Championship 2021/22 – Season 13

After last seasons fine midtable position, I was hoping to push on and make a play for the playoffs (or at least be closer to the playoffs than relagation) with the bookies even giving me odds of 50-1, though our media prediction was still last.

Though my players quickly quashed any hopes of a play for the playoffs with nearly everyone wanting out: Keeper Galley, Right-Back Balu, Left Back Cardozo, Centre-Backs Diego, Whitbread and Cowling. Right Winger Owen, Midfielders Patterson, Batchelor, Hurrell, Fievet and Strikers Pearson, Mintus and Rankine.

By the end of the season Right-Back Allan, Left-Winger Friar, and Midfielder Gudgeon joined the list of players wanting out.

During the Summer window I didn't receive a single bid for one of the many players who want out or are wanted by someone, though with January approaching I only managed to get Keeper Galley to sign a new contract with Striker Pearson sold to Hibs, Right-Back Balu sold to Millwall and Midfielder Hurrell sold to Partizian, and with no-one willing to offer any money for Caradozo or Fievet they were both poached on free's.

I didn't have a great time bringing in replacements - young Serbian Full-Back Ivan Miladinovic and Czech Striker Petr Kucera were brought in for the future, whilst I loaned a rightback from Leeds, and with most of my strikers injury prone I brought in Striker Whitbread on a free.

I also let various youngsters go out on loan, to get some experience, though my squad is now rather bare so some are going to be thrown in at the deepend.

This season proved to be a mixed bag, we had no consistency, whilst we had the ability on our day to beat anyone in the league if we could be bothered to turn up, the problem was when we didn't turn up we were woeful, having half my team wanting out didn't help the motivation, with the ones not wanting out upset due to a lack of squad harmony.

In the end it was just a case of where midtable we would finish - with seven games left we could neither reach the playoffs nor be relagated, I then gave some of the players who weren't unhappy a chance in the team and in the end we finished a creditable 13th.

Final Table - Rather worrying is the amount of points needed to get out of this league, in any but the last two seasons Forests 97 pts would have been enough for the title.

POS Graph - We just bounced around the midtable positions after a good start.

Snapshot - The cups saw us go out to Premiership sides Arsenal in the Third Round of the Carling Cup after needing an injury time goal to beat Grimsby and a pen in extra-time to beat Notts County.
The FA Cup saw us take Spurs to a replay in the Third Round before some woeful refereing knocked us out - this challenge from Corluka is not even worth a yellow card, but a similar challenge from my defender Diego is worthy of a red card - if anything my chance was more of a clear goalscoring chance than theirs and both should have been red cards :(

Squad - whats left of it.

In Goal Mark Galley had a solid season and his new contract see's him become my top earner.

In Defence Richard Allan was given the rightback spot after Balu left, though of course he now wants to leave, on the left is Jack Ferdinand who is about my only happy player now that he no longer dislikes half my team. Providing cover was young Serbian Ivan Miladinovic, he's not ready for first team football but I don't have anyone else.

In the centre of defence Diego and Mal Thompson are first choice, with Steve Cowling given a chance to impress at the end of the season as Diego wants out, but now Cowling wants out aswell.

In midfield Jamie Cole stepped in for the injured and want away David Owen, and he had a good season until Sunderland wanted him back and upset him. David Owen had a quiet season apart from demanding a transfer, but with no interest he has decided to stay (we'll see how long it is before he wants out again).

The Left wing is the one position apart from goal that I seem fine in Gonzalo Alonso had another fine season as did his understudy Andy Marshall and rather shockingly they are both happy at the club.

The centre of midfield is another matter, Steve Patterson was in fine form, but demanded a move at the end of the season, which saw youngster Ben Wharton given a chance. Partnering them was Harry Gudgeon who stepped in for Keith Hurrell who defected to Serbia in January.

Upfront Captain Sendoa was my top scorer for a record fourth time, with the loss of Pearson in January the striker spot was up for grabs with Matty Rankine and Lewis Mintus the least injury prone of the rest, though it will be no surprise to learn that they both want out aswell.

Best XI and Overall XI - Overall is starting to look better now after a few seasons in the Championship (looks like games in higher leagues are given a lot more weight than the league below, so it'll break again if we ever make it to the Premiership) - with the sale of Pedro and Patterson at the end of the season the odds are rather high that Sendoa will have more appearances than the rest of the team put together soon.

Profile - minor changes, whilst I take it manager knowledge no longer exists apart from your nationality?

Club Info - Not sure what David Owen did last season to get on the favoured panel, whilst our repuation is still Regional but shockingly is better than Leyton Orient's as next season we are no longer expected to finish rockbottom.

Club Facts - our average age actually went up for the first time in ages, whilst we are still outmatched wageswise but not as bad.

Club Stats - we rearly need to cut out some of those mistakes.

Club Facilities - most of my transfer profits have been put towards improving our Facilities, we now have Top Training Facilities (not 20/20 yet as they are being improved again) and Excellent Youth Facilities - which at the end of the season produced my first potential youngsters since the first couple of seasons - a 7star Keeper and a Championship Potential Left Winger, its a shame they are in positions I don't need, hopefully they are the start of a production line as I could do with some squad depth.

So the plan for next season is to see how many players I have left who want to play for me, and then hopefully make a play for the playoffs.

Career Overview
--------------------------------------------------------

2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions
2017/18	League One	3rd	Promoted - Playoffs
2018/19	Championship	21st
2019/20	Championship	21st
2020/21	Championship	14th
2021/22	Championship	13th

Championship 2020/21 – Season 12

So after narrowly avoiding relagation again last season, I was hoping for better this season, my young team has had a year to gel, though the game wasn't giving me much of a chance the board were willing to give me nearly £8m to avoid relagation, though they didn't expect any of the players I bought with that money to be given a wage.

The press also gave us no chance double our odds from 500-1 to 1,000-1 and for the third season in a row we were expected to finish rock bottom and be everyone's wipping boys, even the fans weren't optismistic, with 300 less season tickets sold this season.

The board at least had enough confidence in me to give me a new contract.

Our transfer dealings would be relatively quiet this season, I got rid of the what I hoped was the last of the moaners: Wingers Woolley and Ross finally left both for Scotland, whilst the rest of the signings were mainly players who refused to sign a new contract unless they were a key player - Greek Winger Fotiadis and young midfielders Patterson, Jeffrey, Kearney and Basham wouldn't settle for squad roles and weren't good enough for first choice so they were all sold off.

Transfers in saw the arrival of some promising youngsters, whilst english youngsters Ferdinand and Cole were brought in to provide some depth at left back and right wing. Russian Keeper Astakhov was poached from under the noses of Real Madrid a couple of years ago but I had to wait for him to turn 18 to join us, I'm rather surprised he actually got a work permit at the age of 16 and again when he finally joined I snapped him up on a 5 year contract without a single cap for Russia.

We made a solid start to the season hovering around mid-table, with my defence solid for the most part I adopted a slightly more attacking system - pushed the team mentality up and made my MCa more attacking to create some more chances and goals.

And it worked for the most part when my team turned up, with my MCa causing havoc in the opposition defences, though November did go a little wierd as we managed five 1-1 draws in six games.

In the second half of the season we started to switch off in too many games, mainly due to half my 'loyal' defence declaring they wanted to move to a bigger club after struggling Championship sides and the likes of Basel, Zenit and Cluji (Romania) declared an interest in them.

Having three games postponed in March, saw us fall further down the table and if results went the wrong way we'd be in danger of being dragged into the relagation fight, Stoke being deducted 10pts helped us out and a 4-1 hammering of Norwich followed by a 2-2 draw to Fulham made us safe with five games remaining.

Table - 14th place was a fantastic acheivement and even better we never dropped into the relagation spots even once this season.

Squad - Does anyone else have a problem with most of their players not being worth anything?

Mark Galley stole the #1 Jersey from Pedro as Pedro really struggled this season whilst new signing Dmitry Astakhov is highly rated but not quite ready for first team football.

On defence Romanian Right Back Marian Balu struggled a bit with Richard Allan proving to be a capable understudy.

On the left Omar Cardozo was solid for the most part with new signing Jack Ferdinand providing cover.

In the centre of defence Diego had a disapointing season by his standards not helped by his demands to leave the club and is now transer listed by request, partnering him was vice-Captain Mal Thompson who quite possibly will be my only centre-back next season after my understudies Dave Whitbread and Steve Cowling demanding moves to bigger clubs - I've not even had a chance to play Cowling yet he demands a move to a bigger club after a handful of games, he spent the season loaned out to get some experience, he was called back when Diego got injured starts to show some potential and then demands a move :(

On the Right Winger David Owen was in fine form equaling our assists record from back in League Two, before injury ended his season, providing cover was new signing Jamie Cole.

On the left Gonzalo Alonso had a quieter season with Chris Friar again providing cover.

In the centre of midfield Steve Patterson lost his place to Andy Batchelor after he wanted a transfer, but by the end of the season Batchelor was demanding a move, whilst Patterson was happy at the club.

Helping out the attack was Keith Hurrell who had a fine season until he wanted out, which means that Harry Gudgeon is likely to take his place with Swiss midfielder Gilbert Fievet rewarding my giving him a chance by also wanting out.

Upfront we were given a boost when for some reason Bristol City decided not to make Promising Striker Kevin Pearson's loan permanent and he hit some fine form after a slow start ending up my top scorer, though he spent the entire season wanting a move to a bigger club, forgetting he signed a new contract with me at the end of last season when no-one was interested in him, and rather interestingly he is the only player I have who is actually worth something (£1.4m at the moment). My Captain Sendoa had a good season aswell.

With the rest of my strike force being rather injury prone, Record signing Lewis Mintus was the only one to manage a meaningful number of appearances.

Best XI - it's currently looking like only Thompson, Owen and Sendoa will still be here by September.

Snapshot - Accrington rather embrassingly beat us in extra in the first round of the Carling Cup, whilst luck was against us against Man City in the FA Cup.

Moneywise we are in trouble, we lost £5m this season from last seasons transfers, not sure where the board were going to get the ~£8m they were offering me.

Manager Profile - knowledge still not returning.

Club Info - Still Regional reputation, and it is no surprise that next season we are again predicted to finish bottom of the league, whilst its a joke that my squad personality is listed as loyal.

On the plus side the board have upgraded our Training facilites to Top and our youth to Good.

We also gained the Overachievers tag for the first time in the Championship.

And my sponsorship deal finally increased.

So the plan for next season is to see how many players I am left with, and to hopefully make a play for the playoffs.


Career Overview
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2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions
2017/18	League One	3rd	Promoted - Playoffs
2018/19	Championship	21st
2019/20	Championship	21st
2020/21	Championship	14th

Championship 2019/20 – Season 11

So after narrowly avoiding relagation last season, any hopes of climbing the table this season were quickly dashed when nearly my entire team declared their intentions to move to a bigger club, regardless of whether anyone else wanted them or not :(

Last season was barely over before midfielder Tom Ruddy demanded a move, that was followed by both my left wingers Coleman and Woolley demanding moves, quickly followed by my remaining right winger Ross, star Striker Ellison and Promising Strkier Pearson all demanding moves aswell, we then came full circle as my only left back Holsgrove demanded a move as did centre-back Dootson and then my right back Gray demanded a move after just signing a new contract in July and recovering from a broken leg. I also sold off some youngsters who didn't develop or refused to sign a new contract.

So I added an extra £10m onto the £8m I raised last season and with my socuts scouring Europe for U18 good/leading Premiership youngsters I went about rebuilding my team, the irony being that most of my signings came from the youth teams of Premiership clubs, good Europe players are out there they just don't want to play for me.

With a new young inexperienced team we didn't get off to the best of starts losing nine of our opening ten league games.

With the tactics based on the tactics forum not working, I switched back to my old style of tactics - leave everything on team settings and tweak for the person.

I set up a defensive counter-attacking 4-4-2, with low creative freedom, with the MCd set as slightly more defensive, the MCa more attacking and gave the MCa and Wingers some more creative freedom, upfront I dropped the closing down to create some space and upped the mentality of the fast striker.

The tactical change seemed to work we were playing better and creating chances winning the next four of five games.

We quickly pulled ourselves of the bottom of the table and out of relagation, however we just couldn't put together any sort of run - if we were up for the game we'd win, if we didn't turn up we'd struggle.

A good February saw us win three games from six, but after that we seriously struggled, we claimed spirited home draws against Newcastle, Fulham and Norwich, but we fell apart away with both Swansea and bottom side Burnley putting four goals past us.

After defeat to Burnley we were five points above relagation with four games to go, a 1-1 home draw to Bolton left us five points clear with three games remanining, and that just left us Watford and Coventry fighting to avoid the last relagation spot.

Our next game was away to Coventry, a win for us would see us safe, but Coventry were determined not to go down, and despite a fine defensive performance Coventry claimed a winner in the 84th minute to leave it looking like we were heading back to League One.

However if we could win our last home game of the season against Nottm Forest we'd be safe and in the end a 19th minute goal from Lewis Mintus was enough to secure our Championship survival for another season :)

Table - we again finished 21sth, but with two extra points on last season. Whilst Gillingham managed to throw away the automatic promotion spot on the last day. Our eary form didn't help and the bookies seemed to be correct about our odds.

Squad - Only three of my players have played a full season before this Pedro, Patterson and Captain Sendoa.

In Goal new signing Mark Galley proved to be good competition for Pedro.

My new look defence saw Romanian Marian Balu claim the right back spot after Jai Gray left with Peter Reeves and new signing Richard Allan competing for it as well.

On the left Omar Cardozo was signed from Arsenal and is my only left back, with cover being provided by loanees.

In the centre of defence Spanish Defender Diego took command and was in fine form, only spoiled by him demanding a transfer at the end of the season. Partnering him was vice-captain Mal Thompson and new signing Dave Whitbread.

My new look midfielder saw another Arsenal player on the right winger David Owen, with cover being provided by Greek youngster Giorgos Fotiadis, on the left wing was signing of the season and fans player of the year Gonzalo Alonso who was signed on a free from Sevilla, providing cover was Chris Friar who was signed from Man City.

In the middle Steve Patterson provided the experience, whilst Keith Hurrell was the creative spark of the side after being signed from Portsmouth for £1.4m, providing cover was english youngsters Andy Batchelor and Harry Gudgeon, along with promising Swiss midfielder Gilbert Fievet.

Upfront Sendoa lead the line with new signings Lewis Mintus, Richard Burge and Tim Williams impressing.

Best XI - from the starting XI only Striker Sendoa has played more than one seasons worth of games for me.

Snapshot - we went out of both cups to North East sides Middlesbrough and Newcastle - Boro needed a late goal to beat us 3-2 whilst Newcastle held on to beat us 1-0 after having their Keeper sent off.

Manager Profile - the new patch wiped all of my knowledge and it doesn't want to come back :( - this happened to anyone else?

Club Info - still only regional reputation, whilst the media prediction of last in our second season shows our reputation is quite a bit lower than everyone elses, considering next season we are expected to finish last again. At least the board put some money towards improving our facilities they are now rated Good and Average, though I could do with getting away from Gigg Lane as the pitch is awful.

Club Facts - An average age of 19 at least means my players can only get better if they stay that is, whilst wage wise we are still out of our depth.


So the plan for next season is to try and keep hold of my players and hopefully start to climb the table.

One thing I couldn't resist was appointing old rivals Merthyr as my feeder club when offered, as the withdrawlal of their tycoon bankrupted them.

Career Overview
--------------------------------------------------------

2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions
2017/18	League One	3rd	Promoted - Playoffs
2018/19	Championship	21st
2019/20	Championship	21st

Championship 2018/19 – Season 10

So after somehow winning the League One playoffs last season we find ourselves in the Championship.

Where we will be up against 18 ex-premiership sides, the expectations as always is to avoid relegation with the board helpfully giving me £85K to it with :(

Things quickly got worse when my entire defence declared their intentions to leave the club.

Transfers

Whilst my scouts went searching across Europe for a new defence, I went about selling off the unhappy or unneeded players to raise funds, the sale of Peter Tanner to Barnsley for £1m raised enough funds to stregthen the team not that my scouts could find that many good players interested in signing for me (or with wage demands I could afford).

When January came around the loss of two first teamers at least raised a fair bit of money - Spanish Winger Jose Manuel Ramos joined Bolton for £2.5m, he wasn't that much of a loss as he'd spent the whole season so far injured, the loss of centre-back David Robertson was a blow though he was by far my best defender though the ~£5m Dinamo gave me for him made up for it in part.

So with a couple of million in the bank I could finally afford some premiership potential youngsters, though again my scouts struggled to find quality players in Europe (this doesn't seem to be my scouts fault, it looks like they only bother to report back on people who have some interest in signing for me, manual scouting reveals better players but with no intention to sign for me, hopefully our reputation will increase enough for us to attract some better players) a record £2m was spent on young WBA striker Tim Williams, unfortantley he got injured in a reserve game and would miss the entire season (well he came back for the last two games)

The season got off to a good start, largly due to our home form where we were unbeaten until November, however our away form was woeful only managing our first away win in November also, with our second away win coming against Fierce rivals Leeds.

Though with my entire defence wanting out and then not turning upto games we found ourselves in trouble and sliding down the table suffering 7 one goal defeats in a row during December and January sent us into the relegation spots.

Another losing streak this time four games in February had looked to have killed any fight left, especially when it ended with a 4-0 mauling by league leaders Barnsley.

However we breathed some life into our chances by beating Stoke 3-2 at thanks to youngster Scott Gerrard grabbing two goals from the bench, he then came off the bench in the next two games to grab the winner in each against Gillingham and in our last and third away win at Fulham.

We then looked to have undone our good work when we could only claim two hard fought home draws against Bristol City and Crystal Palace and away defeats to MK Dons and a hammering from Southampton left us with two games left one point above Stoke, but at least Blackpool and MK Dons had already cliamed the other two relegation spots, whilst Coventry and Ipswich were the only teams above us in danger of relegation.

So the 45th game of the season would see us play Fierce Rivals Leeds at home and with Stoke losing earlier in the day to Ipswich a victory would keep us in the Championship, and yet again my team were up for some Leeds bashing, Captain Sendoa opening the scoring just before half-time and Tom Ruddy added a second in injury time, to give us our third 2-0 victory over Leeds in three games and more importantly kept us in the Championship :)

Final Table and Positions - we really need to improve our away form next season, if I actually had players who wanted to play for me we would have done a lot better, there was only a couple of games we were outclassed in - 14 of our defeats we by just one goal, a few more clean sheets or goals would have made a lot of difference.

Squad - Keeper Pedro played the entire season and had a solid season, with my want away defence not helping him out - right back Jai Gray started well but when he demanded a move he switched off and was dropped before breaking his leg, he did in the end sign a new contract in July, though if anyone does ever make a bid for him he is gone, with Gray out my two young Irish right backs Peter Reeves and Arron Hilton were given a chance, though with them both struggling is the main reason why I let Gray stay.

Left back proved to be more of a problem Ross Birch was solid until he demanded a move and then he fell apart on the pitch, he was replaced by Graham Holsgrove who did well until he also fell apart after demanding a move :(

In the centre of defence with the loss of David Robertson in January, it fell to Mal Thompson to fill his shoes, and he filled them admirably winning fans player of the year. Partnering him was George Dootson who started moaning at the start of the season, was quiet enough when no one wanted him to sign a new contract, but towards the end of the season starting moaning again, so I gave my young Spanish Centre-back Diego a chance.

In Midfield with Ramos injured then sold it was chance for Tamer Ross to claim the right wing position, however he had a poor season capped off by his demands to leave at the end of the season, providing cover was Mark Metcalf not highly rated by my staff but was solid when used.

Also at the end of the season both my left wingers Colin Coleman and Lawrie Woolley demanded to leave the club.

In the centre of midfield Steve Patterson was solid as ever and is being pushed hard by new signing Andy Batchelor, partnering them was Tom Ruddy who had a good season until he too demanded a transfer towards the end of the season.

My Strikers struggled this season against Championship defences, Captain Sendoa plugged away ending up top scorer with 8 goals, his partner Steve Ellison had a disapointing season though he did get himself a Welsh cap and at the end of the season he shockingly demanded a transfer, we were then hit by my other Welsh Striker Kevin Pearson demanding a move to a bigger club after just 18 months at the club, at least one of my new signings brigthened things up youngster Stuart Gerrard bought from Barnsley for £90K, proved to be something of a supersub finishing second top scorer with 7 games from mainly sub appearances.

Best XI - from the first XI there only Sendoa, Patterson, Thompson and Pedro don't want out.

Snapshot - The cups didn't provide much luck again, we took Hull to a replay in the FA Cup Third Round, in the Carling Cup we beat Oldham before falling to Spurs.

Manager Profile - minor changes to my attributes, whilst at the end of the season for some reason the game wiped all of my manager knowledge?

Manager Info - My 500th game saw us lose to bottom club Blackpool :(

Club Info, Club Facts showing how out matched we are in the Championship.

One good thing about the Championship is the money, for the first time ever I got more prize money than the squad bonus cost me.

With my scouts out scouring Europe for talent my knowledge increases, though is it just me or do the scouts seem to take longer in FM09? I like the roaming feature, saves me having to remember to send them out again.

At the end of the season you'd think we'd been relegated with all the demands to leave the club I got :(

So the plan for next season is too first see how many players I have left who want to play for the club, then rebuild and try and avoid relegation.


Career Overview
--------------------------------------------------------

2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions
2017/18	League One	3rd	Promoted - Playoffs
2018/19	Championship	21st

League One 2017/18 – Season 9

So after winning League One last season we finally returned to League One.

The boards expectations were to avoid relagation, and with them giving me no money to do that I'd have to rely upon the youngster I already had at the club.

Fortantley my team didn't find the stepup to hard this season with a fine start seeing us play with the pacesetters, in the end though Norwich and Southampton proved too strong and quickly opened up a massive lead at the top, leaving me and Crewe to fight it out for third and fourth.

A 13 game unbeaten run at the end of the season saw us claim a playoff spot with games to spare, however we couldn't catch Norwich who were the only team with a better run than us - 21 games unbeaten, but even they couldn't catch Southampton who even with the loss of their star striker in January held on to win the title.

So we'd be left with the playoffs where my record so far wasn't great (rather annoying the 90 league points we got would have been enough for automatic promotion any other season and the title in all but two).

The playoffs drew us against Sheff Wed and after a 1-1 draw in the first leg we outplayed Wednesday at home in the second leg to win 2-0, thanks to a man of the match performance from Steve Patterson who scored only his second goal for the club and claimed an assist for the other goal.

The final brought us up against Crewe who we'd spent fighting all season fighting in the league, and the tie was to be decided by a cruel goal in the 13th minute - Coleman sent in a woeful corner to the near post, where two Crewe defenders, the Crewe Keeper and my Striker McMahon all went for the ball, the Keeper missed it and one of the Crewe players attempted to clear the ball only to see the ball hit the Keepers back and roll backwards into the goal :)

Somehow we now find ourselves playing Championship football next season.

Final Table - Promotion was down to our impressive defence we set a new record for least goals conceeded (not that the game records that stat) keeping 30! clean sheets in the process.

Squad - Keeper Ryan Dawson started the season off as first choice, due to Pedro missing the first two months due to injury, though both were impressive this season as I rotated through them with nearly identical stats.

In defence ex-Arsenal youngster George Dootson became the fourth part of my impressive young defence partnering David Robertson in the middle with fullbacks Jai Gray and Ross Birch.

In midfield Jose Manuel Ramos kept himself relatively injury free on the right wing, on the left Colin Coleman again struggled with injuries, with Irish youngster Lawrie Woolley providing cover.

In central midfield Tom Ruddy got the nod over Peter Tanner to partner Steve Patterson, with Spanish youngster Carlos Soria providing cover.

Upfront Sendoa and Ellison continued their fine partnership, easily beating the 6 goals my top scorer had last time I was in League One, they both even managed to score more goals than last season, with Ellison ending up Top Scroer for League One and Sendoa breaking the clubs league appearance record. Providing cover were two new signings Micah McMahon and promising youngster Kevin Pearson who becomes the first player I have to gain the Promising tag.

Best XI - about right, Overall XI though is well and truly broken.

Snapshot - the Cups didn't go all that well this season - Oldham hammered us in the Paint Trophy, whilst we narrowly lost to Leicester in the League Cup, the FA Cup saw us beat Rochdale 3-2, before crashing to a 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield.

Manager Profile - I pick up some more random knowledge of the world.

Club Infomation - Clubs reputation finally rises to Regional.

So the Championship is going to be fun, we have no real spare money and I'm on the verge of losing several first teamers - Ross Birch, David Robertson, George Dootson, Jai Gray (yes my entire first team defence) and Jose Manuel Ramos all want moves to bigger clubs so they can win trophys, forgetting that we have just climbed from League Two to the Championship in two seasons. And with all but Birch's contracts running out at the end of next season I now have the tough choice of keeping them and hoping they sign a contract rather than be poached for nothing, or sell them and leave myself with half a team :(

Career Overview
--------------------------------------------------------

2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions
2017/18	League One	3rd	Promoted - Playoffs

League Two 2016/17 – Season 8

So after losing in the playoffs in the last two seasons, I was running out of chances to gain promotion, luckily the board weren't bothered and offered me a new three year contract with the expectation of promotion again.

One initial problem I had this season was the fact that most of the teams contracts were due to expire at the end of the season and nearly everyone wanted £1K-£2K wages p/w and to be a key player - which would bankrupt us and cause the squad harmony to plumment (if it could that was).

Whilst I was busy trying to sign my players onto new contacts without going bankrupt, my chairman dealt us another blow by selling my vice-captain and possibly best player John Simpson to Bolton for £425K :( (at least he included a sell on clause, so we gained another ~£300K when bolton sold him for to Birmingham for £3m at the end of the season)

Transfers out also saw the sale of several other squad players who wanted too much money to stay at the club, though this did leave me rather under strength - I brought in defenders Holsgrove and Dootson to provided some cover in defence, the rest of my signings were promising youngsters for the future - with young Welsh Striker Derek Bowes looking promising, whilst midfielder Carl Day arrived due to my reputation turning down Championship sides Soton and Ipswich.

We were further fit later on in the season when my star defender David Robertson randomly demanded a transfer :(

Even with all our off the pitch problems (squad harmony again hit the bottom with players demanding first team football regardless of whether they were playing or not - it finally went at the end of the season when I got down to one unhappy player, seems more than one unhappy player triggers a revolt) we finally clicked on the pitch and were living upto our potential even embarking on an FA Cup run.

We overcame local rivals Oldham 2-1 in the first round, setting up a Second Round tie away to Sheff Wed, where I was quite happy to just take home the gate reciepts, but with Wednesday reduced to 10men just after half-time we sniffed blood and Christie managed to bring us level after 70mins, before Young Welsh Striker Jay White scored an unlikely winner in the last minute after just coming on.

This set up a Third round tie at home to fierce rivals Premiership Leeds and saw Leeds hand us a famous cupshock, after they were reduced to 9 men before half-time, my second string took full advantage (I was fully expecting to be hammered) winning 2-0!!!

This then set up a Fourth Round tie at home to Man City our other rivals (we have now taken on Liverpool, Leeds and Man City, just Chelsea left from our rivals to play), however they'd be no fairy tale ending money bags Man City proved too strong for us we survived until just after the half-hour when three goals in nine minutes ended the tie.

On the plus side the money from the cup run boosted our finances (and hopefully means my chairman wont sell anymore players) the slight disadvantage was it caused several league games to be postponed - this allowed Burnley to catch us up at the top of the league, but we had two games in hand - they'd managed to wipe out the six point lead we obtained over Christmas by beating title rivals Burnley and Oxford.

Me and Burnley quickly pulled away from everyone else and we claimed a playoff spot after 38 games, claiming an automatic promotion spot after our next game - Burnley were doing their best to keep pace with us and were only six points behind but we still had a game in hand.

We finally claimed the title after 42 games, and claimed the title with a record breaking 99 points, in the end the league proved too easy this season, we were top for pretty the whole season, with me claiming Manager of the Year.

Squad - player stars updated at the end of the season for League One.

Pedro was again a rock in goal, with Ryan Dawson again rotating with him.

In defence Jai Gray pretty much owned the rightback spot, on the left Ross Birch was also a rock, with new signing Graham Holsgrove providing cover.

In the centre of defence David Robertson was outstanding and I really don't want to lose him, partnering him was Timothy van der Meuelen, though new signing George Dootson is pushing for his place.

On the right wing Jose Manuel Ramos and Tamer Ross continued to rotate, as both aren't very fit, though Ramos demanding a transfer at the end of the season isn't helping. On the left Colin Coleman is my only left winger, so him spending half the season injured didn't help and saw me bring several players in on loan.

In the middle of the field, the loss of John Simpson gave Peter Tanner and Tom Ruddy a chance to impress, not that either them cemented their place in the first XI, it was left to Steve Patterson to control the midfield with young Spanish Midifielder Carlos Soria providing cover - I now have 14 players who can play MC so its not like I'm short of options, has anyone else noticed that there seems to be loads of DM,MC players?

Upfront Sendoa and Steve Ellison continued their fine partnership, with Ellison becoming only the second player to score 25 goals in a season for FC Utd. Providing cover was Scottish Striker Craig Christie.

Best XI

Snapshot - Carling Cup and Paint Trophy didn't go well, and I hope the board give me some money next season or at least increase the wage budget otherwise we'll be coming straight back down again.

Manager Profile and Club Infomation

A rather interesting thing I came across this season, was the appearance of a random Dutch gray player in my U18's?

So the plan for next season is to not come straight back down now I've won League Two I have no desire to be in their again, I've also got to try and keep hold of my players with Gray, Robertson and Ramos all demanding transfers, not sure what trophys they'll win at struggling Championship sides?


Career Overview
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2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th
2016/17	League Two	1st	Promoted - Champions

League Two 2015/16 – Season 7

After last seasons playoff final defeat I'd need to pick my players up and see if we could grab an automatic promotion spot this season, as being in League Two is not helping my finances at all.

The board again were wanting promotion but weren't willing to give me any money or wages to do it, and our promotion hopes were not helped by my chairman selling my left back for £400K :( - Which is just wrong for FC Utd, the only thing that softens the blow is that it was 20 times his value and the money will keep the club out of the red for the season.

Other Transfers out saw me cull the squad as the wage bill needed reducing before I could sign anyone.

Transfers in wise we were relatively quiet - Ross Birch arrived to cover left back, Dutch Centre-Back van der Meulen was signed to bring in some experience, whilst in Jan my Assistant Manager recommended Trindad Striker Anthony Jeffrey who arrived for £100K - but he didn't have much of a chance to impress getting injured 20 minutes into his debut, he then got injured 18 minutes into his second appearance and 3 minutes into his third appearance :(

In the end injures would play their part in destroying our season - we got off to a bad start in the league, but some more tweaking of my tactics inspired my team as we quickly made our way up the table and into the playoffs, but our poor start left us to far behind the top times and as we reached december squad harmony randomly plummented - with the only problems being a couple of players wanting out but having to wait until Jan to actually move and other players being unhappy due to lack of squad harmony, but it didn't actually affect our on pitch form and we continued to try and chase down the top teams - which lead to more problems my players became overconfident due to our good form, and then the game started to hack down my attacking players, but despite our best efforts the top teams just wouldn't drop any points and we'd have to settle for 4th place and the lottery of the playoffs again.

The playoffs would draw us against league favourties Huddersfield and with several players missing due to injury and international duty (why are home nation youth international games played with the playoffs???) Huddersfield claimed a 2-1 first leg victory.

The Second Leg didn't go much better, an awful first half saw Huddersfield take a two goal lead, two late goals made it even on the night but we just couldn't find a third to force extra-time :(

Table - considering the start we had 4th place was a miracle, whilst yet again the team that poached a playoff spot on the last day claims promotion, with Huddersfield collasping in the second half of the season.

Squad - Keepers Dawson and Pedro continued to rotate, through Pedro chipped in with 5 assists and rather interestingly from the stats would either keep a clean sheet or conceed two goals.

In defence Jai Gray had a solid season at right back, whilst Academy player Gary Smith provided cover, on the left new signing Ross Birch made up for the loss of Artoumian.

In the centre of defence young Irish defender David Robertson was a rock and has the potential to be a quality player I just hope I can keep hold of him, and he struck up a fine partnership with new signing ex-Ajax youngster Timothy van der Meulen, who makes a nice change from my old defender Christophe not picking up a single booking. Providing cover was Mark Fitzpatrick, who did well but struggled to displace my first choice centrebacks.

In midfield Right Winger Jose Manuel Ramos's season was cut short by injury, but luckily Tamer Ross stepped in so he wasn't missed whilst on the left Colin Coleman got the nod with some fine form.

In the centre of midfield John Simpson and Steve Patterson continued their fine partnership.

Upfront saw Steve Ellison settle in following his £350K move from Merthyr last season and he ended up my top scorer forming a fine partnership with club captain Sendoa. Cover for these two is proving a problem new signing Jay White (signed from Merthyr for £6K) was the best of the rest, mainly because my other strikers were fairly injury prone - Scottish Striker Craig Christie, Irish Striker Danny Joyce and Trindad Striker Anthony Jeffrey all struggled to stay fit.

Best XI

Snapshot - the Carling Cup and Paint Trohpy didn't go well, but the FA Cup went a lot better - we beat Grimsby and Macclesfield before making the trip to Anfield to play Liverpool in the Third Round, rather annoyingly the press expected us to beat them (due to being fierce rivals) we put up a good fight but Liverpool took there chances whilst we didn't and a 4-1 defeat was a little hard on us, but at least the money from that game kept us out of the red for another season.

Manager Profile - no real change, still getting linked in the press to ever championship job.

Club Info - again no change.

Club facts - still only got an average age of 20, mainly due to the fact that we can not compete wage wise with the other teams, and if we don't get promotion soon we will be in real problem as we aren't making any money at all.

Squad Harmony randomly hovering between Poor and Very Poor for no reason isn't helping.

I was cheered up by the fact that Merthyr finally won promotion to League Two only for their Chairman to withdraw his money leaving them bankrupt (and unable to sell players due to the silly wages they are on) Notts County also saw their funds withdrawn aswell which should level the field a little.

Career Overview
--------------------------------------------------------

2009/10	Blue Square North	1st	Promoted - Champions
2010/11	Blue Square Prem	5th	Playoff Final
2011/12	Blue Square Prem	1st	Promoted - Champions
2012/13	League Two	2nd	Promoted
2013/14	League One	24th	Relegated
2014/15	League Two	6th
2015/16	League Two	4th