dafuge's FM20 challenge

[numero uno gunner]

On 30/12/2019 at 00:15, G_D_K said:

Havent seen them yet.  Still running some holidays while ….. on holiday :P  up to about 60% of teams discovered.  Will try to remember and ping you if I find and host on the page 1 thread.

Cheers. I've been reloading and reloading but to no avail. It's so frustrating!

[weepube]

Carshalton Athletic - Vanarama National South - 2021/22

League-  Predicted to finish 7th we made a flying start to the season only losing once in August and going undefeated in september. We then hit the winter run and the wheels fell off during a tough FA cup run, the league title started to turn into a struggle to stay in the playoffs. With only 3 wins in our last 10 games we finished 8th 2 Points off the playoffs.

Player of the Year / Young Player of the Year / Most Assists / Top AvRating - Matt Carter

Top Goalscorer - Lewis walker

 

Cups-  A massive run in the FA Cup again beating Non League Bridgewater, Lewes and Torquay in the qualifying rounds to set up a Home tie with Bristol Rovers in the 1st round. They were struggling in League 2 and put out a young side which we took advantage of and won 3-1. Next up was Exeter also struggling in League 2 we managed to FM them and win with our only shots on target whilst my keeper pulled of a MOM performance we had reached the FA Cup 3rd round pulling Man U out the hat at home. They demolished us 8-0. 

 

Squad - Transfers - Competitions - Schedule 1/2/Cups - Finances - Season Review - Season Awards

Season	Division			Pos	FA Trophy		FA Cup		EFL Cup		EFL Trophy	Europa League	Champions League		Achievements
20/21	Vanarama National South		10th	2nd Round		2nd Round       N/A	        N/A		N/A	         N/A			        Manager of the Year
21/22	Vanarama National South		8th	1st Round		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A	         N/A			        N/A					

Next Season - Aim to make Playoffs

Edited January 4, 2020 by weepube

[SnakeXe]

Nice progress @weepube - finances look good which I'm sure the cup run helped a lot with (albeit it probably derailed your promotion bid!).

[weepube]

Carshalton Athletic - Vanarama National South - 2022/23

League-  After missing out on the playoffs last season the media predicted us to finish 4th. A strong start to the season saw us sitting in the playoff all season whilst never really pushing for automatic promotion we finished exactly where the media predicted 4th and embarked on our first playoff campaign.

Playoffs- First up we had Dorking Wanderers a goal late in the first half gave us the lead and despite holding on for most of the second half we scrapped through with our keeper bagiing the MOM, Then we had our local rivals Bromley in the semis. We took an early lead only to be pegged back and went in at half time 1-1. Bromley scored to go 2-1 up but 2 quick goals in the 70 and 75th minute gave us the victory in a pretty even game. The final was one of those games where we just copuldnt score the game went to penalties after a 0-0 draw and we lost 4-3

Player of the Year / Most Assists - Matt Carter

Young Player of the Year - Callum Watts

Top Goalscorer - Rhys Kavanagh

Top AvRating - James Norwood

 

Cups-  A good showing in the FA Cup again losing to Birmingham in the 3rd Round after defeating Salford and Bromley to reach them. A FA Trophy loss to Maidenhead in the 1st round

 

Squad - Transfers - Competitions - Schedule 1/2- Finances - Season Review - Season Awards

Season	Division			Pos	FA Trophy		FA Cup		EFL Cup		EFL Trophy	Europa League	Champions League		Achievements
20/21	Vanarama National South		10th	2nd Round		2nd Round       N/A	        N/A		N/A	         N/A			        Manager of the Year
21/22	Vanarama National South		8th	1st Round		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A	         N/A			        N/A					
22/23	Vanarama National South		4th	1st Round		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A				Playoff Runner Ups

 

Next Season - Promotion Push!

[weepube]

On 03/01/2020 at 07:58, SnakeXe said:

Nice progress @weepube - finances look good which I'm sure the cup run helped a lot with (albeit it probably derailed your promotion bid!).

Yea cup runs are what i concentrate on early as clubs always struggle financially. November and December seem to be the months my league form takes a dive with all the rotation and tired players. Thinking of prioritising the league this season just to take that next step.

[SnakeXe]

1 hour ago, weepube said:

Yea cup runs are what i concentrate on early as clubs always struggle financially. November and December seem to be the months my league form takes a dive with all the rotation and tired players. Thinking of prioritising the league this season just to take that next step.

Yeah I concentrated on the league, which probably got us promoted a bit sooner but I'm kind of regretting it now as we've not had a training ground or youth upgrade at all and our finances are still a bit sketchy even in League One.

[SnakeXe]

  SnakeXe @ Salisbury - Season 6 - 2025/26

Summary
Well, the run of successive promotions is over, but it's probably a good thing as it gives us a bit of time to consolidate and rebuild the squad. The defensive core of Solberg, Dorsett and Morris which carried us this far has reached the limit of its capabilities, they'll stay on as squad players but I'll be looking for first choice upgrades on all of them in the summer. We started very well, hanging around the playoff spots until the festive period but then I felt like the opposition started to take us a little more seriously and the second half of the season was a real struggle. I was unable to address anything in January as we were beyond our wage limit already. Promotion is definitely possible for next season but all hinges on our summer upgrades. We'll be playing in our new stadium next season too, which will be nice!

Competitions
League One - 11th
FA Cup - 4th Round
League Cup - 1st Round
Football League Trophy - Group Stage

Squad
We got all our important loan players back but none of them really performed at the higher level. Basham stayed another year but probably shouldn't have. The flanks are our real weak spot - our strength at AMC is hard to use without good wingbacks to provide width. My priority for replacements is (in order) left wing, right back, left back, goalkeeper, centreback.

Transfers

Manager's player of the season - Herve Seynaeve
Along with Hodge was irreplaceable in midfield.

+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| Season  | Pos | League                | CL | EL | FAC | LC | FLT | FAT | Notes                      |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| 2020/21 | 13  | National League South | -  | -  | 2QR | -  | -   | 3QR |                            |
| 2021/22 | 6   | National League South | -  | -  | 4QR | -  | -   | 3QR | Lost in playoff semi final |
| 2022/23 | 1P  | National League South | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2023/24 | 1P  | National League       | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2024/25 | 1P  | League Two            | -  | -  | R1  | R2 | GS  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2025/26 | 11  | League One            | -  | -  | R4  | R1 | GS  | -   |                            |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+

 

[SnakeXe]

  SnakeXe @ Salisbury - Season 7 - 2026/27

Summary
Some outstanding summer business gave us the opportunity to really stretch our legs again this season after a few years of defensive football, winning the League One title at a canter. I got every upgrade I wanted bar the keeper, but we were so solid that Solberg wasn't really tested anyway. Another good FA Cup run was ended by a Premier League team, unfortunately this time we drew Man Utd at home so no payday (which would've been so so helpful given the dangerous state of our finances). Summer business will again be crucial - last time I did this challenge on FM11 I remember the Championship being a tough step up.

Competitions
League One - 1st
FA Cup - 5th Round
League Cup - 1st Round
Football League Trophy - 3rd Round

Squad
We improved in almost every positIon, but now facing up to a season in the Championship we suddenly look weak everywhere. Samuels at left back, playmaker Williams, and Fewster at the back of midfield look capable, question marks about everyone else. Hodge would be another banker but he won't sign a new contract over some perceived failure to fulfill the promise to improve our coaching staff.

Transfers

Manager's player of the season - Robbie Holmes
I took a chance and renewed his loan after a difficult first season at League One level and he rewarded me with his best season yet. I would probably have given it to Williams but given Holmes has been a key man for 3 years and we're probably not going to see him again this seemed like a fitting farewell.

+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| Season  | Pos | League                | CL | EL | FAC | LC | FLT | FAT | Notes                      |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| 2020/21 | 13  | National League South | -  | -  | 2QR | -  | -   | 3QR |                            |
| 2021/22 | 6   | National League South | -  | -  | 4QR | -  | -   | 3QR | Lost in playoff semi final |
| 2022/23 | 1P  | National League South | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2023/24 | 1P  | National League       | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2024/25 | 1P  | League Two            | -  | -  | R1  | R2 | GS  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2025/26 | 11  | League One            | -  | -  | R4  | R1 | GS  | -   |                            |
| 2026/27 | 1P  | League One            | -  | -  | R5  | R1 | R3  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+

 

[DazRTaylor]

So after countless hours reloading - I spend around two to three hours a week reloading - I still have no sign of Blackfield & Langley.  But I do, finally, at last, have...Bowers & Pitsea.

Edited January 7, 2020 by DazRTaylor

[weepube]

Carshalton Athletic - Vanarama National South - 2023/24

League- With the disappointment of the loss in the playoffs last season we set out to push for the league this season. With a few key players in the last year of their contract looking for a bigger challenge i thought we may get a bit of unrest as i decided to ignore most of their request, Fortunately it didn't effect the squad that much as the team leaders spoke most of them around and we got of to a flying start. 28 games undefeated and we had a strong lead at the top going into January where we lost our first game. We manage to claim the Title with 5 games remaining going the whole season only losing 4 times.

Player of the Year / Most Assists / Top AvRating - Matt Carter

Young Player of the Year - Josh Martin

Top Goalscorer - James Norwood

 

Cups-  Made the first round of both cups, FA Cup we lost to league side Rotherham and lost to Oxford City in the FA Trophy.

 

Squad - Transfers - Competitions - Schedule1/2- Finances - Season Review - Season Awards - Stadium Expansion - Manager of the Year

Season	Division			Pos	FA Trophy		FA Cup		EFL Cup		EFL Trophy	Europa League	Champions League		Achievements
20/21	Vanarama National South		10th	2nd Round		2nd Round       N/A	        N/A		N/A	         N/A			        Manager of the Year
21/22	Vanarama National South		8th	1st Round		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A	         N/A			        N/A					
22/23	Vanarama National South		4th	1st Round		3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A				Playoff Runner Ups
23/24	Vanarama National South		1st	1st Round		1st Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A				Champions, Manager of the Year

 

Next Season - Replace the leaving players and survive.

 

[SnakeXe]

Awesome season @weepube keep up the good work! You may find the momentum of this season means you can overachieve next time (certainly worked out that way for me).

 

@DazRTaylor long time no see mate! Good luck with Bowers & Pitsea.

[Brother Ben]

17 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

So after countless hours reloading - I spend around two to three hours a week reloading - I still have no sign of Blackfield & Langley.  But I do, finally, at last, have...Bowers & Pitsea.

Anyone manage to get Corinthian-Casuals? 

i'm aware that this challenge would be impossible with them but does their amateur status prevent them being promoted by reloading?

[tremor]

4 hours ago, Brother Ben said:

Anyone manage to get Corinthian-Casuals? 

i'm aware that this challenge would be impossible with them but does their amateur status prevent them being promoted by reloading?

I don't think it would prevent them from being promoted, i was hoping they would turn up to see if the amateur status would be coded and prevent the development or if you could survive for long enough in the vanarama whether it might be possible might break their club culture for progression.

[tremor]

I realise that i've been playing this challenge a lot and not really updating my progress. I ditched Witton Albion, Matlock and Lewes just wasn't really feeling it/them and although i spent a lot of time reloading i still didn't find any of the lower rep teams i really wanted so in the end went with Chesham United. Really getting to grips with them and the club philosophy and they've backed me a lot too.

2020-21 - Got promoted as champions, really just loaded the team up with fast and hard-working players... went very route one counter attacking with 3 CB's and never really had any problems. a few wobbles around Christmas when we had injuries and the cup games, actually a bit of a blessing to be knocked out reasonably early although an away day at Cardiff in the FA Cup was a nice little earner.

Board has also been really supportive and pretty much constantly putting me on coaching courses.

[tremor]

2021-22

Managed to squeak promotion from the National at the first time of asking, been very lucky with signings and just stuck with a high energy high press route 1 counter-attacking style. Worked pretty well, we were top for periods of the season but ultimately it came off the rails in the spring and we ended up going through the lottery of the play-offs. Nothing much to see in the cup competitions, a little bit of cash but actually i think the extra workload really effected our players too much and nearly cost us promotion. Once more the board backed me and kept on putting me through my badges.

 

Gone fully professional, massive wage issues now that we're about to enter league 2, most of my star players are refusing to sign F/T contracts or extend contracts. So I'm scrabbling about with the cast-offs again and although i'm already over my wage budget i've got a squad of about 18 with a few terrible u23/u18regens (all the good ones had been on non-contracts and have been snapped up by clubs in lower leagues and are on worse contracts... sometimes i don't get this game)

If i can manage to keep this rabble up in league 2 it will be a miracle!

At least my stats make me a decent coach which makes up for the fact that the coaching team is tiny!

[SnakeXe]

Good updates and excellent progress @tremor! What’s your wage budget in League Two out of interest? I feel like mine has been way smaller than normal at Salisbury - tried to see what kind of wages I was paying at Merthyr back on FM10 last time I did this challenge but the screenshots are gone from photobucket sadly.

[Brother Ben]

1 hour ago, tremor said:

I don't think it would prevent them from being promoted, i was hoping they would turn up to see if the amateur status would be coded and prevent the development or if you could survive for long enough in the vanarama whether it might be possible might break their club culture for progression.

i only ask because over the last few years i cant remember anyone mentioning seeing them promoted during their reloads for this challenge

ive managed them before in an expanded database and the turnover of players you're forced into is crazy

[tremor]

1 hour ago, SnakeXe said:

Good updates and excellent progress @tremor! What’s your wage budget in League Two out of interest? I feel like mine has been way smaller than normal at Salisbury - tried to see what kind of wages I was paying at Merthyr back on FM10 last time I did this challenge but the screenshots are gone from photobucket sadly.

wage budget is £13k,  but i'm basically bare bones atm, i think i've got 21 in the squad. Definitely need to dip into the loan market and see if i can get a few freebies/cheapies

 

[SnakeXe]

43 minutes ago, tremor said:

wage budget is £13k,  but i'm basically bare bones atm, i think i've got 21 in the squad. Definitely need to dip into the loan market and see if i can get a few freebies/cheapies

 

Ah ok yeah that's exactly what I had. I had Reading as a parent club which was an absolute lifesaver for padding the squad out with loan players.

[tremor]

6 hours ago, SnakeXe said:

Ah ok yeah that's exactly what I had. I had Reading as a parent club which was an absolute lifesaver for padding the squad out with loan players.

My board simply refuses to consider a parent club... I really don't understand, it would make a huge difference to our revenue.

[SnakeXe]

39 minutes ago, tremor said:

My board simply refuses to consider a parent club... I really don't understand, it would make a huge difference to our revenue.

It’s just so strong to be able to get good players on loan for nothing, plus there seems to be a mechanic where your club becomes more attractive to players if you’ve signed a lot of people from their club which I would imagine helped me when I wanted to sign a few of them permanently. Fortunately for me the agreement was already in place when I joined, since we lost Reading when we got promoted into the Championship alongside them I haven’t been able to get another. My board have been incredibly stingy altogether to be honest, they built the stadium unprompted but other than that I’ve only been able to get a couple of coach allocation increases out of them.

[SnakeXe]

SnakeXe @ Salisbury - Season 8 - 2027/28

Summary
Solid summer business gave me confidence we had a shot at staying up, but not enough to try and play football at this level. We lined up in a 3-4-1-2 to take advantage of our strength in central defence and central midfield, and it paid off, as we ground our way to survival comfortably, ending up slap bang in mid table. We also had an amazing FA Cup run to the quarter finals which bolstered the coffers a bit, the highlight being knocking out Tottenham after extra time in the replay away from home. The financial boost allowed us to improve our training, youth, and data analysis facilities for the first time which is fantastic news, but the board still wouldn't increase the stadium capacity from the measly 5k.

Once our cup run was over and we were obviously safe I decided to start experimenting with a more progressive playing style, and it actually worked quite well - clearly our strikers aren't good enough but we're making the chances and we are actually able to play football against teams at this level which is very encouraging. A decent summer's recruitment should give us a few more options for how we want to approach games next season.

Competitions
Championship - 14th
FA Cup - Quarter Final
League Cup - 1st Round

Squad
We unexpectedly managed to keep Hodge which was a massive bonus, and I decided to keep Holmes on for another season which was probably the right move as he top scored for us again, but I'm definitely feeling like it's time for an upgrade now so it's probably time to stop renewing his loan after 4 productive years with us. Central defence and midfield are strong, fullbacks are okay, we could still stand to upgrade everywhere though. Quality up front has to be the summer priority though - a tough ask as our budget is still just £70k per week - the highest earning player in the league is Fulham's Zambo-Anguissa who is on £80k by himself.

Transfers

Manager's player of the season - Michael Watts
Very reliable playing in the middle of a back three, struggled a little in the four I was experimenting with once safety was achieved but nevertheless a very impressive season. Honourable mentions to Williams, Holmes and Hodge, although the 20 yellows accumulated by the latter was a little inconvenient.

+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| Season  | Pos | League                | CL | EL | FAC | LC | FLT | FAT | Notes                      |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| 2020/21 | 13  | National League South | -  | -  | 2QR | -  | -   | 3QR |                            |
| 2021/22 | 6   | National League South | -  | -  | 4QR | -  | -   | 3QR | Lost in playoff semi final |
| 2022/23 | 1P  | National League South | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2023/24 | 1P  | National League       | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2024/25 | 1P  | League Two            | -  | -  | R1  | R2 | GS  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2025/26 | 11  | League One            | -  | -  | R4  | R1 | GS  | -   |                            |
| 2026/27 | 1P  | League One            | -  | -  | R5  | R1 | R3  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2027/28 | 14  | Championship          | -  | -  | QF  | R1 | -   | -   |                            |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+

 

[weepube]

Carshalton Athletic - Vanarama National - 2024/25

League- Our first season in the Vanarama National and early on look as we could have been in for a long season losing 4 1st team starters. We got off to a decent start winning 5, drawing 2 and losing 3 had us sitting just outside the playoffs. A very inconsistent winter saw us slowly fall away from the playoffs and a shocking end to the season only winning 2 games in the last 17 fixtures we ended a respectable 13th.

Player of the Year / Most Assists / Top AvRating - Matt Carter

Young Player of the Year / Top Goalscorer - Fabio Lopes (loan)

Cups- With promotion sealed the season before and the very good start to the season i could get back to concentrating on getting as far as possible in the cups. Financially we were struggling so a cup run was a must, Bath took us to a replay in the last qualifying round where we overcame then to be drawn against Scunthorpe are Home winning 1-0 in a very strong performance against league Opposition. We then were drawn against more league opposition in Hull who underestimated us by sending a reserve squad we just scrapped pass with a smash and grab performance 1-0. The third round saw us drawn against York who we beat convincingly 3-0 giving us a 4th round (club record) tie away at West Ham. A game we were never in we lost 2-0 and were very lucky to keep it that low! The cup run saw us hit 1 million in the bank and the future of the club secure for the next few seasons!

 

Squad - Transfers - Competitions - Schedule1/2- Finances - Season Review - Season Awards - Media "Overachievers" Award

 

Season	Division			Pos	FA Trophy	FA Cup		EFL Cup		EFL Trophy	Europa League	Champions League Achievements
20/21	Vanarama National South		10th	2nd Round	2nd Round       N/A	        N/A		N/A	         N/A		 Manager of the Year
21/22	Vanarama National South		8th	1st Round	3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A	         N/A		 N/A					
22/23	Vanarama National South		4th	1st Round	3rd Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A		 Playoff Runner Ups
23/24	Vanarama National South		1st	1st Round	1st Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A		 Champions, Manager of the Year
24/25	Vanarama National		13th	1st Round	4th Round	N/A		N/A		N/A		 N/A		 N/A

 

Next Season - Start to rebuild the squad and have a cup run again!

Edited January 10, 2020 by weepube

[weepube]

Anyone Just starting and looking for a Centre Mid have a look at Matt Carter he has won my player of the year every year and is just Mr Reliable. I have played him as a Box to Box or Centre mid on support. Here is a current screenshot in my 6th season

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by weepube

[Zilla Blitz]

Year 2: 2021-22 Summary

Season Notes
Nuneaton Town’s board challenged the team to make the playoffs, but the team exceeded expectations in every way. New signings blended well with returning players, and victories came in bunches. In the second month, Nuneaton reached first place, which it held for the remainder of the campaign. By the end, the team set league records for wins and points, and topped the campaign off with a surprising FA Trophy Cup win to earn the double.

Now new challenges await, as the club must navigate the tricky waters of promotion, and will go from big fish in a little pond to little fish in a big pond. Onward to Season 3! 

Screen Shots
Season Review
Table
Manager Profile
Transfers

Year-By-Year

Season 2 Wrap Up Video

 

 

Edited January 10, 2020 by Zilla Blitz

[SnakeXe]

Good season of consolidation @weepube - hopefully the board will back you with a bit more wage budget now the finances are secured.

Nice video update @Zilla Blitz - subscribed! £15k is a pretty healthy wage budget for VNL, I think mine was £10k which was tricky. Parent club came in very useful that season!

Mini mid-summer update from me, we received a huge £5m plus addons bid from Newcastle for Michael Watts so despite him being our most important player I've cashed in and hopefully we can turn that into some squad-wide improvements. It's certainly a novelty being able to shop outside the free agent market!

[LeProfIamNot]

  

South Shields FC 2021/2022

League Table    Season Review    Stats    Transfers    Awards    Profile    Finances    Promotion Odds

 

Such an amazing season.  By the time I had made some signings, the bookmakers had us coming in 4th.  Honestly this club is easy mode for this challenge.  The owner continues to dump funds and finance our project.  I didn't turn over the squad as drastically as last season, but there was definitely some turnover.  When all the loan listings came out, I went after 3 of them.  After those signings, the bookmakers had us coming in 1st.  I felt this was a tall order because I know it's going to take half a season to get everybody settled in.  We bounced around the top 6 the whole season.  I remember being 11 points off the leaders at one point later in the campaign and I was trying so hard to manage may way into the top 3 for automatic promotion.  With 6 games left, I was feeling very confident we'd be promoted, but the impossible happened.  The leader slipped and we had an easy schedule, playing mostly relegation zone sides.  Down to the last day of the season, we were 2 point behind the leader, and holy crap we won the league on goal difference that last day.  We won, and the leader drew.  Unreal.  This season was a real slog.  I kept playing our worst sides in the cups but we kept advancing and I really needed more rotation during the heavy areas during the season.  Everybody was extremely tired and we had stretches were all we could do was draw numerous games in a row.  This was one of the most satisfying seasons I've ever had.

Standout Performers

Christian Norton - Really, everything was about this guy right here.  We had other great players, but Christian was everything.  When I saw him go up for loan I basically had to make room for him.  I honestly can't remember how many times this guy scored 3-5 goals in a game.  I know he scored 5 goals in a game at least twice.  I remember him scoring 4 once or twice also.  He easily walked away with the league player of the year.  He spearheaded our high press and was just relentless both on and off the ball.  I wanted desperately to re-loan him but Southampton aren't willing to let him stay another season.  Honestly I don't blame them.  He should probably be playing in the Championship.  I will definitely be monitoring his progress, though, and see if he's still available later in the window.

Goals Moving Forward

Well, given that my goal last time was a mid-table finish, maybe I'm not so good about gauging my goals.  I don't think I have the funds or the reputation to secure players that will allow me to jump to the front of the line this season.  The board are already asking for a mid-table finish, however, so the pressure is on.  One of my youth intake players has extremely high numbers, though, and I just decided to sell him for 2m pounds and a 30% of next sale clause.  I'll have to see if this allows me to get a little more creative in the market before the season starts.  Honestly, if I can meet expectations this season it'd be great.  A triple promotion is about the best I've ever done. I can't imaging being able to pull off a fourth.

Season Results

Season			League					Finish		Notes

2020/2021		Vanarama National League North		1st		1 Manager Of The Month, Manager Of The Year, Division Champion
2021/2022		Vanarama National			2nd		2 Manager Of The Month, Manager Of The Year, Playoff Promotion
2022/2023		Sky Bet League Two			1st		1 Manager Of The Month, Division Champion

 

[Zilla Blitz]

14 hours ago, SnakeXe said:

Nice video update @Zilla Blitz - subscribed! £15k is a pretty healthy wage budget for VNL, I think mine was £10k which was tricky. Parent club came in very useful that season!

Mini mid-summer update from me, we received a huge £5m plus addons bid from Newcastle for Michael Watts so despite him being our most important player I've cashed in and hopefully we can turn that into some squad-wide improvements. It's certainly a novelty being able to shop outside the free agent market!

Thanks, Snake! And thanks for the sub!

That's good to know about the wage budget. I poked about and checked out some other teams' budgets and the top ones are significantly higher, but there certainly are a number of teams below that too. I feel like it's certainly enough to get what we need.

And congrats on the $5m! Shopping time!

[SnakeXe]

  SnakeXe @ Salisbury - Season 9 - 2028/29

Summary
The work done at the end of last season figuring out a 4-4-2 diamond possession-based system paid dividends as we were able to dominate most games, the only fly in the ointment was our very poor conversion rate - we'd often need 4 or 5 clear cut chances to score, but fortunately our defence was solid enough and our dominance sufficient that we'd win anyway. It wasn't enough for the title (although I do wonder what might have been if Williams and Edwards hadn't been sold in January) but it was, crucially, enough for the second automatic promotion berth - Salisbury are in the Premier League!

Competitions
Championship - 2nd
FA Cup - 4th Round
League Cup - 3rd Round

Squad
I think overall we achieved our aims in terms of upgrades for this season, Thorpe and Douglas missed a lot of chances up front but they were definitely an upgrade on last season's pairing of Holmes and Wilcox. Looking around I'm not seeing a lot of Premier League quality, so there's probably a busy summer ahead. Owens, Bullock, and Fewster should keep their starting spots but I'm looking to upgrade on pretty much everyone else.

Transfers
I can't complain too much given they were both clause activations but losing Williams and Edwards in January when we were challenging for the title was a bit of a kick in the teeth, not least because the board only granted me 30% of the proceeds to reinvest, which wasn't enough money for the replacements I had identified. Nevertheless, the fees have done wonders for our finances and I did finally spend some money actually buying players - Douglas was the highest fee paid of £2.3m but that record won't last long with the Premier League cash injection imminent.

Manager's player of the season - Ronnie Owens
Edwards would've won this had he been with us all season, but Owens takes it for his consistency - not to mention some crucial and spectacular goals from long range.

+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| Season  | Pos | League                | CL | EL | FAC | LC | FLT | FAT | Notes                      |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+
| 2020/21 | 13  | National League South | -  | -  | 2QR | -  | -   | 3QR |                            |
| 2021/22 | 6   | National League South | -  | -  | 4QR | -  | -   | 3QR | Lost in playoff semi final |
| 2022/23 | 1P  | National League South | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2023/24 | 1P  | National League       | -  | -  | R1  | -  | -   | R3  | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2024/25 | 1P  | League Two            | -  | -  | R1  | R2 | GS  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2025/26 | 11  | League One            | -  | -  | R4  | R1 | GS  | -   |                            |
| 2026/27 | 1P  | League One            | -  | -  | R5  | R1 | R3  | -   | Promoted as Champions      |
| 2027/28 | 14  | Championship          | -  | -  | QF  | R1 | -   | -   |                            |
| 2028/29 | 2P  | Championship          | -  | -  | R4  | R3 | -   | -   | Promoted                   |
+---------+-----+-----------------------+----+----+-----+----+-----+-----+----------------------------+

Edit:

Well I'm sure glad we spent £6m building the last one that we've now sold for £500k!

We'll use Dean Court while it's being built.

By my reckoning Salisbury Stadium II will be the 5th stadium we've played in under my management once it's finished! (Raymond McEnhill, Silverlake Park, Salisbury Stadium, Dean Court, Salisbury Stadium II)

Edited January 12, 2020 by SnakeXe

[The Regista]

Will be starting this off with Matlock Town. Was thinking of choosing FC United but as someone else in the thread is already managing them, I decided to opt for Matlock.

Not much to tell you other than our nickname is "The Gladiators" and the crest is also of a gladiator.

 

 

Why did I pick Matlock specifically.... I've been there a few times and it's a nice enough place!! 

 

[The Regista]

 

Not bad for a second pre-season friendly result!

[SnakeXe]

Good luck with Matlock! That's quite the crest

[The Regista]

Thanks @SnakeXe - always wanted to try this and been struggling to pick a save so it seems like as good as time as any.

Congrats on getting promoted to the Premier League. Do you think you're equipped to stay up next season?

Not sure how often I'll update - pre season is almost done!

[SnakeXe]

5 minutes ago, The Regista said:

Congrats on getting promoted to the Premier League. Do you think you're equipped to stay up next season?

Thanks! I've just played my last preseason friendly against Newcastle who finished 13th last season and we whupped them 4-0, so fingers crossed that's a good sign. My first XI only has 2 players from last season's squad so the quality is definitely improved but whether it'll be enough and whether we gel quickly enough will decide whether we can stay up. I've been trying to moneyball it a bit and sign players who look undervalued so even if we go down we should make money on most of the people I've brought in.

[The Regista]

 

Nice win to start the season off! First of many I hope...

[SnakeXe]

Comeback win too, very nice! What system have you gone with?

[SnakeXe]

Only the smashiest of smash and grabs for Salisbury thank you what a comeback, I was braced for a thrashing when the second went in but we dug in and did them from set pieces and breakaways!

[Scab]

St. Ives 2034/35 Season Review

League Table    Season Review    Squad    Transfers    Finances

Back to the old 4-4-2, back to hoofing long balls. Started rather poorly with 11 games without a win, but a good October turned things around and in the end we managed to fight our way up to 16th. I'll take it!

Struggled a lot with fitness this season. In the VNL we had busy months and reasonable months alternating, here it's pretty hectic every week. Probably not helped by me messing around with training schedules and intensity, but I really want to nail those down now that we're finally F/T.

I was a bit concerned with our finances considering our wage spending more than tripled, but income is actually pretty good. Gate receipts and sponsorships are up a bit, but more importantly we're getting TV money and solidarity payments now to the tune of about £800K total. It hasn't been enough to save up for facility upgrades, but at least we're healthy!

Aim for next season: Bottom half-ish again? A lot of the clubs up here feel several sizes too big for us.

Season    League              Finish   Notes
2034/35   Sky Bet League Two  16th     -
2033/34   Vanarama National   1st      League winners
2032/33   Vanarama National   2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2031/32   Vanarama National   4th      Lost in Playoff 1st Rnd, FA Trophy runners-up
2030/31   Vanarama National   7th      Lost in Playoff 1st Rnd
2029/30   Vanarama National   15th     -
2028/29   Vanarama National   10th     FA Trophy runners-up
2027/28   Vanarama North      1st      League winners
2026/27   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2025/26   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2024/25   Vanarama North      2nd      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2023/24   Vanarama North      5th      Lost in Playoff 2nd Rnd
2022/23   Vanarama North      4th      Lost in Playoff 1st Rnd
2021/22   Vanarama North      9th      -
2020/21   Vanarama North      15th     -

 

[SnakeXe]

Nice update @Scab! Staying up after a rough start like that is no mean feat, keep up the good work.

Edited January 13, 2020 by SnakeXe

[The Regista]

On 12/01/2020 at 22:35, SnakeXe said:

Comeback win too, very nice! What system have you gone with?

Gone with a 4-2-4 Wing Play system. Wanted to keep it simple with the quality of the players we have. No point in trying to get them to play a complicated style that they wont have the attributes to execute well.

[The Regista]

MATLOCK TOWN PRE SEASON 2019/2020

My first attempt in blogging for a while, but here we are! 

I laid out my reasons for selecting Matlock for this challenge above in this thread, but for the sake of being complete I'll state them again. I picked Matlock as I've been there and it's... nice. Also, their nickname is "The Gladiators" which will sound dope when we're at the top of the pile, and the crest of of a gladiator!

 

Not much to update you on for pre-season other than it went pretty well.

 

We won every game including picking up a good win at home to Dartford. I know a little about the National League South from researching for Maidstone United, and Dartford are a pretty decent side which makes this result very pleasing. Although we lost to Chesterfield, it was a narrow defeat and we could easily have had a couple of goals had things gone differently.

Tactically, I'm rolling with a standard 4-2-4 Wing Play formation. I see no reason to be playing something more advanced like a Gegenpress when we've got such low quality players. I don't have any vision yet for how I see us playing in the future, though I'm sure tactically we'll evolve as the save continues.

From a transfer perspective, we were pretty busy

The most notable name here is Ross Lafayete. I've watched Ross play for Maidstone United last year, so I'm aware of what he can bring. With plenty of experience in non league he will certainly help us stabalise within the NLN. You'll notice that he's also a Director of Football... yeah Matlock have got a DoF in the NLN!! I'm not too fussed with this - he's on a one year deal and as long as he can play games for us, he can do what he likes in the DoF position.

Other players to note are strikers Livesey Mason and Leon Okubuyejo, both whom possess great speed for this level and will lead the line for Matlock (and we had ZERO strikers to begin with). Additionally keeper Kyle Trenerry and centre back Aaron Ekumah will help to bolster the back line. 

Predicted to finish dead last, we won our first game away to Kidderminster. Fingers crossed we can keep it up. See you at the end of the first season!

 

[Zilla Blitz]

Good luck with Matlock @The Regista!

And Congrats on reaching the Premier Leauge, @SnakeXe!

And nice work staying up in League 2, @Scab!

 

 

[_JHTB_]

I've been doing this for a little while now, so thought it best to do my posts about it before I get too far in.

Bognor Regis Town 2020/21 - Vanarama National League South

The Manager

I've deviated a little from the rules in the original post here by making the manager a different nationality to me, using the stats of a newgen from my previous save meaning Owain McMinimee is his native Welsh as opposed to my English, though I don't see this having any substantial bearing on the save.

Transfer Limitations

I did participate in this Challenge in FM19 and progressed upwards pretty fast before I stopped updating my posts so this time I'm giving myself some transfer restrictions that lean towards Youth Academy Challenge whilst not being quite as tough. The limitations are as follows

Players aged 18 or Younger: Unrestricted

Players aged 19 to 21: Maximum of 3 per season and must be on route to Home Grown at Nation

Players aged 22+: Only previous players of the club that are at least Home Grown Nation (must have been at the club on a permanent contract)

Loan players: Allowed if fit above criteria

First Season - Aims

My aims for the first season were simply to avoid relegation and hopefully have a decent cup run to try and get some extra money flowing into the club. Due to already existing players at the club being on fairly hefty wages there was a limit to the amount of players I could bring in to stay within the wage budget.

Transfers and Media Prediction

The first season transfers were all of players aged 18 or younger with the exception of a goalkeeper I brought in mid March. After the initial batch of transfers the Media predicted us to finish in 19th place. Aside from the goalkeeper, there were two other transfers not on this screenshot, a winger and a striker. All transfers bar the last winger were on permanent one year contracts.

Youth Intake

Whilst our facilities weren't the best - Poor training and youth, and average recruitment and junior coaching - I was hopeful that we would at least get some prospects who might be able to challenge for a first team spot in the coming seasons. We got two decent prospects: Bismark Adam and Ricky Flahavan

The Season

The season in general was basically a story of inconsistency, we couldn't really hold down any form for very long, flirting around the relegation zone before fairly strong mid-season form boosted us up the table before settling in a solid mid-table end result, finishing the season in 14th place.

The cups were largely disappointing, beating a lower league opposition in the first round entered in both competitions before losing to a team in our league in the following round, no big payday this season. I don't have the screenshots to show, but the finances weren't great at the end of the season, over 100k in the red.

Awards and Season Overview

Aims for next season

My primary focus in pre-season is to try and get our players to commit to another year at the club whilst also bolstering the squad with improved quality with the aim to push towards the upper half of the table with possibly a playoff flirtation due to the large playoffs in this division, again, a cup run seems a vital part of our season to try and rescue our finances from the abyss. The high earners that were at the club at the start are all out of contract so we should be able to trim the wages somewhat. I'm writing this having already played a large proportion of the season, but think this was acurate to my thoughts at the time.

Other News

We received a news article saying that we were going to postpone expanding the stadium by the seats required for to meet minimum requirements, standard stuff, except the expansion required is a mighty 7 seats, you'd think they could just find some chairs to put pitch side.

Hopefully I remember to take more screenshots next season for a better overview.

 

[Vipertitan]

started this challenge again with Enfield Town F.C.

Club info

Facilities

General info

Squad

[Vipertitan]

Enfield Town-Vanarama National League South 2020-2021

 

The club were predicted to struggle,

League Table

Past Positions Graph -  we had a terrible Season we only managed to avoid relegation only by few points.

FA Cup We were knocked out in the qualifying rounds by Maidenhead United. 

FA Trophy - -Maidenhead United knocked us out in this too. 

Squad - We have big  team on small budget  I need to rebuild  for next season.

Transfer History- it was all about the free transfers and they are not join up till new season, also was nice to get some of the other players off the wage bill. 

Finances - Nice heavy   pre season helped our season and helped our wage budget too.  

 

KEY PLAYER PROFILES:

 

Billy Bricknell-our top scorer will be looking to try keep a hold of him for one more season at least. 

Ken Charles- played out of position most of the season but was solid came in with some  fantastic performances too.

 Ryan Blackman- Club Captain and the best player at the club.

Kalvin Hewitt-  Swedish youth player only played four games but looked decent.  

 

Career Overview: 

 

Season     Team                     League                          Position  Achievements
2020-21  Enfield Town      Vanarama National League South              19TH

 

NEXT SEASON: 

I'm not sure we even need to strengthen the squad, hopefully with the right additions we can avoid relegation. 

 

 

 

Edited January 15, 2020 by Vipertitan

[lfc7]

Hi i am looking on giving this a go, i don't really have much experience playing lower league and just have a few questions before i start......

I will be playing on google stadia is this going to be ok?

Will it make any difference if i have the other countries leagues as view only ?

Is it ok to sim 2 seasons then start ?

Any tips for what to look for in players at this level and further up i.e for VNL N/S would you be looking at stats between 8-10 in key attributes ?

Thanks for any replies

 

Edited January 16, 2020 by lfc7

[greenWhale]

Per the new rules you can load as many nations as you would like.

You can sim two seasons, as long as you take over a team that just got promoted that season. I'm unsure what the point of that would be though.

Stats between 8-10 are good. Really good stats start at 12. What you'll often find is a good player with a huge flaw, or a player that's ok-ish in attributes overall.

 

And later on, I will continue my Folkestone save. Had a few issues playing, but will invest the time later. Damned board takeover took a few weeks of my first real transfer period. 😱

[lfc7]

1 hour ago, greenWhale said:

Per the new rules you can load as many nations as you would like.

You can sim two seasons, as long as you take over a team that just got promoted that season. I'm unsure what the point of that would be though.

Stats between 8-10 are good. Really good stats start at 12. What you'll often find is a good player with a huge flaw, or a player that's ok-ish in attributes overall.

 

And later on, I will continue my Folkestone save. Had a few issues playing, but will invest the time later. Damned board takeover took a few weeks of my first real transfer period. 😱

Thanks the reason i wanted to sim 2 seasons is to try get a team more local to me. I know its a big ask as team would have to get two successive promotions, but in the league below there is the likes of Marine and COL. 

[greenWhale]

2 hours ago, lfc7 said:

Thanks the reason i wanted to sim 2 seasons is to try get a team more local to me. I know its a big ask as team would have to get two successive promotions, but in the league below there is the likes of Marine and COL. 

Good luck with that. I have hundredths of reloads ATM, only got about 60% of the teams. Two successive promotions would be very unlikely. And time consuming to reload.

[SnakeXe]

On 14/01/2020 at 22:18, Zilla Blitz said:

And Congrats on reaching the Premier Leauge, @SnakeXe!

Cheers! It's been a tough season so far but I think we're staying up. Hopefully I'll have some time to finish it and update tomorrow night.

Nice updates everyone, glad to see a bit more activity in here recently, was a bit worried with how quiet it was over Xmas - it's always more fun doing these kinda challenges with a bunch of other people.