(FM05) Bristol Rovers 2005- League One beckons
 

Here's season 1: Bristol is horrible.. Bristol is ok. Bristol is Horrible, Bristol gets very good and makes the playoffs and...

We get 300K for TV rights to League 1, which is well needed, because we don't have any transfer budget, the board suggesting some of the new players we signed last year to youth contracts getting some playing time.

The board expects us to go right back down, to battle bravely against relegation.

THey may be wrong, but then again they may be right :)

At the last second, Savage accepts our lowball offer of 350/week, nearly a sixth of what he used to make, and resigns. Good, I didn't want to lose the guy, he was just making way too much :)

We're busy in the free transfer market, as we bring the following players in to help us:

John Spicer (1.1K/WK, Valued at 240K, through 6/08)

A product of the Arsenal youth system, Spicer had three loans at lower level teams last year, six games (1 goal) for Woking of the Conference, 2 goals in 16 games at Conference South side Bishop's Stortford, and 2 goals in 11 appearances at League 2 champions Cambridge Utd, for an average rating of 7.36.

A pretty decent player, he'll probably start right off the bat.

Adam Birchall (1.1K/Week, Valued at 70K, through 6/08)

TOLD ya we'd attempt to get him back :)

Another Arsenal youth team player, he scored 17 goals for us in League Two last year and we're glad to have him back for a full year. :)

DM CTom Kearney (850/wk through 6/08, valued at 35K)

Kearney had experience at League One side Bradford City last year, scoring 4 and adding 4 assists in 30 appearances (23 as a starter), with an average rating of 7.07.

He's going to get thrown into the mix at the DM C position right from the get go.

Speaking of upcoming games, we arrange the following friendlies.

(Home: Northampton (English League 2), Coventry (English Championship)

(Away: Albion Rovers (Scotland/Third Division) Aberyswyth Town (Wales Premier League). Chelmsford (English Non League)

(Home: Bolton (English Premier League)

Another new signing:

F C Marc Newsham (17, 775/wk, 22K)

Only 17 and he's been playing professional footy for almost a full year now, playing some games as a substitute as Championship side Rotherham, before being loaned out to League 2 side Chester City.. when he became available on a free transfer, I pounced :)

The odds come out for the 05-06 season. Needless to say we're the favorites to go back down, with 40-1 odds for promotion.

The media want to know my thoughts.. I tell em it's gonna be a struggle, but I think I have the talent to stay up in 05 :)

Fahey is pleased that we're not looking for re-inforcements and hopes to repay my faith.

Elliot is pleased that he won't have to work too hard to keep a first team place.. Grrr... That's right.. piss me off again THIS year...

We do really well in our preseason friendlies.

Wins: Coventry, Albion, Aberystwyth, Chelmsford
Draws: Northampton
Losses: Bolton

We loan in two players to start, hopefully they'll be as important as last year's loanees were.. Tottenham midfielder Mark Hughes and Man Utd Striker Daniel Nardiello

here's my suggested line up for 05-06, at least to start: (with last year's rating/goals)

GK : Fahey (7.83 rating, 20 games)
DC: J Anderson (7.29, 49 Games, 3 assists)
DC: Elliott (7.29, 48 Appearances, 2 assists)
DC: Burns (6.67, 9 Appearances)
DMC: Kearney (30 appearances for Bradford City (League 1), 7.07 Rating, 4 goals, 4 assists)
MC: Disley (7.30 in 27 Appearances, 5 goals, 3 assists)
MC: Trollope (7.38 in 45 appearances, 1 goal, 6 assists)
MC: Spicer (33 appearances for 3 teams last year, 5 goals, 7.36 Rating)
FC: Walker (7.02 in 46 appearances, 15 goals, 18 assists)
FC: Akagunduz (7.17 in 35 appearances for Konysapor (TPD), 16 goals, 1 assist)
FC: Agogo (7.24 in 17 appearances, 7 goals 3 assists

S1: Bryne (GK)
S2: Gill (DM C)
S3: Birchall (S C)
S4: Nardiello (S C)
S5: Ryan (D L)

Game 1: At Bradford City

They come out in a 4-2-4, the formation that gave us trouble last year.

We take a 2nd minute lead through an Agogo rebound, but minutes later, they peg us back. We take a 2-1 lead into halftime, with Akagunduz scoring on a PK.

4 minutes after the break, they peg us back again with Danny Forrest scoring.. but with 25 minutes to play, Akagunduz scores his 2nd, and we hold on to win our initial game in League 1, 3-2!

That formation you play seems very narrow, you must get exposed a lot down the wings.

Still reading, very good dynasty. I hope you stay up. :)

actually, it works fine most of the time.. just about all the outer parts of the three wide make side runs..

but we do play a narrow depth.. like to keep the ball in the middle of the pitch.

Here's a graphic of the formation we use.

We follow up our first win with our second win, a 1-0 win at home against Barnsley, that we should have won by more, after they had a player sent off early in the 2nd half, but considering our only goal was an 87th minute scramble by Trollope, we'll take it! :)

Life in League One isn't going to be all peaches and cream, however, and Hull slaps us around, defeating us 2-0, and worse, Disley will miss a month.

We return to the winning ways (our third win in four games),. as goals from Akagunduz and Nardello lead us to a 2-0 win over Colchester, however, Agogo will miss a month or so with a slight arm fracture. It's a blow, but we have a cover, but Agogo appreciates that we will miss him.

We win our first cup game in the Yellope era, as we defeat League Two side Walsall in the first round of the League Cup, 2-1, but our goal scorer, Adam Birchall will miss four months as he goes into rehabilitation for a groin injury. We will travel to League 2 side Yeovil Town for the 2nd round.

Back in the League, our injuries are starting to take its toll, as Oldham takes it to us, 2-0, and it realistically wasn't that close.

The early League 1 standings :)

In International Play:

England has clinched a spot in 2006 in Germany (the first European team to do so, Mexico has clinched a spot in CONCACAF, and Brazil and Uruguay from South America), with a 2-0 win at Wales, Lampard and Beckham scoring goals.

The race for second in England's Group 6 is wide open. Poland has 13 points, however, they've played one more game then Wales (11) and Northern Ireland (10)

Group 5 is crazy.

Scotland controls their own destiny, with three games to play, a nil-nil draw with Italy gives them 16 Points. Denmark is second with 15, and right now, if the qualifiers ended, Italy would be OUT of the World Cup with 14.

Italy still have a good shot as they play the 3 lower teams in the group in their final games, while Norway and Scotland still play each other.

Denmark takes the lead in Group 5 with a 2-1 win over Scotland, and Italy moves in to 2nd with a 1-0 win over Belarus. Now it's Scotland on the outside looking in.

i just spent about 1 hour reading season 1 lol. I think your a great manager. I tried to do this exact thing with southend but 1, i ended up cheating giving myself money with unreal tranfers xD and MANY restarts, and then when i won the season and got promoted i thought feck it xD and i deleted it. U have insipired me to do it all over again but with a even harder team as southend was quite easy even if i didnt restart i would have easily got 7/8th place. So I plan to do this lol. i definetly plan to keep reading about this season lol. Btw we are talking about the game Football Manager right? lol when u report it back u make it so realistic. neways keep up the good work in league 1