[FM20] Conquering The British Isles

[Gonner]

British Steel 2020 : Conquering Britain and Ireland

Being paid to stay at home and play Football Manager has given me the opportunity to tackle challenges I had forgotten about since I stopped being a student. Inspiration for this save came from reading the topic on this challenge (https://community.sigames.com/topic/497278-fm20-british-and-irish-steel-challenge/) and remembering reading about Barney Butterball's wonders in his save from FM13. (http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/322764-Conquering-Britain-and-Ireland-FM13?pp=100)

 

The aim of the British Steel Challenge is to win all available trophies in the five "British Isles" nations, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland, whilst only using British or Irish players. There have been some leeway over the years as if you can play the foreign players already in the club when you join them, I have decided to go the hard route and sell all foreign players (non-eligible to play for any of the 5 nations, so bi-nationals and U21 players are OK) when you come to a club. This makes it harder when you come to the top divisions.

I have loaded all Leagues from UK & Ireland, as well as all the players. Jenson Button, my manager, starts unemployed with a Sunday League experience and no badges. As the real Jenson, he is born in Frome, England, and is a Bristol City supporter. Who knows, maybe one day he'll feel nostalgic of his McLaren years and become the head coach over at Woking !

Disclaimer : I am French, so a) please forgive any grammar or spelling mistake you may find here (feel free to correct me by the way), and b) I play the game in French. I will do my best to do all the screenshots in English, especially the one with players ratings, or messages, but one or two screenshots from fixtures might still be in French...

 

List of all trophies to win : 

England (3/12)

Premier League

Championship

League One

League Two

National League (2024/2025, Hereford F.C.)

National League North (2023/2024, Hereford F.C.)

National League South

FA Cup 

Carabao EFL Cup

EFL Trophy

Community Shield

FA Trophy (2024/2025, Hereford F.C.)

 

Scotland (7)

Premiership

Championship

League One

League Two

Scottish Cup

Scottish League Cup

Scottish Challenge Cup

 

Ireland (3/8)

Premier Division

First Division (2020, Drogheda Utd)

FAI Cup (2020, Drogheda Utd)

EA Sports Cup (2021, Drogheda Utd)

Munster Senior Cup

Leinster Senior Cup

Presidents Cup

Irish Champions Cup (with an Irish Club)

 

Northern Ireland (3/10)

Premiership

Championship

Premier Intermediate League (2022/2023, Bangor)

Northern Irish Cup

NIFL Cup

Mid-Ulster Cup

County Antrim Shield

Steel and Sons Cup (2022, Bangor)

Intermediate Cup (2022/2023, Bangor)

Irish Champions Cup (with a Northern Irish Club)

 

Wales (5)

Cymru Premier

Cymru North

Cymru South

Welsh Cup

Welsh League Cup

 

European and World (5)

Club World Championship

Champions League

Europa League

Europa Conference League (Starts 2020/21 Season)

Euro Super Cup

 

International (3)

World Cup

Euro

Nations League

 

TOTAL = 9/50

 

BOLD GREEN FONT = Competition Won 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

Manager Career:

Drogheda Utd - 02/11/2019 - 15/12/2021 - Resigned

2020 Season : Won Irish First Division, Won the Irish Cup, Lost in the 2nd round of the Irish League Cup, Lost the final of the Leinster Senior Cup

2021 Season : Finished 3rd in the Irish Premier Division, Lost in the Europa Conference League 2nd Qual. Round, Lost in the 1st round of the Irish Cup, Won the Irish League Cup, Lost in the semi-final of the Leinster Senior Cup, Lost in the final of the President's Cup.

 

Bangor F.C. - 13/03/2022 - 14/05/2023 - Recruited

2022/2023 Season : Won the Intermediate League, Lost in the 6th round of the Northern Irish Cup, Lost in the 2nd round of the Northern Irish League Cup, Lost in the quarter-final of the County Antrim Shield, Won the Steel & Sons Cup, Won the Intermediate Cup.

 

Hereford F.C. - 14/05/2023 - 02/07/2025 - Resigned

2023/2024 Season : Won the National League North, Lost in the 1st round of the FA Cup, Lost in the final of the FA Trophy.

2024/2025 Season : Won the National League, Lost in the 2nd round of the FA Cup, Won the FA Trophy.

 

Awards Won:

Manager Of The Month - February 2020 - Drogheda Utd

Manager Of The Month - April 2020 - Drogheda Utd

Manager Of The Month - May 2020 - Drogheda Utd

Manager Of The Month - July 2020 - Drogheda Utd

Manager Of The Month - May 2021 - Drogheda Utd

Manager Of The Month - September 2023 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Month - November 2023 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Month - December 2023 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Year - 2023/2024 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Month - November 2024 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Month - December 2024 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Month - January 2025 - Hereford F.C.

Manager Of The Year - 2024/2025 - Hereford F.C.

 

Trophy Cabinet:

SSE Airtricity League First Division - 2020 - Drogheda Utd

Extra.ie FAI Cup - 2020 - Drogheda Utd

EA Sports Cup - 2021 - Drogheda Utd

Toals Steel & Sons Cup - 2022 - Bangor F.C.

NIFL Premier Intermediate League - 2022/2023 - Bangor F.C.

Ladbrokes Intermediate Cup - 2022/2023 - Bangor F.C.

Vanarama National League North - 2023/2024 - Hereford F.C.

Vanarama National League - 2024/2025 - Hereford F.C.

Buildbase FA Trophy - 2024/2025 - Hereford F.C.

 

 

To be continued (hopefully!) 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

Drogheda Utd

After a few months of holidaying, some managers start to get fired, and Jenson starts getting turned down for lack of experience. After a few refusals, we finally get an offer from Drogheda United, a club playing in the Irish First Division (Irish Level 2 out of 2).

The club has seen better days in the recent past, most notably winning the Irish Championship as recently as 2012. But it has been relegated in 2015, back up in 2016 and then relegated again in 2017. It finished 4th in 2018, and, despite being among the favorite for the title, only could manage fifth in 2019.

The manager got sacked with 4 games to go, when it was clear that the club was out of contention even for the playoffs. We got to the club just one day after the final game, just in time for all the players to go on holidays. 

 

At first sight, the squad seems good enough to fight for the title, but we will surely be able to find some free players to reinforce it. "Star" of the club right now is Left Inverted Winger Mark Doyle.

 

Trabzonspor is a parent club, due to the similarity between both team's logo, but this is useless for me as I have decided to only use British & Irish players... We will have to rely on our scouts only.

Edited May 11, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

Transfers

The squad being good enough for the level we are playing at, I only make a few adjustments.

During the winter transfer window (Irish sides play between February and November), we add a GK, Matthew Connor, a Defender, Biko Bradnock-Brennan, and a BW Midfielder, Oscar Brennan.

 

During the summer transfer window, they are joined by Yassine En-Nayeh, Striker, and Shane Byrne, Central Midfielder. All those are free transfers. 

 

Competitions

 

League of Ireland First Division

The bookmakers consider that 3 teams are above the rest in the fight for the title : us, Galway that missed the title by a mere 2 points the previous season, and Bray Wanderers. They judge that Longford overperformed by finishing 3rd the previous season. Even though UCD got relegated, they did so by getting only 9 points in Premier Division, and thus are not favorite at all for climbing back up.

Even though the schedule did not do us any favours by making us play Galway, Bray Wanderers and Longford twice away (teams play each other three times for a total of 27 fixtures), we got the title pretty handily. Defeats playing away in Galway and in Bray.

 

 

Leinster Senior Cup

One of the two regional cups in Ireland (the other being the Munster Senior Cup), this one is the toughest because it seems 75% of all Irish clubs hail from Leinster. Three wins, including a 4-0 victory over Shamrock Rovers, take us to the final, where; despite having 2 clear chances to 0 and winning at half-time; Dundalk scored 4 goals to none in the second half to clinch the trophy by a wide margin. 

 

League of Ireland Cup

Nothing special here, we lose in the second round to the Bray Wanderers.

 

Irish Cup

We manage to get to the final despite facing only teams from the Premier Division, including Dundalk that we beat in a hold-up victory. In the final, we face the Bray Wanderers and avenge our League Cup defeat by winning an otherwise fairly balanced game 2-0, both goals coming from our summer window signings.

This means that, on top of being promoted to the Premier Division, we will be playing in the new Europa Conference League thanks to that Cup victory !

Edited May 14, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

2021 Season Transfers

This time around, the squad needs some major changes to be able to compete in the Irish Premier Division. The club remains semi-pro for the season (7 out 10 are pro, Waterford and the two newly promoted, us and Galway, being the exception). Due to limited budget, we have to turn to free agents.

 

Goalkeeper

 

A product of Gillingham in England, he joins us after a brief stint with Eastbourne Boro in National League South. Scout says he has the potential to be better than Matthew Connor, but right now he seems like the perfect guy to put on the bench.

 

 

Defenders

He left Derry City after they had been relegated to the First Division, so we gladly welcomed him. I believe he will be the starting man at Right Defender.

 

Having played for a number of different teams in England, Clough joins us after a brief singaporian stint. He will be the anchor of our defense.

 

Only non-free agent, this Left Defender was highly praised by our scouting team who considered him ready for first team action even though he is only 17 years old. We had to pay a 105K€ fee to his youth club, Ballinamallard United (N. Ireland).

 

 

Midfielders

Well, I had set my eyes on those two and offered them contracts hoping one of them would sign, with a preference for the latter one. Murdoch signed first, and a few days later Buckley came onboard. They both play well as a Ball Winning Midfielder, but Buckley is a little bit better at everything...

 

Despite Jim being on the slow side, he will probably be starting alongside one of the two aforementioned defensive minded midfielders, to fill the position of the more creative person of the pair. 

 

My favourite tactic in Football Manager (and in Football in general) has always been the 4-2-3-1. I doubt the team will be able to play the kind of football I dream of, but a good AMC can do wonders. He and Jim O'Brien will also share set pieces duties.

 

 

Striker

Finally, to complete the overhaul of the squad, we add one Deep Lying Forward. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by Gonner
Spelling

[Gonner]

2021 Presidents Cup

As we won the Cup last year, we qualified for the Presidents Cup (Irish Super Cup), where we are to face Dundalk, Premier Division winners.

This time around, no luck, no hold-up, the difference between the two sides is stark. This may be in part (totally?) due to me being stupid, as I had not paid attention and sent a bunch of my first team players to play a friendly game with the U-19 on the effing same day... I had to play whoever was left eligible and many players were out of position... Well, we'll know better next time.

 

 

[Hootieleece]

Dundalk is the TNS of Ireland...until you get lucky and get some European Money in the club coffers they will be a boogeyman.

[Gonner]

2021 Irish Premier Division

After playing half of the games in the Premier Division, @Hootieleece's prediction is indeed true. Dundalk won the title last year and went into the Champions League, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians went into the European Conference League and used the added money and popularity to attract better players. 

Over those first 18 games, we are a combined 1W - 2D - 3L against that "top 3"; but 8W and 4D against the rest. We lie firmly in 4th, battling  with Cork; Sligo Rovers & St Pat's Athletic. 

 

2021 Leinster Cup

Here we go again, we got super lucky last year in the semi finals to beat Dundalk, but I believe they will beat us 9 games out of 10... 

[Gonner]

2021 Summer signings

We take advantage of playing on a calendar year to sign a few players that have been let go in England and Scotland.

 

Defender

Let go by the Arsenal academy, I was super surprised he was willing to join us ! He becomes our best player right away.

 

Strikers

We were lacking a bit of depth at the striker position, so I wanted to add one player. Like I did during the previous transfer period, I offered contracts to a bunch of players, hoping one of them would sign. I got two and I do not think I will be able to play both as much as they'd like... Hughes played only 1 professional game for Airdrie (Scotland), and Bradley is a product of Rochdale but is yet to play a game.

[Gonner]

2021/2022 UEFA Europa Conference League

Playing a continental competition was just the icing on the cake, nevertheless the board wanted us to advance one round...

Even though Zeljeznicar was not the easiest draw we could have, we manage to advance to the second round, only to be drawn against U. Craiova, for an aggregate 12-2 result ! Lesson learnt, we had no business being there in the first place. 

 

2021 Irish Cup

Here goes our slim hopes of holding on to our Cup title from 2020...

[Gonner]

2021 Irish League Cup

Dundalk are surprisingly taken out of contention by UCD, so the title is up for grabs. We play two First Division sides on our way to the final, where we face Shamrock Rovers. Despite losing to them three times out of 4 in the regular season, we beat them when it really counts to clinch the 2021 League Cup !

The players and tactics I chose for that final was how we played for the latter half of the season. (Sometimes we lined up in a 4-4-2 with attacking wingers when my analyst told me we had better chances this way).

[Gonner]

2021 Irish Premier Division

The latter half of the season does not see allow perform particularly better against the top ranked teams, but we nonetheless perform well enough to clinch the bottom spot of the podium, despite finishing the season with 5 consecutive draws.

This comes as a very pleasant surprise seeing that we were initially planned to finish 9th and fight to avoid relegation.

Due to the massive difference at the top between us and perennial contenders Dundalk & Shamrock Rovers, we have very few players worthy of awards. We can still spot Chris Lyons in the goalscorers list and old Jim O'Brien for assists.

Edited May 16, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

2021 Season Review

Competitions

Overall I am pleased with how we performed. We took advantage of Dundalk's elimination in the League Cup to go all the way and win it. Winning the Leinster and/or President's Cup will surely imply a direct victory over Dundalk at one point, which we are not ready to do on a steady basis.

 

Players

Having all the positions covered with starters and substitutes paid off on the long run, even though I might have hired one or two strikers too many seeing we played mostly in 4-2-3-1 and some of them are starting to get concerned about their playing time...  

 

Hoping to build on the recent success I brought to the club, I request a meeting with the board to discuss the professional status. My request is turned down, I thus start looking around for available jobs in the winter months. I manage to get interviews with Solihull Moors, Darlington and Hereford but ultimately my application is turned down each time. I try to discuss becoming a pro club once more with the board, threatening to leave if this does not happen, and they decide they can live without me, so I resign.  

[Gonner]

Club Search

 

Even though Jenson has already won 3 titles, he is not that famous yet. While we holiday searching for a new job, the only teams that dare contacting us back are all playing in the NIFL Premier Intermediate League  (Northen Ireland Level 3 out of 3). We end up having to choose between Bangor, Dergview, Moyola Park or Newington.  

All those clubs have been underperforming compared to pre-season expectations. Out of those 4, Dergview is in financial trouble, so that's a no. Moyola Park has really played a poor season, so the decision comes down to Bangor or Newington. Bangor has both a higher wage budget and reputation, so Bangor it is !

 

Bangor

A longtime member of Northern Ireland's Second Division, Bangor was demoted from this level in 2016, and then got relegated once more in 2017 from the Intermediate Level. They followed that by a near-perfect campaign in 2017/2018 (27 W, 1D) in Level 4 to get back to the Intermediate League for the 2019/2020 season. In the game, they have finished 3rd, 9th and finally 6th in 2021/2022 (I took over Mid-March with two games left to play, both away. Won again Belfast Celtic, and got a draw against Moyola Park).

 

We have 153€ of transfer budget to play with, and the total wage budget is just under 5000€, with about 40% going to pay our services. All players are non-contracted and get an appearance fee. I tend to overload the squad with players in that situation, because we do not pay a dime unless players actually set foot on the pitch. Furthermore, there is no rules whatsoever regarding loaned players, so I will have a look at academy products from top Northern Irish teams.

Edited May 17, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

What could have been...

As a side note, while I am busy recruiting players on amateur contracts, Drogheda manages to get the Leinster Cup by beating Dundalk in the final... Next time I will be more patient 

[Gonner]

2022 / 2023 Bluefin Sport Premier Intermediate League

Division rules are quite simple, 12 teams, only 22 games to play. Limavady Utd, relegated from the Championship and us are favorite for the title. Portstewart is the cinderella story of the first phase, being in contention for the title even though they were seen as candidates for relegation. They beat us by a large margin when we paid them a visit.

 

2022 / 2023 (Northern) Irish League Cup

We exit early in the League Cup, where we had no hope whatsoever anyway. Glenavon plays in the top League, so no surprise here.

 

2022 / 2023 County Antrim Shield

Like its Southern neighbor, Northern Ireland has regional competitions, but on top of that they have a Senior version (open to all clubs) and an Intermediate version (clubs thay play in the Intermediate League or lower, and Reserves of pro clubs).

The County Antrim Shield is the Senior Cup for clubs that play in the Belfast vicinity, so, like the Leinster Cup, most of the country top clubs play in it (Linfield, Crusaders, Larne...). In a similar fashion to the League Cup, we beat one club from our Division before losing away to one of the best clubs in the country.

 

2022 Steel & Sons Cup

So the Steel & Sons Cup is the "Baby" version of the aforementioned County Antrim. 6 clubs from our division (Newington, Kilmore Rec, Donegal Celtic, Queens University, Moyola Park and us) enter, as well as Reserves from the top teams.

Bangor has had good results in the past in the competition, and the final is once more against Glentoran II.

 

On Christmas Eve, as tradition requests, we get our first title of the season !

[Gonner]

2022 / 2023 (Northern) Irish Cup

One easy victory against an amateur club, an extra-time win away at Limavady, one of our biggest challengers in our Division, and then we lose to Carrick, a team that is fighting against relegation in the top flight.

 

2022 / 2023 Bluefin Sport Premier Intermediate League

We continue the trend we have begun earlier in the season, i.e. being unstoppable at home and at best average away. 

It is amazing, we are a perfect 11-0-0 at home, but 2-5-4 away, with our 2 victories happening during the first phase. Winning against Portstewart proved to be the decisive moment, as they were our closest competitor all year long, until the final few games where they struggled, allowing Limavady to jump them at the post (and eventually win the promotion as well).

Another title for us !

 

No one has really been overperforming in our team, we only had a good team defense, thus the number of clean sheets for our goalie. 

[Gonner]

2022 / 2023 Intermediate Cup

The Intermiate Cup is similar to the EFL Trophy in England, it is open to clubs that play at the Intermediate Level (i.e. level 3 or below) as well as top team reserves.

We make our way to the Final where we play Loughgall, who finished 6th in our Division. 

 

Our last game of the season presents us with the opportunity to accomplish a lower level treble, and we do not let it slip. Despite them opening the score and having more clear cut chances, the final result is a clear victory, and our third trophy of the season !

[Gonner]

2022/2023 Season Review

Competitions

I could not be happier with how the season went. We won all the trophies we could realistically have hoped for, the senior competitions being obviously out of our reach. 

 

Players

As everyone (but loanees) are on amateur contracts, they tend to come and go as soon as they generate some form of interest. Sometimes offering them a new contract with an extra 5€ per apperance is enough to change their mind, sometimes you have to say goodbye overnight to one of your best players...

I fully took advantage of the absence of restrictions regarding loaned players in the Intermediate League to load up on young and promising Northern Irish players. 

 

Over the course of the season, my three best players were : 

Ollie Holland, Striker

Before joining us at the beginning of the season, he was with Ebbsfleet in the National League but had never played a game. He proved very valuable, finishing the season with almost as many goals (14) as he had appearances (16 +4 off the bench).

 

Richard Hassan, Right Winger

On loan from Ballinamallard Utd, he finished the season with 10 goals and 8 assists. His free-kick taking abilities made wonders in such a poor division.

 

Patrick Grocott, Midfielder

He joined Bangor during the winter transfer period, coming from the youth ranks of Peterborough, where he was yet to play a game. Even though he played only half a season, I believe he was our best player.

[Gonner]

2023/2024 Season

Announcement

The quickest way to add up trophies to the cabinet is to jump on each opportunity. Although I think we could have build on this success and try and fight for another title, Hereford has recently been flirting with the top positions in National League North, without being able to make it stick. That will be our goal !

[Gonner]

Hereford

After Drogheda and Bangor, we leave the island that saw us win our first trophies and cross the Irish sea to try our luck in the English Football system. Hereford is a phoenix club, born on the ashes of Hereford United, a long-time member of Football League 2. The new club began its life in Level 9 in 2015-2016 and quickly rose through, thanks to three consecutive titles. They reached the National League North in 2018/2019, where they finished 17th. In the game, they followed that by another 17th place, then 14th and finally 13th.

This year, the media saw them as the 6th best team but they ended up 12th. 

[Gonner]

Hereford

Players

The team has some good players, but the first task will be to add some defenders, there is no proper right back, our only left back is on loan and will leave us in 15 days, and there is no substitutes at center back. Midfield, wings and strikers seem OK so far, but I will probably be looking to add some more depth via non-contracted players and loans.

We will also have to say goodbye to our 2 best GK who are international players for caribbean islands in order to comply with our "British and Irish" only rule. Our other "foreigner" Mohamed Bah is on loan, so he will return to Charlton before the next season begins.

 

 

Finances

Always a nice sight when you arrive at a club and the finances tab looks like this. The club seems to be able to draw good attendance even in National League North; therefore we have a steady income coming from both season tickets and gate receipts. The board has added some extra cash for wages, and we have a very good transfer budget for the division. I will be primilarly looking at free signings, so that transfer money will probably be reallocated to wages.

 

Star of the club

Best player right now seems to be Otis Khan, who holds dual british and pakistani citizenship. He joined the team Mid-March so he is a very recent signing but he has managed to post some above average performances already.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

Affiliation

One of my first move is to request a parent club. Charlton has already been lending many players to Hereford, so it comes as no surprise that they are amongst the clubs that the board have picked. They seem to be really keen on alternating between League 1 promotion and Championship relegation every season, but that is still way above us.

This partnership means that we welcome Central Defender Jonathan Whelan for a year.

 

 

Transfers

In the meantime, we do our best to get rid of our "foreign" goalkeepers, even if Henry makes it hard as he wants to stay committed with the club, but after not playing him for the first half of the season he understands his best way is out : 

 

We take advantage of our wage budget to sign a lot of players and reinforce all positions in the squad. Here are the best players we sign.

James Hillson, Goalkeeper

He did not manage to make it through to the top team at Arsenal and was let go at the end of his contract.

 

Brad Burton, Right Back

Burton went through the youth ranks of Aston Villa and Huddersfield but never got a first team appearance.

 

Jake Rooney, Central Defender

Another youngster that did not break through, this time from Burnley. I am very excited by the Rooney / Whelan pairing.

 

Ellis Simms, Striker (Target Man)

IRL, he is part of the Everton youth team. In the game, he has been purchased by Stoke, who very seldom played him. He comes for free and ticks all the right boxes for a Target Man. Over the past few years, I have always found that in the lower English divisions, fast wingers and a good Target Man can do wonders.

[Gonner]

2023 / 2024 Cup Competitions

 

2023 / 2024 FA Cup

We manage to reach the first round proper, by beating two non-playable sides, and then Carlisle, who seats one division above us. Scunthorpe is a League 1 club, so losing to them in their stadium is pure logic.

 

2023 / 2024 FA Trophy

To my surprise, we have a very good run in this competition that takes us to the final. Round per round, we beat Basford and Halesowen (two recently promoted sides, fighting to survive in our division). Our first surprise win is Aldershot; a title contender for National League. Welling is a National League South side, Solihull Moors are National League relegation contenders, and Boreham Wood are mid-table. In the final, we are drawn against Cheltenham, National League's title winner, and the difference is stark, we are quite lucky not to concede more goals.

The formation is the one I used most throughout the season, a simple flat 4-4-2.

 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

2023 / 2024 Vanarama National League North

After our offseason transfers, bookmakers were considering us favorites for the title, and we fulfilled expectations in style. The biggest contributor was our defense, we conceded very few goals for a level 6 side. I was used to games ending on a 5-4 or 6-3 score sheet in this division, but our games this season were mostly 1-0, 2-0 or 0-0 (7 of our 11 draws were 0-0). To highlight how good our defense was, we did not concede a single goal in League games from Mid-September to Mid-December (12 games). Then came the crazy holiday period with games almost every other day, where I had to rotate my back 4, and in two away games we conceded 6 goals in total to Cambridge C and AFC Telford, far from being the top scoring clubs in the division.

South Shields was a close competitor all season long, and the difference between our sides was almost only decided by our head-to-head games, where we beat them 3-0 away and 4-1 at home.

 

[Gonner]

2023/2024 Season Review

Competitions

Another title in the bag. We could have made it 2 with the FA Trophy if we had played better in the Final, but we still have another year to get that one.

 

Players

Having a squad of 25/26 fully fit players paid massively when we had to play 3 or 4 games in a week. We mostly played in 4-4-2 "Wing Play" so our wingers were key to our good performances. Omar Khan, the best player we had when I arrived, played well on the Left Wing, and his counterpart on the right side, Tyler Frost, whom we got from Reading for free, also had a tremendous season, with 17 goals and 16 assists !

[Gonner]

2024 / 2025 Season

 

Transfers

Seeing how we dominated the National League North, I chose to make "only" a few additions, looking more for quality than quantity. 

Our star Right Back, Brad Burton, was highly wanted by... Burton, and he left for 40 K€. 

 

Defenders

To replace Brad Burton, we find two right backs, Jamie Brandon who joins us on a per appearance contract and Kane Judge, coming on loan from Wigan Academy which picked him up from Arsenal.

 

To further improve our back four, we welcome Viktor Milton and Alex Whitmore, both on a permanent contract. Viktor played in League One for Oxford and Alex has been playing in National League for Fylde over the past few seasons, albeit seeing his playing time reduced in 2023/2024 as Fylde rose to League 2.

 

Finally, we also solidify our left side by adding Tony Lucas, who was not signed by Tottenham, his youth club.

 

Midfielders

We have some nice creative / playmaker midifielders but I was looking for a more defended-minding type and in a classic twist showcasing my patience... I found 2. 

Priestley Keithley has been kind of a lower division journeyman, playing for the likes of Lincoln, Oldham, York, Wycombe, Forest Green... Jim Storey was just shown the door at Burnley and is yet to play a professional game.

 

On the wings, we get two players on loan, Amal Chase and John Eze, from respectively Charlton, our parent club, and Reading. They will compete with Khan and Frost, our best players from last year and provide some depth.

 

Strikers

 

We parted ways over the summer with Piggott and Neal so I was looking for replacement-level players, Simms and Pilkington being likely to be starters as Target Man and Advanced / Fast Striker.

Stuart Griffiiths comes on loan from Crawley and has all the abilities I like in a Target Man, and Adrian McGaughey was a highly valued prospect by our scout. His 18 in finishing convinced me.

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Gonner

[Gonner]

2024 / 2025 Cup Competitions

 

2024 / 2025 FA Cup

We start easy by beating Weston-Super-Mare who were relegated last season and thus no longer a playable club. Then comes Mansfield from our division, and finally Colchester, a League 1 side that is forced to play us twice and only beats us in a penalty shoutout.

 

2024 / 2025 FA Trophy

We begin by playing Boston Utd, favorites to take the National League North title after us. (They will end up with the title and 107 points). They force us to a rematch, and we only advance on penalties. Then we play Ebbsfleet, eventual National League South champions. Then we are drawn against National League sides, Mansfield (once more) and Stockport; both playoffs candidate. A single goal is the difference in both games, and we are lucky to draw Curzon Ashton, lowly ranked in National League North, while Barnet and Hartlepool fight for the other spot in the final. The 4-1 win at home is enough so the B team plays the away fixture. In the final, we get to play Barnet, the team that has been our closest competitor all season long. Although they are the first one to score on a penalty, we react quickly and then take the lead on a header from our defender in the first half-hour. The score will not change, and we get the FA Trophy !

Like last year, I played most of the season in a 4-4-2 configuration. 

[Gonner]

2024 / 2025 Vanarama National League

We make it two in a row ! We took our time to settle in this division, finishing the 10 first games with 5W - 4D - 1L, but we had a wonderful run of 15 consecutives wins () over November, December and January that made us leap to the front. Our four loss were away, quite coincidentally to all the playoffs teams (Carlisle, York, Stockport and Mansfield). Both games against Barnet ended up in a draw.

[Gonner]

2024/2025 Season Review

Competitions

Another highly satisfying season, we got what we wanted.

 

Players

Like the previous year, I am really happy with the choice I made to "double" all positions (Viktor Milton played Central Defender mostly despite what my Assistant thought). Everyone but our second keeper played at least 10 games, stayed fit and was ready to deliver when asked to. 

 

Despite all the fun I have had with Hereford, and due to the fact that those two consecutives promotions have not led to a huge boost in reputation, thus preventing me from signing players I would like, I decide to resign from Hereford. The thing is, I take this decision in the first days of July, when there is no longer any open jobs but the newly playable clubs in lower Welsh or English division. So we're unemployed once more.

[Gonner]

Ballymena United F.C.

After a few months of unemployment, we come back to (Northern) Ireland to be in charge of Ballymena Utd. IRL, they just had a highly succesful season, finishing 2nd in the League, and playing in Europe (although Malmö beat them 11-0 on aggregate). In the game, they followed that season by a series of mid-league endings (5-7-7-6-6) before ultimately finishing 11th and getting relegated at the end of the 2024/2025 season.

This means that the goal for the team is immediate promotion back to the top flight, by winning the league.

 

In spite of the team being über-favorite for the title, when we get to the club at the beginning of October, 9 games have already been played and the club sits in 5th, already 9 points away from leader and fellow relegated club Newry City. (Teams play twice against each other, then they split into two pools of 6, playing the remaining clubs twice again for a total of 32 games). 

We are already out of the County Antrim Shield and the League Cup, so we only have the Championship and the Cup to play for !