text:
Basically, I'm getting every result, media statement and press conference from every match in the league each time, as well as every single injury in the league.
Basically, I'm getting every result, media statement and press conference from every match in the league each time, as well as every single injury in the league.
Ugh...I've just suffered my 3rd 3-4 month hammy injury in 3 matches!!!
Just hammered 1-5 by Bury who are dominating the BSP, helped by signing Sammy Ameobi on a free from Newcastle at the start of the 14/15 season. He scored 3 against me, has 13 in 9 games at an 8.27 ave, he's simply too good for this league.
Late to the party, here's my manager profile. Picked Lewes because I like red and black.
Lewes - 2012/13 BSS End of Season Update - 1st
Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Best Eleven
Given how far you can haggle the players down the initial wage budget of 4.1k I was given was ample to support a deep squad, most of the backup guys are on ridiculous 20/week type deals. So the early plan was sign the guys willing to work for peanuts. They held the fort and left heaps of budget open until the better players I'd scouted started being willing to sign. A comfortable promotion in the end, although Dover did track fairly closely until near the end of the season. Promotion brings a 1000 seat stadium expansion which pushes an otherwise black season into the red, but hopefully bums on those seats during the pre-season money raisers will help turn that around.
FA Cup - Second Round.
No disgrace in losing to L1 Rochdale, they went up 2 goals in the first 10 minutes and although we had our share of it from then on we just didn't have the class to really threaten to score, shame as the 3rd round was an away trip to Aston Villa that would have been nice for the coffers.
FA Trophy - Runners Up.
Disappointing to thump the BSP winners 5-0 on aggregate in the semis then lose the final to a mid table BSP side. Team played a shocker, but hung onto 0-0 until half time and had started to win the possession battle in the second half when a ball ping ponging around in the box got shoved through past the keeper.
Next Season
Probably no wholesale changes to come but it depends on the quality of guys who get desperate and start talking to a lowly BSP side mid season, so I'll be leaving budget open. Given most of the side is returning and I've already nabbed a few guys who wouldn't sign last year that I had my eye on, another promotion seems possible. With them all having another year after this on their deals going pro before they expire would be hugely helpful.
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements 2012/13 BSS 1st 2nd Rnd FAT RU Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up
Gotta love the backroom advice meetings. They players they suggest to scout produce a much greater return than any other form of scouting, no idea why they just don't scout the players fullstop. Anyway, as a result, I've finally fixed my right winger issue, not by signing one, but by signing a great left winger, enabling me to move Dawkins over to the right where he's competent enough that he'll do better than any of my right wingers.
Dario Capelloni: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...ew_Profile.jpg
Originally from Chelsea, scored two goals and had two assists for a 9.5 on debut in 67 mins. He's still unfit so couldn't risk playing him any longer but he's too good for this team and this league. Luckily I got him to sign a three year contract with no release clause (he's obv stupid) so hopefully he'll be around for a while to come and help take the club into the professional leagues.
Michael Preston on a free, as you can see he had a very good season. Though the loss of Ameobi did push me in to a tactical rethink, moving from a 4231 back to a 442, we brought ex-Peterbourgh midfeilder Charlie Lee who became our new captain, other then that not many new players were brought for the first team.
A good solid start saw us in higher mid-table before pushing on into the playoff places, in the new year we used our link with Man Utd to bring in a couple of loans players (just like last year) Iaki Preito and Eugenio Magli who were/are to good for league 1 and enabled us to push on and secure 2nd place and promotion to the Championship!!!! We ened 9 points behind Carlisle (who finshed 9 or so pints behind us in League 2 last year!) but the truth is they were much better then that, for most of the second half of the season 12-15 points ahead of us, and we were never really close enough to think of the tittle.
The Cups
League Cup out in the first round
JPT slightly better here - second round knock out!
FA Cup Much better, got to thrid round were we played Premership Southampton, the 5-0 hammering cost us some confidence in the next couple of league games but the (nearly) 750k money more then made up for it!!!
Player of the season once again has to be my awesome right winger Alex Burhenne who had another great season and for the second season in a row broke the club record for assists
Me and my friend are thinking of starting the challenge, but we will be starting a network game with 2 teams - will this still be ok?
Just drawn Man City away in the 3rd Rd of the FA Cup after hammering fellow BSP team Crewe in the second round 6-0. I think I might be on the end of a similar hiding next month but at least I'll have the cash.
Trying to get players to sign in the Championship is hard! Players with some experience are asking for 8-10k when I can only go upto 4.5k, really in need of a LM as my star from 2 years ago Jason banton wouldnt sign a new deal and left, also having trouble with a CB after my 6ft 9in German CB went back to Germany on a free (I couldnt afford his wage demands)
Good news is that 40,214 turned up and it was on TV, so has boosted the coffers by around £640k in total after tax. Can finally upgrade my pitch (hopefully) so we don't keep getting postponed matches with puts a strain on the team in the dec-feb period. Might see what else they're willing to give me with the cash.
Edit: Should note, City put out what was very much a B team, although it still had good players it was primarily depth players and reserves.
Last edited by ejthegreat; 06-12-2011 at 15:51.
Just had this result - maybe Championship wont be as tough as I thought?
EDIT: Followed that up by losing 5-2 at home to Blackpool, Whats that saying about Pride before a fall?
Last edited by darren1983; 06-12-2011 at 16:13.
Bradford Park Avenue Blue Square Premier 2014/15 - 8th
League - Not bad, though only 6 more points than last season. Miles away from automatic promotion, but the playoffs would be nice.
Finances - Oh dear, even though we made it straight back to the 3rd round of the FA Cup, a home draw to Hull didnt give us the money we needed. The wage budget has been cut by 20% or 1k. Going to be tough to improve the squad and lower the wage.
Player of the season - Kristian James
Has had a resurgence this year, topping the league charts with 31 goals, and 7 in the cups. However I am hoping I can secure a big money for him to help his progression and my finances.
Career Overview
Code:Season Team League League Finish Cups Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Bradford PA BSN 3rd FA 2nd Qual Round/ FAT 3rd Q Round Promoted via playoffs 2013/14 Bradford PA BSP 13th FA 3rd Round/ FAT 2nd Round None 2014/15 Bradford PA BSP 8th FAC 3rd Round / FAT 3rd Round None
Transfers: Christiansen went straight into the starting XI as a RW, but is one of my top players in DC,DR,DM,CM aswell. None of the others broke into the starting lineup, but Pelosi looks a top player
League Graph: Great start, up until the dreaded winter period (again!) Then we never really went on the spring run of form needed to get back into contention.
Aims for next year:
Get in the playoffs while keeping wage budget reasonable
Try get an away draw against one of the big boys in the 3rd or someone like Birmingham in the 1st or 2nd
Bit of second-season syndrome?
This is despite my squad being, at least according to my AssMan, better for the Championship than my League 1 title-winning squad was for League One. And it's a LOT better than my 10th-placed squad of last year!!
Season 2020-2021 Review
Scott Carson dropped a tier after being released by Everton to sign for Championship strugglers Lewes FC. Thanks to his efforts, Lewes ended up recovering lost ground and finished in the same position as last season.
Media Prediction: 19th (I'm more and more convinced that this is just some bloke prating around.)
My Expectation: Mid Table
Final Position: 11th
With a bright future in store for the Rooks, this season was supposed to mark our break through into the top tier. However, the best laid plans of mice and men never go smoothly and we found ourselves on the back of our worst ever losing streak, only to salvage our season with our best ever winning streak. There was a period where we won just three games in twenty two and I was seriously considering what we would do if we got relegated.
The epiphany came when I made a bargain signing of massive proportions, with Joe Jennings, our butterfingers (and departing) first choice goalkeeper injured I decided to take a risk and sign 35 year old ex England goalkeeper Scott Carson. Along with a couple of key loan signings from Liverpool, he made an instant impact, we haven't lost a single game with him in between the post!
Work on the new stadium continued relentlessly throughout this season, bolstered by the news that travel agency Thomas Cook would be signing a eight year stadium naming sponsorship deal worth £1.5 million pounds. Fan reaction has been one of general ignorance at the fact the new ground would be called the Thomas Cook Stadium, although some have called for the stadium to be named after me in honour of everything I have done
After all was said and done, we ended up somewhat incredibly in a better position points wise than last season. Hopefully we can use this step sideways to make a proper push for promotion next season.
FA Cup: Humiliated 3-1 at home by Wrexham in the Third Round.
League Cup: A couple of solid 3-0 wins against fellow Championship opposition merely set us up for a fall against Premiership West Brom as we crashed out to a solitary goal in the Third Round
Managers Player of the Season
Richard Boateng: "The Ghanaian Beast" Boateng was in rapid firing form despite his contribution being offset by the lacklustre efforts of our former goalkeeper. Nevertheless, 25 goals in 44 appearances indicate that this striker could be a key cog in next seasons promotion push.
Club Overview
Code:Season Division Position Points Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Blue Square South 8th 67 FA Trophy Semi Finalists 2013/14 Blue Square South 3rd 72 Promoted via playoffs, BSS Manager of the Year 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 12th 63 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 10th 69 FA Cup Third Round 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 1st 87 Blue Square Premier Champions, BSP Manager of the Year 2017/18 Npower League 2 1st 85 Npower League 2 Champions, League 2 Manager of the Year 2018/19 Npower League 1 4th 81 Promoted via playoffs, League 1 Manager of the Year 2019/20 Npower Championship 11th 64 New 16,616 capacity stadium planned 2020/21 Npower Championship 11th 67
Oh I see! Haha! I thought by updates you meant your comment haha! No worries. I dont read them all but yours caught my eye. Used to live in Brighton and had to go back and forth to and from London via Lewes in order to take a shortcut to a specific station in Brighton, so Lewes are one of the challenge teams closest to my heart, plus all your pictures make it a bit livelier and therefore eyecatching than most.
Northwich Victoria
Season 16/17
Again no silverwear however we dreamed the impossible dream and we are going up
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No luck in the cups crashing out in the second round of the Carling Cup and Third Round of the FA Cup.
We were acknowledged by our peers as I was runner up (to Victor Piturca) in the Manager of the Year, Lars Bodker was named Young Player of the Year and Paul Gallagher made the team of the year.
Start Performers were:
The Jamil Adam Trophy (Top Scorer) was won by Paul Gallagher with 19 goals from 43(3) appearances - The goals were spread around after Jamil's departure on a free
The Pass Master Trophy (Most Assists) for Lars Bodker 17 from 33 Appearances
The Tuff Tackler Trophy for Harun Yilmaz 6.04 per game
The Wizard of the Dribble Trophy for Michael Ratcliffe 3.29 a game
Match of the Year - was our home win against Swansea (Champions) which as you can see was backs to the wall.
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The holy land (Premier League) here we come!
Sadly we had to make do with a crowd of 2000 for every home game - I assume you aren't allowed standing int he Championship. Good news the board announced plans to install 7,200 seats (not sure if this is on top of the 2,000 we have or including) and in the meantime we will be playing at The Halliwell Jones Stadium (Google tells me this is the home of the Warrington Wolves) and has a capacity of 14,206.
The Roll of Honour
Blue Square North Champions 12/13
Blue Square Premier Champions 13/14
FA Trophy Winners 13/14
League Two Champions 14/15
League One Runners Up 15/16
Johnstones Paint Trophy Runners Up 15/16
Championship Runners Up 16/17
Just been offered 3 jobs in a week all from fellow championship clubs - at least some people like me (crap chairman refuses every request I make)
Lol I can't say I have always been happy with my chairman but I just avoided a takeover by Peter Ridsdale which can only have been a good thing!
Gilbseter - North Ferriby - 2037/38 Premiership - End of Season Update
Table | Pos | Transfers | Finances | Squad | Champions League Final
I honestly don't know how to write this review. I was ultimately 1 penalty shootout away from completing the challenge and I'm gutted that we just couldnt quite do it.
I spent 50 mill on players again this season, in the hope to improve our squad enough to challenge for the title and challenge we did. It took us til the last game of the season to wrap it up, comfortably by 4 points in the end. If only we hadnt messed up the start of the season and we would have done a lot better.
The community Shield against Man City was a loss, and turned out to be the first of 3 finals I would meet Man City in this season. The second one was the League Cup where we beat them . Last up was the Champions League Final. We had a group that included Rosenburg, Stuttgart and Real Madrid, that we just about scraped through. We then met and beat Sevilla, AC Milan (Quarters), Porto (Semis) to get to Man City. We had won the Premiership in the previous game, so was hoping the momentum and squad adrenalin would see us through but alas. Man City got a player sent off early on, but we just didnt feel like scoring goals or creating chances and ultimately lost on penalites.
Ah well at least half the challenge is complete and this is officially the closest I have ever been to completing this or any other challenge on these boards. Onwards to next season I suppose.
Retain Premiership
Win Champions League
Perhaps no more than minimal signings if significant improvements show up, otherwise keep squad and a year on we should be even better and stronger
Career So Far
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements 2012/13 BSN 5th 1st R FAT 1st R Promoted via Playoffs 2013/14 BSP 16th 4th QR FAT 3rd R 2014/15 BSP 12th 2nd R FAT QF Replay 2015/16 BSP 15th 1st R FAT 1st R 2016/17 BSP 1st 4th QR FAT 3rd R Champions and Promoted! 2017/18 L2 22nd 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Survived on goal difference 2018/19 L2 3rd 1st R JPTFN, LC 1R Promoted 2019/20 L1 24th 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Relegated 2020/21 L2 21st 1st R JPT1R, LC 2R 2021/22 L2 7th 3rd Rep JPT2R, LC 1R Lost in Playoff Finals 2022/23 L2 1st 1st R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2023/24 L1 8th 5th R JPT2R, LC 1R 2024/25 L1 1st 4th R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2025/26 CH 15th 4th R LC 2R 2026/27 CH 5th Semis LC 2R Play off Semi Final, FA Cup Semi finalists 2027/28 CH 3rd 3rd R LC 3R Lost in Playoff Finals 2028/29 CH 4th 3rd R LC 2R Play off Semi Final 2029/30 CH 5th 4th R LC 4R Promoted 2030/31 PRM 8th Semis Lc 3R 2031/32 PRM 7th 4th R LC 4R Europa League Qualification 2032/33 PRM 9th Quarters LC 3R, EC Semis Europa League Semi Finalists 2033/34 PRM 6th Quarters LC Semi Europa League Qualification 2034/35 PRM 5th Quarters LC QF, EC 2nd Knockout Europa League Qualification 2035/36 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, EC Winner Winner of FA and Euro Cup. Qualified for Champ League 2036/37 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, ECL QF Community Shield, Euro Super Cup and FA Cup winners 2037/38 PRM 1st 3rd R LC Win, ECL Runner Up Champiosn. League Cup winner. Comm Shield and Champ League runner ups
Still havent started my new season (1st) in the championship due to work, and now going on a 7 week, 3 continent holiday, so will be a while before i play again, but will try to follow when and where i can
PS: Congrats Gilbster Norther Ferriby were one of my old clubs last time round have a soft spot so nice to see them doing well
#6 Hitchin Season Update 18 Premier League 2029/30
Squad - Table - Graph - Profile - Transfers - Finances
Footballer of the Year Runner Up - Player's Player Runner Up - Top Goalscorer 3rd - World Championship 1+2+3 - Confederation Cup Runner Up
A good productive, yet somewhat dissapointing season. Finished League in 4th position and really had expected atleast to become title challenger. Following last seasons Champions League win, we went on and won the World Championship as well. On the cups this season, we wont both the League Cup and FA Cup, but exited in the 1st KO round quite dissapointingly to Roma.
Hitchin maintained rank 1 in the Euro Ranking and are currently ranked 5th best english team. Man Utd continued their incredible run of 4 straight league wins. Changing to 3-4-3 proved to be quite challenging. We did score ok amount of goals, but at the same time we conceded more goals than any season. Created crazy many attempts on goals in this formation, hence will give it a try in next season. If it doesnt work out, I will prolly change to 3-1-3-3 and focus on the many good midfielders we have, and less wingers.
Community Shield: Man Utd 4-0 (press)
League Cup: 3rd rnd Swindon home 5-1, 4th rnd Cardiff home 3-0, Q/F West Ham home 3-0, Semi L1 Man Utd home 4-0, L2 1-0 win, Final Blackburn 1-0 (press)
FA Cup: 3rd rnd AFC Wimbledon away 3-0, 4th rnd Plymouth away 3-1, 5th rnd M'boro home 4-1, 6th rnd Arsenal home 4-0, S/F Bolton N 3-1, Final Everton N 2-2 5-4 penalty win (press)
World Cup: S/F Al-Hilal 2-0, Final Pumas 3-0.
Allover the players did well, but will post names if any has followed previous updates:
- Salibur: The French international had a decent season.
- Flynn: 35 year old flynn had a solid season, am trying to convince him to become a coach, he deserves to remain at club
- Mio: Had a good continuence of form.
- Andersen: Had an ok season, but will excpect more.
- Cristiano: Had a really good season.
- Costa: Despite declining in stats, I am still pleased with 33 year old Costa.
- Busão: Played both MR and SC and did good.
- Pirulito: Enjoyed this season and did well.
- Rivera: Promising this season and I am sure will perform well when Costa retires.
- Cutolo: Did ok, but will expect more or he goes on transfer list.
- Hall: Had a great season.
- Noble: Did really well in his first season, I am still sure he is worth the 27.5 mill he cost.
Code:Season League FA Cup Other Cups Europe Final Pos. Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13 BSN 4th qual FAT 3rd qual N/A 12th None 2013/14 BSS 1st rnd FAT 1st rnd N/A 4th Lost in playoffs 2014/15 BSS 2nd rnd FAT Final N/A 1st Promoted, FAT runner up 2015/16 BSP 2nd rnd FAT 1st rnd N/A 5th None 2016/17 BSP 1st rnd FAT Winner N/A 1st Promoted, FAT Winner, New stadium 2017/18 L2 3rd rnd LC 2nd rnd JPT 2nd rnd/N 5th None 2018/19 L2 1st rnd LC 1st rnd JPT Semi S 1st Promoted 2019/20 L1 3rd rnd LC 1st rnd JPT Q/F S 6th None 2020/21 L1 1st rnd LC Q/F JPT Q/F S 1st Promoted, +4014 seats 2021/22 CH Semi Final LC 2nd rnd N/A 2nd Auto Promoted, +7148 seats (12.500 total) 2022/23 PRM 5th rnd LC S/F N/A 13th None 2023/24 PRM S/F LC Final N/A 8th EC Qualifier, LC Winner 2024/25 PRM 6th rnd LC 4th rnd EC Q/F 7th EC Qualifier, New stadium (22525 in 2027) 2025/26 PRM 5th rnd LC 4th rnd EC S/F 2nd ECC Qualifier 2026/27 PRM 4th rnd LC Final ECC S/F 2nd ECC Qualifier, LC Winner 2027/28 PRM 3rd rnd LC 3rd rnd ECC S/F 4th ECC Qualifier 2028/29 PRM Final LC Q/F ECC Final 2nd ECC Qualifier, FA and ECC Winner, +11262 seats 2029/30 PRM Final LC Final ECC 1st KO 4th ECC Qualifier, FA and LC Winner
Darren1983 Kingstonian Season Review Season 2018/19 nPower ChampionshipThis is a very short review as really dont have much to say, we ended 12th, were never in danger of relegation, and never close enough to look at the play offs, pretty happy with the season but need to sort out our home form (we were 19th in league on home form, but 3rd on away) we also didnt score enough and let in far to many, lots to do in this next pre season I think
I have spent the last 5 hours re-shaping my squad, moved a few players on and brought many in (including spending money for the first time in my 8 year reign) lets hope it works - think a play off push could be on the cards
Season 2021-2022 Review
The sun sets on a snowed out Dripping Pan, but the 5000 seater stadium could still claim the record for the Premierships smallest stadium.
Media Prediction: 13th (Just get another job, you're embarrassing yourself Prediction Man)
My Expectation: Promotion of some form
Final Position: 2nd
Having seen a dramatic turnaround at the end of last season I felt little interest in making radical changes. For that reason Scott Carson was retained and handled his goalkeeping duties fantastically throughout the season behind the solid defending of iconic captain Ljubomir Jovicic who took a shine to being particularly prolific in front of goal this season.
This season was one of major upheaval despite my efforts to maintain the stability and consistency which evaded us in our past two Championship campaigns, the club was linked with a Tycoon and a Fans Trust, but unfortunately the Tycoon turned out to be a load of rumours and the Fans Trust failed to convince Martin Elliot that they were serious and the negotiations fell through. After a while though Elliot handed the reigns to Aaron Talbut, having left an indelible mark in his contribution to the club after seven years as chairman. I also made significant efforts to raise our bank balance by selling players who I received good offers for.
Disappointing news came shortly after the end of the season, with the Thomas Cook Stadium slated to be finished in late September after a three month delay in construction works. There was however positive news in that the club has agreed to construct a new training complex for me and my team, hopefully allowing our players to reach their full potential.
The season ended in a dramatic climax as we managed to fend off Stoke to take second place and the automatic promotion place. It means that we'll be playing Premiership football for the first time next season, ten years on from my appointment, we've finally reached the promised land, now to conquer it!
FA Cup: An inspiring victory with a 6-0 thrashing of Fulham, it did little to spur us on in the FA Cup though, and we dropped out with a 3-1 loss to Wolves in the Fourth Round.
League Cup: A quite frankly incredible 5-1 win against reigning league champions Arsenal will put us in the history books of underdog victories forever, but we failed to push on after this, being beaten 2-1 by a solid performance by West Ham in the Fourth Round.
Managers Player of the Season
Ljubomir Jovicic: The lad is a club icon and rightly so, our captain scored 20 goals from defence and racked up a 7.73 average rating this season. Phenomenal for a bloke who was playing in the Blue Square Premier six seasons ago.
Club Overview
Code:Season Division Position Points Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Blue Square South 8th 67 FA Trophy Semi Finalists 2013/14 Blue Square South 3rd 72 Promoted via playoffs, BSS Manager of the Year 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 12th 63 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 10th 69 FA Cup Third Round 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 1st 87 Blue Square Premier Champions, BSP Manager of the Year 2017/18 Npower League 2 1st 85 Npower League 2 Champions, League 2 Manager of the Year 2018/19 Npower League 1 4th 81 Promoted via playoffs, League 1 Manager of the Year 2019/20 Npower Championship 11th 64 New 16,616 capacity stadium planned 2020/21 Npower Championship 11th 67 2021/22 Npower Championship 2nd 94 Npower Championship Runner Up, Npower Championship Manager of the Year Runner Up
Harrow Borough | Season 2027/28 | Coca-Cola Championship
Table | Positions Graph | Squad | Finances | Transfers1 | Transfers2
There was massive upheaval in the summer this year, mainly because I realised I could get free agents who were, apparently, the best players in the squad. At the start of the season, at least, my whole team was as good as my best players from last year.
At least according to my Assman. He has 16 JPA so I assumed he'd be decent enough for Championship level. But usually if your players are that much better, you'd expect to finish higher in the table, right?
Not so. This was a disastrous season. After a decent start (so I cant blame this season entirely on a lack of squad gelling), we ended up more or less in a relegation battle. Apart from a brief period in mid-season during a run in which we picked up just one win and four draws from 12 matches, I never seriously thought we'd go down, but after finishing 10th last year, it was very disappointing to struggle so much after apparently strengthening the squad massively. Gradually, of course, my AssMan's ratings of certain members of my team plummetted. I dont' have an original screenshot, but I believe Kevin Rae was 4* when signed, I know Baier was 4.5*, as were Joel and Monda, and Neumeier was 5*. Now, Neumeier did, as you'll see, have a good season by the standards of my team - and was the only player with an Average Rating over 7 - but that's hardly 5* performance level. Late signings Coltella and Monda, also at least 4* when signed, have had particularly bad starts. I hope I can put that down to acclimatisation, and we'll see how they do next year. I intend to give these players a chance to improve next season, and plan on making only a few signings next year to plug some gaps, but if players continue to under-perform, I might have to be ruthless in January! I took an expensive risk this year which completely obliterated my finances. Despite this, my rather strange board, who continually refused my requests when we had over £2m in the bank, have decided to spend £2m on a stadium expansion. I think it will pay for itself, particularly if the stadium can continue to be expanded for another 10 years or so, but still....
Cup Runs this year provided just a solitary win at home to League Two's Bournemouth.
Key Players
It is very much worth noting that the players in this list don't necessarily bear any relation to the players my Assistant thought were my best at the start of the season (or even now!)....
Tobias Neumeier - the best signing by a disance, and the only significant player with a rating of over 7.02 (Connelly's 8.20 due to playing only 2 hours of football!).
Biagui Kemenani - stepped up finally when needed. Shame he didnt have good enough support around him.
Daniel Nwankwo* - not prolific, but makes plenty of contributions other than goal, and still no slouch in front of goal - 46% of shots on target ain't bad! For some reason I forgot to screenshoot him in time so here is his season
Joel and Kevin Rae- equal top-scorers, both promising but we're not scoring enough goals, that's the problem - we scored just 51 times in the league this season. They need to improve that record.
Dennis Leitl - apparently he's our best player despite being just 19. Given that our defence was the better half of the team this year, it seems odd that he's still rated as the best player despite a very low average rating.
(*= fans' player of the year)
The team of the year
The historical best XI - just Kemenani inducted this season, just in time for his departure.
Key Records Broken
Total transfer spending: £450k (£425k according to the "transfers" tab, though)
Total transfer income: £2.5m (£4m according to the "transfer" tab, though)
Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)
The first sale in a January transfer window to get into these lists. Kiss just wasn't performing and he was on a high wage so had to cash in. To be fair to Ivan, my indecision on whether he was a full back or a centre-back didn't help his career, but I did feel he never really made the step up to the Championship, and the team ended up carrying him too much.
APPS: 166, GOALS: 1, ASSTS: 4, MoM: 9, AvR: 6.95
Until August 31st this season, he was our record signing since arriving in July 2024. Underwhelming, given the fee, and I sold him for less than 25% of his transfer fee when he arrived. But it was a chunk out of the wages and though he was still a first-teamer, his ratings of between 6.8 and 6.9 were uninspiring so I felt I had to let go.
APPS: 164, GOALS: 9, ASSTS: 26, MoM: 3, AvR: 6.85
Fell away after one decent Championship season.
APPS: 99, GOALS: 38, ASSTS: 18, MoM: 7, AvR: 7.08
Disappointing to lose him just as he found his best form in the middle of last season.
APPS: 104, GOALS: 8, ASSTS: 2, MoM: 9, AvR: 7.00
Next season, I shan't expect miracles! I think, when I realised how easily I could pick up players who, at face value, were a massive improvement on the team, I thought that meant I'd get promoted easily or something! I want to give it a bit more time in the Championship to be honest. I want to slowly build up my reputation by climbing the table gradually - so the message is "just keep improving, don't worry about how much".
Targets for 2027/28
Get more points than last season. FAILURE - 15 points fewer.
Sign at least two players rated better than Kemenani. IT'S COMPLICATED - I managed it, but by the end of the season only Leitl was rated higher....so maybe this was a bad target! Also, although it wasnt the same player, only one player (Neumeier) got a higher Average Rating than Kemenani.
Get to the fourth round of at least one of the cups. FAILURE
Targets for 2028/29
68 points in the league.
Halt the slide in finances by selling some of the highly paid underperformers for ££££.
Aim for 6 of my best XI next year to be the same as this year.
(By best XI, I mean the best possible team in my opinion, not the Seasonal XI which is still flawed)
For reference, my current best XI, not including Kemenani who is leaving, and leaving out one midfielder because I know I'm short there:
Leitl; Monda, Richardson, Neumeier, NEW DC SIGNING; Ripamonti; Mariani, NEW MC SIGNING; Nwankwo, Rae, Joel.
I suppose what I really mean is that I want next year's XI to have no more than five new signings in it - if Korkmaz replaces Richardson (which, since I drafted this, has been forced on me because Richardson has jumped ship) or Baier replaces Rae (less likely), that's completely fine. But I think, other than the two I've mentioned, I might be looking for one first-choice striker and possibly a replacement for Mariani too, but we'll see. I'd love thoughts from the forum on my team because I've found this year the most frustrating in ages and I want to halt the slide.
In other news, Arsenal won their 5th title in 9 years, and I forgot to mention that in 2025 they did something they hadnt done in their nearly 140 years of history - they retained the league title. Still yet to win three in a row, though! Burnley shocked Manchester City in the Cup Final - after City equalised in the last minute of normal time, Burnley got a winner during extra-time to bring the cup to Turf Moor for only the second time after a 114-year gap. Sevilla beat PSG in Austria to record their 2nd Champions' League victory, just two years after their first.
Code:Season Division Position Points Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Blue Square South 17th 45 Stayed clear of relegation. 2013/14 Blue Square South 3rd 80 Playoff runners-up. 2014/15 Blue Square South 2nd 91 Promoted via playoffs. 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 13th 64 Mid-table finish. 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 10th 63 None. 2017/18 Blue Square Premier 17th 57 None. 2018/19 Blue Square Premier 15th 56 Drew with Forest in FA Cup! 2019/20 Blue Square Premier 7th 73 FA Trophy Winners. 2020/21 Blue Square Premier 4th 77 Playoff semi-finalists, FA Trophy Winners. 2021/22 Blue Square Premier 1st 90 Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners. 2022/23 Coca-Cola League Two 1st 92 Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt! 2023/24 Coca-Cola League One 3rd 87 Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round. 2024/25 Coca-Cola League One 7th 77 JPT Runner-up. 2025/26 Coca-Cola League One 1st 97 Promoted as Champions. 2026/27 Coca-Cola Championship 10th 68 Stadium Expansion planned to just over 7,000 all-seater. 2027/28 Coca-Cola Championship 16th 53 Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned.
Arsenal won the league title three times in a row in 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35 according to Wikipedia and the back of my History of Arsenal DVD box.
Just saying
My 2nd season in the Championship seems to be going the same way GreyedOutMan, I've (on paper at least) a much better team then last season but my team are playing much worse, I really dont know how to stop it, think this season is gonna be a real struggle for me, just want to stay up now (have 23 points from 20 games)
If anyone who has done well in the Championship could give me any pointers that would be great. Can't understand why I was doing so badly. Is it just a question of giving the squad time to gel? Far fewer signings this year should sort that....?
So close yet so far!
Bury Town - Blue Square North - 2014/2015
Squad - Transfers - Final Table - Position History - Finances
This season was one of trying to carry on the momentum of last season and get back to back promotions. Pre-season wasn't good in terms of friendlies as we lost all of them but was playing higher opposition to get the money.
Transfers there was only one at the start of the season and hat was bringing in Frazer Richardson. During the season I strengthen with Amin Affane, Serge Gnabry & Daniel Pappoe. Amin was brought in to replace Seb Lletget (my captain) as his agent asked for stupid money and I didn't want to pay. I tried to get rid of him in the winter transfer window but he ended up signing a pre-contract with DC United!
The season started off well despite a defeat in the second game we had a run and reached 1st place after about games. Once we lost that was it as Crewe took the top spot and ran away with it.
Bury Town slipped down the league slightly as we could never get a consistent run together but we bounce around 5th spot and ended up making the play-offs.
We came up against AFC Telford (Who was promoted from the BSN with us) we managed to beat them 3-1 at home then draw 2-2 away to book our spot at Old Trafford!
In the final we played Dag & Red and dominated the game but just couldn't find a way through! It ended up going to penalties but we lost 5-4 after Seb Lletget smashed one straight at the keeper to end his Bury Town career on a bad note.
Final Position - 5th - Lost in Play-off final
FA Cup - Knocked out in the 1st round against League 2 Chesterfield
FA Trophy - We won! The hardest team we played was against Kettering so the draw was kind. In the final we played Newport and beat them 3-2. We went ahead after a couple of minutes as Howard Webb gave us a penalty!
Key Players
Victor Zapata-Caicedo - Top scorer again!
Serge Gnabry - Versatile attacking midfielder and fitted straight in to the team
Christopher Chantler - Mr reliable as he always performs.
Job Offers
- With 10 games left of the league season Bristol Rovers came in for me (13th in League 2) I wish i had their wage budget of 25k (they were at 26k at the time) compared to my 3.1k!
- Safety in the BSP - Achieved comfortably
- Safety in the BSP
- Reduce my wage bill as it was slashed from 3.2k to 2.6k!
- Cash in on Victor as he wants a new contract and I can't afford it (he wants 1.4k a week)
- Increase attendances in new stadium
Last edited by Punchdrunk; 08-12-2011 at 13:46. Reason: broken link
Tooting & Mitcham 2014/15 Season Review
Blue Square Premier:
After promotion last year, I was looking forward to a solid midtable first season in the BSP but things went a lot better than I could have ever expected. Like last year, I moved on a lot of players and brought in a huge number, mainly youth players.
Transfers: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x..._History-2.jpg
This time around, I kept a good percentage of the wage budget in hand and in doing so, I was able to bring in 5 players after the start of October on frees, 1 CD, 1RW, 1LW, 1AM, 1ST which really improved both the top end quality and depth of my squad, something I would need.
After losing the first game, I went unbeaten in 7 matches, albeit 5 were draws which left me around midtable after my second loss, the horrible 1-5 defeat at Bury. We bounced back though, winning 5 of our next 6 BSP games, putting as in touch for a playoff spot and we also saw our way into the main FA Cup draw.
The FA Cup draw was kind to us, playing non-league Thurrock at home in Rd1, then away to fellow BSP team Crewe in Rd2, who we smashed 6-0 to set up a 3rd Rd matchup away to Man City. It was a game we were never going to win but we held on mightily against a second string City side, finally breaking in the 83rd minute when Balotelli (why always him?) got through our defence and then we conceded a late second goal trying to score when we had lost a man for a second yellow card. The upside was the cash, £640k profit which would come in very handy later on.
As the FA Cup run was coming to an end, another was just beginning but due to a congested fixture, I decided to use rotation players for the FA Trophy early on. Suffice to say, they were looking for a spot in the main team, starting the campaign with an 8-0 thumping of non-league Kingstonian on the road.
Throughout the Dec/Jan period, I had a great run in the league, with 23pts from 11 matches, moving me into 3rd overall, albeit, quite some distance off the top two. Mixed into those results were a 2-0 away win against BSS team Farnborough in Rd 2 and a home wins against BSS opponents Eastleigh and Bath in Rds 3&4, setting up a Semi Final against fellow BSP team and playoff hopeful Cambridge.
After a couple of poor losses in a row in the BSP, we redeemed ourselves in the home leg of the FA Trophy Semi, with a dominant 3-0 win, meaning I could send out a second string team in the away leg, allowing me to focus back on the league and the hunt for a playoff spot.
This we did with 13pts from 18 to all but secure a playoff spot with 4 matches remaining. Despite 3 poor games in the last 4, a home win against struggling Hayes & Yeading was enough to secure our playoff spot but unfortunately we'd slipped to 4th, which meant Wrexham would have the home advantage in the second leg.
Position Graph: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...tPositions.jpg
The home leg was a poor one, I was struggling to find the right tactical balance between attack and defence and Wrexham took advantage after half time, coming back from 1-0 down to defeat us 1-2, meaning we'd have to do something special away from home.
We went in defensively, hoping to stay level for a while then try and push on but it didn't work in the first half, Wrexham scoring to take a 3-1 lead overall. At half time, despite the pleas of my assistant to encourage them, I went nuts which fired them up. Seeing the bloodlust in their eyes, I let them go into attack mode, took off all opposition instructions and let Wrexham worry about us instead. We started out much better but couldn't finish it off, so I took off a striker and a winger for two strikers, bringing on Patterson and Ansah.
Ansah pulled one back on 62mins, then an O'Halloran blocked shot landed in Paterson's lap and after 65mins were we level, 3-3. Then, amazingly, just 3 minutes later, we had a penalty and Wrexham were down to 10 men (2nd yellow), Paterson stepped up and put us ahead 4-3! Wrexham were a wreck and we continued piling on the pressure, no letting them come close to getting back in the game and when the whistle went, we were off to Old Trafford to play Fleetword in the Playoff Final.
Playoff Semi: 2nd leg http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...n_Overview.jpg
Before that though, was a trip to Wembley for the final of the FA Trophy against fellow BSP team York, who had lost in the semi-final of the other playoff spot. With a few injury concerns, I started young Abdellaoui up front who I'd signed from Man Utd earlier this season after they discarded him. He got us off to a flyer with an early goal but just before half time we conceded from yet another set piece (our major weakness) and Abdellaoui came off injured.
The second half was an even affair with neither team creating many chances but in the 81st minute, Adedipe got in behind their left back from a perfectly weighted through ball and slid it under the keeper, 2-1. With two subs left, I brought on an extra central defender to secure the back end, giving York no chance of reply. We had won our first piece of silverware!!!
FA Trophy Final: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...n_Overview.jpg
It was now off to Old Trafford to face Fleetwood, who had come so close to winning the league until a loss on the final day to winners Bury. Fleetwood had two prolific strikers, Magno Vieira and Jamie Vardy who had scored 49 between them but the next highest was on 5 goals so I decided to take a gamble with formation and selection to counter them. Knowing I almost certainly couldn't win playing my standard 4-4-2, I went with a three man midfield and although I don't have any proper DM's, two of my CM's can play as Ball Winning Midfielders, so that's what I did, going very defensive and hoped to stop the ball getting into the strikers.
To deal with the set piece issue, I rushed back O'Reilly from injury to take Hunt's place. Hunt is the 'better' player but O'Reilly is strong and better in the air and I felt a better match up. Despite his match winning goal in the FA Trophy final, I didn't trust Adedipe's finishing enough to start him in the RW spot in a three man attack and with Chappell injured and Capelloni only fit enough to make the bench, I moved Dawkin to the right wing and Ansah to the left, starting O'Halloran after letting him know he needs to play better to be a first team player.
The combination of the two wingers cutting in proved to be a masterstroke on 29mins when Dawkin latched onto a Luongo through ball, coming in front of the defender on his left and slamming it home, 1-0 up. The lead lasted until the 40th minute when Fleetwood lofted a cross into the back post from a throw in and I was once again exposed for height, 1-1. Straight from the kickoff though, O'Halloran ran straight at the heart of the Fleetwood defence, drawing in the centre back and left back, then sliding a ball between them for Dawkin, who came off the shoulder of the left back, cut back in to the top of the box and bang 2-1 at the break.
With the team pumped up, I sent them back in unchanged and they rewarded me on 53 minutes, when Ansah picked up the ball from a defensive Fleetwood throw about 30 metres out on the left flank, ran inwards and at the defence who just parted for some unknown reason that when it happens to me I get mad and slotted it home from the top of the 18yr box into the top left corner. 3-1 up.
Fleetwood came at us with everything and on 67mins, had their lifeline. Slack marking on my behalf from their throw in left a man free 30yrs out, it came to him, he took a touch to 25yrds and rattled it into the far corner 3-2.
I resisted making any subs for as long as possible, knowing if they got one back, I'd want to bring in fresh players/penalty takers for extra time and penalties. Once it got to 85mins I succumbed, trading out my attacking central midfielder for another central defender, then taking off the wingers who were spent. Fleetwood had their chances but couldn't find a way through and finally the whistle blew and we were going up!!!
Playoff Final: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...n_Overview.jpg
Playoff Final stats: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...yerRatings.jpg
BSP Table: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...iew_Stages.jpg
Squad: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x..._Players-4.jpg
Boardroom: http://i760.photobucket.com/albums/x...Overview-1.jpg
With the money from the FA Cup run, the board approved a pitch relay and after winning promotion, I also found out that to comply with league requirements, they'll have to spend £249k installing 2,000 seats in the stadium (no overall size increase) even though I had an average attendance of just over 800 and I think that was highly inflated by the Playoff Semi-Final as we had over 5000 there that day, mainly Wrexham fans.
Aims for 15/16:
- Become professional (full time players and staff)
- Stay up
- Try to become financially independent of FA Cup runs.
- Improve the squad again
For those interested, Liverpool finally won the EPL ahead of Utd and City with, amazingly, Fulham 4th. Not surprisingly, Gerrard is going to retire straight away now.
Last edited by ejthegreat; 08-12-2011 at 00:00.
Some nice stories in here . Keep up the good work lads .
Well done HFD - Premier League football at the Dripping Pan!!
I've found that foreign players do seem to need half a season at least to show there best form, also a lot of players at once seems to disrupt the team. In previous fm's i also noticed that having a lot of young players, they never seemed to really play well together no matter how talented. In my first season in the championship i have the youngest squad
I agree with city and colour, the GK rating is pretty good in my experience, last year my goalie got 7.01 when the team won L1, the first time any of my goalies have managed more than 7 average for a season.
Gilbster - North Ferriby - 2038/39 End of Season Update
Great season in some respects but ultimately disappointing. We walked the league, had Champions League qualification sewn up by mid March, and then it went wrong all over the place. We did win the league though in the end.
However our top goalie broke his arm, putting him out for the Champions League quarter finals, and due to massively messing up my Euro squad registration, I didnt have anything reseembling a decent goalie to use for the tie. As a result we lost to Porto in the quarter finals, leaving me having to do yet another season in the challenge.
We also picked up the League cup and Community Shields. Next season I will be putting out not my stronggest teams in both League and FA Cups, as the fixture congestion is ridiculous, and my main focus has to be the Champions League.
Career So Far
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements 2012/13 BSN 5th 1st R FAT 1st R Promoted via Playoffs 2013/14 BSP 16th 4th QR FAT 3rd R 2014/15 BSP 12th 2nd R FAT QF Replay 2015/16 BSP 15th 1st R FAT 1st R 2016/17 BSP 1st 4th QR FAT 3rd R Champions and Promoted! 2017/18 L2 22nd 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Survived on goal difference 2018/19 L2 3rd 1st R JPTFN, LC 1R Promoted 2019/20 L1 24th 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Relegated 2020/21 L2 21st 1st R JPT1R, LC 2R 2021/22 L2 7th 3rd Rep JPT2R, LC 1R Lost in Playoff Finals 2022/23 L2 1st 1st R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2023/24 L1 8th 5th R JPT2R, LC 1R 2024/25 L1 1st 4th R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2025/26 CH 15th 4th R LC 2R 2026/27 CH 5th Semis LC 2R Play off Semi Final, FA Cup Semi finalists 2027/28 CH 3rd 3rd R LC 3R Lost in Playoff Finals 2028/29 CH 4th 3rd R LC 2R Play off Semi Final 2029/30 CH 5th 4th R LC 4R Promoted 2030/31 PRM 8th Semis Lc 3R 2031/32 PRM 7th 4th R LC 4R Europa League Qualification 2032/33 PRM 9th Quarters LC 3R, EC Semis Europa League Semi Finalists 2033/34 PRM 6th Quarters LC Semi Europa League Qualification 2034/35 PRM 5th Quarters LC QF, EC 2nd Knockout Europa League Qualification 2035/36 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, EC Winner Winner of FA and Euro Cup. Qualified for Champ League 2036/37 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, ECL QF Community Shield, Euro Super Cup and FA Cup winners 2037/38 PRM 1st 3rd R LC Win, ECL Runner Up Champions. League Cup winner. Comm Shield and Champ League 2038/39 PRM 1st 5th R LC Win, ECL QF Champions. League cup and Comm Shield Winner.runner ups
Darren1983 - Kingstonian - 2019/20 Season Review Championship
Table Graph
Best way to sum that season up is "meh" a real nothing of a season. I re-shaped my team by bringing in what I (and my scouts and staff) thought were much better players then what we had before, I even spent money for the first time!!!!! Only problem is the player I broke our tranfer fee record on then went and done his cruciate ligament and was out for 8 months The season was crap so on to the next one!
Oh one bit of good news was this
END OF THE SEASONWow, what a season. Having had my wage budget slashed at the start of the year, I had to let many of my players go, including some first teamers who were up for renewal. However my team started amazingly well, going straight up to the top of the tree, until the start of that dreaded winter period really started to affect my depleted squad yet again. With my annual trip to the 3rd round of the FA Cup and some surprising progress in the FA Trophy not helping. However we got through to February in 2nd, within touching distance of recently relegated Forest Green. They too were deep in the FA Trophy, and there squad had more injuries than mine, and we soon caught them up whilst having 2 games in hand. We were sat at the top of the table with 2 games in hand and in the semis of the FA Trophy v BSN topping Colwyn Bay. A surprising 1-1 draw at home ended with star striker Kristian James suffering what appeared to be a season ending injury. A heartbreaking 121st minute winner in the second leg saw us crash out, and deny us our first trophy. But we bounced back in the league and had 73 points from 37 games. Unfortunately we picked up just 3 in the remaining 9, (3 draws) and finished 4 points from the title, and only 3 points away from missing out on the playoffs.
Bradford Park Avenue – Blue Square Premier – 2015/16 - 5th
We drew Darlington in the semi's, and a returning James scored a 60th minute equalizer that sent our fans wild. The away leg saw us with our backs against the wall for almost all the game, before Marko Mitrovic scored an 84th minute penalty to take us to Old Trafford v Southend.
James scored in the 16th second, and we again rode our luck to make it to the football league, for the first time in almost 50 years.
However the boards budget isnt as big as I' hoped, a mere 300k for the year, compared to 500k for the next smallest team. I'm expecting it to be a struggle, much more so than the BSP, and some transfer magic is required, hopefully the fact that there are only 2 danger spots will allow me to stay up!
Career Overview
Code:Season Team League League Finish Cups Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Bradford PA BSN 3rd FA 2nd Qual Round/ FAT 3rd Q Round Promoted via playoffs 2013/14 Bradford PA BSP 13th FA 3rd Round/ FAT 2nd Round None 2014/15 Bradford PA BSP 8th FAC 3rd Round / FAT 3rd Round None 2015/16 Bradford PA BSP 5th FAC 3rd Round/ FAT Semi Finals Promoted via playoffs
Last edited by thornton90; 08-12-2011 at 20:13.
Canvey Island - 2013/14 End of Season Update - BSP
On a diet of Goals Goals Goals...
League: (Positions) I think the prediction man needs to have a look at himself after this, predicted 24th but never in a million years did that look likely of happening. It took a few games to get all the new signings bedded in but after that, it was pretty much plain sailing all the way. A couple of hiccups towards the end just delayed the inevitable, though we still won the title in late March . Unsurprisingly we set a record for most points and most goals scored in the campaign too
FA Cup : A great run here, with only 1 non-league opposition (Ebbsfleet) in the run. The first game @ Chesterfield was annoying due to being 2-0 up late before collapsing, but the replay more than made up for it. Also worth pointing out Chesterfield and Middlesbrough were near the top of L1, whilst West Ham finished mid-table in the EPL, so very respectable results there.
FA Trophy : (Final) Almost paid the price trying to use a team full of bench/depth players in the 1st round, but once I decided to use the 1st team there was no stopping us in any round. Especially as Fleetwood and Crewe decided not to bother sending out their strongest 11 too, not like I'm complaining.
Squad (1)(2) and Transfers (1)(2) : I remember saying that I was going to cut down the squad size this season, but what are you supposed to do when your coaches and assistant keeps recommending you better players?
Player of the Season : George Bell - AMR
I feel slightly harsh not giving this to Kalu after his almost a goal per game ratio, but gaining an average rating above 8 in over 50 games cannot be ignored. Amazing that I managed to pick him up relatively easily with no-one else after him, but I feel he may become a wanted man in the summer...
Finances : Oh what a good FA Cup run does for the finances at this level! That should have kept me in the black for a while before the news that the board are building a new stadium for me. Imaginative name too...
2012-13: BSS - 1st
2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners
Hendon – npower League 2 - 1st - 2016/17
Table - Past Positions - Squad - Fixtures 1 2 3 - Transfers
The board decided to turn the club pro at the start of the season, which was not a great decision from my perspective, as it led to many of my players wanting full time contracts worth over half the wage budget. As a lot of them were on non-contract deals, I ended up keeping a lot of players on the books despite a lot of them being far too poor for the division. I reluctantly let 2 central midfielders go, which later felt like a mistake as I could barely find a single player that was willing to sign for the club, would take a reasonable wage, and looked like they would improve the team, even on loan. This meant that no one was signed in the summer, although I made one free signing at the end of September.
Despite the media expectations of a bottom placed finish, and only one new arrival to improve the squad, for the first half of the season the team performed reliably enough to never really be worried of relegation, for the most part hovering around mid table and never falling lower than 16th.
At the end of the year our form seemed to pick up and after scouring the country for players willing to come to the club on loan, and thus not damage the wage budget of the club any further, I made a flurry of loan signings. This proved far more successful than I even hoped, as not only did most of these players perform fantastically for the team, the bolstering of the squad allowed far more rest for the players who had previously been struggling to keep up with the punishing overloaded fixture list.
The team powered up the table, taking top spot with only 5 games left to play and hanging on to win the league with a game to spare.
The unexpected great success in the league more than made up for any disappointment in the shortness of the cup runs, and a tie at the emirates in the fa cup did wonders for the finances.
Regarding key players, Collins won the L2 player of the year and was the team's top scorer again with 24 goals, and Stephan pitched in with a fair few as well. David Cook came in and greatly strengthened central midfield, and Esposito was a rock at the back, being named in the L2 players' team of the year.
Code:Season Division Position Cups ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13 Blue Square South 6th FA Cup 1st Rnd, FA Trophy 3rd Rnd 2013/14 Blue Square South 1st FA Cup 1st Rnd, FA Trophy 3rd Rnd 2014/15 Blue Square Premier 12th FA Cup 4th Qual Rnd, FA Trophy 2nd Rnd 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 1st FA Cup 1st Rnd, FA Trophy 4th Rnd 2016/17 npower League 2 1st FA Cup 3rd Rnd, League Cup 1st Rnd, Johnstone's Paint Trophy 1st Rnd
Last edited by Eman; 08-12-2011 at 23:22.
Due to an unfortunate hard drive crash (i hate you seagate), i am restarting my challenge and will post more info later on who i am managing. I finally got around to fixing computer and hard drives (thank you intel ssd and raid 1tb hd's)
#49 is resetting
Lowestoft 2012-13Overall, a good first season at Lowestoft, as we won the playoff over Hinckley to gain promotion to BSP play. The key player for most of our season was forward Vances Bola as we depended on his goal scoring ability to key some crucial wins. He slumped a bit at the end of the season as we ran out of gas trying to stay with Champion AFC Telford. Midseason pickup Henoc John Mukendi kept us with some solid firepower up front as Bola sputtered in the late going.
Our entire club was very young and our backline and keeper kept us with the least goals allowed for much of the season, another key ingredient in our success. Patrick McNally and Taylor Parmenter were the bedrocks in the middle, with fullbacks Luke Watson and Jordan Jacobs also ably supporting Romanian keeper Mihai Gherasim.
The late addition of talented midfielders Graeme MacGregor and Ibrahim Farah steadied an inconsistent group. Our wingers were the weakest aspect of the club and none provided noteworthy performances.
Tooting & Mitcham have gone professional. Now that we're in League 2, the club has decided to go professional but I'm unsure what this means to players and staff under contract as part time. Do I need to offer everyone new contracts as full time players/staff or will they be automatically changed to full time?
Edit: Seems they stay part-time. Staff were easy to move across to full time contracts with just a short increase in wage (no more than a usual re-signing increase) but tried to move a few of my better, young players across to full time to fasttrack their improvement and the wages they want are prohibitive.
Keeper who was on 130/week wants 1725/week, left winger on 375/week wants 1500/week and central defender on 160/week wants 800/week. Am already on 6k/week and with an 8k/week limit, I don't see any way of making them full time, so they'll have to stay part time for the remainder of their contract.
Edit (2): Should note that my wage ceiling is 925/week.
Also, since it was impossible to re-sign some of the players that were coming out of contract, 14 of them have walked out of the club, including my captain. I do feel that I'm reasonably strong down the spine of the team and decent on the left side, it's just the right side that's a problem and I might have to resort to loans to fix it.
Last edited by ejthegreat; 09-12-2011 at 07:22.
Gilbster - 2039/40 - North Ferriby - Premiership - End of Season Update
Table | Positions | Finances | Squad | Transfers | Fixtures Part 1 | Fixtures Part 2 | Reputation Ranking | European Co-efficients List | World Rich List
After the heartache of Porto knocking us out of the Champions League last season, I knew we had to regroup and spend our transfer kitty a bit more wisely this year. I purchased approx 50 mill pounds worth of players, of which 2 or 3 were to be used more as back up players, with others hopefully going to make an impact.
Guillermo Cavallo was only £1 mill, has a large amount of potential, but due to the amount of positions he can play in turned out to be one of my most useful signings for season.
Marcelinho at 12.5mill, was also a bargain, he added a great depth to our attacking options, and got far more playtime than I may have originally been intending.
Itay Gordana at 15.25 mill, was a strong signing, possibly expensive but he put in some great performances and was a first team regular.
Signings from previous season also had huge impacts this year including:
Ellandro - bought in 2031/32 he has been a star player for seasons and seasons, and is our club captain. Consistnely one of our best players in the Premiership.
Alexey Martynov - signed in 2036/37 for 18.25 Mill, has been our star striker for 3 season. His goals have certainly propelled us to the Premiership titles we have won, and the great European form we have show.
Amadou Essomba - signed in 2032/33 on a free transfer as a young player with a huge amount of potential. The first few seasons he was unhappy at the club due to lack of first team football, but then I started playing him, and havent been able to leave him out happily since. He is our rock of defence, and has been World Player of the Year runner up. He also does like to score goals and has to be my best signing of the save.
And so with a mix of old and new players we went into our first match of the season. A community shield game against Ipswich, which we scraped a 3-2 win in. So the community shield like previous seasons was ours. And so started one of the most amazing runs of form I can ever remember managing a team through. In the league we only had 1 defeat all season and that was to Man City away, which is unsurprising as we alway struggle on our travels to Man City. It took until there were 3 games left of the season to wrap up the League title for a 3rd season in a row.
In the league cup, I was in the earlier rounds purposely playing a different team to in the league, with mainly high potential youngsters and players that had fallen out of favour. For the semi against Arsenal, I did put out a stronger team but in the Final against Swansea, I played a large amount of the players that had got us there, and we did beat them 3-2, to win the League cup for the 3rd time in a row too.
For the FA cup, I mixed around the squad a lot, couldnt decide how much I wanted it until I realised what was possible this season, and then went for it. We beat Burnley in the final 2-1, to win our 3rd FA Cup in our history.
Well thats all interesting, but you all must be wondering by this stage, what on earth happened in the Champions League this season. I was handed what was called an "easy group" by the new of Schalke, Dinamo and Ajax.
Group Table - it went down to the last group game against Ajax to guarantee we would go through which of course led me to worry about the knockout stages, since most seasons we have walked our group..
Knockout Round 1: PSV beat 5-1 on agg
Quarter Finals: AC Milan - leg 1 AC Milan 2-2 North Ferriby, and luckily for us in leg 2 - North Ferriby 4-0 AC Milan
Semi Finals:Man Utd - I was relieved to see that Man U had beaten Barcelona, as I knew we were capable of beating them this season. In the first leg at home it was a tense 2-2. However we then went to Old Trafford and knowing that it was make or break in our season, wow we played well - winning 3-0, so a 5-2 agg win, giving us a place in the final
There was then a tense 1 day wait to see who our final oppoents would be this season. Inter Milan overcame a defecit and beat Juventus on penalties to become our opponents.
During the last league game of the season, 2 of our key defenders, Essomba and Addis picked up injuries putting them out of the final. It was panic time and then the day before the final the message came in that Mohammed (DR) needed to go to the specialist for a hip injury. There goes our defence, and when it came to selecting the team to play Inter, I had to play a 16 year old from our rubbish youth team and have a few more on the bench as I had run out of eligble good defenders. Obviously I was predicting doom and gloom, and for 3.10 am when I played the final, I could have done without the panic.
Champions League Final - it turns out that North Ferriby are in fact capable of carrying a 16 year old, while playing in the most important game of the season. I literally couldnt believe my eyes at the match that I was watching. All I can say is amazing job North Ferriby you deserve it.
And that completed our most amazing season ever, Community Shield, League Cup, FA Cup, League title and Champions League. Is there any more fitting way to beat Dafuges challenge?
Career So Far
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements 2012/13 BSN 5th 1st R FAT 1st R Promoted via Playoffs 2013/14 BSP 16th 4th QR FAT 3rd R 2014/15 BSP 12th 2nd R FAT QF Replay 2015/16 BSP 15th 1st R FAT 1st R 2016/17 BSP 1st 4th QR FAT 3rd R Champions and Promoted! 2017/18 L2 22nd 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Survived on goal difference 2018/19 L2 3rd 1st R JPTFN, LC 1R Promoted 2019/20 L1 24th 1st R JPT1R, LC 1R Relegated 2020/21 L2 21st 1st R JPT1R, LC 2R 2021/22 L2 7th 3rd Rep JPT2R, LC 1R Lost in Playoff Finals 2022/23 L2 1st 1st R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2023/24 L1 8th 5th R JPT2R, LC 1R 2024/25 L1 1st 4th R JPTWin, LC 1R Champions and Promoted! JPT Winners! 2025/26 CH 15th 4th R LC 2R 2026/27 CH 5th Semis LC 2R Play off Semi Final, FA Cup Semi finalists 2027/28 CH 3rd 3rd R LC 3R Lost in Playoff Finals 2028/29 CH 4th 3rd R LC 2R Play off Semi Final 2029/30 CH 5th 4th R LC 4R Promoted 2030/31 PRM 8th Semis Lc 3R 2031/32 PRM 7th 4th R LC 4R Europa League Qualification 2032/33 PRM 9th Quarters LC 3R, EC Semis Europa League Semi Finalists 2033/34 PRM 6th Quarters LC Semi Europa League Qualification 2034/35 PRM 5th Quarters LC QF, EC 2nd Knockout Europa League Qualification 2035/36 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, EC Winner Winner of FA and Euro Cup. Qualified for Champ League 2036/37 PRM 2nd Winner LC 3R, ECL QF Community Shield, Euro Super Cup and FA Cup winners 2037/38 PRM 1st 3rd R LC Win, ECL Runner Up Champions. League Cup winner. Comm Shield and Champ League 2038/39 PRM 1st 5th R LC Win, ECL QF Champions. League cup and Comm Shield Winner.runner ups 2039/40 PRM 1st Winner LC Win, ECL Winner Champions. Winner of Comm Shield, League Cup, FA Cup and Champions League ********************** CHALLENGE COMPLETED ********************************************************
Go Gilbster go go go! Great that you've finally won it all!
It's been like watching my child grow up!
Targets for the 2024/25 season
FC United of Manchester
Season 13 - 2024/25 – Barclays Premier League
Pre-season - Media Prediction: 17th
Pipped for Europe
League Table| Progress | Squad | Transfers
Had a very productive season all in all. Was expecting to maybe finish midtable and improve a couple of places on last season's 15th position. Decided to strip the whole youth team and bring in my own selection of foreign youngsters, which will hopefully result in a few reaching first team standards. The Under 18's finished the season dropping just 3 points!
My first team started the season really well and I started to think I'd underestimated the players as I shared top spot early on. Goals were flying in, none more so than 9 at home to Man City! (they did return the favour in the away fixture though!) but my own net was starting to collect a fair few goals too. January came and Champion's League football was a possibility, however my away form dipped and soon the dream slipped away. I was happy to settle for Thursday night football...until Chelsea pipped me on the last day to 6th, meaning my 7th place finish missed out on a European birth due to Spurs (8th) winning the Carling Cup. Stupid cups!
1. Improve on 15th last season ACHIEVED
2. Reach FA Cup 6th round FAILED
3. Reach Carling Cup final FAILED
Career Overview
Targets for new season:Code:Season League League Finish Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13 Blue Square North 4th Reached play-offs 2013/14 Blue Square North 9th Reached FA Cup 1st round 2014/15 Blue Square North 3th Highest finish to date 2015/16 Blue Square North 1st Promoted 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 1st Promoted 2017/18 League Two 17th None 2018/19 League Two 3rd Promoted 2019/20 League One 15th None 2020/21 League One 1st Promotion/JPT winner 2021/22 Championship 5th None 2022/23 Championship 1st Promotion/Carling Cup Finalist 2023/24 Premier League 15th None 2024/25 Premier League 7th None
1. Qualify for Europe
2. Reach FA Cup 6th round
3. Reach Carling Cup final
Well done Glibster - great season!
Lewes - 2013/14 BSP End of Season Update - 3rd
Table | Positions | Transfers | Squad | Finances
Crewe got off to a flier and were never in danger of being caught, they only lost 3 games all year (2 of their losses were to us, and the final one came after they had well and truly wrapped up the title). So we were chasing a playoff spot only and we comfortably made it. Defense was great all year but goal scoring sporadic, the total looked better than the reality as we'd pile on big scores in games that were already won. Went a dozen games with out a goal from a striker, which resulted in my hoped for star signing being shipped out mid year (he went another dozen games with his new side without scoring too). Still managed to pull into 3rd spot, although finishing with some poor results was concerning leading into the playoffs.
Semi Final Leg 1 | Semi Final Leg 2 | Final
Fairly even first leg of the semi finals that we were unlucky to be a goal down from. The home leg started with a very early send off, playing 11 vs 10 should have been a walk in the park but like all year we created chances but couldn't finish them. Took until extra time to get over the hump. The final again told the same story, we had the better of the chances but didn't take them, losing to a 90th minute goal that sunk us 2-1.
FA Cup - 4th Round.
After beating Newcastle at home in the 3rd round at home had high hopes of doing the same to another championship side in the 4th, and we really should have put the home leg away as we had the better of the match. The draw meant an away trip which we lost 4-1, was closer than the scoreline but we gave up a couple chasing a result. Disappointing because the 5th round was actually an easier matchup again at home to a league 2 side, still was a decent financial return.
FA Trophy - 4th Round.
Given at this stage we were pretty safe in the league playoffs with no real hope of the title it wasn't ;like I was fielding a weakened side in the trophy, but we duly lost to a mid table BSP side. The usual season long story of not being able to finish our chances cost us.
Next Season
Get rid of the dead wood I loaned out this year to avoid paying but probably should have just sold off outright. Need to find consistency up front, Abdulai Bell-Baggie at the AMR has been brilliant and consistently gets goals & assists (although is fragile of body) but the AML and striker positions have been hit and miss the past couple of seasons despite trying multiple players. Defense is very solid and I'd be happy to go into battle with the same group, midfield does the job at retaining the ball but could use someone who provides a bit of offense of their own. The goal next year has to be the title to get automatic promotion, 91 points this year is usually in contention, just have to hope we don't see another 115 point runaway.
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements 2012/13 BSS 1st 2nd Rnd FAT RU Promoted, FA Trophy Runners Up 2013/14 BSP 3rd 4th Rnd FAT 4th Rnd Promotion Finalists
Last edited by Shakes; 10-12-2011 at 12:27.
I had this person apply to be my coach
His stats aren't bad but I'm not going sign him as it's not realistic
For me the amazing thing about HC is that he was a legend for Arsenal but he was also a legend for football in general. Responsible for, amongst other things, numbers on shirts and floodlights! Not to mention Huddersfield....
Last edited by GreyedOutMan; 10-12-2011 at 18:47.
Thanks Brizza and Swinburn for your kind words.
Will be back with my next challenge attempt probably in Gundos once I'm back from holiday around the 20th.
Good luck everyone with the rest of the challenge, and if you do start feeling bad about losing remmeber another season in whatever division you are in isnt the end of the world, and may just help your rep!
St. Albans - npower League 1 - 2018/2019
Will just post a quick update about this season, as I'm already done with the next.
League Table
Past positions
This was not good enough. Got a good start but couldn't keep it up.
Gricehead ** Tooting & Mitcham ** Blue Square Bet South ** 2013/14
"When 92 points isn't enough"
Squad Improvements
A slightly more sedate pre-season with just four in, whilst twelve left us. Three of those four turned out to be real key players. More on them later.
Four further signings during the season each added to the squad in their own way.
Oh, and did I mention I was back to square one with backroom staff? They all walked out at the end of their contracts. I think this years are better, personally...
Blue Square South 2013/14 ** Board Expectation: Mid Table ** My Expectation: Playoff Contender
After last season, it was clear we needed a good start. When the fixture computer gave us Boreham Wood away first game, I could have cried. Indeed, for the third time, they beat us 2-0. We were unpeturbed, however, and won the nexdt six league games on the bounce. It was really a story of us vs Boreham Wood all season, with Eastleigh thrown in for good measure. Woking and Welling handed us back to back defeats, and Eastleigh did us 4-2 in a thriller in their place. From there we went ten unbeaten, but it still wasn't enough to take us top. In fact we won pretty much all our games, apart from 1-0 reverses at struggling Gloucester and Sutton Utd. We even beat Boreham Wood for the first time!
Welling beat us again (no-one else managed the double), but a week later we went top. We made it five consecutive wins, including beating Eastleigh 3-1 at home, to go four points clear. Then it all went wrong. A draw against fast improving Truro seemed bad, a defeat at Weymouth worse, and another draw against Hayes & Yeading saw us knocked off the top again - by Boreham Wood.
Our chances seemed to have gone. We won our remaining three games by a combined margin of 10-1. Good preparation for the playoffs, I suppose.
Table ** Positions ** Fixtures (1) ** Fixture (2)
Playoff Semi 1st Leg ** Playoff Semi 2nd Leg ** Playoff Final
We were without our first choice right-back going into the playoffs, suspended for two games for a ridiculous red card. Then we lost our best defender, practically ever-present, to a red card in the second leg. Still, never mind.
I fully expected to meet Eastleigh in the final, but their end of season slide down the table (winning only one in six) was matched by Truro's climb up it, and when the two met in the semi, form was the victor.
We met Truro in the final, and it turned into the Zak Ansah show. Simple really. (Note this is my first and to date only ever FM playoff success)
FA Cup ** Board Expectation: 3rd Qualifying Round ** Achievement: 2nd Round
An unexpected, and much needed financially, cup run. Having looked out with three straightforward fixtures against lower league opposition, we drew Lincoln in the 1st Round. Bottom of League 2, they succumbed far too easilty, handing us a trip to League 1 Stevenage. Also struggling, they nearly suffered the same fate, but had enough to come back in the second half.
FA Cup Results
FA Trophy ** Board Expectation: 1st Round ** Achievement: 2nd Round
Pretty much the same story. Two ties against lower league opposition, and then a defeat at home to Forest Green.
FA Trophy Results
Key Players:
Zak Ansah Famous if only for his two goals in the playoff final.
Stuart O'Keefe Midfield dynamo, who missed only one game. A massive 22 assists in the league. Blue Square Bet South Player of the Season.
Raphael Branco Recommended on day one by my new scout, this half Brazilian, half Italian centre-back is pretty immense, especially in the air. Single-handedly dealt with the long ball threat in this division.
Mike Cestor Built on last season to form an excellent partnership with Branco.
Michael Bruton Found by my scout on a trip to Ireland, and straight into the first team as the maurauding right winger we needed.
Ciáran Molloy Really made the breakthrough, and missed out on the top scorer award by a single goal, with 21 scored. Now tied up for the next two years he has the ability to knock them in a higher division.
Next Season
Well, our finances are now in a real mess, so who knows what I'll be allowed to spend in the Blue Square Bet Premier. There's a lot of deadwood to trim, but I worry (again) that there'll be key squad members that I won't have the funds to secure contracts with.
Simply avoid dropping back down.
Code:Season Division Pos FA Cup Other Cups Achievements ====================================================================================== 2012/13 BSS 10th 4th QR FAT: 2nd R None 2013/14 BSS 2nd 2nd R FAT: 2nd R Promoted via Playoffs
Last edited by Gricehead; 10-12-2011 at 22:05.
#81 - Kingstonian. Season '18-'19. League 2.
L2 position: 6th League table Promoted through play-offs
FA Cup: 2R
League Cup: 3R
JPT: Southern section runners-up
Summary: Progress Current squad An unsteady start to our first season in the football league, but cup runs including higher division scalps gave the team a bit of belief and after spending mid-season mooching around mid-table we cracked on to break into the play-off spots. We weren't the form team, but turned over Ebbsfleet in the semis and Burton Albion at Wembley to achieve an unexpected promotion built on a solid defence that conceded less than a goal a game, best in the division. If we had a killer instinct in front of goal we could have gone up automatically instead of dropping points in drawn games. The JPT run to southern area final was also unexpected, and we were unlucky to lose to eventual winners Watford.
Transfers: Transfers weren't as plentiful as in previous years, just 2 full-backs and a reserve keeper joining. After going pro, most of the wage budget was used up re-signing players to full-time contracts.
Future prospects: The wage budget has been increased healthily for our attempt at league one, so we can keep the squad together and strengthen where needed. For some reason the youth team keeps turning out excellent striking prospects and not much else. We have some dollar but not enough to get our own stadium; we're still sharing with AFC Wimbledon, also in L1 next year.
Key players:
Lee Griffiths, winger and play-maker, scorer of L2 goal of the season, from within his own half.
Loris Karius, ever-present keeper and appearance record-holder (315)
Mason Bush, midfield stalwart
Tasos Charalabous, Cypriot youth international right back
Rhys Oates, solid centre-back, but only 5 goals this season rather than the dozen scored in the BSP!
Trevor Overend, utility forward. Highest-rated striker in the squad, but not often played there as we are weaker on the wings.
Sam Ho, young striker, good off the bench but not quite ready for starts yet. Scored a hat-trick as a sub and got called "classy Ho" by the local rags. A legend in the making.
1213 - BSS 5th (lost in play-off final)
1314 - BSS 12th (FAT runners-up)
1415 - BSS 1st (promoted)
1516 - BSP 11th
1617 - BSP 7th (FAT semi-final)
1718 - BSP 5th (Promoted through play-offs)
1819 - L2 6th (Promoted through play-offs, JPT South area runners-up)
In 2029, Met Police have been promoted to the BSS!! Report to follow, but just thought I'd share this news with everyone. If anyone wants to give the challenge a go with Met Police, let me know, I've kept a copy of the save the day they were promoted.
Harrow Borough | Season 2028/29 | Coca-Cola Championship
Table | Positions Graph | Squad | Finances | Transfers
My plans to try to keep the squad together were thrown into major jeopardy late in the summer when I realised that I had major problems fulfilling the home-grown players rule, so I had to buy in some home-grown players to replace some key first-teamers, but really struggled to do it, so I was forced to play weakened teams in the league to satisfy the home-grown rule. I also re-signed Kalema Lukaku, the club legend from the lower league days, simply to give me another home-grown option. Also in January, a £1.2m bid for Korkmaz, who had established himself as very much the best right-back I had, was accepted above my head which, whilst sorting the finances out, left me in a very awkward position with no decent right backs left. Then the same happened with Giacomo Fattori, the new signing in midfield who had an average rating of 7.18 up to 17th January when he left for Empoli. I had a bit more cover in central midfield, but coffers swelled with £2.4m in less than a week thanks to those two sales, I wanted to strengthen significantly, but really struggled to find anyone and ended up having to make do with what I already had.
But the league season never really picked up. We had a couple of really barren runs including just three draws in the first five before our first win of the season, at home to Newport. It picked up from there but even during the good runs we never looked like playoff contenders. Towards the end of the season in particular, when the strikers really started hitting their straps, the defence went off the boil, and I lost several leads in that time including drawing 4-4 away at Forest having been 4-1 up!
Cup Runs this year saw only my second FA Cup 4th round appearance, which is encouraging, but we need to try to put a bigger run together now.
Key Players
Stephan Lehmann - after a slow start, the 2nd half of the season saw a German revolution, with Lehmann scoring three hat-tricks in the last ten games and 18 goals in the last 20. Now settled, he should be ready to push me up next year.
Koffi Yao - less impressive goals tally but loads of assists too made him vital.
Jose Felix Cabello - really stepped up when Fattori left.
Joel* - not a brilliant scoring record, but not half bad either. Slightly surprising choice for FPOTY, though. Gotta be Lehmann for me.
Mario Milicic - the latest in a string of dependable left-backs.
(*= fans' player of the year)
Noted for their absence this year are Leitl who's AvR actually got worse this year, Ripamonti whose age seems to be catching up with him and he's not the influential player he was, my record signing Sancho whose half-million pound transfer fee should have translated into a rating significantly over 7, Tobias Neumeier who should be a fantastic player but was disappointing, and his partner Primo Coltella who was downright useless. My players need to start producing performances to match their abilities!!!
The team of the year
The historical best XI - no new inductees but certain players might be close to dropping out.
Key Records Broken
Equalled highest league finish of 10th in CC
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £550k for Miguel Sancho from Alaves on 9th June 2028
(Broken again after the end of the season but see next season's report for that!!)
Highest Transfer Income: £3.5m, but it's £2.5m according to the transfers screen!
Highest Average Attendance: 8,070
Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)
His second stint at Harrow was short-lived. Three further appearances during which he conceded just one goal - given that I sold him for £100k for the second time having signed him for nothing both times, that's not half bad! Probably cost me about that in wages, but he was a home-grown player in the match-day squad which I badly needed.
APPS: 178, CONC: 198, CLN: 63, MoM: 6, AvR: 6.82 (both spells - for first spell details see 2021/22 report)
Had a couple of seasons back in the mid-20s as one of our star strikers, but couldn't step up to Championship level after promotion in 2026 and has been in the reserves since the first half of that first Championship season after managing just 4 goals in 15 games.
APPS: 126, GLS: 62, ASSTS: 31, MoM: 19, AvR: 7.17
Next season, I want to really push for promotion. At least a playoff place. This has gone on long enough now.
Targets for 2028/29
68 points in the league. FAILURE although only just!
Halt the slide in finances by selling some of the highly paid underperformers for ££££. SUCCESS - record transfer fee income.
Aim for 6 of my best XI next year to be the same as this year.
(By best XI, I mean the best possible team in my opinion, not the Seasonal XI which is still flawed)
For reference, my current best XI, not including Kemenani who is leaving, and leaving out one midfielder because I know I'm short there:
Leitl; Monda, Richardson, Neumeier, NEW DC SIGNING; Ripamonti; Mariani, NEW MC SIGNING; Nwankwo, Rae, Joel.
Still there: Leitl, Monda, Neuemeir, Ripamonti (just), Joel. That's five. But Nwankwo is a regular on the bench, so I wasn't far off here. I'll try again for six next year from the current XI
Targets for 2029/30
Only go out of the cup to a top-half Premiership side.
Promotion. Simple one. How?
Keep six of this XI in my best XI for next year:
Leitl; Milicic, Weller, Monda, Neuemeier; Ripamonti/Sancho, Cabello, Sancho/Ripamonti; Lehmann, Joel, Yao.
Close behind: Rae, Boon, Connelly, Mariani??, Lukaku, Coltella. So if any of those are in the team next year, I'll count them amongst the "success" stories. I think I'll manage at least six this year as I don't think this team is too far away, frustrating though this season was. We just need a few more players to step up to the mark.
In other news, Man Utd romped to the league title for only the 2nd time in the twenties (which are now over of course), and there was a clash of the titans in the Champions' League as Arsenal met United at....you guessed it, Wembley Stadium. This momentous occasion deserved a rare "in other news" screenshot!! Arsenal's defeat at the same ground to Leicester in the FA Cup Final just a few weeks before didn't help! Oh, and if anyone's interested, I'll keep a copy of the save in which MET POLICE ARE IN THE BSS in 2029!!!
Code:Season Division Position Points Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Blue Square South 17th 45 Stayed clear of relegation. 2013/14 Blue Square South 3rd 80 Playoff runners-up. 2014/15 Blue Square South 2nd 91 Promoted via playoffs. 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 13th 64 Mid-table finish. 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 10th 63 None. 2017/18 Blue Square Premier 17th 57 None. 2018/19 Blue Square Premier 15th 56 Drew with Forest in FA Cup! 2019/20 Blue Square Premier 7th 73 FA Trophy Winners. 2020/21 Blue Square Premier 4th 77 Playoff semi-finalists, FA Trophy Winners. 2021/22 Blue Square Premier 1st 90 Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners. 2022/23 Coca-Cola League Two 1st 92 Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt! 2023/24 Coca-Cola League One 3rd 87 Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round. 2024/25 Coca-Cola League One 7th 77 JPT Runner-up. 2025/26 Coca-Cola League One 1st 97 Promoted as Champions. 2026/27 Coca-Cola Championship 10th 68 Stadium Expansion planned to just over 7,000 all-seater. 2027/28 Coca-Cola Championship 16th 53 Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned. 2028/29 Coca-Cola Championship 10th 66 Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity.
Last edited by GreyedOutMan; 11-12-2011 at 11:32.
Finally did the double with FC United. Won the EPL and the Europa League. Liverpool gave me a hard fight, though I won it by 6 points. 29-4-5 with 127 GF, 52 GA.
Year is 2026 now. Been in EPL since 20/21, so this is my 6th season now.
20/21 - Finished 16th
21/22 - Finished 7th
22/23 - Finished 9th
23/24 - Finished 6th
24/25 - Finished 5th
25/26 - Finished FIRST!
Hate how greedy these teenagers have become. Brought in a whole load of 17-18yo on trial and a couple looked good so went to offer contract. Without exception, all of them wanted 'backup' status and £800/week with £325/match.
My highest paid player is on £650/week and only 4 players on 400+/week.
Mind you, the mid 20's players who would be starting eleven players want £2,500/week despite my cap of £925/week for a key player so I can't really bring in any mature players. Aug of first season in League 2 and my oldest player is 23 years old. Amazingly, my average of 20.18years is only 2nd youngest in the comp.
Average attendance is 1300, next lowest is over 3000, my salary is just over half the next lowest and less than 1/6th of the top team.
For those who have gone through all this, am I better off trying to hang around in the lower half of League 2 for a while, increase reputation enough that I make money, put my players onto full time contracts and gradually, over 3-4 years, get to the point where I can have a full time squad and attract players who want more than money?
The dafuge challenge is by far the most populous of the CSE challenges, yet it is the worst represented as part of the CSE Dream XI. Might I suggest some of you stop by and rectify that?
ejthegreat, what i remember of L2 in my first season my wage budget was 5k and attendances of 2500, my attendance in BSP was 1200 so i'm surprised yours are not higher.
I always keep my wage budget as small as i can, the bigger it is the more players want, i just don't give contracts to players who want that much, my highest in L1 was only 1.8K/week.
Just keep searching for those players who will accept less, you may have to wait until much later in the season to sign them.
I only gave FT contracts to players who were key players and only signed new players who were much better than my existing ones. I got rid of some backup players and used youth contracts where players would accept them. Loaning in of players is another way of getting the squad depth.
Last edited by Thebaker; 11-12-2011 at 10:20.
Thanks for the advice about only FT contracts to key players and minimal wage budget, will try it. Looks like I might also have to try selling the club a little more, must be too dour in the media or something.
Edit: Just went and checked my rep on the clubs page and it's showing as 1/2 a star. Below all BSP teams, 6 BSS and 4 BSN teams. I would've expected after promotion to L2 and winning the FAT that it might be 1 star but nope.
Last edited by ejthegreat; 11-12-2011 at 12:00.
Thats an incredible lack of fans - no wonder you are struggling. My low in the JPT was 632. Perhaps your lack of fans is effecting your rep?
How have you done in the cups in previous years - my rep was never that bad in spite of not winning the leagues, but i always did well in the cups which i think brought my rep up. You should be above some BSP teams and nearly all BSS and BSN teams, i think i was still below 1 when i got promoted to L2. This depends on the teams in the BSP and the ones in BSN and BSS if they were former league teams, Luton has an huge rep and is still above most L2 teams in my game even after spending 1 season in L2 seven years ago (i'm in 2021)
AndyMUFC - npower League Two - Winners - Season 2015-16
Media Prediction:- 24th
Board Prediction:- Avoid Relegation
My Prediction:- Playoffs
Table Graph Squad Best Player Transfers Finances
A great first season in the league proper with us securing automatic promotion with 10 games to go and the League title with 7 games to go.
We played a fantastic short fast passing game a la Barcelona and just dominated most teams home and away all this without sigining a single player all season.
Our best player this season was Jack Adams who made 47 appearances scoring 37 times with an overall rating of 7.75.
Finances are in a good state even with the loan for the new stadium costing £28,000 per month, with us making a profit of £52,899 over the season which isn't bad. This was helped by receiving £575,000 for Alex Stockinger an offer the board couldn't refuse.
Tasks for next season:-
1) Avoid relegation.
2) Improve squad to acheive #1.
3) Have a cup run to cover bank loan repayments.
4) Try to build a new youth system by improving facilities and scout for a better level of player to join youth team, and this will then help the squad over the next few years.
Code:Season Division Pos Pts FA Cup Other Cups Europe Achievements 2012-13 Blue Square Bet North 2nd 78 2nd Rd FAT 2nd Rd N/A Promoted via playoffs 2013-14 Blue Square Bet Premier 4th 79 4th Qualifying Rd FAT 2nd Rd N/A Lost in Playoff Final 2014-15 Blue Square Bet Premier 1st 96 3rd Rd FAT Final N/A Automatic Promotion 2015-16 npower League Two 1st 105 2nd Rd JPT 2nd Rd, Carling Cup 1st Rd N/A Automatic Promotion
Might try being a bit more controversial in the press and see if that gets more coverage and people through the gate. Season itself is going well enough, over 1/4 in and staying in the top half. Re-development is also done (it was just adding more seats, so no real loss of capacity during re-development) so hopefully some nicer seats will get some bums on them.
Canvey Island - 2014/15 End of Season Update - L2
From Lights to Flag (well almost...)
League: (Positions) The season started on a surprising note, with me being linked to the vacant Sunderland job in pre-season. Thanks, but no thanks. Once the league campaign eventually did get under way, we utterly dominated from start to end. Winning all but 2 games before Christmas created a massive gap at the top, that was never challenged even when the form dipped a little in the second half of the season. The season ended how it started, with me being linked with another PL job; this time Wigan. Roll on League 1
FA Cup : Another great run here, going one stage further than last year. We got unlucky with our draw (a local derby and high-flying in L1 Chesterfield in the opening rounds) but then a couple of nice draws to follow. The win at Rotherham was probably the best we played all year, and there were some great performances throughout. But for how good we were then, we were just as awful in our big-money tie, going 4-0 down before HT before playing a bit more respectably in the 2nd half.
League Cup : This game came during the stupid international break at the start of the season, so I was missing 5 players on U-21 duty, but we still gave a good performance against a decent Championship side.
Johnstone's Paint Trophy : (Final) Now this competition was just a bit of fun at first, but 3 away wins (including a battering of L1 Bristol Rovers) put me in the midst of challenging for another piece of silverware. Nervy wins vs Bournemouth and Swindon (despite the scoreline) and a more comfortable win in the second leg but us in the final against Rotherham, who had already been dispatched in one cup competition. Took control of the final early and cruised to another cup victory.
Squad (1)(2) and Transfers (1)(2) : Finally held to my promise of trimming down the squad, so naturally went overboard the other way. Didn't have the wage budget to replace any of the 4 that left in January so squad was a bit bare-thin near the end of the campaign, just as well we wrapped everything up early.
Player of the Season : Danny Rose - ST
Finally a striker picks up the award, just edging out Affane (if you need a good AMC in the lower leagues, look at him). Barnsley must be mad letting him go on a free, since I feel he'll be good enough to score bucket loads in the Championship never mind next season in League 1.
Finances : Oh what a good FA Cup run does for the finances at this level! (I felt like I've said that before... )
2012-13: BSS - 1st
2013-14: BSP - 1st, FA Trophy Winners
2014-15: L2 - 1st, JPT Winners
I seem to play a similar style to you, and have had less cup success, but my attendances have been like thebaker's - 1200, 850 and 1150 in 3 BSP seasons and 3300 in L2. Maybe those 3 seasons in BSP, after 3 in BSS, made a difference in bringing the rep up?
St. Albans npower league 1 2019/2020
Aim for the season: Midtable
League Table
Past positions
A decent season.
Key player profiles:
Carl Walshe Topscorer with 18 goals.
Alan Moores Best player based on average rating.
Career OverviewNext SeasonCode:Season League Position Achievements ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 BSS 9th n/a 2013/14 BSS 1st BSS 2014/15 BSP 10th n/a 2015/16 BSP 12th n/a 2016/17 BSP 4th Promotion via Playoff 2017/18 L2 2nd Automatic promotion 2018/19 L1 18th n/a 2019/20 L1 11th n/a
Strengthen squad.
Get rid of unhappy players.
Better positions maybe even playoff.
My only good keeper, Andrews is complaining about wanting a better contract. I agree with him, he's only on 130/week part time until the end of next season and I want to give him a better contract and make him full time, the problem is that he wants far more than I'm allowed to spend so unless he's willing to halve his demands, I can't do anything except leave him on his current contract and make him unhappy.
This part of the challenge is much tougher than the on-field contest, that's for sure.
HENDON F.C - Season 2032/33
League Table | Squad | Transfer In / Out
Challenge half complete!
I feel my squad is nearly there for what I'm looking for, hoping to finish this challenge in next 2 seasons before I take on another promoted team in my saveif I feel as if my time at Hendon is over. We won the league on the last day with a 1-0 win away at manchester United, who could've also won the league so I'm very happy with my young team. I'm still waiting for a new ground, my capacity is 12,613 so I need extra income to make a real go at winning competitions!
Next Season TargetsCode:Season Division Position Cups ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13 Blue Square South 6th F.A Cup 3rd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 2nd Rnd 2013/14 Blue Square South 5th F.A Cup 2nd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 1st Rnd 2014/15 Blue Square South 12th F.A Cup 3rd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 2nd Rnd 2015/16 Blue Square South 9th F.A Cup 2nd Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 1st Rnd 2016/17 Blue Square South 1st F.A Cup 2nd Rnd, F.A Trophy 4th Rnd 2017/18 Blue Square Premier 10th F.A Cup 4th Qual Rnd, F.A Trophy 4th Rnd 2018/19 Blue Square Premier 1st F.A Cup 5th Rnd, F.A Trophy Winners 2019/20 npower League 2 9th F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 1st Rnd 2020/21 npower League 2 1st F.A Cup 2nd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT Semi-Finals 2021/22 npower League 1 15th F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 2nd Rnd 2022/23 npower League 1 14th F.A Cup Semi Finals, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 2nd Rnd 2023/24 npower League 1 1st F.A Cup 4th Rnd, Carling Cup 1st Rnd, JPT 1st Rnd 2024/25 npower Championship 1st F.A Cup 5th Rnd, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd 2025/26 Barclays Premier League 10th F.A Cup 5th Rnd, Carling Cup Quarter Finals 2026/27 Barclays Premier League 8th F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup Winners 2027/28 Barclays Premier League 9th Europa League Quarter Finals, F.A Cup 3rd Rnd, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd 2028/29 Barclays Premier League 3rd F.A Cup Final, Carling Cup 4th Rnd 2029/30 Barclays Premier League 4th Europa League Winners, F.A Cup Winners, Carling Cup 4th Rnd 2030/31 Barclays Premier League 3rd Europa League 2nd K.O, F.A Cup 4th Rnd, Carling Cup Semi Finals 2031/32 Barclays Premier League 5th Champions League 1st K.O, F.A Cup Quarter Finals, Carling Cup Quarter Finals 2032/33 Barclays Premier League 1st Europa League Quarter Finals, F.A Cup Semi Finals, Carling Cup 3rd Rnd
*Top 2 finish
*Win Champions League
Good season there dan, good luck on getting the other half of the challenge completed.
Past Positions
Manager History Part 1, Part 2
Steady demise really, capacity down to just over 20,000 and they have a small squad, not looking good for them!
I will keep you updated during my season
#6 Hitchin Season Update 19 Premier League 2030/31
Squad - Table - Graph - Profile - Transfers - Finances
Manager of the Year - Footballer of the Year 1+3 - Player's Player - World Team of the Year (Hayter) - World Cup Best Player
After 9 seasons in the PRM, we finally won it! Going on with the double as we won the League Cup as well. Hitchin are still best ranked team in Europe.
After several seasons with 3-2-2-2 formation, we changed to 4-3-3 in hope of conceding less goals, and it worked well. Despite it taking some time for the players to adjust to a new formation, our PRM record of 89/32 speaks for itself.
Despite the positives, we were lost 3-2 in the FA Cup in 3rd round home to Charlton, a result the board kept reminding me for, throghout the season. Champions League was ok with a Q/F run, even though I had thought we would do better.
Community Shield:
- Man City 1-0 win (press)
League Cup:
- 3rd rnd 1-0 win home Man Utd, 4th rnd 2-0 away win MK Dons, Q/F 2-0 home M'boro, S/F L1 2-1 away Chelsea, L2 1-0 home win, Final Everton 2-0 (press)
Players of the season:
- Salibur: swapping between him and Murtic, but Salibur is the stronger one.
- Flynn: Despite his age of 36 Flynn is still our best right defender.
- Mio: Normally playing DC, but had a good season playing DL.
- Cristiano: Like good wine, he matures really good with age.
- Amantini: New signing from Velez for 7.5mill. Had an amazing half season.
- Hayter: His best season so far. 18 goals, 16 assists in 47 games.
- Busão: Playing both mid and att again this season, love his diversity in roles.
- Masson: Had a great season, before having close to 4 months injury.
- Carlos: Took over very convincing when Masson was injured.
- Hall: Didn't score many goals this season, only 17 but helped with 21 assists instead.
- Noble: Had a really good seasosn, once new formation was trained.
Despite having completed the challenge now, I do believe its time to see how a potential International Career can follow as well!
Code:Season League FA Cup Other Cups Europe Final Pos. Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2012/13 BSN 4th qual FAT 3rd qual N/A 12th None 2013/14 BSS 1st rnd FAT 1st rnd N/A 4th Lost in playoffs 2014/15 BSS 2nd rnd FAT Final N/A 1st Promoted, FAT runner up 2015/16 BSP 2nd rnd FAT 1st rnd N/A 5th None 2016/17 BSP 1st rnd FAT Winner N/A 1st Promoted, FAT Winner, New stadium 2017/18 L2 3rd rnd LC 2nd rnd JPT 2nd rnd/N 5th None 2018/19 L2 1st rnd LC 1st rnd JPT Semi S 1st Promoted 2019/20 L1 3rd rnd LC 1st rnd JPT Q/F S 6th None 2020/21 L1 1st rnd LC Q/F JPT Q/F S 1st Promoted, +4014 seats 2021/22 CH Semi Final LC 2nd rnd N/A 2nd Auto Promoted, +7148 seats (12.500 total) 2022/23 PRM 5th rnd LC S/F N/A 13th None 2023/24 PRM S/F LC Final N/A 8th EC Qualifier, LC Winner 2024/25 PRM 6th rnd LC 4th rnd EC Q/F 7th EC Qualifier, New stadium (22525 in 2027) 2025/26 PRM 5th rnd LC 4th rnd EC S/F 2nd ECC Qualifier 2026/27 PRM 4th rnd LC Final ECC S/F 2nd ECC Qualifier, LC Winner 2027/28 PRM 3rd rnd LC 3rd rnd ECC S/F 4th ECC Qualifier 2028/29 PRM Final LC Q/F ECC Final 2nd ECC Qualifier, FA and ECC Winner, +11262 seats 2029/30 PRM Final LC Final ECC 1st KO 4th ECC Qualifier, FA and LC Winner 2030/31 PRM 3rd rnd LC Final ECC Q/F 1st ECC Qualifier, LC Winner, PRM Winner -------------------------------------------Challenge Completed-------------------------------------------------------------
Football Manager has always handled this sort of thing quite well, but rarely have I ever seen an amazing manager manage to do the opposite and move a side up 4-5 divisions. Anyway, I digress.
Congratulations Dons. I must confess, every time I look at your updated I'm amazed Flynn is still in the side. I guess his amazing mental stats make up for his patchy technical skills? What does his overall career record look like, he must be one of your longer serving players?
Harrow Borough | Season 2029/30 | Coca-Cola Championship
Table | Positions Graph | Squad | Finances | Transfers
After a decent recovery from a poor year the previous year, last season was decent, so I knew I didn't have too much to do in the transfer market. A top class striker and two youngsters came in, the latter two with the home-grown issue in mind more than anything, albeit that it would take three years before they could count as such. In fact, at least two of our first choice XI at the start of the year were just twelve months from attaining HG status (Neumeier and Leitl), as were three fringe players (Mariani, Coltella and Hahn who was already HG for England, just not Harrow). This was a major issue at the start of the previous season and it seemed I had more or less cracked it - one more year of occasional struggles and I would have ample to satisfy the rules. However, with new signing Guilbert being home-grown too, I knew that even this year would be slightly easier than last. It did, however, spell the end for club legend Daniel Nwankwo, whose only use last year was being a benchwarmer simply to fill one of those slots.
Yet again my board was up to its old tricks of accepting bids for my stars above my head. This time, unlike previous occasions, I wasnt happy about it, as Dennis Leitl left for £1.2m. For a 20 yr old 'keeper who was improving albeit slowly? Mad. Still, his mentals were crap so hopefully I got the best out of that deal. Whilst he's been hard to replace, I have brought in quite a lot of players who should be really good for years, as you'll see. Although the signing of Eric Messi was, of course, rather more for the name than the skills!! Haha! He's decent but I doubt he'll ever be a first-teamer!
We totally flew out of the traps, and towards the end of November, all but three of the 18 players who had featured had ratings above seven, with eight of them over 7.30, which I had never seen before. Soon after, we were sitting pretty at the top of the league. We were top at Christmas, which always feels good, but a crushing 2-0 defeat at home to local rivals Watford on Boxing Day followed by a 2-2 draw at Goodison Park brought us back down to earth with a bump.
On January 6th, disaster struck. My board just won't learn. Koffi Yao, who as you can see was outstanding for the first half of the season, was sold for £1.8m. Yes, good money. But he was central to my promotion push. How can I do my job if this keeps happening?!
Predictably, we struggled for a game or two after that. Any team would having lost their star striker in that way. I brought in Thorsten Weissman to plug the gap and my AssMan seemed to think he would do that straight away. It took him precisely four minutes and thirty-seven seconds at Carrow Road on his debut to open his account. A good start. But it was a false dawn. The fact is that Yao's sensational form was totally central to our resurgence, and after he left, we dropped like a stone out of the automatic promotion race, and suddenly we were fighting hard for a playoff place. A mini revival meant that a win against Sunderland in 2nd at the start of March would have seen us leapfrog them into that 2nd automatic promotion place, but we lost that crucial match and the playoffs were then definitely the best I could realistically hope for.
Or was it? After the Sunderland game, we won 6 of the next 7 games and went into the last four matches a point AHEAD of Sunderland who lost to Middlesbrough and Luton in back-to back defeats to send us 2nd on April 15th. Before the next match, a takeover by a fans' consortium "returned Harrow to the fans", and cleared our debts which was a massive bonus. We lost that next match which was a setback, but Sunderland were held at Blackpool so we were neck-and-neck going into the last 3. We sneaked past Wycombe while Sunderland sneaked past Reading. Two to go, still only goal-difference keeping us in 2nd. A playoff spot officially secured but we wanted more than that now, and when I found myself 1-0 down at Huddersfield after 2 minutes, I was worried. Guilbert quickly pulled us level, before getting a second two put us in front just before the half-hour. By half-time, he'd completed his hat-trick and I could breather rather more easily. We eventually won the game 7-1, which combined with Sunderland's 5-3 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday to effectively secure promotion as our goal-difference was 16 better than that of the Black Cats.
Wow! What a season! It never looked like being a promotion season, particularly as we lost our key player just as, it seemed, we had peaked. Oddly, I had a slight scare in the last game, going 3-0 down to Watford in the first half hour. I had horrible visions of losing 10-0 only to see Sunderland winning 6-0 and snatching promotion from us. We ended up losing 4-1, and Sunderland couldn't quite manage 13 goals, only managing four. Still, it wasn't the best way to end a famous season! I'm a Premiership side!
Cup Runs this year were also incredible...
Early season saw my best Carling Cup run yet running concurrently to my amazing start to the season in the league, getting to the fourth round before drawing Southampton of the Premiership at home. We went 1-0 up within the first five minutes and despite a disallowed goal for Southampton, we doubled the lead after quarter of an hour. When we scored a third, a screamer from Cabello, our first ever victory over a Premiership side was secure. Admittedly, Southampton were newly promoted to the Premiership, but it's still a bit of a landmark.
The reward was a first trip to the Emirates for Harrow, which as a Gooner, I found very satisfying. The semi-final draw was done before the delayed match, and a two-legged tie against Swansea awaited the winners, with Man City paired with Spurs or Man Utd. Though Arsenal scored in the opening minute, we equalised within the first five, and the Wembley dream was alive. Two penalties just after the half-hour mark made it 2-2, and 5 minutes before half-time, Yao gave us the lead at Emirates Stadium! Arsenal had taken twelve shots, Harrow three, and the score was 3-2 to Harrow! I didn't feel it was likely we'd hold onto the lead, and indeed just before the hour mark, 32-year-old Arsenal legend Mario Cueto equalised, before barely five minutes later, Arsenal went 4-3 ahead and despite one final half-chance to equalise, Cueto completed his hat-trick with six minutes remaining to secure Arsenal's passage. However, I was very proud of the lads, we ran Arsenal very close, and with the exception of Primo Coltella (rating of 3.6 after a shocking 2nd half), every player had held his own, with former Sp**s player Herve Guilbert scoring twice. Yao had scored his seventh Carling Cup goal of the season and was in with a good chance of being the competition's leading scorer.
In the FA Cup, before playing Huddersfield in the 3rd round, we drew Spurs away in the Fourth. A big carrot, but it was our first game without Yao, and that cost us as we drew 0-0, meaning a replay at the Galpharm. Despite a scare when Huddersfield pulled within a goal in injury time, in reality, we had the best of the replay and made it to face a North London Premiership team for the second time in the season. We took the lead on the stroke of half-time after dominating the first half (56% of possession!), and scored again the other side of half-time. When, 8 minutes into the second half, Joel scored a lovely chip to make it 3-0, I had to pinch myself. Here I was, the Arsenal-supporting Harrow Borough manager, winning 3-0 against Tottenham! We saw the game out from there with comfort, and I couldn't believe it!
Brighton were up next, with Chelsea v Arsenal providing the highlight of the 5th round. In comparison to the Spurs clash, it should have been a cakewalk, but we had a serious off-day, going down 5-2 at the AMEX. It was a terrible performance in the 2nd half, having gone into the break 1-1. It was a real shame because after some fabulous performances against Premiership sides, that was a very winnable game which could have given us two quarter-finals in the same season. It would have been Manchester City, too! Still, quite a season in the cups, and I make no apology for giving you an unusually full account of the two huge runs.
What a season!
Key Players
Koffi Yao - started like a house on fire, scoring 14 goals in his first 11 games including four braces and a hat-trick. Though he was never going to keep this up, he never went off the boil, with hat-tricks and braces at regular intervals. He set up the possibility of promotion.
Thorsten Weissman - under pressure after Yao's departure, Weissman was an inspired signing, and that AvR is as good as I've seen.
Philipp Baier and Herve Guilbert* - can't separate them. Unfortunately, Baier, having made the breakthrough, got a Bosman move away to Benfica. Hopefully I have enough strikers for now.
Jose Felix Cabello - his improvement was key to the promotion.
Danny Boon - established himself as a key member of the team, now.
Patxi Gauna - it does seem that left-backs are crucial to my formation - whenever I do well, it's because my left-back is fantastic.
Moritz Gruber - the best loan signing I've had so far, I do think he gave the squad that little extra push over the top into the Premiership with that little bit of star quality from January.
(*= fans' player of the year)
The team of the year
The historical best XI - Joel finally inducted.
I only came 2nd in the Manager of the Year stakes, which I felt was a bit harsh, but still...
Key Records Broken
Highest Transfer Fee Paid: £700k for Ionut Popa from Ipswich on 1st January (a big mistake!)
Has since been equalled with the signing of Thiaguinho, see next season's report for details!
Highest League Finish: 2nd in the Championship
Highest Average Attendance: 8,915
Highest Transfer Spend: £1.4m - although according to the transfers screen it was £2.3m
Yao would have broken so many goalscoring records this season - he was only 3 goals behind Paterson's record year for goalscoring when he left in January.
Valete (Or, key departures and their career stats)
Quite a few this year...
Having been rated our best player for a long while, he never really fulfilled that role.
APPS: 71, GLS: 0, ASSTS: 3, MoM: 1, AvR: 6.94
Moved on to Everton (still Championship) for just £1k - he is a cult hero, amongst the favoured personnel despite the fact that he was never a key player really - after his first season he never averaged over 7 again.
APPS: 174, GLS: 46, ASSTS: 44, MoM: 15, AvR: 7.00
His attributes should have led to more clean sheets, I feel. Selling him for £1.2m is a shame because his value would inevitably have skyrocketed, but oh well. Nowt I could have done as my board didn't feel my opinion was worth taking into account. I mean, honestly, all I've done is take a small outer London local team to the Championship - no reason to think my opinion might be worth listening to. Could've got many millions for him in a few years.
APPS: 79, CONC: 96, CLN: 23, MoM: 4, AvR: 6.88
A really good L1 player, but wasn't good enough for the Championship.
APPS: 107, GLS: 6, ASSTS: 3, MoM: 6, AvR: 7.01
Two seasons as a regular but never really performed regularly enough, and didn't score anything like enough goals.
APPS: 76, GLS: 22, ASSTS: 19, MoM: 5, AvR: 6.99
Was eclipsed by others this year and sold in January.
APPS: 42, GLS: 24, ASSTS: 10, MoM: 6, AvR: 7.19
I was so annoyed when he was sold, I really was. I thought it would cost us promotion, but finding Weissman was like striking gold.
APPS: 73, GLS: 38, ASSTS: 18, MoM: 9, AvR: 7.30
At his age, he just wasn't worth a new, massively improved, contract, although he was an important player for us.
APPS: 93, GLS: 2, ASSTS: 13, MoM: 0, AvR: 7.05
Took a Bosman in early January, which was frustrating as he'd improved so much this season.
APPS: 74, GLS: 4, ASSTS: 1, MoM: 1, AvR: 6.91
Again, really annoyed he left just as he hit form.
APPS: 49, GLS: 20, ASSTS: 14, MoM: 5, AvR: 7.20
He was impressive in helping me get promoted last year, but selling him on for nearly ten times what I bought him for after just one year was just too good to turn down.
APPS: 46, GLS: 0, ASSTS: 3, MoM: 2, AvR: 7.22
Next season, I had thought that with the takeover removing the pressing concern of rising debts, I would look to push on with this challenge hard. I wanted a first major trophy, and possibly a top-half finish in the league. However, the new board have decided to expand the stadium by 3,500 seats. This has decimated my finances, and that will mean I have to survive in the Premiership on a shoestring budget. It won't be easy. But if I can survive, then the stadium expansion should help my finances in the long run. The stadium sponsorship deal has also gone up from £30k or so to £250k a year which will help a bit.
Targets for 2029/30
Only go out of the cup to a top-half Premiership side. SUCCESS - We actually beat Spurs in the FA Cup, and did well against Arsenal in the first ever Quarter-Final of a major trophy for Harrow.
Promotion. Simple one. SUCCESS
Keep six of this XI in my best XI for next year:
Leitl; Milicic, Weller, Monda, Neuemeier; Ripamonti/Sancho, Cabello, Sancho/Ripamonti; Lehmann, Joel, Yao.
Close behind: Rae, Boon, Connelly, Mariani??, Lukaku, Coltella. So if any of those are in the team next year, I'll count them amongst the "success" stories. I think I'll manage at least six this year as I don't think this team is too far away, frustrating though this season was. We just need a few more players to step up to the mark.
SUCCESS - in the circumstances, I'll include Leitl in this list because he should still have been at the club, and I'll let Weissman count as Yao for the same reason. So: Leitl, Monda, Neuemeier; Sancho, Cabello, Weissman (for Yao). That's just six, but we managed it. Squad stability, at least to some extent, is clearly key.
Targets for 2030/31
Survival in the Premiership
A cup semi-final
Get out of debt
In other news, Man Utd ran away with the title, but Arsenal beat them 3-0 at Wembley to deny them the double. Next year, I'll be up there playing with the big boys! Oh, and I got my biggest job offer yet, offered the chance to manage Liverpool at Dalglish Park. Not that there's any fans' favourite from the past that I'll have to live up to, or anything!!!
Code:Season Division Position Points Achievements ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2012/13 Blue Square South 17th 45 Stayed clear of relegation. 2013/14 Blue Square South 3rd 80 Playoff runners-up. 2014/15 Blue Square South 2nd 91 Promoted via playoffs. 2015/16 Blue Square Premier 13th 64 Mid-table finish. 2016/17 Blue Square Premier 10th 63 None. 2017/18 Blue Square Premier 17th 57 None. 2018/19 Blue Square Premier 15th 56 Drew with Forest in FA Cup! 2019/20 Blue Square Premier 7th 73 FA Trophy Winners. 2020/21 Blue Square Premier 4th 77 Playoff semi-finalists; FA Trophy Winners. 2021/22 Blue Square Premier 1st 90 Promoted as Champions; FA Trophy Winners. 2022/23 Coca-Cola League Two 1st 92 Promoted automatically, and at the first attempt! 2023/24 Coca-Cola League One 3rd 87 Playoff Final runners up; FA Cup 4th round. 2024/25 Coca-Cola League One 7th 77 JPT Runner-up. 2025/26 Coca-Cola League One 1st 97 Promoted as Champions. 2026/27 Coca-Cola Championship 10th 68 Stadium Expansion planned to just over 7,000 all-seater. 2027/28 Coca-Cola Championship 16th 53 Expansion to 7,582 all-seater completed, further expansion of 1,580 seats planned. 2028/29 Coca-Cola Championship 10th 66 Expansion completed to 9,162 capacity. 2029/30 Coca-Cola Championship 2nd 90 Promotion; Carling Cup Q-Final; FA Cup R5, incl. victory v. Tottenham; Stadium expansion announced (3,500 seats).
Last edited by GreyedOutMan; 12-12-2011 at 16:35.
Flynn has been with Hitchin since 2015. Admitted his stats aren't that great, but he has been amazingly consistent.
Quick question. I have enough coaches that every training area has a specialist, and no-one does more than one training area. I even have a couple left over who help out in each area (no idea if this is helpful). My board's recommendations are that I have loads more coaches. I just wanted to know if there was any point? The workload is "light" even with one coach. Am I right in thinking that more coaches is a waste of money? Obviously if I can get BETTER coaches that's different, but MORE coaches.....? In other words, should I add good coaches or replace current ones with better ones if/where possible?