, 27 Nov 2021)

Highest Scoring League match -- 4-5 (vs Brackley (A), VNLN, 27 Nov 2021) / Previous Record -- 4-2 (Vs Tamworth (H), VNLN, 29 Aug 2020)

Most Matches Won in a Row -- 7 (4 Jan - 19 Feb 2022) / Previous Record -- 3 (19 - 26 Sept 2020)

Most Matches w/o Losing -- 18 (10 Jan - 22 Apr 2023) / Previous Record -- 15 (4 Jan - 16 Apr 2022)

Most Matches Lost in a Row -- 5 (20 Jan - 17 Feb 2024) / Previous Record -- 4 (15-25 Aug 2020)

Most Matches w/o Winning -- 5 (20 Sept - 4 Oct 2021) / Previous Record -- 4 (15-25 Aug 2020)

Most Matches w/o Scoring -- 3 ( 13-27 Feb 2021)

Most Matches w/o conceding -- 5 (7 Feb - 4 Mar 2023) / Previous Record -- 3 (19-26 Sept 2020)

Needham Market - Individual Records

Most League Goals by a Player -- 68* -- Tom Fielding / Previous Record 38 -- Luke ingram

Most Overall Goals by a player -- 30 -- Tom Fielding (2024/25) / Previous Record -- 28 -- Tom Fielding (2022/3)

Most League Appearances by a player -- 342* (Kieran Morphew) / Previous Record -- 303* (Kieran Morphew)

Most League Goals by a Player -- 24 -- Tom Fielding (2023/24) / Previous Record -- 22 (Tom Fielding (2022/23)

Highest Average Rating -- 7.48 -- Tom Fielding (2022/23) / Previous Record-- 7.231 -- Harrison Nee (Coventry) (2021/22)

Youngest Player -- Thomas Quinn -- 16y209d (vs Altrincham (A), VNLN, 24 Apr 2021)

Oldest Player -- Harrison Dunk -- 33y 2d (vs Dulwich Hamlet (H), VNL, 20 Apr 2024) / Previous Record -- Harrison Dunk - 32y 4d (vs Chelmsford (H), VNLN, 22 Apr 2023)

Fastest Goal -- Tom Fielding -- 11 s (vs Carlisle (A), VNL, 17 Feb 2024) / Previous Record -- Harrison Nee -- 13s (vs Darlington (A), VNLN, 16 Apr 2022)

Most goals in a Match -- 3 -- Harrison Nee (3-2 vs Kettering (H), VNLN, 29 Jan 2022) / Previous Record -- 2 -- Jack Stevens (4-2 vs Tamworth (h), VNLN, 28 Aug 2020)

Most goals in a League Match -- 3 -- Harrison Nee (3-2 vs Kettering (H), VNLN, 29 Jan 2022) / Previous Record -- 2 -- Jack Stevens (4-2 vs Tamworth (H), VNLN, 28 Aug 2020)

Most Assists in a Season -- 13 -- Kieran Morphew (2021/22) / Previous Record -- 6 -- Jack Stevens (2020/21)

Must Shutouts in a season -- 23 -- Ryan Hall (2022/23) / Previous Record -- 19 -- Ryan Hall (2021/22)

Most PoM Awards -- 10 -- Tom Fielding (2024/25) / Previous Record -- 9 -- Tom Fielding (2023/24)

Youngest Goalscorer -- Warren Saberton -- 17y 236d (vs Chorley (A), VNLN, 19 Feb 2022) / Previous Record -- Jack Stevens -- 18y44d (vs Farsley (A), VNLN, 8 Aug 2020)

Oldest Goalscorer -- Harrison Dunk -- 32y 319d (vs Leyton Orient (A), VNL, 2 Mar 2024) / Previous Record -- Harrison Dunk -- 31y 341d (vs Southport (A), VNLN, 25 Mar 2023)

The Rest of England

Spoiler

Promoted from the Regional Premier Divisions

Concord, Welling, Stourbridge, Canvey Island, Hitchin, Buxton, Bamber Bridge, Slough

LEAGUE WINNERS (Promoted / Relegated)

EPL: Man City (Fulham, Huddersfield, QPR)

Championship: Watford (Watford, West Brom, Stoke / Peterborough, Wigan, Sunderland)

League One: Barnsley (Barnsley, Brentford, Fleetwood / Southend, Oldham, Oxford, Lincoln)

League Two: Scunthorpe (Scunthorpe, Walsall, Shrewsbury, Colchester/ Dag & Red, Bradford City)

Vanarama National League: Stevenage (Stevenage, Boston Utd / Northampton, Fylde, Dorking, Ebbsfleet)

Vanarama National North : AFC Telford (AFC Telford, Hereford / Biggleswade Town, Bradford PA, Hyde, Cambridge City)

Vanarama National South: Bath (Bath, Hendon / Met. Police, Torquay, East Thurrock, Dorchester)

CUP WINNERS

English FA Cup: Chelsea (vs Arsenal) ****TOM FIELDING wins Top Goalscorer Award for the FAC, setting a modern day record (with 7 goals!!!)

Carabao Cup: Man Utd (Vs Man City)

Community Shield: Liverpool (vs Man Utd)

Leasing.com Trophy: Reasing (vs Liverpool U23s)

English FA Trophy: Stockport (vs Hereford)

EURO QUALIFICATIONS

Champions Cup Group Stage: Man Utd (Champions League Winners), Man City (EPL Winners), Liverpool (2nd in EPL), Chelsea (4th in EPL)

Euro Cup Group Stage: Tottenham (EPL 5th Place), Everton (EPL 6th Place)

Euro Cup II Playoff: Crystal Palace (7th in EPL)

CONTINENTAL ACHIEVEMENTS

Chelsea --Won European Super Cup (vs Man Utd)

Man Utd -- Eliminated from European Super Cup (by Chelsea)

Leicester -- Eliminated from EURO Cup Second Knockout Round (by Roma)

Arsenal --Eliminated from Champions League First Knockout Round (by Inter)

Liverpool -- Eliminated from Champions League Quarter Final (by Chelsea)

Man City -- Eliminated from Champions League Quarter Final (by Barcelona)

Chelsea -- Eliminated from Chapions League Semi-Final (by Man Utd)

Everton -- Eliminated from EURO Cup Final (by Roma)

Man Utd -- Won Champions League (vs Barcelona)

What's Next

Season 5 was definitely a good season, but the difference in quality between us and the top teams was apparent. We did get lucky on a couple occasions, putting us within a game of league football --- but we can't rely on luck forever. Unfortunately....my hands are still tied by my board. Two more wage cuts last season (putting us at 5 in 3 seasons if my count is correct) prevented me from resigning most of my staff and most of my players until the new wages were set at the end of the season (and set lower than my previous season--season five-- started at despite turning a profit for the year due to our Wembley apperance in the final). As long as the chairman is still in charge.....we are just not going to get any better.

In practical terms, I need a new right fullback and right winger....and then maybe just solidify my defense in general. My attacking options are still great for this level, with Fielding netting 30, Rio Campbell on the left wing grabbing a dozen, and Target Man Bradbury also getting on the scoresheet 14 times. All three will thankfully return, as is my free kick taker Johnson, who satisfied the club vision of making most out of set-pieces (and improved our set pieces a thousandfold over the previous year.

We both started and ended the year with takeover rumors......so, here's hoping!!!

Career Overview

Season Team League League Position(Predicted) FAT FAC JPT LC UEFA CL

Spoiler

2020/21    Needham Market    Vanarama North    15(23) 1rd 3QR

2021/22    Needham Market    Vanarama North    8(23) 3QR    4QR

2022/23    Needham Market    Vanarama North    1(20)    2R 3R

2023/24    Needham Market    Vanarama National 14(23)    1R 2R

2023/25    Needham Market    Vanarama National    4(23) 3R 3R

CMU Chips · February 21, 2020

Year 3, still Vanarama North - 5th

Such a confusing season. Start the year with 19 unbeaten (but a lot of draws), beat two League Two teams and take a Championship team to extra time in the FA Cup...... then completely forget how to play and win none of the last 6 to get knocked out of the playoffs. Finances are almost back to even thanks to the deep cup run..... but it doesn't feel like it meant anything since we definitely should've been promoted this year. Told the team I expected them to make the playoffs at least next year... and they said that was unrealistic. Not really sure what happened with them but it seems like their brains are broken. A decent percentage of the team will be back next year since they are on non-contract, but I think it's time to find a new GK and build a better defense. Midfield and attack had 4 players eligible for player of the year so it must be something with the defense. Will also work on a tactic that can turn some of these draws into wins.

League Table

Season stats

Transfers

Year

League

Position

Cups

Training

Youth

Junior

Recruitment

Attendance (Cap)

Badges

Transfers (In-Out)

Top Scorer

Most Assists

Av. Rating

Clean Sheets

May balance

Total wages

2022/2023

VN North

5th

FAC: 3rd round, FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

798 (3180

None

(£0) 18-6

Mitchell George - 40

Jake Cain - 16

Mitchell George - 7.35 (55)

Jacob Carney- 17

(£37k)

£6.3k p/w

2021/2022

VN North

8th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 3rd qual.

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

644 (3180)

None

(£0) 10-1

Mitchell George - 27

Mohammed Sangaré - 11

Mitchell George - 7.33 (46)

Jacob Carney - 11

(£174k)

£5.9k p/w

2020/2021

VN North

10th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

633 (3180)

None

(£0) 9-2

Connor Bell - 10

Jordan Barnett -11

Dale Hopson - 7.02 (49)

Jacob Carney - 19

(£98.71k)

£6.2k p/w

G_D_K · February 21, 2020

Um....so in season 6....I got drawn in the "Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Challenge Cup" --- essentially the scottish cup. How does a SE/Mid-East English team find itself drawn in the Scottish Challenge cup???

Am I bugged???

Okay...checking the wiki on the Scottish Challenge Cup --- it's random -- 2 teams from the English National League (started in 2016/7) --- just...never seen it before!

Edited February 21, 2020 by G_D_K

_JHTB_ · February 22, 2020

Bognor Regis Town 2028/29

Season Overview

Championship – 9th place

Very much a season of mixed emotions, I’m very happy to have secured a very solid finish in our first season at this level but left wondering what could have been after we had a very good start to the season. A 2-1 win against Stoke on the opening day and only 2 losses in the following 8 saw us around the summit of the division. A 2-0 loss against what is turning into a bogey side in Crewe started a run of 3 matches without a win where we got absolutely destroyed by Aston Villa, their striker scoring all 4 goals in a 4-0 win, despite conceding 4 our keeper rated a 8.3 which says it probably should have been a bigger scoreline. We then had 4 home games on the bounce and 4 wins in them followed by 4 away games on the bounce and no wins; easy to see what a large part of our issues were. In fact our first 10 home games had the record 8 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat. December is where our form properly started to dip however, 3 straight defeats with the most frustrating a 2-1 away defeat to bottom side Rotherham. Very patchy form was the main take from the rest of the season, when we won we couldn’t really string any sort of form together, our longest run without defeat being 3 games and the only once. Incredibly, in spite of this we still had an outside chance of making the playoffs playing 3 teams who occupied the top 6 in our last 4 with the first two coming at home where we were much stronger. A 4-1 defeat to Watford at the start of the month set the tone for a bad end to the season 1 point from our last 4 games a disappointing way to end what really was a pretty decent season.

FA Cup – 4th Round

Our league form made me think that we’d bow out in the third round as we were away to premier league Leeds, incredibly we won 3-0 allowing us to draw Liverpool in the 4^th round. I’d have preferred to be the away team in that but we put in a good performance in a 3-2 loss, a late turn around for Liverpool ending our FA cup run.

Carabao Cup – 1st Round

Not fantastic a 2-1 loss at home to West Brom, we’ve not faired too well in this since playing in it.

Awards --- Stats --- Fixtures (1) --- Fixtures (2) --- Season Review --- Hot Prospect --- Key Player --- Overall Best XI --- Squad --- Records

Transfers – As seems to be the norm we signed a whole plethora of players for development but another left winger in to try and fix our problem position. A loan defender and a new first choice right back shored up our backline a little until we made our record sale in January. Our first choice left back McGarvey was sold to Sheffield United for 7.5 million, I probably shouldn’t have sold without getting more left back depth, but I couldn’t turn down that much and I’d already called chalk on the promotion potential of the season. We also sold a young goalkeeper for 500k.

The ‘Terry Hart’ Player of the season Award – Terry Hart: I can’t believe it (probably should by now), he’s done it again. He just scores goals, 29 in the league this season. He finally got his international debut and scored in it, but incredibly in spite of his form he only received one more after that. He missed out on league top scorer however. Barry Blair came second place with a mighty 14% of the vote, 5 goals and 3 assists fairly low to what I’d want for my attacking midfielder but 7.09 rating is solid nonetheless. New signing Samu Rubio took 3^rd place, the right back having a good first season at the club a goal and 5 assists a good return.

Squad Overview – A smaller first team squad this time round with player acting as back up in multiple positions

Spoiler

Goalkeepers:

Adam Lake: Unless I came across a very good keeper over summer Lake was always going to start the season as my first choice and no new keeper found so first choice he was. He had an ok season, 12 clean sheets is pretty solid especially as it wasn’t until toward the end of the season that my coaches rated him as a League 2 quality player. I will have a stronger look for a new keeper over summer but not overly fussed if he’s still our number one for a third season.

Seamus McGowan: Just one of our young goalkeepers as back up, he wasn’t really likely to play much football and he didn’t 2 league games and 1 cup game his contribution this season. Will probably go out on loan and another of our young goalkeepers will get a season sat on the bench (I don’t actually put a goalkeeper on the bench so not even that.

Left Full Back:

Anthony McGarvey: He had an ok first half of the season before Sheffield United came calling. I play with attacking fullbacks which his attributes didn’t really suit which aided my decision to sell him. Physically great, defensively solid, offensively a lot to be desired, 7.5 million is good business I think.

Paulo Tavares: Started the season as back up, ended the season as first choice due to the sale of McGarvey, decent enough season but nothing spectacular, I’ll be bringing him back on loan for continuity but may play one of our young left backs as first choice to be a long term McGarvey replacement.

Stuart Stevens: As with last season Stevens was very much a back up option this year both as centre back and full back but a bit higher up the pecking order after McGarvey sale. Still did not play very much and even less of an attacking threat than McGarvey was for us.

Right Full Back:

Samu Rubio: Having much more rounded technical attributes new signing Rubio claimed the first choice berth at right back. 1 goal and 6 assists a good return, alongside 6 Player of the Match awards proving he deserves the first team spot.

Dan Wilshaw: He’s been a good player for us coming through the leagues but he’s probably nearing the top of his ability and unfortunately that isn’t at championship level, at least not as first choice. Back up this season, but I’m happy enough for him to remain back up for next season at least.

I think McGarvey was our 3^rd choice right back. Whoever it was didn’t play much there.

Centre Back

Jose Dias: A loan signing brought in to provide some much needed quality at the back. Our defenders have done an admirably job thus far for the club, but Dias is certainly our best option at the back, 3 goals for him too. I will be resigning him next season and hopefully a new partner for him at the back.

Ben Dixon: As noted on Dias, Dixon is likely not to start the new season as first choice which is probably harsh on him, his season stats showing him to be the better of the two defenders on average rating even picking up 2 player of the match awards. Unfortunately his lack of pace makes him a liability in this league with some rapid strikers with good finishing. He’ll still be around the first team but probably not as a starter.

Tobi Blackwell: Even though demoted to back up, Blackwell still had 18 starts in the league, usually in place of Dixon. 2 goals and an Assist pretty decent also. He may actually be a better option for us in the team than Dixon because he has better pace and acceleration, but will be a bit part player next season for us.

Jamie Jones: Very few games for Jones this season, a good servant to the club but 1 start and 2 sub appearances is all he has to show for what will be his last season at the club, his one start coming in the 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Aston Villa. His back up role will likely be taken by a centre back who is out on loan this season.

Stuart Stevens: See Left Fullback for Stevens overview.

Centre Midfield

Stuart Lea: Back up last season to first choice starter this, continuing to improve Lea found himself to be the first choice Mezzala, he attracted premier league interest during the season but no bids for him yet. 3 goals and 5 assists a little underwhelming but first team football is the best way for him to develop so I don’t mind awfully.

Cesar Gonzalez: Where Lea has consistently improved, Gonzalez unfortunately seems to be at the same level he was at when we first signed him, he still started the season as our first choice deep lying playmaker however, his attributes suggesting he should be able to perform well in the position. 3 assists for the season not sensational, and next season he’ll probably be a back up.

Sam Willis: Willis is the player who’ll be replacing Gonzalez in the first team and he had done so by the end of the season, likewise only 3 assists for the season, but his attributes align very well with those required for the Deep Lying Playmaker so I hope he can make the spot his own and develop nicely.

Francis Aluvisia: Our back up midfielder this year, nothing much to show from the year, a player who hasn’t really developed as much as they needed to in order to try and stay in the team. His contract at West Ham is up at the end of the season and I don’t think I’m going to look to sin him permanently even though he is club home grown by this point.

Left Attacking Midfield

Mark Mooney: Mooney started the season well for us scoring some crucial goals in our early wins. Unfortunately in the team the worst performer was often on the left wing regardless of who occupied the position. Mooney has some very good physicals agility of 17 for a 6’4 player is especially good. Unfortunately for Mark his technicals are pretty poor for a championship player which is why Joe Burns ended up taking his starting spot. 6 goals a good return but only the 4 assists.

Joe Burns: Not as good physically, in general Burns has much more rounded attributes which allowed him to end the season as my starting left winger in spite his ratings much like Mooney’s not being fantastic. That said, he did manage 8 assists which is a very good return considering. He’s another who has premier league teams sniffing as well.

Where it worked well on the left wing was that between Burns and Mooney they played all games of the season without need for a back up.

Right Attacking Midfield

David O’Brien: O’Brien still performing very well for us and was our leading assist maker with 10 in the league. He also added 5 goals for good measure. His biggest area of weakness are his mental attributes but they’re also not terrible. He’s absolutely going to remain as our first choice right winger next season and hopefully performs even better as he develops.

Dale Bird: Bird featured in a lot of games, but did not start a single one another player who’s had to settle being a back up option. Like Aluvisia he probably hasn’t developed as much as he needed to for this level, but that is also down to me not really playing him. His contract is up at the end of the season and I’m probably going to try sign him.

Gianluca Carbotti: Although he was played here more frequently, he was our back up striker so is in that section.

Centre Attacking Midfield:

Barry Blair: For a playmaker who didn’t score or assist a lot Blair had a solid season, he perhaps could do with someone competing with him for his spot but he is certainly a solid player for us attributes good in the right areas and his mental attributes being very good.

Stuart Lea: Our overall strength in depth is lower this season but Lea was back up attacking midfield but Hart and Carbotti could also fill in if needed.

Striker:

Terry Hart: Fast becoming my favourite ever football manager player. He just scores goals, probably the man most to thank for us having an anyway decent season, he was unlucky not to win league top scorer again but who’s going to complain at 29 goals in the season. Since joining the club he hasn’t really developed all too much but he’s consistent and his attributes are in the right areas, 9 player of the match awards this season as well.

Gianluca Carbotti: Another in the list of promising strikers to be back up because Terry Hart is incredible. Carbotti is probably the best player at the club in attribute terms, but is not a first choice player, even still he only managed 3 goals in the league. Though that was largely down to him playing as back up right winger to O’Brien, taking game time from Bird. He does have good attributes to play as a right wing so am trying to train him to play there. I’ll probably resign him next season but I’ve already signed a 2^nd choice striker to Hart for next season so he’ll probably be back up right wing as his predominant position.

Dale Bird: See Right attacking midfield. 3^rd choice striker for us

Finances – Looking pretty solid here due to sales and prize money

Youth Intake – Gareth Medway our best youth prospect, previous seasons out developing on loan, none close to the first team squad.

Next Season

Mid table again would probably be the realistic hopes, centre back and left back key areas for improvement in the coming season and if available a new goalkeeper but we’ll see. I’m fairly reluctant to spend money on players, but I am open to spending some decent money should the right option be available. Would be nice to have a cup run but I don’t mind awfully as long as we have a good league campaign. I probably should set up an away tactic, but I know me so I'll probably keep trying my main tactic.

News

The board agreed to improving youth facilities and expanding the stadium. They then cancelled the stadium expansion for a vague promise of building a new stadium. Our Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment have downgraded which is a shame as the board don't want to agree to improve them again.

Edited February 22, 2020 by _JHTB_

_JHTB_ · February 22, 2020

@KVJ92 Congrats on promotion. 16 assists from the Midfield is very good I'd certainly want to keep him around! The Welsh league really is my favourite shopping ground when in lower leagues, you can get some great players. Good luck in league 2.

@G_D_K Oh so close, your chairman is horrendous, hopefully this year is the year a takeover will go through. I don't think I've ever had a chairman that bad. Also on Scottish Challenge cup (though you did look it up) the top 2 non-promoted National League sides enter the competition along side Northern Irish and Welsh sides facing Scottish lower leagues and Scottish Premier reserves so think of it as qualifying for Europe

@CMU Chips It's always frustrating when you're main run of bad form comes right at the end of the season. The issue with end of team talks is it doesn't often take into account how they performed in the previous season, just how they were predicted to finish. (Mine still has the option to tell the team we're expected to be an established National League side next season - our second in the Championship). Still a pretty strong season, so hopefully you'll be able to go one better next season.

KVJ92 · February 22, 2020

7 hours ago, _JHTB_ said:

@KVJ92 Congrats on promotion. 16 assists from the Midfield is very good I'd certainly want to keep him around! The Welsh league really is my favourite shopping ground when in lower leagues, you can get some great players. Good luck in league 2.

His contract was expiring, so I secured him for 0 (Y) And yes - I saw someone in here do it, so had a quick look and found a few. Thank you!

KVJ92 · February 22, 2020

Wanted to keep him but 650k is more than okay!

DazRTaylor · February 23, 2020

11 hours ago, KVJ92 said:

Wanted to keep him but 650k is more than okay!

Shame there is no add on though as you can earn a few million selling it in a few months time.

KVJ92 · February 23, 2020

2 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

Shame there is no add on though as you can earn a few million selling it in a few months time.

My board accepted the offer - I could only ask to re-negotiate But they managed to get 100k more than the first offer.

tremor · February 23, 2020

Chesham United 2025-26 Season Overview:

A very pleasing first season in the premier league. Never looked like getting sucked into the relegation battle and although we did take a few thrashings during the season we always managed to bounce back. We ended the season with our lowest goals and wins tally ever... but then again that wasn't a surprise when you have league 1 level players trying to compete at the top level. I found it insanely difficult to attract players of any quality in the off season. Sometimes this game is bonkers... genuinely had players opting to sign 1 year deals with league 1 teams for literally peanuts instead of signing 2+ yr deals for me. Injuries had a really big impact, always seemed to come in clusters and i had a point in the spring where i had both keepers injured and was using the u18 keeper for a couple of games, including our fa cup semi defeat... our squad is tiny and anyone who is not proper first teamer is really a league 1 or 2 player. Nevertheless, great season, far better than i feared it would be, onwards and upwards!

Hopefully we can pick up some better players in the off-season this year and look at pushing for a European place next year as well as competing in the cup competitions a bit more, definitely need to bulk out the squad though.

Got plenty of improvements happening this autumn which is great, new stadium next year so definitely looking promising!

Just come through, manager of the year and goal of the season!

Edited February 23, 2020 by tremor

lfc7 · February 23, 2020

@tremor congrats 9th is a great position for first season in prem

kingjericho · February 23, 2020

I was happy when I drew Bournemouth in the FA Cup hoping for a big € boost, turns out their stadium really is small and we 'only' got €200k

-----

One of my best players has caught Barnsley's interest. Although it won't be the €35k fee that make us rich, the possibility of a big sale giving us 50% makes deals like these something I should bet in.

Edited February 23, 2020 by kingjericho

Vipertitan · February 24, 2020

Decided have one more crack at this after several fail attempts got my home town team

South Shields

Squad

kingjericho · February 24, 2020

5103839.png.f2e019a0d01d307c37693c0f2ce58629.png

Nantwich - Vanarama National League North - 2022/23

Things finally clicked fully. After a 3-1-1 start I saw another reasonable season in the works, but we got enough wins to keep chasing the front teams. On matchday 22 we took the lead and never looked back, carving a big gap to the second place and clinching the title with 5 games left.

In the FA Cup, we knocked out League One and Two teams Grimsby and Walsall, respectively, to meet Bournemouth. I wasn't worried about losing but more about the gate we would see, unfortunately their stadium is really small and the match 'only' resulted in €200k for us. In the FA Trophy Farsley beat us fair and square, so one trophy less to tire my players for the important league games.

I also agreed to sell club youth product and one of our best Joseph Mohammed to Barnsley for €35k plus a 50% clause on the next sale, hoping this can give us a big paycheck somewhere down the line.

Season    Division                          Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Vanarama National League North    13th
2021/22   Vanarama National League North    7th
2022/23   Vanarama National League North    1st         Promoted as champions

CMU Chips · February 25, 2020

Season 4 - Still bad

Well we made the playoffs, but lost again so we'll be stuck in this division. We had the top 2 scorers in the division (and top 2 in man of the match) but our defense and goalkeeper struggled. I would go for a full tactical rehaul next year but really I think I just need to rework the defense. We were awful in the FA Cup, but our good run last year didn't matter for anything other than the finances. Our reputation was listed as largely unchanged and we sold no more season tickets (and had the lowest average attendance of my career).

Table

Stats

Transfers

Year

League

Position

Cups

Training

Youth

Junior

Recruitment

Attendance (Cap)

Badges

Transfers (In-Out)

Top Scorer

Most Assists

Av. Rating

Clean Sheets

May balance

Total wages

2023/2024

VN North

5th

FAC: 2nd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

565 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£12k) 14-10

Mitchell George - 31

Dion McGhee - 11

Mitchell George - 7.45 (51)

Marcel Wusiewicz - 16

(£443k)

£7.4k p/w

2022/2023

VN North

5th

FAC: 3rd round, FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

798 (3180)

None

(£0) 18-6

Mitchell George - 40

Jake Cain - 16

Mitchell George - 7.35 (55)

Jacob Carney - 17

(£37k)

£6.3k p/w

2021/2022

VN North

8th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 3rd qual.

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

644 (3180)

None

(£0) 10-1

Mitchell George - 27

Mohammed Sangaré - 11

Mitchell George - 7.33 (46)

Jacob Carney - 11

(£174k)

£5.9k p/w

2020/2021

VN North

10th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

633 (3180)

None

(£0) 9-2

Connor Bell - 10

Jordan Barnett -11

Dale Hopson - 7.02 (49)

Jacob Carney - 19

(£98.71k)

£6.2k p/w

Andrew Haines · February 25, 2020

Just realised I'm in January in my first season and hadn't posted up my profile... here it is

profile

Going with Whitby. I went to watch them play last October and the people there were brilliant. It was very cold though with an October sea breaze..

tremor · February 25, 2020

Seems i'm a popular guy! Italy, Holland and Portugal all want me after only 1 season in the Prem!

Zilla Blitz · February 26, 2020

@Andrew Haines - Good luck!

@CMU Chips - Mitchell George looks like a beast! I've not had anyone close to his numbers. Whitby seems like a tricky club to try this with!

KVJ92 · February 26, 2020

Enfield Town - League Two - 2023/2024

League Table - Won the league!! Actually, I felt like I cruised it - as show by the table graph. Had a down periode just before the last 5-6 games. But managed to secure 1st place in the last game against Walsall. Was leading with 10-15 points for the better part of the season.

FA Cup - Lost to Portsmouth in the 2nd round. They ended 3rd in League One.

EFL Cup - Final loss. I played the backups. Lost to Liverpool U23. They played Haaland in the final... Gave me some money.

Squad - 5 loan players made the team. Only three player's contracts are expiring and they will all be leaving.

Transfers - £950k profit!!! Sold Paul Gibson to Stoke as shown in here. Neil Roberts was pushed to backup by one of the loanees. He had a release clause for £275k

Finances - Looking great!

Key Player Profiles:

Kion Etete - Club topscorer with 25 goals.

Will Denby - Loanee from Aston Villa. 9 goals and 19 assists from the midfielder!

Dominic Shackleton - Last guy standing of the three I found in Wales. The two others were Paul Gibson and Neil Roberts - See transfer screenshot! His release clause was met by Nottingham Forest. I managed to extend his contract and remove it. Will be playing in League One as well.

Career Overview:

Season          Team              League                                     Position     Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/2021       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League South             2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)
2021/2022       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   5th          n/a
2022/2023       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)
2023/2024       Enfield Town      League Two                                 1st          Champions   (Promoted!)

Next Season:

I'm going to be optimistic based on previous seasons. I'm aiming for mid-table!

Edited February 27, 2020 by KVJ92

MadCatPT · February 26, 2020

Meet John Smith, the new Manager of Merthyr Town F.C. :

DazRTaylor · February 27, 2020

17 hours ago, KVJ92 said:
Enfield Town - Vanarama National League - 2023/2024

League Table - Won the league!! Actually, I felt like I cruised it - as show by the table graph. Had a down periode just before the last 5-6 games. But managed to secure 1st place in the last game against Walsall. Was leading with 10-15 points for the better part of the season.

FA Cup - Lost to Portsmouth in the 2nd round. They ended 3rd in League One.

EFL Cup - Final loss. I played the backups. Lost to Liverpool U23. They played Haaland in the final... Gave me some money.

Squad - 5 loan players made the team. Only three player's contracts are expiring and they will all be leaving.

Transfers - £950k profit!!! Sold Paul Gibson to Stoke as shown in here. Neil Roberts was pushed to backup by one of the loanees. He had a release clause for £275k

Finances - Looking great!

Key Player Profiles:

Kion Etete - Club topscorer with 25 goals.

Will Denby - Loanee from Aston Villa. 9 goals and 19 assists from the midfielder!

Dominic Shackleton - Last guy standing of the three I found in Wales. The two others were Paul Gibson and Neil Roberts - See transfer screenshot! His release clause was met by Nottingham Forest. I managed to extend his contract and remove it. Will be playing in League One as well.

Career Overview:
Season          Team              League                                     Position     Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/2021       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League South             2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)
2021/2022       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   5th          n/a
2022/2023       Enfield Town      Vanarama National League                   2nd          Won Playoff (Promoted!)
2023/2024       Enfield Town      League Two                                 1st          Champions   (Promoted!)
Next Season:

I'm going to be optimistic based on previous seasons. I'm aiming for mid-table!

Congratulations! :thup:

(You may want to change your heading).

KVJ92 · February 27, 2020

3 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

Congratulations!

(You may want to change your heading).

Done Thank you!

_JHTB_ · February 27, 2020

Bognor Regis Town 2029/30

Season Overview

Championship – 1st Place - Champions

Well, that was somewhat unexpected, for the large part our starting eleven was using players who were at the club the year before. A remarkable start saw us win 8 of our first 10 games with the other results a 0-0 draw that we should have probably won, and a 1-1 draw that we should have lost, even still we led until the last 5 minutes. We continued going from strength to strength, winning or drawing games, nearly making it to the new year before our first loss of the season in the league came at the end of December, a 1-0 loss to Brentford even in which we were the better team. Thankfully the loss did not dent our confidence too much and we went back to having decent form only losing one of the league games in the next 3 months. We did have a wobble when it came to closing out promotion throwing away a 2 goal lead to 4^th bottom Ipswich in the last 2 minutes, before going 2 down early to bottom side Leyton Orient, thankfully the latter was managed to be turned around into a 4-2 win but acted as a precursor to a relatively poor last month; 3 losses in the final 5 games. Thankfully wins in the other two games and dropped points by Oxford and Derby helped us to win the League. Terry Hart was again the second top scorer, Derby's striker scoring an incredible 42 goals this season, mental.

FA Cup – 5th Round

The furthest we’ve got in the FA cup to date, two rounds of teams at the same level as us giving us a home tie to Bournemouth in the 5^th Round. An incredibly dull affair as Bournemouth came out 1-0 victors.

Carabao Cup – Quarter Finals

Probably better than it seems a fairly easy route beating four league one teams on route to another cup game at home against Liverpool, a 4-2 loss this time round two late goals for Liverpool giving them a deserved victory.

Awards --- Stats --- Fixtures (1) --- Fixtures (2) --- Season Review --- Hot Prospect --- Key Player --- Overall Best XI --- Squad --- Records

Transfers – Much fewer incomings this season, still predominantly for future development but a few for in and around the first team. We secured loans for some players who would be in and around the first team squad. Outbound mainly loans and a few small sales of players who weren’t developing enough.

The ‘Terry Hart’ Player of the season Award –Jose Dias: First season in a few that this hasn’t gone to Hart, but Dias was a solid defender for us in a season we conceded few goals, he formed a good partnership with Dixon at the back and provided 2 assists and 5 goals to the season, 2 of his goals long shots from outside the area. If he can’t win it 2^nd will have to do, Terry Hart. I’m not altogether too surprised that Hart didn’t win it this year in spite of another 24 goals in the league, 4 assists too. But he actually ended the season 2^nd choice striker due to poor form, 17 of Hart’s goals came in his first 14 games of the season, a crazy amount, unfortunately he completely dropped off barely scoring anywhere near as regularly for the remainder of the season. Sam Wills was 3^rd one of our midfield rotation, pretty good season 2 goals and 6 assists with a 7.22 average rating enough to land him 3^rd place

Squad Overview – Similar squad to last season, just a bit more depth

Spoiler

Goalkeepers:

Adam Lake: Lake is a player who is developing nicely, he’s still probably not quite at the same level that we play at, but he’s improving quickly enough so I’m happier with him now more than I have been previously, obviously if an outstanding candidate becomes available I’ll have to look into it, but he probably deserves his shot at the premier leauge

We did have a player as back up, but Lake played all games in all competitions this season as the back up did not really have potential. A better back up will likely be signed over the summer to at least play a cup goalkeeper role.

Left Full Back:

Paulo Tavares: Was first choice left back for us this season and will probably try to sign him up in the summer as his contract is up, though likely only as back up as this is an area I want to improve. A goal and 4 assists an ok return.

Ciaran Gaffney: Back up Gaffney, not as good technically as Tavares, but far superior in his physical attributes, he did start featuring more as the season wore on as he has more room to grow than Tavares. No assists or goals however, so maybe suited to going out on loan if we can get sufficient cover.

Right Full Back:

Samu Rubio: Rubio kept his place as first choice right back, solid player all round and contributed 3 goals and 6 assists in our title winning campaign. I am probably going to try and look for an upgrade but as we can only sign players 18 or younger, he may start the season once again first choice.

Dan Wilshaw: Much the same as last season, a back up player for us, pretty solid physically, but probably not good enough for the championship never mind the premier league. I’m happy enough for him to still play a back up next season, just hopefully one place down the pecking order.

Centre Back

Jose Dias: Player of the season and a very good defender, now labelled as a ‘Wonderkid’ he was a very solid player at the back for us, 5 goals 2 assists adding to a very strong season at the back. He’s signed on for another season too, but defence is the key area I’m looking to reinforce.

Ben Dixon: Last season I had said I planned to replace Dixon in the squad and I did bring in a loan signing who was to do just that, but whilst easing the new signing into the team Dixon was playing incredibly well so kept his place alongside Dias. 3 goals 2 assists for him as well. Unlike this season it is very unlikely he will manage to keep his place as mentioned last season his pace is not really good enough to deal with fast strikers but he proved me wrong this season so who knows.

Lee Smith: A very able deputy to the first choice defenders, he still manage 18 starts to allow Dias and Dixon periods of rest or to cover for suspensions, 2 goals to his name to help the promotion charge. He won’t be back next season due to domestic loan limits unless I can persuade Aston Villa to sell him which I think is unlikely.

Tobi Blackwell: Very much more so of a backup this season, only 1 substitute appearances for Blackwell this season, a good player for the club, but he’ll be leaving in the summer.

Centre Midfield

Stuart Lea: First choice Midfielder, but was used fairly often in both midfield roles, and there was a fair amount of rotation in the midfield with Lea only starting 30 games and some of those were in the attacking midfield spot as well. 3 goals and 4 assists pretty stable stats, but he’s still only 20 so will hopefully continue to improve, will be first choice again next season as we look to try and help him reach his potential.

Cesar Gonzalez: Last season, like Dixon, Gonzalez was a player who I had pegged to fall by the wayside. A great start to the season for him in the Mezzala spot, 6 goals and 2 assists earning him a new contract, which before the ink dried he broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season, Very unfortunate as he’ll probably not be able to come back into the fold as we strengthen on promotion and his regression whilst injured. Probably be loaned out next season and hopefully can recapture his form.

Sam Wills: Wills like all his midfield counterparts played a good amount of football this year but a lot less than perhaps I’d shaped him up to play last season. 27 starts was enough to earn him 3^rd in the player of the year awards though 2 goals and 6 assists contributing to an overall strong showing for our midfield unit. His ceiling doesn’t seem to be as high as I would hope and not much progression since he’s joined it’s unlikely he’ll be first choice next season in spite of his strong season.

Christopher James: Probably the first player to come back from a loan to earn himself a place in and around the first team squad. Much more of a back up player, but 15 starts is decent amount. His technical attributes are wanting a little, but mental attributes are pretty strong making him a good option for us. 2 goals and 2 assists not an awful return.

Leif Lindquist: Due to the Gonzalez injury Lindquist was recalled from his loan and he featured as a back up player making a few starts and sub appearances before being re-loaned out in March once we were near enough over the line.

Left Attacking Midfield

Joe Burns: On the left wing Burns was our first choice, he had a good season stats wise 8 goals and 13 assists a very good return for the season. On average ratings he flatters to deceive but if he continues putting up those sort of goal contributions he’ll do for me. It is a little concerning but I think it’s a symptom of the system as our left wingers in general haven’t had great ratings in recent years. I’m content for him to remain our first choice going into the premier league.

Mark Mooney: Our coaches rate Mooney at the same level as Burns 3 stars, but I feel Mooney is not as good, his technical stats not really that impressive, and he didn’t have a great season but 2 goals and 2 assists and he does still have potential to improve so will probably remain as back up next season.

Thiaguinho: The first player of the club to get first team football who was not signed from the British Isles, the Brazilian signed in the summer played the role of our emergency back up, a goal in his 5 overall appearances. He’ll be out on loan next season if I can find a suitable destination for him.

Right Attacking Midfield

Gianluca Carbotti: Carbotti was our first choice right winger this season, I managed to train him so that he can now play naturally in the position with him being only natural in the striker position previously. His attributes to me leant well to him being a winger moderate crossing, but very good acceleration and pace makes him ideal for the wide role. 9 goals and 14 assists providing my justification for retraining him. Unfortunately, at the moment Chelsea wont let me re-loan him next season but I do want to keep him. Like Dias, another who is now labelled a Wonderkid.

David O’Brien: O’Brien is probably unlucky to have lost his starting place, but due to him being suspended at the start of the season and Carbotti starting he found himself as second choice. When he did play however, he did play well for us 8 goals and 5 assists as a largely second choice player is a good return. I hope he can push on next season either as first choice or back up to Carbotti should we get him back.

Dale Bird: Much more of a back up this season, and did not perform fantastic when called upon, he’ll likely end up emergency back up next season again, but probably in a lesser role again.

Centre Attacking Midfield:

Barry Blair: I probably should find some out and out competition for Blair, but he played in every game for us starting 43 of them 5 goals and 6 assists not too impressive. I think the attacking midfield role is vital to the formation, but I probably should be looking to find someone who can contribute more in it. He’s still a solid player though but would be better if we can have more depth in the role.

Stuart Lea: Lea was once again back up attacking midfield with Hart and Carbotti also able to fill in if needed

Striker:

Terry Hart: He started out as first choice racing to 17 goals in his first 14 games before some pretty dire form meaning his remaining 7 goals came in 26 games, not an awful return, but not what we’ve come to expect from him. I’m in two minds whether to ive him another shot as first choice in the Premier League, but unfortunately I think this is the Beginning of the end for Hart.

Simon Watson: The player who finally outed Hart’s long standing as our first choice striker, his technical attributes are altogether not too dissimilar to that of Hart, but he’s 6 years his younger so could end up much better; in fact Arsenal were interested earlier in the season so he may become very good. Compared to Hart his main shortfalls are acceleration and technique, but I’m hopeful they can improve. 11 goals a good return from 13 starts.

Osman Karakus: If ever there was a player to prove not to trust star ratings Karakus is he, when we signed him the coaches rated him 2 and a half stars, a few goals for our under 18s later he’s 4 stars yet nowhere near the level of our other strikers. He was still suitable for a back up role and scored a couple goals for us in league and cup. His perfectionist personality should serve him well, but I’m hoping to source a loan move for him next season.

Finances – We lost a lot of money this season, no big away days in the cup and no big player sales meant we are in the red at season end. We should be ok though Premier money will set us up fine especially with a low wage bill.

Youth Intake – A couple of prospects this season with Louis Akehurst rated as our best, he looks ok, but his stamina seems a worry to me. Josh Pycock and Scott Ward also coming through this year.

Next Season

Every time I get promoted I say avoiding relegation would be fantastic, next season it’s going to be incredibly difficult. Our transfer limitations are really going to make the going even tougher, the main area I will be strengthening will be in defence, hopefully I’ll be able to find first choice right and left backs or at least players who can develop into them.

News

The board agreed to improve both the training and youth facilities which is good. And we’ll be moving to Dean Court whilst our new stadium is built which is a shame as I’d prefer us to play in a larger stadium than that as we’ll probably manage to fill that too.

CMU Chips · February 28, 2020

Whitby 2024/2025 - Final Season?

5th place again, and a 2-3 loss in the final month where we led 2-0 was the only thing that prevented us from being champions. In the playoff semifinal we lost to three long shots (two from a player who hadn't scored all season) and a penalty. Everything was against us this year. We can't get anyone to come to our games so we are losing 200k-300k each season. I started the year with a wage budget of 7.4k p/w. One of my goals was to stay under budget, so I was sitting at 6.2k p/w and feeling fine. Then the board cut the budget to 5.4k p/w halfway through the year. I ended up having to sell our best player, which probably kept us from getting promoted. We made 150k from the sale and it took us just under budget, so I thought the board would be happy. Instead they cut another 1k out of the budget despite us having the second smallest annual salary in the league. This caused me to fail my goal and put my manager performance at a C+. I can't re-sign most of my contracted players as they don't feel I can afford it, so most of the players I have will be gone (our top scorer has already agreed to leave the club). I think the club will look for any reason to sack me next year, and even if they don't the club finances look like they can't be saved. I want to keep trying, but I think this will probably be my final full season unless we go up next year as champions.

League Table -

Season Stats -

Transfers -

Year

League

Position

Cups

Training

Youth

Junior

Recruitment

Attendance (Cap)

Badges

Transfers (In-Out)

Top Scorer

Most Assists

Av. Rating

Clean Sheets

May balance

Total wages

2024/2025

VN North

5th

FAC: 4th qual., FAT: 2nd round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

640 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£150k) 10-2

Cole Kiernan - 29

Connor Bell - 20

Alfie Payne - 7.52 (32)

Dave Richards - 12

(£541k)

£5.4k p/w

2023/2024

VN North

5th

FAC: 2nd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

565 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£12k) 14-10

Mitchell George - 31

Dion McGhee - 11

Mitchell George - 7.45 (51)

Marcel Wusiewicz - 16

(£443k)

£7.4k p/w

2022/2023

VN North

5th

FAC: 3rd round, FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

798 (3180)

None

(£0) 18-6

Mitchell George - 40

Jake Cain - 16

Mitchell George - 7.35 (55)

Jacob Carney - 17

(£37k)

£6.3k p/w

2021/2022

VN North

8th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 3rd qual.

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

644 (3180)

None

(£0) 10-1

Mitchell George - 27

Mohammed Sangaré - 11

Mitchell George - 7.33 (46)

Jacob Carney - 11

(£174k)

£5.9k p/w

2020/2021

VN North

10th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

633 (3180)

None

(£0) 9-2

Connor Bell - 10

Jordan Barnett -11

Dale Hopson - 7.02 (49)

Jacob Carney - 19

(£98.71k)

£6.2k p/w

lfc7 · February 29, 2020

@Vipertitan @Andrew Haines @MadCatPT Good Luck

@KVJ92 Congrats on the league win your smashing it 3 promotions in 4 seasons :applause:

@_JHTB_ Congrats on promotion to the prem :applause: looking forward to see how you get on

@CMU Chips unlucky i really hope you go up as champions next season

As for myself with the update now out for stadia i can carry on with my save, which is in season 4 and pick a new team

Edited February 29, 2020 by lfc7

Andrew Haines · February 29, 2020

Whitby Town

59f253cd84f12_118px-Whitby_town_fc(1).png.bbd6a36e55629eafb4f1a3cea9507cab.png

National League North– 2019/20 – 5th

Squad

Transfers

Overview

A good first season saw us go from a desperate relegation battle to the playoffs courtesy of a late season surge of form. As is standard with this challenge, the first season started difficult as I moved on players and attempted to replace them with the standard I would need. With a high player turnover and the standard being fairly poor our form was poor. This improved dramatically with two high profile signings in November in Rudy Gestede and Sean Scanell. Both were first team players at Championship level relatively recently. Their quality pushed us up the table and eventually earnt us a 5^th place finish and the playoffs.

Our playoff first round game was a home tie against Darlington. We dominated but were unable to capitalise. In extra time Jack Brown scored for Darlington and that was that.

Key Players

Rudy Gestede – Ex-Villa and Middlesbrough striker signed in November and scored 13 goals.

Sean Scanell – Winger who played in the Championship with Palace and Huddersfield. Scored 8 goals.

Record

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20         Conference North                5th

kingjericho · March 1, 2020

Nothing good about the next youth intake

Andrew Haines · March 1, 2020

Whitby Town

59f253cd84f12_118px-Whitby_town_fc(1).png.bbd6a36e55629eafb4f1a3cea9507cab.png

National League North– 2019/20 – 2nd

Squad

Transfers

Overview

Promotion was achieved at the second time of asking courtesy of a playoff final win over Darlington. Despite being favorites for the league, a poor start left us playing catchup. Strong form in the closing stages saw second spot achieved but champions York sat with a five point advantage ultimately. The second spot though gave us the home advantage in both the semi-final and final of the playoffs though and with our strong form I always fancied us. Despite dominating both games though we did things the hard way with the lottery of penalties. We failed to score in 240 minutes of the playoffs and both ties finished 0-0. We saw off Chester 5-3 on penalties and then Gateshead 4-3 to clinch a place in the National League for next season.

It was a good thing we did as the board had required me to win promotion as champions. I get the feeling that failing in the playoff final would have ended the challenge prematurely for me. Hopefully we can push on next season and press for a second promotion and league football.

Key Players

David Milinkovic – Scored 10 goals in 24 games from the wing following a free transfer from Hull in December.

Stefan Mols – Spanish midfielder signed from Blackburn. Won the leagues player of the year award.

Record

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20         Conference North                5th                               
2020/21         Conference North                2nd                                             Playoff Winner, Promoted

Tivvy18 · March 1, 2020

I can't say I've had the best of times with FM20. Probably the most enjoyable period I have had was with the public beta back in January. Sadly that came to an end and I had a bit of a break from the game yet again.

However, the pull of the game was too much and I have just managed to finish my first season with Truro and have managed to make the play offs. In all my years doing this challenge I think this is only the second time I have made it to them. Fingers crossed for a happy ending!

KVJ92 · March 2, 2020

On 29/02/2020 at 15:20, lfc7 said:

@KVJ92 Congrats on the league win your smashing it 3 promotions in 4 seasons

As for myself with the update now out for stadia i can carry on with my save, which is in season 4 and pick a new team

Thank you! I'm really surprised by the quick progess this year as I always struggle in the lower leagues!

Good luck to you

Tivvy18 · March 2, 2020

Truro City - Season 2020/21 - National League South - 6th

Season Review - I feel the season was really a story of FM20. It was played through 3 different patches and things went differently with each one. Had I managed to finish the season during the public beta things may have ended a lot differently but then maybe the patch would have hit even harder if it had? Anyway, after a small hiatus I can at least say the first season is done and things can hopefully settle down now.

League - (Fixtures 1) (Fixtures 2) (Fixtures 3) (Positions)

Can you tell when my game updated from the public beta? From being in touching distance of the top, we eventually struggled to nab a playoff spot. Could we do it?

Playoff -

Could we heck! Captain Dickinson decided getting a straight red for a two footed lunge would make the game more interesting. We managed to take the lead through Rooney but sadly couldn't hold out. Alas, my play off misfortunes continue and we crashed out at the first hurdle.

Cups - (FA Cup) (FA Trophy)

Coming up against a National League side in the FA Cup was always going to be a tough ask and I thought we put up a good performance without getting the result. The FA Trophy came at a time when things were beginning to go wrong.

Transfers - A lot in as always.

Finances - Not a pretty sight.

Youth Intake -
Alan Dempsey - I can see him coming good or at the very least decent enough. Going to train him as an AMR.

Corby Henshall - Supposedly has potential and would fit nicely into the midfield if he manages to improve.

Key Players -
Tyler Harvey - The fans love him and he is really my best player. Unfortunately that comes with a massive wage. He was set to go but I've talked his wage down (dsepite it still being too high for my liking) and I've got him for another season. A good player that I would be weaker without.

Charlie Clancy - Eventually ended up top goal scorer and I'll be looking forward to seeing what he can manage next year.

Ryan Bevan - Top assist man playing at right back. Can see him being a pain to keep hold of eventually but I'll enjoy it while he is at the club.

Any other business - Brexit happened but nothing changes.

Looking Forward - I've got a few potential signings lined up which should hopefully boost the team, along with keeping the likes of star man Tyler Harvey at the club on reduced wages. The players may not agree with the ambition but the play offs are really the only way forward now and I would see anything less next season to be a step backwards. With young players throughout the squad, things can only get better. The future is bright down in Cornwall.

I don't know if anyone else feels like this but my willingness to put up with FM20 is tenuous. I don't mind struggling if it is because my tactic is off or my players aren't good enough. But when things work in one session and the only difference when things stop working the next one is that the ME has been updated, it just ruins it. What am I supposed to make of it? I hope this is the last time I have to mention the patches and I apologise for the rant. There's a lot of pent up frustration with this game that all I honestly want to do is just enjoy. I do feel that the next season may be the breaking point with this game depending how it goes. Hopefully it won't come to that...

kingjericho · March 3, 2020

5103839.png.f2e019a0d01d307c37693c0f2ce58629.png

Nantwich - Vanarama National League North - 2023/24

After a very successful promotion from the VNN I set out to get the best free agents I could find, in order to keep our momentum and have a strong start in the VNL. After mixed results in the first 10 matches, the new players started to gel and our attacking setup started producing the amount of goals that got us promoted last season. We quickly rose to the top places and after long battles with Boston Utd first, and York later on, we clinched back-to-back titles with a match to go.

My top scored bagged 19 in 38 apps which is a good record although far from the clinical poacher I want. The main actors were definitely our central midfielders, especially Alex Hunt with an incredible 6 goals and 17 assists in the league, and Aiden Finnegan with 10 goals and 4 assists in 35 league apps. Also a new signing and new leader of the backline Riley Harbottle showed his ability in offensive set pieces and finished the season with 8 goals and 5 assists in 39 apps.

In the FA Cup we met the minimum expectations and were knocked out by L2 Carlisle who outplayed us easily. In the FA Trophy we had a better showing, reaching the 4th round (quarter-finals) where we should have done a lot better against VNS Basingstoke, who hammered us 3-0 without mercy. At a point I thought we could win this - I think I never won this trophy in all my FM years! - but I gladly accept the VNL title instead.

The board will finally turn the club professional (I believe it's mandatory by L2 rules) which means renewing contracts will be a tricky financial situation, fortunately I already have all the layers I want locked for at least one more season although they are all on P/T contracts.

Season    Division                          Position    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   Vanarama National League North    13th
2021/22   Vanarama National League North    7th
2022/23   Vanarama National League North    1st         Promoted as champions
2023/24   Vanarama National League          1st         Promoted as champions

Crispypaul · March 3, 2020

Post-update I am going to give this a proper go for FM20, with none other than Met Police

Profile

CMU Chips · March 3, 2020

Whitby Town 2025/2026 - Is that all it takes?

Still 23rd in the league in terms of salary, we finally put together a complete season. We spent 32 weeks in the top spot (with 4 more in second with games in hand) and tied the record for points and goals in a season. Even with this success, we were still pressured most of the way. Gateshead and FC United finished on 97 and 96 points respectively, which would've won them the league in all but 1 season so far. The board didn't make it easy either, cutting 1k from our budget and selling our vice-captain for 7k+. Not even enough money to make it worthwhile. Our stadium is being slightly expanded.... even though we only filled 18% of the stadium this year. Had to meet standards of the next level, thankfully we got a grant. Board expect mid-table next year. Shouldn't be too bad, I just need another MC, maybe some depth in defense and a starting GK (I got by with a 2* non-contract keeper this year). I'm hoping the next level up will see us raise attendance by enough that we can actually start paying players, my wage budget for next season is only 1k higher than it started this season at and a decent chunk of this is taken by pay rises that my current players demanded.

League Table -

Season Stats -

Transfers -

Year

League

Position

Cups

Training

Youth

Junior

Recruitment

Attendance (Cap)

Badges

Transfers (In-Out)

Top Scorer

Most Assists

Av. Rating

Clean Sheets

May balance

Total wages

2025/2026

VN North

1st

FAC: 1st round, FAT: 3rd round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

576 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£8k) 11-4

Joe Ridley - 32

Joe Ridley - 18

Bob Thomas - 7.59 (50)

Jonny Orritt - 25

(£583k)

£4.9k p/w

2024/2025

VN North

5th

FAC: 4th qual., FAT: 2nd round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

640 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£150k) 10-2

Cole Kiernan - 29

Connor Bell - 20

Alfie Payne - 7.52 (32)

Dave Richards - 12

(£541k)

£5.4k p/w

2023/2024

VN North

5th

FAC: 2nd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

565 (3180)

Nat. C

(+£12k) 14-10

Mitchell George - 31

Dion McGhee - 11

Mitchell George - 7.45 (51)

Marcel Wusiewicz - 16

(£443k)

£7.4k p/w

2022/2023

VN North

5th

FAC: 3rd round, FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

798 (3180)

None

(£0) 18-6

Mitchell George - 40

Jake Cain - 16

Mitchell George - 7.35 (55)

Jacob Carney - 17

(£37k)

£6.3k p/w

2021/2022

VN North

8th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 3rd qual.

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

644 (3180)

None

(£0) 10-1

Mitchell George - 27

Mohammed Sangaré - 11

Mitchell George - 7.33 (46)

Jacob Carney - 11

(£174k)

£5.9k p/w

2020/2021

VN North

10th

FAC: 3rd qual., FAT: 1st round

Basic

Poor

Adequate

Average

633 (3180)

None

(£0) 9-2

Connor Bell - 10

Jordan Barnett -11

Dale Hopson - 7.02 (49)

Jacob Carney - 19

(£98.71k)

£6.2k p/w

_JHTB_ · March 4, 2020

Bognor Regis Town 2030/31

Season Overview

Premier League – 11th Place

A very good season for us a solid 11^th place finish where we were never really wary of getting drawn into the relegation battle. We played both Manchester United and Liverpool in our first 3 games of the season, a recipe for destroying team morale yet we came out from the games with 4 points a 1-1 draw away at Old Trafford followed by a 2-1 victory over Liverpool at the 3^rd time of asking. Our first loss of the season came ‘away’ to Bournemouth for the Dean Court derby, they absolutely destroyed us, but only mustered a 2-1 win. From there our form was very much that befitting of a mid-table team losses, draws and wins. Our games did not typically have many goals for either team, but we ended 2030 in style with a 6-0 destruction of Leeds United before scoring only 1 goal in the following 4 games. We reverted to patchy form for the rest of the season but won our last two including a 2-0 win over Tottenham in our last home game of the season. We actually ended up being the only team outside the top 6 with a positive goal difference and had the 7^th best defence in the league suggesting attacking areas is the main area for improvement.

FA Cup – 5th Round

We reached the 5^th round again this season, lower league teams in the first two rounds we were in before losing 2-1 to Everton in a game we probably should have won.

Carabao Cup – 3rd Round

A very much scraped victory in the 2^nd round 1-0 against Millwall set us up with a home tie to Manchester United who ran out 3-2 victors at Dean Court

Awards --- Stats --- Fixtures (1) --- Fixtures (2) --- Season Review --- Hot Prospect --- Key Player --- Overall Best XI --- Squad --- Records

Transfers – As predicted we smashed our transfer record, but hardly that surprising, we did only spend 10.75 million though which is relatively low and nearly all of our ‘big’ purchases ended up being first or second choice players. Jose Diaz was the player to break our transfer record as we bolstered the centre of the park. Outgoing we said goodbye to a player with over 100 games for the club in Dale Bird who was sold to York for 170k not really good enough for us. Crewe also decided to pay us 525k in compensation for a player who I didn’t deem good enough to give a professional contract, so thanks I suppose.

The ‘Terry Hart’ Player of the season Award – Stuart Lea: Very solid season for the young Englishman, not quite a youth prospect, but the closest thing too it that we’ve had after signing him as a 16 year old from Maidenhead back in League 2. His best season for us so far at the highest level, 2 goals and 7 assists in a season where we scored our lowest ever amount of goals is very good. In Second place was Samu Rubio. Rubio is pretty much still in the team by virtue of us not being able to find any reasonably priced right backs, he was still very solid for us though a 7.05 average rating, only 2 assists though but still not terrible. In third place came the player who also won Signing of the Season Mohamed Mansour. The Egyptian was signed for a mere £1 million and I hope we can keep him around for years to come already dubbed a Wonderkid by the media. A very dependable defender for us also cropping up with 2 league goals in a good first season in English football.

Squad Overview – Definitely more of an overhaul this season with the injection of a lot more players from outside the British Isles

Spoiler

Goalkeepers:

Adam Lake: Lake is a player that has in the past kept his place due to not being able to find anyone better, but he’s been a very good goalkeeper over the years and this season too. In average rating terms this year has been his best with a 6.94 pretty good for a goalkeeper. Only 44 goals conceded this season with 11 clean sheets to his name he’s a player that is consistently playing above his ability, so with that in mind he’s likely to stay as our number one; he’s earned it.

Denis Panic: Actually got a back up goalkeeper in who may be able to be a replacement to Lake in the future should he develop and he played the role of our cup goalkeeper this season. Relatively ok, but not good enough yet to fully challenge Lake for his shirt so will play a similar role next season as well.

Left Full Back:

Hamza Hosni: We replaced an on loan left back from a Portuguese giant with a different on loan left back from a different Portuguese giant. Housni came in as our first choice left back as Tavares turned us down to join championship Crewe; his loss. Fairly solid season for Hosni a goal and an assist a solid return. He’s signed on for next season too, may not be first choice but he’s a good option to have regardless.

Selim Meddeb: A fellow Tunisian, Meddeb came in on a permanent transfer with the view for him to develop and potentially take the first choice berth at left back. He did start to feature a lot more towards the end of the season, and whilst he is probably not yet as good as Hosni I could see him usurping him to take the spot for his own.

Right Full Back:

Samu Rubio: As mentioned previously Rubio kept his place due to not being able to find anyone better. In spite of his strong season he’s a player who is in a position in which he could find himself replaced. In terms of defensive attributes he’s actually pretty good and his physical attributes are solid too. Based on his strong season I’m ok if he’s still our first choice next year but hopefully he’ll at least have someone pushing him for the spot.

Dan Wilshaw: Wilshaw again as back up, I did hope he’d be 3^rd choice this season, but alas, second choice with few games for him. He’s basically a slightly worse Rubio so not an awful player to have as back up, but not a player who is going to help us progress as anything more than that. As last year, I’m happy for him to remain at the club I just hope I can bring in at least one player who is above him in the pecking order.

Centre Back

Mohamed Mansour: Very much a bargain player, our defence this season consisted very much of Mansour plus one other. His attributes in all the areas for his position are good and he has the potential to grow further. When signing him teams such as Manchester City and Juventus were sniffing around suggesting he does have a pretty good ceiling and hopefully he can realise that with us. I think should we be able to keep him and he continues his progression he could certainly be a player who is first choice all the way to the completion of the challenge.

Jose Dias: Last years player of the season is regarded as the best player at the club, but due to injury he didn’t feature as much as he might have hoped. He still played well when called upon and is here for another season as a good defender to allow any other centre backs to have time to settle before being thrust into the first team.

John Andreas Bjerkestrand: Our most expensive defensive signing and the player which our coaches think has the lowest potential. Bjerkestrand isn’t significantly worse than Dias in a lot of areas and was the first player I signed based on that fact. Transfers later in the window dictated that he ended yp 2^nd to 3^rd choice centre back and on average ratings he performed the worst out of the defenders that featured most. I feel he may actually end up being a player who we would move on before too long but I’m happy for him to provide depth and try and force himself into the first team reckoning.

Ben Dixon: As predicted, Dixon found himself lower down the pecking order featuring very infrequently. I may look to sell him on in the summer providing anyone will bid for him. He’s been a good player for us, but due to the clubs overall improvement he finds himself not really good enough for us.

Centre Midfield

Stuart Lea: Lea continued to be a first choice midfielder this season securing the player of the year after a good season from the deep lying playmaker role in the team. Though towards the end of the season did actually find himself playing more as an attacking midfielder rather than in the central midfield two which he may actually play in next season as well due to the other central midfielders presenting good options for us. His development has slowed recently but he’s still only 21 and has amassed nearly 150 league appearances for the club.

Jose Diaz: Not to be mistaken with our defender Jose Dias. Diaz is the current club record signing costing us 2.6 million with another potential 1 million in add-ons so all in all still a cheap deal. The Uruguayan had an ok season, not pulling up any trees but not playing awfully whilst developing well. He was our first choice Mezzala this season with 3 goals and 3 assists, not a terrible return all the while.

Ivan Bueno: Bueno is a contributing factor to Lea getting pushed further up the field in terms of attributes he’s not too dissimilar to Diaz with better mental attributes. He was on international duty for around 2 months directly after signing in January so it was a while before he could make his mark on the team, which he did to good effect, not many games but a 7.31 average rating from his 13 appearances in the league contributing a goal and 3 assists. I think he probably starts the season alongside Diaz in the midfield.

Christopher James: James actually featured in more games than Bueno, but is lower in the pecking order. He is actually a decent player for us his mental attributes very good. He contributed 2 assists to us this season which is not bad for a back up player. I may look to see if anyone wants to buy him in the summer however as I don’t want to hoard players who aren’t going to feature all too much for us. But at the same time, I’m happy for him to remain as back up but there are players in the under 23s, who according to the coaches are just as good as James

Sam Wills: Wills attributes actually line up very well to being a Deep lying Playmaker but he found himself very much a bit part player, especially after throwing a fit when I didn’t give him a new contract straight away. Not a lot of games for him so maybe another we’ll look to offload, though unlike James he has 3 years left on his deal.

Left Attacking Midfield

Mark Mooney: Left attacking midfield is still very much a problem area for us, I can’t get anyone to perform particularly well in this area of our tactic. Mooney could probably just about claim to be our first choice here but in truth neither made it their own. His physical presence probably shading it for him. 4 goals and 2 assists lower than what I would really want from this area of the pitch.

Joe Burns: When Mooney was taking a rest from flattering to deceive Burns took up his mantle just the same, he did actually contribute more assists than Mooney with 4 for the Scotsman, but an average rating of just 6.60 is pretty atrocious. This has been a problem area of the team for a long time and is one that I am aiming to rectify come the summer window.

Right Attacking Midfield

Gianluca Carbotti: Unlike last season Carbotti did not cement himself as very much first choice winger with him sharing game time with O’Brien a lot more this season. As a winger I’m expected some assists for the season, sadly Carbotti did not manage a single assist this season whereas last season he got 14. He did manage to get 6 goals this season, but 3 of those came in the same game where he was actually deployed as a striker not winger. Once a season he seems to decide to do a horrendous tackle and get banned for 3 games. I’m probably not going to look to renew his loan especially as he’s the highest paid player and not had a season befitting of that honour.

David O’Brien: Based on Carbotti’s lack of assists, O’Brien can probably count himself a little unlucky that he did not end up as first choice winger this season, but, much like the left wingers, his average rating was not spectacular only a 6.69 for the season. He did manage to contribute 3 goals and 4 assists in the league so in general largely better than Carbotti.

Mxolisi Mokoena: Signed in the summer he spent a decent amount of time in the under 23s before making his way into the first team toward the end of the season largely thanks to injuries and suspensions along side under performing players. In honesty, he did not fair that much better a goal all he had to show for the season, but I am contemplating making him our first choice next season in spite of that.

Centre Attacking Midfield:

Barry Blair: Blair is still pretty much our only attacking midfielder at the club starting 30 of our 38 league games, and really he had a better season this year, less assists, but even picking up a hattrick in one game. With us now having suitable depth in midfield he may find himself with less games next season as Lea pushes for his position which will hopefully give Blair a new lease of life and keep his spot. He is probably meeting the ceiling of his ability so it may be that a new signing comes in anyway but he’s been a good player for us since our first year in professional football.

Omar Correa: Correa was brought in to try and push Blair out the team, unfortunately, he neither developed too much, or performed well enough to get any run in the team a free transfer so not a huge loss, but he’ll either be out on loan or sold in the summer I think.

Stuart Lea: Lea played probably his most in the attacking midfield of all his seasons, but still fairly infrequently.

Striker:

Simon Watson: As alluded to last season, Watson started the season as our first choice striker, very solid attributes all round let down a little by his lack of acceleration and pace but he’s still young so that can get better. Unlike Hart’s early career with us, he’s not been particularly prolific, but a not awful return of 12 goals is something to build on going forward. He was also out for a month or so mid-season with an injury so I’m happy for him to continue as first choice.

Terry Hart: Hart is very much demoted to a squad player in the premier league. I’m surprised he isn’t considered a club legend but he’s edging towards 200 league goals for the club managing to get himself 6 goals this season. He was actually the 16^th most prolific player on minutes per goal so he’s still doing very well for us. In his 8^th season at the club this is the first in which he didn’t reach over 20 goals for the season which is quite incredible considering he started in non-league with us.

Luis Arrieta: Arrieta came to us in January when our then 3^rd choice striker headed out on loan after not featuring for us. Arrieta looks like he could develop into a very good striker with some very strong attacking and physical attributes. He is currently largely let down by his mental attributes which is a factor as to why he’s 3^rd choice and not higher. He did barely feature for us but scored a lot for our reserves and under 18s. He may end up out on loan next season I’m not sure yet.

Finances – Finances aren’t particularly interesting now we’ve made it to the premier league. Unsurprisingly we are in a very good financial state as the prem money bolsters our books.

Youth Intake – Nothing sensational here but Chay Wall was the best of the bunch though doubtful he’ll ever make it up to first team contention.

Next Season

I’m probably going to aim for another season of mid table and feel we’re pretty well set to do just that. The left wing position is the area I’m most looking for strengthening with right back the second area improvement is probably needed. Other than that I’m not particularly looking at any particular area for signings and will review each as a case by case basis.

News

The board have yet again agreed to upgrade both training and youth facilities. As I predicted last season we filled out Dean Court every league match, a feat that wasn’t even matched by the owners Bournemouth. Still another year until our stadium is complete which is to be a 13740 capacity stadium, so lower than what we’re playing at currently. The under 23s also were in the Football League Trophy getting knocked out in the group stage.

Crispypaul · March 5, 2020

SmallMetPolicelogo.png.963d43a27b01cfeb5440d9fb37979a7d.png

Crispypaul
Met Police
Vanarama National League South
2020/21

League - Fixtures 1 - Fixtures 2 - Table - did far better than I imagined. As the season went on we gradually moved up the table and were into the playoffs, beyond our expectiation. It kept getting better though as we ended up hitting the summit, although a poor run at the end led us to lifting the title on the final day by goal difference.

FA Cup - Fixtures - a great run to the 4th round. We were very lucky with draws as we didn't get anyone higher than the National League until the 4th round, where we faced Blackburn away whom brought us down to earth somewhat with a 6-0 defeat.

FA Trophy - Fixtures - narrow defeat to Billericay ended our run in this.

Finances - the cup run has helped with these but we've had to take a £350k loan to add some extra seats for ground grading, so now shown as insecure.

Key players -

Malachi Boateng - young ex Palace centre half had a good season

Antonio Diaz - the central attacking midfielder had been around the non league circuit for a while

Dylan Parker - my DOF signed this striker after a couple of prolific seasons in the league below and he banged in a ton of goals. Although he wants £900 a week for a part time contract so will keep him as NC for now!

Rob Street - his strike partner was another Palace youth product but had a very good season, and I have him tied down to another 2 years.

Tom Hickey - a more experienced player assisting from the right wing

Future - as is normally the case in this challenge I will be making a lot of changes for the National League. Have extended some contracts where possible but will need to replace at least the goalkeeper and both full backs as well as on the wing.

Season	 	Division	Position	FA Cup		League Cup		FA Trophy	Europe		Notes						
2020/21     	VNS	      	    1st         4th round		-		3rd Round	-		League winners, promoted

Edited March 5, 2020 by Crispypaul

Crispypaul · March 5, 2020

@_JHTB_

Great first season in the Premier League! I am confused though why you are at Dean Court with both Fratton Park and the AMEX closer?

DazRTaylor · March 5, 2020

Great first season Paul. :thup: Love your layout too!

DazRTaylor · March 5, 2020

I am, as usual, playing this challenge through, though I am not documenting it on here.

I has just had one of the worst runs of form in my entire 27 years of playing this as game. Never has a win felt so sweet.

_JHTB_ · March 6, 2020

On 05/03/2020 at 13:09, Crispypaul said:

@_JHTB_

Great first season in the Premier League! I am confused though why you are at Dean Court with both Fratton Park and the AMEX closer?

Thanks, and yeah, it is a bit strange you can add St Marys' and the Majeski and a large proportion of London Grounds to that list as well, Football manager logic I suppose. I mean we played a home game at Dean Court 90 minutes before Bournemouth's game was to kick off there so all a bit weird.

Good first season for you though that's very close at the top but it would seem your games were much more entertaining than those of Welling, not much over a goal a game scored for them.

Andrew Haines · March 7, 2020

Whitby Town

59f253cd84f12_118px-Whitby_town_fc(1).png.bbd6a36e55629eafb4f1a3cea9507cab.png

National League – 2021/22 – 1st

Squad

Transfers

Overview

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this season as we had laboured to promotion via the play-offs the previous season. A second successive promotion was to be secured as champions however. We almost threw everything away though with a late season collapse leading to what was the narrowest of narrow promotions all down to a 95^th minute goal.

We started the season with largely the same team that secured promotion from the National League North. They set off with intent and won the first eight games. In mid-October I made a flurry of new signings that undoubtedly improved the team but de-railed our form. We struggled and lost too many games up till the end of November. Form was much improved from here until the end of March. We went into the final ten games of the season with a commanding lead of ten points. Form again collapsed and we only won one more game in the final ten. Going into the final game we held a single point lead at the top of the table with a number of teams in contention to catch us. We had a difficult game away at Yeovil.

Yeovil took a 40^th minute lead over us in the final game. Results were going our way however and we still sat on top of the table. After 60 minutes the bad news came through. Barrow had scored at home to Bromley and sat on top of the table. I watched the minutes drip away and was resigned to the playoffs. I finished the game and gave my teamtalk. Only when returning to my inbox did I realise I had finished first. Bromley had equalised in the 90+5 minute and I had gone back to the summit of the table.

I have a solid squad but hopefully I can make a handful of decent signings to prosper in League Two.

Key Players

Sam Robinson – Centre-back released by Man City and added class and pace at the back.

Julian Ngoy – Belgian Forward signed from Stoke and scored 10 goals.

Record

Season League Position Europe Achievements

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2019/20 Conference North 5th

2020/21 Conference North 2nd Playoff Winner, Promoted

2021/22 Conference National 1st Champions, Promoted

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019/20         Conference North                5th                              
2020/21         Conference North                2nd                                             Playoff Winner, Promoted
2021/22         Conference National             1st                                             Champions, Promoted

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