FMHi11: Frog's back and he's gone mobile!
 

Okay, I've done some reporting of my career in FM Handheld for iDevice (iPod Touch in my case) in the game's thread on the general forum but I figured I needed a more localized spot to rant, vent, cry for joy or simply cry. See, as I've always done, I started my career as a manager at Luton Town, now playing in the Blue Square Bet Premiere Conference. The board is expecting us to mount a serious challenge to win the league title but we've had a kind of rough start to the season. After 11 matches, we were sitting in the bottom half of the table with a record of only 3 wins, 4 draws and 4 losses. Things have rebounded in the last 5 matches where we have gone on a sort of scoring spree. During that 5 match run, we've won three (5-0, 4-2, 4-0), have drawn one 4-4 but the one kicker is our last loss, to then 2nd place Rushden, 3-4 on an 89th minute goal, after being ahead by a couple goals early in the game.

Following that loss, I've seen that I'm now the only one listed with an insecure job. Woah, 16 games in, this could be my shortest stint of all time!

Okay, enough drama. I think (hope!) I can turn things around. I've brought in some new players and if the squad can only gel a little, as they seem to show they are doing now by scoring boat loads of goals, we should be fine.

Same disclaimer as always, I don't know how often I'll update here. I want a spot where I can talk about the squad, its ups and downs, and about the game too. Don't think I've seen a dynasty about the handheld version of the game, although I must say it's been a long while since I've visited in here.

I plan on using the ease of taking screenshots to report, so here are a few in attachments to help you follow who's who.

The date is October 23, 2010 and our next match is an FA Cup 4th round qualifying match, away at Havant & Waterlooville, a Blue Square South side.

We usually play a 4-4-2 diamond formation and I tweak between attacking and balanced depending if we're at home or away.

Three of our four free transfers are regular starters for us. Jeffers has been hurt for about a month but will go right back to his spot at SC once he's ready. Walker can be great in goal but he's also been prone to collapsing late in games. I've had a little talk with him, in private, where I criticised his play in our latest match (the 3-4 loss to Rushden). My assistant is telling me he reacted positively to it. We'll see. Hughes is just the quarterback I needed in the DMC spot. Smart is a solid backup that has seen spot duty as a starter.

Of the two loaners, Vallés has been hurt but was having a monster year before that. He just got back in the lineup and I expect him to push us forward a lot. Bowman as stepped in as a replacement for Jeffers at SC and will serve a backup role when he comes back.

Here goes nothing, I'll be back later to talk to myself some more. :)

FM

October 23, 2010
Gah, played H & W to a scoreless draw. Frustrating is the fact that we couldn't put one of our 7 shots on target, after scoring at will for five matches, but we also lost two players for our replay in a few days. Winger Andy Drury twisted his knee and will miss two weeks while DC Besta is suspended for a match with too many yellow cards.

All in all, we probably should have won, as we dominated in most aspects, we just couldn't pull it off away from home. Hopefully playing back home in the replay will give us the push we need...

FM

October 27, 2010
Okay, that was more like it. Up 1-0 after only 2 minutes, 4-0 atfer 26, we're on our way to win the replay easily, 5-0. We put 8 of our 10 shots on target in that game and win possession 55-45. Adam Murray who was growing frustrated of not playing with the first team a brace scores two and George Pilkington, who was also pissed at not starting, does well in the DC spot.

I did comment negatively in public toward striker Taiwo Atieno. He'd had games rated at 9 for 4 games and dipped to a 7 in our 0-0 draw. It probably paid off as he was the one to score our first goal after only 2 minutes of play.

Claude Gnakpa, who feels like an old blanket to me now in the sense that he's always been a Hatter for all the career's I've started over the years, going back to FM2005, got the Man of the Match with a rating of 10.

This win has had a very positive boost to overall club morale. Hopefully it'll help us in league play. That's something we've had trouble getting up, our morale.

FM

October 30, 2010
We beat 16th place Fleetwood convincingly, 3-1. AMC Adam Murray continues his excellent play, getting a second 10 rated game in a row and the MoM. We pu 9 of 15 shots on target. We now have the 4th best run of form in the league for the last 6 matches.

November 2, 2010
I was the runner-up for best manager in the Blue Square Premier in October and my job is not insecure anymore.

The board now feel I should be performing slightly better but they say our recent form gives them a glimmer of hope. Let's up we can keep it up...

Huhoh, Enric Vallés' loan contract ends and he returns to Birmingham. He really helped us early on at the left wing spot before getting injured and missing 3 weeks. I usually don't do 3 months loans. Guess I was desperate in that case. We'll have make do as we did when he was injured. Birmingham have rejected a request to reloan the player.

November 6, 2010
We beat Gateshead 2-0 in a match of the 1st round of the FA Cup. They're also a Blue Square Premier side. We put 6 of our shots on target and would have scored more if not for their keeper's MoM performance.

November 9, 2010
We play 3rd place Crawley to a 3-3 draw after being ahead 3-1 after 52 minutes. This is frustrating since we were 7 points behind them before the match, despite us sitting in a lowly 10th place on the table. We controlled possession but I've yet to find the right tactic to end games correctly. Bally Smart played in Vallés' left wing spot and got rated at 10 for his performance. Old man Kevin Gallen started for tired Adam Murray in the AMC spot and scored a couple.

FM

November 20, 2010
We play 10th place Cambridge at home as we've had the habit of doing lately, we jump to a 1-0 lead only 2 minutes into the game. They tie the game 2-2 just as the second half starts but we regain the lead in the 71st minute. Still looking for a way for us not to bleed away a lead, I try a 5-3-2 defensive formation that you can see in the attachment, bringing in veteran George Pilkington as a third centreback. We really controlled the game from that moment on and even added a fourth goal to win the game 4-2. Their keeper had a 4 rated match while Andy Murray records his 3rd 10 rated match in his last 5 appearances, collecting his second MoM in the sequence.

We're now the ones sitting in 10th place after that win, still not so great but we're now only 4 points from the playoffs line.

New twist on the confidence report. The board still think I should be performing slightly better but they also add that they are monitoring the mood amongst the players in the squad.

Hrm, let's boost them up a bit, I give a positive talk to the media about Andy Murray. Three 10 rated matches in the last five sure deserve a bit of praise. The day after, my assistant reports that Murray appeared especially motivated during the morning's training session. Good! :)

Next up, a quick roundup of the squad, position by position.

FM

The squad is attached below, as they were selected for our last match.

The Keepers
37yo Jimmy Walker is our starter for the time being. As I said before, he can do greay and not so great things, sometimes in the span of a few minutes. He'll have to do for now as Mark Tyler really wasn't up for the task before Walker joined the team.

The Defenders
Jake Howells started as our left fullback and that kinda angered Fred Murray a bit until I gave him a chance. Murray's been much more solid but is not a long term solution there.

Keith Keane is our current right fullback but can play many positions (DMC and MR). He was our starter at DMC before Hughes was acquired. Claude Gnakpa and Ed Asafu Adjaye could play that spot too but Keane is a great playmaker from the back.

Pavel Besta and Zdenek Kroca are two very good centrebacks for our level of play. Surprisingly enough, Kroca is lethal with his headers from corners, showing with 5 goals already on the season. George Pilkington is our main backup at the position.

The Midfielders
Stephen Hughes is not a pure DMC per se but he is our best center midfielder by a long shot. He's done REALLY well for us since joing the thing a little after the start of the season. Keith Keane could play there as could also Godrey Poku but he's very fringe and has yet to record an appearance this season.

At the AMC spot, I've gone with a sort of rotation between Adam Murray, Kevin Gallen and even Andy Drury at times. While Murray is very hot at the moment, Gallen has had some moments of brilliance too.

On the outside, Claude Gnakpa is not a real pure winger but he is infatigable and so allows me to make other subs as the game winds down. He's also been very steady in his form since I've put him to work on the wing from the early fullback position I had him playing in. On the left, as I said, we had Enric Vallés for a while but Andy Drury has played really well there too. Bally Smart is rounding up a good trio of wingers. I might like some more depth there as I'm not too sure Adam Newton would cut it over a long period of time. Kevin Gallen can play the wing too but he's slow as a turtle (pace=4) and tires simply at looking a the grass between him and the backline (stamina=4) so I will only use him for spot duty there.

The Strikers
Francis Jeffers was brought in as a possible goal supplier for our offense but when he went down with injury, it's little known Taiwo Atieno who stepped up. He's been huge for us and stands in the top 8 in the league for average rating. Ryan Bowman is a loanee and while he can find the back of the net, he also takes whole games off. Sort of the same can be said for Danny Crow. One I had kind of dismissed but that has great shooting and pace is Matthew Barnes-Homer. My keeping him out of the lineup has made him pissed off and he's requested to be transfer listed, a request that I accepted although I will probably give him a bit more playing time in the coming weeks.

There they are, your 2010 Hatters! :)

FM

Fantastic stuff - really enjoying it and its interesting seeing how someone plays the game ... (always fascinated to get an inside track on someone playing one of my games :D).

cool, an MV sighting! Welcome aboard, hope you enjoy the ride. :)

So far, I really like the game. Simpler, not as tough on my obsessive-compulsive self, yet just as immersive, at least in my opinion. I can play it sitting on my very comfortable couch and yet I still pump my fist in the air when we score. Gotta keep my cursing between my teeth though. Don't want the lady shooting too many of these "eyes as daggers" kind of looks. :)

FM

November 27, 2010
FA Cup 1st round, we play Rushden. It's kind of a lucky draw as there are very few Conference sides left and more and more League 1 and 2 entering the draw.

Really rough start as we go down 0-2 after 30 minutes. We claw one back and it's 1-2 at the half. GK Walker and DL are having a rough match at that point, both of them rating at 5.

Second half is much better and we tie the game at 2 a piece right after the break and we hold on for the draw. Kinda disappointing that we again couldn't put them away.

Claude Gnakpa got the MoM with the equalizer and a match rating of 9.

Prior to the match, George Pilkington requested to be transfer listed, saying he had been unfairly left out of the starting lineup. I reject his request. He's my main backup at the centreback spot.

One thing's interesting, the game must not think I have brought enough players as my "transfer acumen" rating has dipped one point, from 10 to 9. The team board seems okay with the transfers I've done though, as their confidence in that matter sits right at about the 50% mark.

FM

First, just wanna say that I enjoy your work FgM, past and present.

How does viewing a game work in FM Handheld? 2D? Or just commentary?

first off, thanks. :) Nice to see people from the old times.

Viewing games is commentary with highlights in 2D although you can choose to go with commentary only. For the 2D, you have the choice between full pitch where you see the whole pitch (duh) horizontally and zoomed in where you see only one end of the field, vertically. I'll take a couple screenshots when I'll play ou next game later on.

FM

Excellent, thanks for the reply!

November 30, 2010
We play 15th place Barrow at home. I give the start at striker to Matthew Barnes-Homer, hoping his blaxing speed will spark something in our attack. We dominate possession for most of the game but just can't get away from them. We finally get a 2-1 lead in the 83rd minute and I pull the guys back to our defensive 5-3-2 formation only to see our opponents put one back in. Final score: 2-2.

Gah, 57% possession, we outshot them 10-5 (but only 4-3 on target) yet we couldn't put the game away, even on our home pitch. Adam Drury got another MoM.

You can see a couple screenshots of how the 2D matche engine looks in the handheld version of FM. As much as they look to be about the same sequence, they are from two different corner, as you can see from the minute count inbetween the team scores. :) The screenshot taking process does had some jaggedness so it doesn't look as bad in game. I used to play in zoomed pitch but have reverted back to the full pitch setting as I felt it gives me a better overall feel as to how the whole team is playing.

December 1, 2010
Hrm, the board is still disappointed with my management of the team and they keep monitoring the mood amongst the players of the squad.

December 4, 2010
Oh crap, as I head to the stadium for our FA Cup replay against Rushden, I read that a rumour has surfaced that the Luton Town team board are shortlisting managers as possible replacements. :(

To help make things better (not!) goalkeeper Jimmy Walker bruises his head in training and will miss a week. Looks like Mark Tyler will have to play a bit...

Trying to jig things up, I interact with a couple players. I have private talks with Jeffers and Keane while I publicly criticizes Striker Taiwo Atieno for his lack of production in the last couple weeks.

The match is a tough one which we do win, 2-1. Got the feeling we got dominated and shouldn't have won it to be honest. They outshot us 10-9 (7-4 on target) but it looked worse in game. Atieno did respond well to the criticism, scoring the winning goal late in the game and getting the MoM. We will play League One Southampton in the 3rd round.

December 5, 2010
Well, Atieno might have played well yesterday but my assistant reports that while he reported for this morning's training session, he was rather lax in his commitment during the session.

FM

December 8, 2010
We play 7th place Darlington. We are currently in 12th place but still only 5 points from 5th place, the last spot to be in the playoffs.

We've played a lot of football recently and I decide to give a break to 34yo Stephen Hughes. Keane takes his DMC spot, Gnakpa goes to DRC and Bally Smart will start at the right winger spot.

We're down 0-1 at the half when the fit hits the shan and Claude Gnakpa gets red carded for a professional in our penalty area. Not only we'll have to finish the game one man short but we go down 0-2 on the ensuing penalty kick. When keeper Mark Tyler lets a third goal in on the 84th minute, I've had enough and I put in Jimmy Walker for the last 6 minutes, bruised head and all.

Oh sure, he had to go and bang his head on the goalpost or something and we finish the game without a keeper and with only 9 players on the pitch. Ugh. :banghead:

Following the game I learn that Claude Gnakpa has been banned for one domestic match and I decide to appeal the ban. To my great surprise, the appeals panel tell me that after review of the video footage of the incident and upon reflection, they have decided to repeal the ban. Wow, it's the first time I think this has ever happened in all my FM careers...

FM

December 11, 2010
Something seems odd in the game following my latest click of the "continue" button. Then it registers, the screen header is not orange anymore but a generic blue, then it hits me, like a 2x4 to the side of the head: Luton manager Steve Gougeon sacked!

Pardon my French but, oh shit! :( They say that it's due to the club's poor league position, and I kinda, sorta can understand their position. Luton Town have had a long history and were used to play in a much higher league than at the conference level. I guess they were really serious about expecting the team to mount a push for the league title. I would only have hoped to at least make it to the January transfer window.

For a moment, I'm devastated, then I go, oh well, life goes on, to the unemployement office we go... Other than the Luton job, there are two other openings in England (not knowing how fast the game would process, I started this game with only England as active league, from Blue Square Premier and up). One is Aston Villa in the Premier League, yeah right. The other is at Mansfield Town, another Blue Square Premier side. This one is interesting as they sit in 4th place and currently have the 5th best run of forms in the league over the last 6 matches. I wonder what their expectations were for them to sack their manager. Or maybe he bailed on them for higher grounds. I can't find anything in the news items I have.

I'll ponder this for a couple days (in game, don't worry) and we'll see...

FM

December 14, 2010
I applied for the Mansfield job the very next day and a couple days later, they called me back to offer me the job. I'm the new manager at Mansfield Town!

The Mansfield Town directors tell me they expect the club to attain a respectable league position this season. We're alread well placed, in 4th place. Hopefully I won't throw this all down and we can build from there, make the playoffs and put together a strong push for promotion next season. They say they have allocated a small transfer budget to help me and small it is. $10k is what I've working with. What will probably restricts me more is the wage budget of only $25,459 per week. Their current wage total sits at $17,803 per week, so about $7,500 to work with. With their max wage currently at $2,400, this means about three new players of higher caliber, for the team at least. This budget is less than half what I had to work with at Luton, where the weekly wage budget was at $54,000.

Lots to do when you take over a new club, not the least of which is evaluating the talent in place. I've attached the current squad as selected for their last match as well as my assistant's team report. My assistant is right in that I'd like to bring in a new keeper, but experience is not the problem here. The current keeper is 31yo, he simply sucks. Also, when Gary Silk is identified as your strongest defender, you might be in trouble (see attached player card). Kyle Nix looks like a good midfielder although I can't understand why he was left out of selection for the last match. Also, only based on ratings, they seem to have a strong pair of wingers. Their training sucks, seriously, all red down arrows everywher with everyone going on the generic "general" training. I'll assign everyone to the right position based training regimen and we'll start from there.

I don't know up front what kind of formation we might play although I always like the 442 diamond. Will have to see if we got the personnel to pull it off...

First match will be an FA Trophy 1st round replay, away at Blue Square South side Maidenhead. They drew 0-0 in the first match.

FM

Whoa. Sorry you got sacked there, FgM. Those Luton Town fatcats should have been more patient!

Thanks for the pitch screenshots, by the way.

Awesome! Another FM/FM dynasty! :)

I almost posted an invitation to your Facebook page but thought people would think I'm a bit crazy ;)

FM

December 15, 2010
We play Blue Square South side Maidenhead United away on an FA Trophy replay. Looking at the team, what I thought were good wingers seems more like a good bunch of midfielder because while they are often marked with AM R or AM RL position descriptions, these guys all have stamina in the 5-6 range. Never seen so many guys with so low stamina, it's incredible.

With that in mind, I decide to try a 4-1-3-2 formation that will have three centre midfielders and no wingers per se. It's the first time I try to kind of thing and I usually like having wingers, but I gotta go with what we have and that setup will give a bit of backup to our defenders who, quite frankly, don't impress me much.

I've been shopping for a replacement to current keeper Alan Marriott but they're not easy to find. I at least try to boost his morale by giving him a positive pep talk prior to the game.

Marriott plays a solid game, getting our only rating of 8, but we drop the game, 0-1. We struggle to maintain possession and never really put any pressure on their defenders. A work in progress I'd call it. I'm kinda disappointed that two of the three players presented by my assistant as our strongest in one area both got ratings of 5 for this game. Come on guys, I want us to succeed but you gotta help me out here!

FM

December 18, 2010
We play 14th place Barrow on their pitch. We're currently in 4th place ourselves. I keep the 4-1-3-2 formation, hoping the guys will get accustomed to it. I'm kinda shocked to see so many guys going into the game with conditions in the hig 80's/low 90's. Used to see conditions areound 95 for about everyone at Luton, and even more so for defenders. Our left back, Kevin Sandwith, goes into this game at 89%.

We do control possession quite a bit in this game (56/44) but just can't buy a goal to get the win. Final Score: 0-0.

Form ratings are much, much better and Alan Marriott gets an 8 and the MoM. We drop to 5th place.

Some Luton news, they have appointed Martin Ling, the current manager at Cambridge Unite, another Blue Square Premier side, as their new manager.

FM

December 22, 2010
Wow, what a sucky schedule that is. Three away games in a week, stuck with a bunch of out of form guys. Today, we play 3rd place Darlington on their pitch. When the referee blows for full time, another 0-0 draw, I'm kinda okay with it. We held our own against a legitimate contender to the league title, keeping the ball 52% of the time. It's only when I look at the match overview page and see that I had apparently missed that they had a player redcarded in the 48th minute that I'm not as happy. Still, it's a step in the right direction and that 4-1-3-2 formation is doing what I wanted which is keep the opposition from scoring. Now we need to shoot a bit more and convert these shots a bit more. We drop to 6th place with the draw but are still only 5 points for the top spot.

FM

December 26, 2010
Finally a match on our home pitch. We play 20th place Eastbourne Boro. We do dominate the game as well in possession (56/44) as in shots (8 to 3, 7 to 2 on target) and the guys finally score a goal, our first since my taking over of the management of the club, we can't secure a win. Final score: 1-1.

We move back up one spot, to 5th place but we have a game on hand over every team ahead of us.

FM

December 28, 2010
Oh come one! Another game?!? And away again?!? And crap, against Luton. Sigh, that's just harsh. All these Hatters are in pretty good condition while we're our condition as a whole is in the crapper. See the halftime ratings to compare conditions between the two sides. Keigan Parker was already at 68% by then and six others are in the 70's while the lowest on the Luton side is 80%. Still, we had the game tied at 0-0 at that point.

It broke down in the second half and they beat us 0-2. We lost possession badly (42/58) and they outshot us 8 to 1 (3 to nil on target). They have apparently brought in a new striker and he got the MoM against us. Blech...

FM

January 1, 2011
The transfer window reopens today and as I hope to be able to bring in some players, I look at the leeway the team board is allowing me in budgets. Right now, they have allowed me 10k in transfer and $25,459 a week in wages. Way it works in FMHi is you can pick levels to switch to. Here are the possible levels, including where we're at now:

transfer / wage
10k / 25.5k
77k / 24.2k
150k / 22.9k
220k / 21.6k
280k / 20.3k

Our current wage total is at $18,430 a week. I decide to go with the 150k/22.9k option. It will still give me some room to negotiate wages.

We played 17th place Newport Co. to yet another scoreless draw today. Sigh, getting tired of these. We dropped to 8th place

One thing hits me. Of all our current players, almost all of them have contracts expiring this coming June and they all want some huge wage raise. I mean, stuff like going from $400 a week to $1,800 a week and on and on. Not gonna be easy...

FM

January 4, 2011
We play last place Bath at home today and finally record a win. The final score of 1-0 doesn't represent how badly we dominated them, winning possession with 57% and outshoting them 16 to 2 (10 to nothing on target). Their keeper gets the MoM, deservedly so.

I'm seeing some very greedy teams in this transfer window. Teams want sometimes way more than a player is valued at. I have my eyes on a few players, one valued at 24k, transfer listed by request, I bid 16k with my assistant saying the other team sees him has surplus to requirements. Bang, the response comes back, offer rejected and they are saying they would accept an offer in the region of $400,000. Say what???

FM

January 8, 2011
We play 10th place Gateshead on their pitch and drop it 0-1 on an 81st minute goal. Getting a bit frustrated as we keep possession close but just never challenge the opposing keeper. We played an attackling 442 formation for this match, that is 4 defenders, 2 MC, AMR/AML and 2 SC.

January 9, 2011
In the hope of generating some offense, I secure the the presence of 19yo Anthony Malbon on loan until the end of the season. Malbon is a clinical striker with a great shooting skill. His player card is attached below.

FM

January 10, 2011
Another example of teams wanting more than a player's value is 33yo striker Chris Greenacre. Valued at 48k at lowly Wellington Pheonix, the club is asking for $100k for him. I offer them $100k and 30% sell on percentage which they accept. Negotiating a contract is not too bad although he's looking only for a one contract but I'd like bit longer. His demands for wages are reasonable and we end up agreeing on a 2 year deal. Here's your new Stag (Mansfield Town's nickname is The Stags, learn something new every day :) ), Chris Greenacre!

Hopefully, he can combine with Malbon to give us some punch up front.

January 12, 2011
We play 3rd place AFC Wimbledon on their pitch. This match marks the debut for both Malbon and Greenacre as I move Keigan Parker to the right wing spot. First half goes well and we're tied 1-1 at the break but we crumble in the second half and drop the game 1-3. All three aforementioned players struggled, all three of them getting 5 in ratings.

FM

January 13, 2011
Grrr, there's one thing about being greedy but this one pissed me off as all hell. There was this defender, Lee Beevers, currently playing at Colchester. After seeing that Plymouth had made an offer of $16k for him, and remembering that they wanted upwards of $100k when I enquired about him, I enquired again. Yup, they say they would definitely consider an offer in the region of $140k. Err, of course, they would consider it. Go to the player page and try to make an offer to Colchester. Player is valued at $10k so I offer them $28k, in my eyes outbidding Plymouth by quite a bit. On top of that, I offer them 25% sell on percentage. My assistant believes they see him as a first team player which could explains the high value they put in the player. Day passes and they get back to me. Offer rejected, they now say they would accept an offer in the region of $180k now. WTF?!? At that point, still no news of what they did with Plymouth's offer, but I didn't have to wait long. The News drops the very next day: "Plymouth have signed Lee Beevers from Colchester for $16,000" Well Eff you!

This is utterly frustrating. First, all the inflated prices, which you can think of teams not wanting to depart with some players, but then to get f*cked like that. Getting a player of Beevers's caliber for $16k makes me think if I couldn't have had Greenacre for $50k instead of the th $100k we had to shell out for him. Hopefully it's only a one time thing...

On a more positive note, we have secured another player on loan until the end of the season. Say welcome to 20yo AM/F RLC Kireon Cardogan. He comes from Crystal Palace and his versatility and ability to play almost all positions from MC to SC will really help us.

FM

January 21, 2011
Our January revamping is still underway and we sign a new keeper to replace incumbent Alan Marriott. Richard Lee comes from Brentford and we had to pay $18k to get him.

We're now over the wage budget, at a total weekly wage of $24,469 off a budget of only $22,885. I still have a transfer budget of $25.5k but I adjust the budgets to give me more room in wages. Transfer budget dropped to zero, new wage budget is $23,380, still not high enough. I'll see if I cannot move a couple players. We have some really bad players that should be allowed to go.

As I add players all around the pitch, I'm hit with one monstrously bad news. Mark Preece, one of our starting centrebacks suffered a calf strain and will miss two months. These defenders didn't look like much on paper, but they have never really let us down. It's our scoring, or lack thereof, that has hurt us. This injury might give us a hard time. We are really thin on the back line and there really is not much available on the market. No loanees to speak of, and no transfer money left...

Looking at my assistant's team report, he agrees that we are weakest in defense but he can't come up with even one name for replacement back there. Ugh. Elsewhere, Kieron Cadogan is listed as our strongest midfielder while Chris Greenacre is listed as our strongest forward. I at least did well to improve our squad there.

FM

January 22, 2011
We play 6th place Grimsby at home. We play a very strong first before we fall a bit in the second. We still manage to win it, 2-1 on goals from Greenacre and Malbon. Nice to see these guys contribute. Kyle Nix gets the MoM, completing 42 of 57 passes in the process with an assist to boot.

January 25, 2011
We play 20th place Histon on their pitch. This game is another tale of two halves. Struggle mightily in the first, got back in the game in the second. Final Score: 2-2. Ryan Williams is our saviour, coming in at the 59 minute mark to score a brace in the last 40 minutes of the match to give us the draw from being down 0-2.

January 29, 2011
We play 14th place Kidderminster at home. It ends in another draw, 1-1 this time. Were unlucky in the first half but got back in the game later on. For once, I'd like us to play a solid 90 minutes of football... Anthony Malbon scored our lone goal and Richard Lee got the MoM.

February 1st, 2011
Team board still feel it would be unfair to comment on my overall performance as a manager.

FM

February 9, 2011
We play 22nd place Forest Green on their pitch. They do have the best on us on most statstical categories and are up 2-1 at the half but we claw back and pull even in the 72nd minute on a Kieron Cadogan goal. Chris Greenacre is our other scorer. Final Score: 2-2.

We're now able to score a bit more and are in 8th place, 7 points from a playoff spot with 13 games to play.

FM

February 12, 2011
We play 19th place Hayes & Yeading at home. This one shows the kind of domnation I had been waiting for. Not only did we win possession with 59% but we kept them shotless while putting 3 of our 5 shots on target. Greenacre scored on a penalty and Tyrone Thompson, one of the original Stag, scored the other. Keigan Parker hurt his foot and will miss about 3 weeks.

We remain in 8th place but are now 5 points away from a playoff spot.

FM

February 19, 2011
We play 3rd place Wrexham on their pitch. We finished our last game playing my beloved 442 diamond setup and that's how we'll start this game. You can see our selection below. They score first, in the 32nd minute but one of their player is sent off in the 39th minute. We do attack and have many chances at coming back but they shut us down the rest of the way. Final Score: 0-1.

Grr, that one sucks. Even possession, playing an opponent one man down for 60 minutes, outshooting them 8 to 6 (3 to 1 on target) yet not being able to at least bring back one point is frustrating.

FM

February 26, 2011
We play 19th place Tamworth at home. It's clear right from the start that we have really started playing as a team. We jump to a 2-0 start after only 8 minutes and will add 3 more in the second half on our way to a splendid 5-1 win. We put 10 of our 13 shots on target, completed 78% of our passes (to them completing 68%) and won 90% of our tackles. Well done guys!

We finished the match one man down when Kieron Cadogan was sent off for a second yellow card in the game in the 85th minute.

We remain in 8th place after this win but are only 5 points away from a playoffs spot currently held by Luton Town. Luton do have a match on hand over us.

FM

March 2, 2011
Hrm, the team board still feel it would be unfair to comment on my overall performance as a manager of the club. At least they are patient...

March 5, 2011
We play last place Southport on their pitch. DC Mark Preece has resumed training following his injury. This is odd but I'm kind of nervous to put him back him. We've been playing real well lately and I don't want to break our stride...

This is an odd game. With only 37% possession in the first half, we pull away with a 2-1 lead. We start controlling the ball more in the second half and pull away some more. Final Score: 4-2.

Anthony Malbon scores two in the win but it's Kyle Nix who gets the MoM.

FM

March 8, 2011
While the transfer window closed on January 31, the free/loan window is still open and I keep monitoring if players show of up out of contract or are put up for loan. Not much was available until this young DC caught my eye. Name is Tom Parkes and he currently plays at Leicester. He's 19yo and he joins us on loan until the end of the season with Leicester still paying 100% of his wages. Skill wise, he's much more well rounded than any of our other starting defenders.

FM

March 10, 2011
Here's another player we get to come to Mansfield on loan until the end of the season. Not too sure we really need another striker, but my assistant seems to think that Robert Hall has the potential to be one of the best players at the club. As we get to have him without paying one cent of wage, I'd say getting the 17yo to play for us is nice.

FM

March 16, 2011
Note to self: 8th place is not considered a respectable position by your team board. I learn this after seeing my team board confidence report (see attachment). They expect the club to attain a "respectable" league position, we're currently sitting in 8th place and they add that they are NOT happy with the current position of the team ergo 8th <> respectable position. Good thing is they do acknowledge that they are aware that this position is my predecessor's fault.

We play 14th place York at home. It's a pretty tight games with both teams scoring within 3 minutes of one another. Them first in the 55th minute, then us in the 58th. Final Score: 1-1.

Tom Parkes struggled in his debut, recording a form rating of 5. Robert Hall did much better, scoring in his debut. Tyrone Thompson Pulled a hamstring and will miss 3 weeks. He was our current AMC started but we have plenty of replacement, especially with the arrival of all the new strikers. They free up Keigan Parker to play in the AMC spot instead of up front.

We were only 4 points from 5th place Luton prior to the match but they gained two on us today.

FM

March 19, 2011
We play 9th place Kettering on their pitch. I decide to rest Chris Greenacre for the start of the game, giving the start to Robert Hall. Holy crap is this a bad one. We are down 0-3 after only 25 minutes and never recover after that. We didn't really get outclassed after that but they were very opportunistic in those 25 minutes. Three shots on target, three goals. Final Score: 0-3.

The good thing is we had 6 points on Kettering so we retain our 8th place but are now only 3 points away from them.

FM

March 26, 2011
We play 22nd place Altrincham at home after a good week of rest. Overall, the team is in much better shape, condition wise, than when I took over but getting a full week of rest is always good.

Ugh, Keigan Parker goes down and has to leave the field in the 17th minute. So much for that plan of him playing the AMC spot. Cadogan finished the game in his spot. It's a comfortable 2-0 win for us. We controlled the ball 60% of the time, puttin 5 of our 7 shots on target, compared to 1 out of 4 for them. Interesting stat too, we were awarded 7 corners and they got none. I guess we did put some pressure on their back line. Their keeper saved them from some embarassment with a Man of the Match performance.

Following the game, I learn that Parker will miss about 3 weeks with a broken toe.

FM

March 31, 2011
Three months from now, if things stand as they are now, I'll be left with only a couple starters as all my others will be out the door. Seriously, most of them want to see their wage doubled, or more. Here's a sample of wage increases that some players currently seen as starters are looking for:
DL Sandwith, from $700 to $1500
DR Silk, from $850 to $1800
DC Smith, from $600 to $1450
DMC Somner, from $850 to $1950
ML Nix, from $700 to $2200
AMC/SC Parker, from $1000 to $2200
MR Williams, from $750 to $2200

These 7 players currently cost us $5450 in weekly wage but would cost us $13300 if I were to give them everything they want. Yeah, as if this will happen...

It's not as if these guys are all irreplaceable, but I'd like to keep some sort of continuity, you know, keep things cohesive a bit. We'll see how it'll shake out.

Mark Preece a 23yo DC that sort of lost his starting spot when he got injured was only looking for an increase from $850 to $1050 so I take a shot and offer him $850. He accepts so that's at least one that'll be there comes the start of next season.

FM

April 2, 2011
Oh nice! I have won the Blue Square Bet Premier Manager of the Month Award for March! Go me!!! :)

We're piling on the awards too. Matt Somner has won the Blue Square Bet Premier Player of the Month Award for March. Even better, the runner-up was Mansfield's own Kyle Nix. Well done guys! Somner has had the following form ratings in his last five matches: 9-8-8-8-9. Well deserved award. Following this, I revisit their wage requirements and try something. Somner is looking for a wage increase from $850 to $2200, I offer him $1250 with a $28k signing on fee. Same thing for Nix who's looking for an increase in wage from $700 to $2200. I offer him $1250 with a $36k signing on fee. I gave them both a big club release clause. Somner is 28 and his deal would be for two years while Nix is 25 and his deal would be for three seasons.

The Board's still not happy with the current position of the team but they are aware that it is my predecessor's fault.

We play 4th place Rushden on their pitch. We take a 1-0 lead on a goal from Chris Greenacre in the 29th minute as we play good football. We definitely belong with them in terms of level of play. They do tie the game in the 76th minute for a final score score of 1-1 but I'm really quite okay with it. A draw against one of the top teams in our division, on the road no less, that's good, very good.

We remain in 8th place after the draw, now 7 points away from a playoff spot with only 5 games to play. Rushden dropped from 4th to 5th.

Southport is the first team to be officially relegated from the Blue Square Premier.

Following the game, I learn that both Somner and Nix have agreed to the offered wage. This tells me one thing, that players are greedy but can be negotiated with. Hopefully it'll hold true with the others. We'll see...

For now, these two resignings have put us above the wage budget of $23,380. Our current wage total is at $24,321, so about 1K too much. With the season winding down, I might cut ties with some players who simply have no hope of seeing the field anymore. Candidates in that respect include AMR Adam Smith and Steve Istead, with respective weekly wages of $850 and $700, or DC Steve Foster who's currently earning $850. He's 36 and he's said to retire at the end of the season. Looking at his player file, it says he's got 22 appearances for the team this season but I don't remember playing him once. An average form rating of 6.36 will do that to the impression a manager has of you, especially at the centreback spot.

FM

March 7, 2011
I've finally decided to clean up our wage bills. Out are reserves keeper Neil Collett, backup oldie centreback Steve Foster and backup striker Paul Connor, all names you've not seen often on our match reports. Foster and Connor cost us 10k and 12k respectively to buy out the three months left on their contracts but we're now under the wage budget of $23,380 with a weekly wage total of $23,298.

March 9, 2011
We play 17th place Fleetwood at home. Game starts okay but we're not really dominating. It's 1-1 at the half and we even go down 1-2 in the 66th minute on a fluke goal. That second half was ours all the way and I was afraid we'd drop the game on that one goal but that was without counting on Robert Hall's contribution. Hall was brought into the game in the 59th minute to replace Anthony Malbon. Good thing I brought him in as he scored two goals in the last 14th minute, right after Tom Parkes had brought the score level on a header. Hall gets the Man of the Match and we escape with a 4-2 win. Honorable mention to Paul Stonehouse who rarely sees the field as a backup left winger. He came into the game in the 75th minute when I moved Kyle Nix over to the AMC spot and he got himself a nice form rating of 9 in only 15 minutes of play.

We put 7 of 10 shots on target in the second half after going 3 out of 5 in the first half. Once again, corners told the story of the game. We were awarded 10 corners to them only getting 2. At one point, we had like 4 corners in a row, going from side to side, keeping the pressure on their keeper.

We remain in 8th place following the win, four points away from 7th place AFC Wimbledon and 5 points away from a playoffs spot and 5th place Grimsby. It's pretty tight up there. Luton in 3rd place is only 6 points away from us with 4 games to play.

FM

April 16, 2011
Rough game today as we play 2nd place Crawley on their pitch. We take an early lead on a Tyron Thompson goal in the 18th minute and we're holding on for most of the game after that. They do pull back even in the 71st minute and the game ends with both teams locked in a 1-1 draw. Richard Lee made a few great saves to keep us in this one but as a whole, we were competitive.

We remain in 8th place following the draw, 7 points away from a playoffs spot with only three matches to play. Magic number is now 2.

Bath City are the second team to be relegated from the Blues Square Premier.

FM

April 23, 2011
We play 1st place Darlington at home. Tough game for us and it starts badly. Not that we're really being outclassed but we go down 0-1 in the 18th minute and then 0-2 in the 40th minute. Halftime stats are pretty even though, they were just more opportunistic than us. The second half is even more to our advantage but doesn't translate to the scoreboard. Final Score: 0-2.

Ugh, kinda frustrating result as from the looks of it, we should have at least come out of this game with a draw yet we come out with what looks like an ugly loss. :(

We remain in 8th place but are now sealed off from any playoff spot, 9 points away from Luton and the 5th place with 2 games to play.

Altrincham have been relegated from the Blue Square Premier.

FM

April 26, 2011
We play 13th place Cambridge on their pitch. I'm pulling my hair out in the 4th minute when I see them take an apparent lead but the goal doesn't stand, there was offside. Phew. We take that scare and turn it around, taking a 1-0 lead in the 35th minute off a Chris Greenacre goal. We double our lead in the 87th minute on a fluke goal by Kieron Cadogan on a 40 yard long centered ball that was mishandled by their keeper. Final Score: 2-0.

Stats are very even but I could get the feeling that we took control of play during the second half. Matt Somner got the MoM.

With one match to be played, we cannot go any higher than our current 8th place but we need to win to secure it and not drop to 9th...

Darlington have won the Blue Square Premier title.

FM

May 1st, 2011
We've played out the end of our season with a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon. We close the season in 8th place. Given that the team was in 4th place when I took over, I can't really be happy with that end result, but I did do quite a bit of change and felt we were doing much more to my liking towards the end.

GK Richard Lee ends the season 4th in forms rating average in the Blue Square Premier with 7.52.Kyle Nix is 13th with 7.34.

Fearing not having any player to start the new season, I offer some new contracts to our current players. MR Ryan Williams, DL Kevin Sandwith & Paul Stonehouse, DR Gary Silk, DC Chris Smith, AMC/FC Louis Briscoes all agree to new deals, pushing us just a bit over our wage budget.

May 15, 2011
I add a new DC/MC in 24 yo Byron Webster. My scout says there's not much difference between him and our current best central defender Tom Parkes, who will leave us when his loan is over. Webster had been playing with Doncaster in the Championship. I like is heading skills and his strength. I'm hoping he'll be fighting for high balls in the middle of our defence.

FM

May 20, 2011
Teams are cutting ties with players to free up some wages and I go bargain hunting. 28yo left fullback Peter Gilbert was looking for a weekly wage of $2,200 but he agrees to my offer of $1,650 a week. I know I just resigned our two left backs but I think he'll bring some interesting skills to our backline as we just didn't have a defend as well rounded as he is.

Well, crap. Luton not only made the playoff but won them. They are promoting to League 2.

In an odd bit of news, I learn that current starting right winger Ryan Williams just announced he will retire at the end of the season. The announce comes less than two weeks after him signing a new contract. He's 32.

In a rough bit of negotiation, I get forward Keigan Parker to agree to a new contract. He was looking for $2,000 a week but I only offered him $1,250 a week with $32k in sign on bonus. I'm glad we got him back.

FM

stay tuned as I plan to report through a very active offseason and bring you to 2011-12 and a whole new look Mansfield side. :)

FM

Will do Froggy! A very enjoyable dynasty as always!

thanks, appreciate the support. :)

FM

June 1, 2011
The board feels I should perform slightly better in my role. Yeah, I knew that. I too would like our club to be doing better. :)

You can see the 2010-11 season review in the attachments.

Martin Ling is the guy who took over for me at Luton. And yeah, he won Manager of the Year in the Blue Square Premier. Bite me...

FM

June 10, 2011
The board inform me of their expectations for the upcoming season. They again expect the club to achieve a respectable league position this season. To achieve that expectation, they are giving me a weekly wage budget of $25,426 and a whopping transfer budget of $1,650. Woohoo, let's go spending on the transfer market!!!! Oh, you mean, there are no zeros after that 1650? ooookay. I feel bold and I tell them I think we can achieve a playoff spot. They give me $1,850 in transfer budget (woohoo again!!!) but more importantly, they raise the wage budget to $27,967. This will come in handy, especially if I want to secure some better loanees and I need to pay some of their wages.

The board would have given me $1,900/$29,238 if I'd been shooting for promotion and $2,000/$30,508 but I'm not comfortable gunning for higehr than a simple playoff appearance.


June 17, 2011
Well, it was no joke. Ryan Williams has retired and we've got nobody to man the right wing. Current wage total is at $22,951.


June 22, 2011
We don't remain wingerless on our right side for long. Newcomer is 26yo Ashley Vincent. He only had 5 appearances with League 1 Colchester but averaged 7.2 in form. Felt kinda lucky to get him as he was looking for $4.2k in weekly wages while my board only allowed me to offer him up to $2.4k. I did put in a nice $43k signing on fee to sweeten the deal. I feel he's got a great mix of skills for a winger. Good pace, good dribbling, decent stamina.


FM

June 23, 2011
Oh, some players are graduating from our youth setup. David Middleton is the first one, an 18yo striker who already looks much better than some players that were starters when I took over.


FM

July 4, 2011
Sam Graham is a second striker to come up from our youth squad. He's 17yo though and I guess his upside is the reason my assistant rate him as our best young striker, ahead of Middleton.


FM

July 7, 2011
Took a bit of jimmying back and forth but I finally secure a nice loanee in 23yo D RC Dominic Shimmin. He'll be with us until the end of the season. I like that he's a bit older than most typical loanees, especially for a centreback. My assistant described him as twice the player of our current best central defender Byron Webster. I love how well rounded he is, skill wise.


FM

July 7, 2011
Wow, that youth squad was quite good this year. Byron Hart, a 17yo M LC is the third notable player to promote from our youth setup. He's got diddly poo for stamina but otherwise has a lot of skills for being only 17. My assistant rtaes him a four star for potential ability...

We're now getting close to our wage budget at $26,185 out of $27,967.

FM

July 13, 2011
Graeme Owens, currently at Kilmarnock, is another 23yo possible loanee I'd been goign after. I finally secure him, and he agrees to come on a season long loan, after I offered Kilmarnock to pay his whole weekly wage of $1,950. This puts us over the wage budget but I think he will be very much worth it. The kid's got all the skills I want in a winger, plus he can play both sides.


FM

July 23, 2011
We play our first of three friendly, against League 1 Gillingham, at home. We record a nice 2-0 win on goals from Chris Greenacre and Ashley Vincent with Vincent getting the MoM. I liked what I saw in that match. Sure it's only a friendly but They are a couple levels above us...


July 30, 2011
We play League 2 Yeovil on their pitch and this one's a bit of a setback. We lose it 0-1 but win possession and are even in stats.

August 1, 2011
With a clean slate and without the league position hanging over my head, the board is now satisfied with my management of the club. They say the positive atmosphere in the changing room has been encouraging and I must agree. Morale is way up and it will be nice to go into the season with a positive outlook on things.

August 6, 2011
We close our schedule of friendlies with a match against Blue Square South side Forest Green on their pitch. It's a satisfying 3-1 win for us on two goals from Greenacre and another from Vincent. Vincent got another MoM.

August 7, 2011
Keigan Parker is again injured and will miss a couple weeks. Attached is what our current selection looks like. Youngster Sam Graham is set to be our second starting striker, but nothing's set in stone there.


FM

August 8, 2011
I go against my head scout's assessment and sign 18yo gk Peter Donnelly away from Havant & W's. My scout believes he's not good enough to succeed at the club but at only $260 a week, on a free transfer, he's worth a shot in my book. I sign him to a three year deal.

The 2011-12 season starts on August 13!

Attached is our squad selection as it stands when we enter the 2011-12 season. The grey rating is their average form rating

To me, it's a much better squad than what I had when I took over. Now, I only hope the new guys will mesh well with the few that remain from last season.

FM

August 13, 2011
The 2011-12 season is finally here!!! We start if off on the road, against Gainsborough. We seem to go through some growing pains early on and it's 2-2 at the half. Peter Gilbert scored in the 11th minute but they replied with two quick goals before Chris Greenacre put us back on even terms.

The second half was all ours though. Graeme Owens, just Like Gilbert, scored on his debut and Kyle Nix added to our lead late in the game. Final Score: 4-2.

Stats were pretty even but going by the highlights, we seemed to be getting the better chances. Kyle Nix gets the MoM.


August 16, 2011
Hrm, Graeme Owens sprained a wrist in training and will miss about a week.

We play Fleetwood at home. We take a very early lead with a Matt Somner goal in the 5th minute, then add to that lead on a Greenacre goal in the 42nd but they take one back with a goal in injury time of the first half.

One of their player gets a second yellow in the 54th minute and it's all downhill for them from there. We turn it on and never look back, controlling the ball at will. Dominic Shimmin heads one in in the 65th minute and David Middleton even scores in the waning moments. Final Score: 4-1.

Another high scoring affair. Even better is our 58% possession ratio and our 16 shots on target out of 20. Impressive stuff. Kyle Nix gets his second MoM in a row with a rating of 10.

We're sitting atop the league table, one of four teams with two wins in two games.

FM

August 17, 2011
Newport County have offered to loan David Middleton until the end of the season with a clause to recall him if I'd want to. They will pay 100% of his $260 weekly wages. I accept the offer and he, in turn, acccepts to go on loan with them.

August 20, 2011
We play Rushden on their pitch. They are a legitimate contender and it's unfortunate that our second half of the game broke down so hard. It was 1-1 at the halftime break and we had good stats, comparable to them. They score as the second half started and then Louis Briscoe got sent off for a professional foul inside our penalty area. Not only did we have to finish the game a man down but they added to their lead with the ensuing penalty. To add to our rough time, Dominic Shimmin had to leave the game in the 78th minute, just moments after I'd used my last substitution so we finished the match with 9 men on the pitch. That was a pitiful second half. Final Score: 1-3.

I'm kind of encouraged that we held our own, on their pitch no less.

Shimmin will be out of action for about 3 weeks after twisting his knee in the game. My head physio is making me nervous here though. He says he has long term concerns over Shimmin's fitness. Hrm, injury prone maybe?

Good news is that Keigan Parker resumed full training following his shin injury.

FM

August 23, 2011
We play Barrow at home. Chris Smith takes Shimmin's place at centreback. What a crazy first half. Shot are 10(6) for us, 7(3) for them and we're ahead 2-0 at the break on two Keigan Parker goals. Sure glad to have him back.

We collapse at the start of the second half and within 20 minutes we're all even, 2-2. Graeme Owens saves us with a nice goal in the 72nd minute. Final Score: 3-2.

We win possession with 56% and shots are quite even, 15(9) for us, 15(8) for them. Very offensive. You don't often see this many shot in a game.

August 25, 2011
An interesting rumour has linked us to Barnet's Anwar Uddin. Uddin is a 29yo centreback with great leadership. I don't have a full scouting report on him but what I see decent enough heading and tackling that I think he could work out for us. He's valued at $2k but I offer them to pick him up on a free transfer with a 50% sell on percentage. I will probably never sell him anyway, just let him go when his contract's over. They accept the offer and I negotiate with Uddin over a contract. He wants $2k a week but there's no way I want to pay him that. I offer him $1.4k for two years with some money up front and he accepts! Say welcome to the newest Stag! As I said, decent enough heading and tackling, with bonus aggression, decision and positioning. He should be fine with us. Also, if Shimmin stays healthy, I could keep Uddin at DC and move Shimmin to the right where Gary Silk has struggled in the first few games.

FM

August 27, 2011
We play 17th place Lincoln. They're struggling early on this season, with 1 win, 1 draw and 2 losses to show for it. Sam Graham is on fire to start this one and scores two within a couple minutes of one another and after 12 minutes, we're ahead 2-0. They claw their way back in and by the 61st minute, we're again all tied, at 2-2. Chris Smith makes his presence known by heading in a corner and we go away with the three points. Final Score: 3-2.

Sam Graham picked up the MoM with his couple goals and we're gonna need him to do more of this as Chris Greenacre had to leave the game in the 49th minute after twisting his ankle. He will miss about 2 months. Now is not the time for Keigan Parker to pick up one of his crappy injury.

August 29, 2011
It's a pretty congested schedule to start this season as we play again, only two days removed from our last match. This time it's at home against 17th place Kidderminster.

We're very opportunistic to start the game as we jump to a 2-0 lead on only 3 shots, although all 3 are on target. Tyrone Thompson and Keigan Parker are our scorers. Thompson is our latest casualty when he leaves the match in the 50th minute atfer suffering a calf strain. We keep the pressure in the second half, adding to our lead early on in the half on a Matt Somner goal while completely shutting them down the rest of the way. Final Score: 3-0

Tyrone Thompson had a great 50 minutes of play and gets the MoM. The bad news is that he will miss about 2 months with his injured calf. Ugh...

We move up to first place in the Blue Square Premier, ahead of Rushden! Outstanding start to the season!

FM

Out of interest - what team instructions do you have set and have you tinkered with the player roles at all? (I'm guessing hard tackling and pressing?)

Nice report - I'm enjoying reading it :D

We're still playing the diamond 442 (4 D, DMC, MR/ML, AMC, SC), switching from defensive to attacking depending if we're away (mostly defensive) or home although I've stayed at attacking very often lately, only to pull back to balanced. Short passing is the predominant pick. We do use pressing but have been for most of last season, without much if any effect on the number of injuries. I sometimes turn it off, especially when we play many games in a short period of time and I want to rest the guys a bit.

Tackling is always set to normal. I think I used hard tackling once last season and went back to normal the very next game.

Player roles are fairly conventional. I sometimes fool around with them a bit but not much. Defenders are set to default. DMC is set to "ball winning midfielder", both wingers to winger, AMC to advanced playmaker. One striker is a "deep lying forward" while the other has been going between "target man", "poacher" or "advanced forward".

I'm thinking it's simply a string of bad luck as they often happen in the game (handheld or desktop version).

FM

August 31, 2011
With the injuries we've suffered, I set myself to find some loanees that could come and bolster our squad for free. I offer Chesterfield to take on their 19yo AM/F RC Tendaya Darwika until the end of the season, without paying a dime of his wage of course. They agree and he in turn agrees to come play for us on loan. Might look like all my loan request work but Darwika is maybe the fourth player I've tried to bring in in the last few days. Probably not the highest on my list but my assistant says he is twice the player of our best young forward Sam Graham. Seeing how nicely Graham has filled in for us, I'm sure Darwika could be useful when caught in a pinch.

FM

September 2nd, 2011
Woah, I have won the Blue Square Premier Manager of the Month award for August. Go me! :)

The board are now satisfied by my management of the team and add that this has been underlined by the joy of the fans at the current form of the team. Life is good right now.


September 4, 2011
We play 22nd place AFC Telford on their pitch. They are still winless after 6 matches. Even though we start strong, they get first crack at goal and even put one past Richard Lee but it's disallowed because of a offside. We unleash the fury on them after that. It's 2-0 at the half, both goals coming from Keigan Parker, and 3-1 at full time. Our last goal was scored by Sam Graham. we put 10 of 13 shots on target. Graeme Owens got the MoM.

Reinforcing my opinion that he's been on fire lately, Keigan Parker is given the Blue Square Premier Player of the Month award for August. It's Mansfield everywhere!

Following that award, there are rumours that Parker could be linked with a $52k move to a club called The New Saints. Never ever heard of them before. They seem to be a professional club in Wales with a stadium capacity of 3000. WTF? I deny that Parker is available for transfer.

I spot another youngster to bring in on a loan. Name's Reuben Noble-Lazarus and he's an 18 yo AM/F RLC currently playing at Barnsley. My assistant says he is twice the player of our best right winger Tendaya Darwika. Well, that'd be an upgrade, no? I try to get them to let him go to us for free, but they keep refusing. His weekly wage is only $180 so I bite the bullet and offer to pay his whole wage and they agree. He joins us on loan until the end of the season. He's got great dribbling and passing and can play about anywhere starting at the centerline.


September 8, 2011
Dang! Tendaya Darwika will be out of action for about 3 weeks after suffering a thigh strain in training. Guess the signing of Noble-Lazarus will be very useful...

FM

September 10, 2011
We play 9th place Crawley at home. Out for this game are Thompson, Darwika, Greenacre and Shimmin although Shimmin is getting very close, only a few days away. Graeme Owens scores what ends up being the only goal of the game in the 15th minute. Final Score: 1-0.

It was a hard fought battle and we lose another warrior when Sam Graham leaves the game in the 44th minute after straining a thigh. Sigh, he will miss about 3 weeks.


September 13, 2011
Newport County are really scouting our kids listed for loan. They offer to take on young keeper Peter Donnelly for a season long loan. They won't pay his wage but that's okay. I only want him to have a shot at playing, something which I'd really have a hard time giving to him, given the position he plays. I accept and off he goes.

FM

September 17, 2011
We play 3rd place Kettering on their pitch. It's getting hard to field a decent starting eleven now with all these injured players. Shimmin's back in the lineup and given how well Chris Smith has done at DC while he was out of the lineup, averaging 7 in form rating, I decide to start Shimmin at DR instead of Garry Silk. We keep the game close for most of the match, playing a very conservative and defensive game. It's 1-1 at the half and I'm thinking we can get away from there with a draw until they sink us with a last minute score in the 90th minute. Final Score: 1-2.

What else is new, another striker goes down in this game. Reuben Noble-Lazarus is the latest casualty. He twisted his knee and will miss about 3 weeks. I'm just about to go buy a pair of cleats and suit up to take a spot on the dang field...

The loss drops us to 2nd part, in a threeway tie with Rushden and Kettering with Grimsby right behind us with a game on hand.

FM

September 19, 2011
Trying to shore up our attacking front, I scour the list of players available for free. Many are interesting but few want to come play for us, choosing to stay home instead of fighting it out with a team trying to win promotion. I fin a 24yo AM/S C whom my scout describes as being "decent" which means that there's not much difference, in my scout's eyes at least, between him and our strong forward Chris Greenacre. He's looking for a 3 year contract worth $2.6k a week. Since we'Re running a bit over our wage budget, our board will allow me wages up to $1.75k for him. I offer him $1.5k for 3 years with a signing on fee of $26.5k and to my surprise, he agrees.

The odd thing is that my assistant seems to disagree with my scout. He says Grimes is some way off the standard of Greenacre and that he isn't considered one of the best forwards at the club. (not to Marc, the exact sentence was "Grimes isn't considered one of the better forward's at the club". Might want to correct that straying 's there ;))

Anyway, he's a natural center forward and is accomplished at AMC and competent on the whole right side.

And ayup, another day, another injury. My physio was probably right in saying he had some long term concerns over Shimmin's fitness. He will miss a month after straining a calf in training... Gary Silk goes back into the starting lineup.

September 20, 2011
We play 6th place Tamworth at home and despite what looks like a makeshift starting eleven, we come out clawing out and we're ahead 2-0 at the half. At that point, we had put 5 of 9 shots on target, had completely denied them of any shots, on target or not, and had held the ball for an impressive 63% of the time.

We cool off just a tad in the second half but still add to our lead. Final Score: 3-0.

Kyle Nix, Louis Briscoe and Ashley Vincent all score a goal in the win but it's Graeme Owens who got the MoM.

September 24, 2011
These weeks of three games are sometimes tough when you have a full complement of players, let's say they're very tough when you are going through an injury rash like we have.

Oh come on now DAMMIT! :rant: Matt Somner twisted his knee in practice and will miss about 3 weeks. This does it and I finally take some time to tweak our training schedule. I dial down the fitness aspect of the three main schedules from "medium" to "light". You can see the schedule in attachment.

For people used to the PC version of the game, you can't create new training schedules in the FMHi version. There are 6 preset schedules that you can tweak to your liking: Goalkeeper, Defending, Attacking, Fitness, Technical, General. I usually have my keepers on Goalkeepers (duh!), my defenders and DMC on Defending (double duh!), my general midfielders on Technical and my strikers, AMCs and wingers on Attacking. IIRC, the only real tweak I've ever done to those is increased the motivation aspect of every schedule. There's no real way of knowing how harsh a specific schedule is. I'm just hoping the drop down in fitness work will keep players from overexerting themselves...

We play 8th place Histon on their pitch. Looking at the player stats for the league, I'm happy to see that Keigan Parker comes in first for average form rating with an outstanding 8.0 average. Graeme Owens is in 8th place with an average form rating of 7.77 and Kyle Nix is in 10th with an average of 7.7. Parker is also the current top goal scorer with 6 while Nix and Owens are #1 and #2 in assists with 7 and 6 assists respectively.

The game is rough on us. No, no new injuries, just being outplayed. We're down 0-1 at the halfway point but more specifically, we're hardly touching the ball. We're barely surviving but Richard Lee keeps us in the game with a few mazing saves. They put 13 of 14 shots on target but he never lets one more past him. We're putting just enough pressure on their defenders late in the game that they commit a foul in their penalty area, the ref points the spot. PENALTY!!! Keigan Parker puts it past their keeper and we leave the field quickly when the final whistle blows, afraid the cops will come after us as we'd just robbed a kid of his candy. Final Score: 1-1.

Wow, just wow. We dodged a major bullet there...

Add to my joy the fact that both Rushden and Grimsby (who'd been hot on our trail and really on fire lately) stumble. They both lost and we regain sole possession of first place. Rushden got destroyed 4-1 by Lincoln.

FM

training schedules coming in a few minutes...

FM

There they are. I only included the three main ones.

FM

Woohoo!
Following along another Froggie dynasty.

/tk

hehe, didn't know if you were interested or I would have mentioned it to you earlier... :)

FM

September 27, 2011
Quick roundup of who's out and when they might be coming back:
Tendaya Darwika, a few days
Chris Greenacre, 10 days
Tyrone Thompson, 10 days
Sam Graham, 1 week
Reuben Noble-Lazarus, 2 weeks
Dominic Shimmin, 3 weeks
Matt Somner, 3 weeks

Soon we'll have an overload of strikers and I'll be able to field a 1-1-8 kind of lineup. :)

We play 22nd place AFC Wimbledon at home. We're go up by 2 before the first half is over on goals form Ashley Vincent and Keigan Parker and I'm feeling good about our play. hat else is new, we lose Anwar Uddin to injury to at the start of the second half but we almost build on it and add two more goals, from Ashley Grimes and Louis Briscoe, before the game is over. Final Score: 4-0.

Impressive showing. 57% possession, 10 shots on target out of 12. Really controlled the field of play. MoM goes to Ashley Grimes who's fitting well in the squad.

Uddin, the current replacement for injured DMC Matt Somner, will miss two weeks with a bruised shin. Dammit guys, get some new shin guards or something!

October 1, 2011
Interesting, Lance Key of Rushden won the Blue Square Premier Manager of the Month award and the Runner-up was Ian Sampson of Grimsby. Looking at how Rushden has played in the last month, I don't see anything better than what we did although I'd have thought that Grimsby had done better than both our clubs.

The board are satisfied with my management of the club. They again point out the happiness of the fans at the current form of the team. You can see the board's confidence ratings attached below.

We play 24th and last place Newport County on their place. This is interesting because they are usually playing to of our players, out there on loans, but they show up as unavailable due to league rules. Guess it's automatic that a loanee cannot play the team he is under contract with. Paul Stonehouse takes over at the DMC spot.

They have a goal disallowed because of an offside in teh 4th minute but we take control of the first half after that. The score is a satisfying 2-0 for us at the half. That's when the fit hits the shan and we forget how to play defensively. They score two in the first 4 minutes of the second half and we're back on level terms. We attack a bit more and take a 3-2 lead on a nice Keigan Parker goal in the 71st minute but the ref awards them a dubious penalty in the 84th minute. They convert it and we're wack to square one. More attack from us results in a goal in the 90th minute. Surely that must be the winning goal but oh no, we let another one in at the 93 minute mark. Gah! Final Score: 4-4.

Keepers of both team each received the same form rating as the number of goals they conceded, i.e. a 4. Blech. Talk about a defensive letdown. So disappointing to drop 2 points on what looked like a sure win.

FM

I admit I rarely read dynasties and when I do, I lurk, but I like reading your FM stuff. It's always entertaining. :)

/tk

Thanks for the kind words. I try to make it as lively as possible and I've found it helps with my English when I write a bit... :)

As a disclaimer, I also rarely read the dynasty forum, until I decide to start a new one, then I see what I've missed and I read a few here and there...

FM

October 4, 2011
Oh crap, another game with little rest, and against Grimsby of all teams. They are in 2nd place, only 1 point behind us but they have a game on hand. Even only 13 games into the season, that's as close to a must win as there will ever be one and following the defensive debacle we just went through, let's say I'm not feeling too confident. Even at home, the bookies have us as underdogs...

We do come out strong though and Ashley Grimes gives us a 1-0 lead in the fading moments of the first half. We were losing possession slightly at the point but had been buzzing around their net. They do put a lot more pressure on us in the second half but we hold on to win it 1-0.

Gary Silk came out of nowhere a couple times with great tackles and he gets the MoM.

Rushden drew in their game thus we move a full 3 points away from them. Looking at the board's confidence ratings, they are now delighted with the leadership qualitied I am demonstrating. Their words, not mine. Take a look at it, I don't think I've ever seen a full bar of confidence as it's currently showing in the "Competitions" bar. I know I told them my expectations were for the club to make the playoffs but I guess they never thought fourteen games into the season we'd sit in first place, three full points clear of second place. That we were able to maintain this form with a squad as depleted as ours has been bodes really well for the rest of the season. Hopefully the guys coming back into the lineup will keep goign the same way as those who allowed us to have such good form.

Ocober 6, 2011
Youngster Sam Graham has begun full training following his thigh injury. Tendaya Darwika played in the second half of the Grimsby match. They're coming back! :)

October 8, 2011
It's Tyrone Thompson's turn to begin full training again. Chris Greenacre, Anwar Uddin and Reuben Noble-Lazarus are all only a few days away while Dominic Shimmin and Matt Somner are about ten days from coming back. It's all coming together people!

FM

October 8, 2011
We play 16th place Braintree opn their pitch. It's 0-0 at the half but we're barely surviving. Nobody's getting hot and we look like tourists out there. They put 7 of 10 shots on target in one half, that tells you something. We keep playing the same way in the second half and we can't escape this one. They put two past Richard Lee in the final 45 minutes. Final Score: 0-2.

A very disappointing result but something that had happened before when players who'd been away because injuries come back to the lineup.


October 10, 2011
Chris Greenacre resumes training and he's got a chip on his shoulder. When he got hurt, the media went into a mini frenzy and some people questioned if the 33yo would even have a spot in the starting eleven when he'd come back from his injury. I defended him in the media but Chris still want to prove to people that they were wrong to question his abilities.


October 12, 2011
It's all "woohoo" and "oh crap" in a matter of a few minute, albeit a minor "oh crap" to be honest. The "woohoo" is the fact that Anwar Uddin has resumed training, the minor "oh crap" comes with another injury, this time to Louis Briscoe. He will miss two months after twisting an ankle in training.

Grimsby finally play the game they had on hand over us and lose it! To Newport County, no joke! :) Following our latest loss, we're tied to Rushden in points and one ahead of Grimsby. We're six points safe into playoff contention.

FM

October 15, 2011
We play 7th place Hayes & Yeading at home. Shimmin and Somner are both a few days away from coming back. Pundits are saying they believe we should have too much quality for H&Y on our own pitch and we prove them right with a 3-0 first half lead. Despite a slight disadvantage in possession, we'd put 6 of 9 shots on target over the first 45 minutes. We go on to win it 4-1 on goals from Parker, Greenacre, Gilbert and Grimes. We completely took over possession of the ball in the second half.

Keigan Parker got the MoM.

FM

October 22, 2011
We play FC Halifax Town in the FA Cup Qualifying round 4. They play in the English Northern Premier League Premier Division. That's quite a mouthful there and according to this wikipedia page, it's apparently at level 7 of the England soccer system. The whole England system is presented here and according to that, the Blue Square Premier is at level 5. This gives you an idea of relative level between our two clubs. While my scout believe they will be no pushovers, the pundits believe we should have too much quality for them.

Grrr, Reuben Noble-Lazarus will be out of action for 2 weeks after suffering a stubbed to in training. Yeah right, he tripped and feel while coming out a bar is more like it...

Back in are Somner at DMC and Shimmin at DR.

Hrm, guys are complacent in the first half and we go down one goal twice in the half before pulling back. It's 2-2 at the break and I'm reasonably nervous at that point. Guys crank up the heat and we destroy them in the second half: Final Score 5-2.

We didn't allow them one shot, on target or not, for all of the second half. On the game, Nix had 2, Greenacre 1, Parker 1 and Grimes 1.

Interesting fact about Ashley Grimes whom my assistant said just a month ago that he wasn't one of the best forwards at the club. He's averaged a form rating of 7.62 in 8 appearances since joining us. He's also scored 5 goals and registered 2 assists in those 8 appearances. Oh, now my assistant says there isn't much difference between him and our other strong forward Chris Greenacre. Apparently now he is one of the best forwards at the club. :)

FM

October 29, 2011
We play 5th place Wrexham on their pitch. They're going through a run of good form right now and are evens favorites to win this one. We steal a point out of this one with a 1-1 draw. We never really controlled anything and a Keigan Parker goal just before then end of the first half was all we could muster. Still happy with the point.

November 1, 2011
The board are still delighted with the leadership qualities I'm demonstrating.

November 5, 2011
We play Billericay on their pitch in the first round of the FA Cup. They are currently playing in the Premier League of the Isthmian League which is a couple levels below us, i.e. right below the Conference Noth/South level.

We control the game from start to finish, just as I hoped we would. We're ahead 4-0 at the half and it ends with a final score of 5-0. We put 8 of 16 shots on target to their 2 out of 3. Parker got a couple goals while Owens, Grimes and centreback Chris Smith all got one a piece. Owens got the MoM and their keeper got a rating of 2. Yikes...

November 8, 2011
We play 19th place Accrington at home. We're quietly in control in this game and the 1-0 final score doesn't really represent how much more we controlled the flow of the game. The winning goal came from a Chris Greenacre header in the 24th minute. He also got the MoM.

November 12, 2011
Quick look at the league stats reveals that Graeme Owens and Chris Greenacre are 3rd and 4th in average form ratings with 7.64 and 7.62 respectively. Ashley Grimes and Keigan Parker come in 13th and 14th with averages of 7.55 and 7.53 respectively. Not too shabby. Parker is also the current top goal scorer of the league with 11. The closes to him has only 9. Greenacre is 8th with 5. Owens and Kyle Nix are 1st and 2nd in assists with 10 and 8 and Ashley Vincent is 7th with 5 assists himself. As a team, we're in 6th place for forms over the last 6 match.

We play 17th place Ebbsfleet on their pitch. A freakishly sad/unlucky showing. We went down 1 in the 13th minute and it looked like the guys stopped trying right there. Final score is a 0-2 loss but they only put 3 of 4 shots on target. Richard Lee ends the game with a form rating of 5.

November 19, 2011
We play 20th place Gateshead at home.

Before heading out to the field, I learn that Reuben Noble-Lazarus strained his neck in training and will miss a couple weeks. He's not played much wince all the guys got back from injury.

Yowza, what a first half we played today. We put 6 of 8 shots on target in the first 45 minutes and score 4 goals. We cool off a bit as I tell the guys to stop pressing in the second half but we save Richard Lee's clean sheet. Final Score: 4-0.

Chris Greenacre records a hat trick in the win while Keigan Parker score the fourth goal. Goes without saying that Greenacre also got the MoM.

Rushden won over Grimsby 4-3 and we're now sitting in second place.

FM

November 21, 2011
Hrm, Sam Graham will be out of action for about 3 weeks after hurting his foot in training. The kid's made out of silk paper, and it's not only my opinion but my physio's too. He tells me he has long term concerns over Graham's fitness...

Yeah, well, injuries come in twos I guess. Tendaya Darwika hurt his shoulder in training and will miss one month. Like I reported for Noble-Larazus earlier, Darwika has not seen the pitch much since all the forwards have come back from their injuries.

November 26, 2011
We play Burton on their pitch for our 2nd round FA Cup match. They are currently sitting in 4th place of League 2, this is gonna be one tough match, away no less.

And yeah, it's a tough one, but we pull away 1-0 in the 26th minute on a beautiful header of a corner by Chris Smith. We are being dominated though and even though we're still ahead by that one goal at the break, we're getting our hind parts handed to us. They're outshooting us 5 to 1 (4 to 1 on target) but that one shot from us gave us the lead.

They keep attacking some more and score an equalizer in the 54th minute. I was simply playing for the rematch at that point, until Byron Webster imitates Smith and heads one in from a corner kick in the 87th minute. We win it 2-1!

Webster is awarded the MoM. Let's say we stayed with them just enough to survive it and got lucky in the end. On to the 3rd round we go!

Oh wow, the draw for round 3 happens and we will be playing QPR at home on January 7. This'll be an emotional one for me. :)

November 29, 2011
We play 21st place York on their pitch. As much as we did just enough and got lucky against Burton, we don't do enough and are unlucky against York. We're ahead 2-0 after 34 minutes but it's even after 67. We even go down 2-3 in the 75th minute but Chris Greenacre puts us back in the game with a late goal in the 88th minute. Final Score: 3-3.

Blech, We had it so much in control in the first half and we let it get away. Owens got the MoM with a goal and Parker scored the other goal. Richard Lee again got rated at 5.

December 1, 2011
The board are still delighted with the leadership qualities I am demonstrating. The positive atmosphere in the changing room has been encouraging to them.

Chris Greenacre has won the Blue Square Premier Player of the Month award and the runner-up was none other than Graeme Owens. Well done guys!

I also see that Plymouth and Reading seem to be interested in Greenacre. Hrm, he's got a Big Club Release but I'd really hate to lose him in the January transfer window...

Looking around, I see that Matt Somner lists me has his favoured person. Sounds silly but I've always liked being listed like that. :)

December 3, 2011
We play 12th place Eastbourne Boro at home. It's one of those games where we can't do anything wrong. We're up 4-0 at the break with 59% possession and it ends with us winning 5-0 with 63% possession over the whole game, i.e. 67% for the last 45 minutes.

Our goalscorers were Kyle Nix, Keigan Parker and Byron Hart with one a piece and Chris Greenacre with two. It was Hart's first senior goal. Nix got the MoM.

Looking at the coach report for Hart, my assistant now lists him as the best young central midfielder at the club, ahead of Tendaya Darwika who is a high prize looanee. Potential ability ranked at four stars.

Rushden got manhandled by Wrexham, losing their game 3-0 and we move up to 2nd place.

FM

December 10, 2011
We play Hyde at home for our first round match in the FA Trophy. They play in the Blue Square North which is the level right under the Blue Square Premier.

Hrm, this one was more of a nailbiter than it should ever have been. We win it 2-1 after leading 2-0 for the first 82 minutes of the game. They just had too many clear chances to my liking in those last 10 minutes.

Keigan Parker and Chris Greenacre scored our goals, Parker getting the MoM. We'll play another Blue Square North side in the second round, Bishop's Stortford.

December 17, 2011
We play 17th place Gainsborough at home. This one starts ugly as we go down 0-1 in the 9th minute. A Chris Greenacre goal gets us back in the game in the 20th mintue but that was our first shot, on or off target. They'd already 3 of 4 on target by that time and were controlling the ball 64% of the time.

We do gain back possession the rest of the way and have quite a few chances but we fail to capitalize on them. Final Score: 1-1.

December 21, 2011
We play 6th place Cambridge. They've been absolutely on fire lately, recording a draw and five wins over the course of their last six games. We've gone WLWDWD, a bit less hot but still good enough for 8th in the league over the same period.

Ball control is our big weapon in this one as we're up 1-0 at the half with a nice 59% possession. We keep it going in the second half and add to our lead while maintaining the same kind of possession. Final Score: 2-0.

Tyrone Thompson scores in a rare start. Keigan Parker scores our second goal while also getting the MoM.

Rough news following the game though. Peter Gilbert had to leave the game after strainging an ankle. I learn afterward that he will miss about 2 months. Ouch... I'll see how Kevin Sandwith do in his absence and if he falters, I'll try Paul Stonehouse.

Today, we played the match we had on hand over Rushden. The win brings us to two points of them and the top spot in the league.

FM

December 26, 2011
We play 8th place Fleetwood on their pitch. It's a pretty even first half of play, both stats wise and score wise. It's 1-1 after 45 minutes and it looks like we're gonna get out of there with one point when they score in the 90th minute. DAMMIT!

That's a hard loss to take but we didn't deserve any better. We did just enough to survive all game long and got burned at the end.

Matt Somner scored our only goal and we drop to 3rd place as Grimsby jumps a couple spot to first place with a win. They're three points ahead of us with a match in hand.

December 28, 2011
We play 2nd place Rushden at home. Ugh, I hate these games with only 48 hours of rest. And against Rushden no less. If you go back and check, at the same time last season, we played Luton on only 48 hours of rest. Didn't go too well...

Looking at the squad, we got many players going into the game with their condition below 90%, something I try to avoid at all cost. Graeme Owens is alreayd at only 86%. Because of that, I give his first start ever to Byron Hart. Also in are Paul Stonehous and Gary Silk at DL and DR, Ashley Grimes for Keigan Parker at SC, Tyrone Thompson for Kyle Nix at AMC and Uddin for Matt Somner at DMC.

It's a crazy first half that goes back and forth. We scored twice, they scored twice, both keepers rated at 5 after 45, 2-2 is the score. Crazy...

We take control in the second half and Richard Lee is just not as awful as their keeper. He's still rated at 5 after 90 minutes but their keeper ends up with a 3. Final Score: 4-2

Huge, HUGE win! Ashley Grimes scored two, Reuben Noble-Lazarus had one as a replacement for Vincent late in the game and Byron Hart had one before coming out in the 61st minute. Vincent got the MoM.

This win against Rushden combined with a rare home loss by Grimsby means we're back at the top of the table! Grimsby still has a match on hand over us but this win was big.

FM

December 31, 2011
With the turn of the year come the reminders about all your players with contracts expiring in 6 months. Last year's list was huge. This year's, not so much. Only 6 players are on this list this season, apart from the loan players, and none is a regular starter. Here's the list:
GK Alan Marriott - not one appearance this year
DC Mark Preece - not one appearance this year
D LC Kevin Sandwith - currently replacing Peter Gilbert but otherwise expendable, 33yo
D/M LC Paul Stonehouse - see Sandwith but is only 24 so might be worthy of an offer on the cheap to be a backup
AM C Tyrone Thompson - used to be a regular last year but has barely played this season. Kyle Nix is much more dependable. 29yo

We play 8th place Barrow on their pitch. Greenacre comes into this game at only 85% condition so he'll sit to start the game. We struggle early on but score a couple to keep it under control and it's 2-2 at the half. It's frustrating that we let go of a 2-1 lead but even more that it's a penalty kick called in the 67th mintue that decides who wins. Final Score: 2-3.

Graeme Owens and Keigan Parker scored our goals.

Lucky for us, both Rushden and Grimsby lost their match so we remain in first place.

January 1st, 2012
The board remain delighted with the leadership qualities I am demonstrating.

While the January transfer window does open, I don't expect to make any acquisition this time around. First we're almost $3k over our weekly wage budget and because of that, our board is limiting me to wage offers of no more than $1.75k. Not many players of impact will come play for us at that price.

FM

January 3, 2012
We play 15th place Lincoln at home. Byron Webster is out for this game, having been suspended for a match with too many yellow cards. I move Dominic Shimmin back to DC and put Gary Silk in his DR spot. Shimmin has not been has impressive as I'd have hoped he would be, at least not a difference maker as other loanee Graeme Owens has been. Chris Greenacre played to finish our last game and his condition is still low. Thing is, Keigan Parker's condition is also pretty low. Good thing we're playing a lower quality opponent. I give a rare start to Reuben Noble-Lazarus.

I'm regretting this kinda lineup at the half. It's still 0-0 so we're not behind, but we've only targetted one ball on their keeper. We explode for two goals in a minute or so in the 66th minute and that's just enough to give us the win. Final Score: 2-0. Kidsters gave us that win as Byron Hart and Sam Graham both scored. Graham even got away with the MoM.

Grr, Shimmin left the game with an injury in the 84th minute. Turns out he will miss a couple weeks after twisting his knee.

Both Grimsby and Rushden won their respective games so nothing changes in the league table.

FM

January 7, 2012
We play Championship side Q.P.R. at home in this 3rd round FA Cup match. I have some history from another life with the club from Loftus Road and this match means a little something to me.

If you didn't know about my connection with QPR, feel free to read a bit :)
FM2005: a frog at Loftus Road - Front Office Football Central
FM2005: a frog in the Premiership - Front Office Football Central
FM2005: a frog in Europe - Front Office Football Central
FM2005: Loftus Road to host Premiership football again - Front Office Football Central
FM2005: European Football is back at Loftus Road! - Front Office Football Central
FM2005: a frog at the World Cup? - Front Office Football Central

My scout thinks that Q.P.R. will provide a difficult test and that retaining possession will be especially important. Yeah, duh, tell me something I DON'T know. Q.P.R. have been made 1-4 favorites to win this game by the bookies. Looking at the list of teams playing today, we're the only Blue Square Premier side left in the competition while there's still a Blue Square North club, Dover. Very impressed by that.

I decide to try and surprise QPR by going out attacking and well, it was not such a good idea. We're just not touching the ball. Possession is staying in th 30% area, but we've had some chances. We even take a 1-0 lead in the 41st minute on a Chris Greenacre goal but they even the score on a penalty just as the second half begins. Grrr... Come one guys, we can't be giving them goals! I only have time to catch my breath that we mount a push to their goal and it's his best impersonation of an NHL referee, the ref equalizes. PENALTY! Greenacre doubles his tally and we're back in the lead. We're still only registering 33% possession though, but they are not coming close to our net. I switch our formation to a defensive 5-3-2 formation and it does the trick just well enough for us to hang to our lead. Final Score: 2-1!!!

We've done it, we're through to round 4! I can't believe it!

This one is a huge morale booster in the dressing room.

January 8, 2012
Reuben Noble-Lazarus strained his neck in training and will miss 10 days.

January 10, 2012
I learn that we will play either League 2 Hereford or League 1 Brighton and Hove Albion in our 4th round FA Cup match. Interesting that we just beat a Championship club and would play lower clubs in the next round. Not saying it's a done deal we will advance, but we could, if we play it right.

FM

January 11, 2012
While looking at some scout reports for potential replacements for current keeper Richard Lee, I see that the scouted player is now being compared to Peter Donnelly. I mean, my scout is not saying the scouted player is "not anywher near", "as good as", or "better than" Richard Lee but than Petter Donnelly. Woah. Looking at his player card, it looks like the 19yo kid has grown a heck of a lot while on loan at Newport County. Despite conceding 61 goals in 25 appearances, he's averaged a form rating of 7.32, much better than Lee's 6.60. I decide to end Donnelly's loan and to recall him on the spot.

January 12, 2012
Oh crap, what I feared the most is happening. Plymouth Argyle have made a $110,000 bid for Chris Greenacre. Since they meet the criteria for the player's big club release clause, I cannot reject this offer. He accepts a $6.4k a week contract with them within the day. :(

I'm freakishly sad to see him go though, I can't lie. He was my first big transfer splash and he was a spark plug for our offense this season. He scored 7 goals in 18 appearances last season and had already score 16 in 22 appearances this season. Looking at his player card, not only does he lists me as his favoured person, he also admires me. I guess I gave him a second lease on life, so to speak.

Still, it's not all bad. I mean, Greenacre is 34 and we have some depth at the forward position. There's one thing though, even though I could not reject the offers, players are mad at me. Chris Smith, Kevin Sandwith, Ashley Vincent, Kyle Nix, Anwar Uddin, Paul Stonehouse and Louis Briscoe are all unhappy at the sale of one of the Club's star players. I COULD NOT REJECT IT!!!

FM

January 14, 2012
We play Bishop's Stortford in a 2nd Round FA Trophy match. Ashley Grimes gets the start for departed Chris Greenacre. Peter Donnelly is ineligible under competition rules since he's played a match in the FA Trophy with Newport County.

It's not one of our finest match. We go down 0-1 after only 11 mintues but tie it in the 36th minute. From then on, we attack off and on but I end up setting the guys to simply hold the draw so we'll play a rematch at home. Final Score: 1-1.

Keigan Parker scored our lone goal and Matt Somner got the MoM.

I learn that we will be playing Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup 4th round. They destroyed Hereford 5-1 in a replay after drawing with them first 1-1.

FM

January 18, 2012
2nd Round FA Trophy replay match against Bishop's Stortford, on our pitch this time. This is more like it. We come out strong and control possession from the get go. It's 3-0 at the half and 4-0 after 90 minutes. Goals came from Matt Somner, Graeme Owens (pen), and Keigan Parker had two. We did lose two players to injury. Byron Webster will miss about a week after suffering a gashed lef and Ashley Vincent will be out of action for about three weeks with a twisted knee.

Matt Somner goes to the press and publicly thank me. He says he believes his wonderful form this season is due to the effect I have had on his career. Feels good to hear. :)

January 20, 2012
Huhoh, League 2 Brentford have come out and offered $80k for Kyle Nix. Like Greenacre, he too has the big club release clause but I guess Brentford is not a big enough club since I can negotiate. Silly me can't find a straight "reject" button but I follow my assistant's advice and nump up my demands to $900k for Nix. My assistant is of the opinion that Nix is a key player at the club who should be retained at all costs. I guess $900k would qualify for "at all costs". As expected, they drop their offer.

January 21, 2012
We play 22nd place AFC Telford at home. This game marks the senior debut of Peter Donnelly with us. We're totally in control in this game and the final score of a 2-1 win doesn't represent how we manhandled them. 57% possession with with shots going 11 to 12 (8 to 1 on target) is more representative. Keigan Parker and Sam Graham scored for us. Graeme Owens got yet another MoM playing the right wing. Youngster Byron Hart played the first 78 minutes on the left wing and got a rating of 8.

Grimsby also won while Rushden lost. We're moving up to second place, 4 points away from Grimsby but with a match on hand.

FM

January 24, 2012
We play 8th place Crawley on their pitch. Wow, what a counter performance Peter Donnelly gives us. I guess he is still very young at 19 and he will have bad games but this one is a really bad one. We end up with a 3-3 draw on at least 2 bad goals given by Donnelly. He ends the game on the bench with a form rating of 4.

Keigan Parker scored one and Kyle Nix scored two. Byron Hart ended up with the MoM in another strong showing.

Grimsby won and they pull away a bit more, now 6 points ahead of us. The scary thing is we're only one tiny points ahead of 5th place Cambridge who've been tearing the league up lately.

FM

January 25, 2012
Byron Webster has resumed training following his injury.

Thinking about making the team better for next season and our life post-Owens, remember that he is a loanee, I spot this 24yo AM RL named Dean Cox currently playing for Leyton Orient. I got some transfer money left and after a bit of back and forth, I get them to agree to an offer of $18k. My scout seems to think he is not good enough to succeed but his skills are just what I like in a winger, i.e. decent (12-13) crossing, dribbling, pace, stamina, passing, technique and teamwork. Yeah all those skills are either at 12 or 13 for him, plenty good enough for me. Add "movement", which I assume is the old "off the ball" skill, at 13 too. Sure, my scout is comparing him to Owens as our current best left midfielder. Owens is out of this world for a Conference level side. Even better, Cox is looking for only $1.65k a week on a 3 year deal. I go bit cheaper and offer him $1.5k a week with a $10k signing on fee. He agrees to the contract offered and joins us the very next day.

FM

January 28, 2012
We play Brighton at home for this 4th round FA Cup match. Peter Donnelly is again ineligible for this one so Richard Lee is back in the nets, and he delivers a stinker. Wow, we're with them all the way, controlling possession of 59% over the course of the whole game. Shots are also very even at 6 (3 on target) for us and also 6 (4 on target) for them. Still, Lee gets rated a wonderful 3 on form and we lose it 0-3.

Good thing it's not a league match and the impact is not as bad on player morale as the media and everyone pretty much expected us to lose. Still very frustrating to see we could have won this one, but a bad keeper performance denied us of that...

Following this second bad keeper performance in a row, by two separate keepers, I take this scout report I get about one 34yo Darryl Flahavan very seriously. My scout says he is twice the keeper that our best keeper Peter Donnelly is. Flahavan is without a contract and is looking for a one year deal at only $700 a week. He agrees to it and joins us as our fourth keeper. He could make for a solid keeper until the 19yo Donnelly matures a bit.

FM

January 31, 2012
Wow, while we were getting our butts handed to us in the FA Cup, it seems like everybody else around us in the league table have won their league game. Look at that, we're now in 6th place, only one points above the playoff line. Sure, we got two matches on hand but dang, this puts a lot of pressure on us to win those matches.

FM

February 1, 2012
Huhoh, since we're not as high on the league table, the board has kinda cooled off on their appreciation of my management of the club. They are not delighted anymore, simply very pleased with it.

The good news is that youngster Byron Hart has won the Blue Square Premier Player of the Month award. Wow, well done! I had not realized but since he's been a starter, the 18yo has had some very decent outings with form ratings of 7-8-9-7-8 over his last five appearances. Funny thing is the kiddo lists me as his favoured person. He's only four years older than my own son. Heck, he could be my son...

We play 13th place Kidderminster on their pitch. I give Donnelly another start at keeper and he again gives away a bad goal. He ends the game with a decent enough rating of 7 but a bad goal a game forces us to play way over our head defensively and even if it was a non-factor in this one as we won it 3-2, I simply don't like giveaway goals...

Byron Hart scored again along with Kyle Nix and Graeme Owens who also got the MoM. This was the only match in the league today and the win moves us back up to second place, 3 points away from first place Grimsby.

FM