Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - An Inky Situation (FM 2014 English Level 12)

Izulde · 01-01-2015, 09:36 AM

Can we do it? We have a two game buffer with eight to play on third place, at least, so as long as we don't completely blow it (always a possibility in an Izulde FM dynasty), we have a shot.

I'm praised for my ability to get players to score. We have 39 goals in 20 games for our 13 wins. Thanks, FM Mad!

The manager of Hibernian says his team was complacent, and that a lot of our opponents have been that way lately, which is why we're overachieving. Um.. go fuck yourself, dude. And after I was nice enough to say you should get more time.

Our roster continues to thin itself out. Doug Ford leaves, and Kyle King is on his way out as well. Evidently Camberley Town saw something in the young striker, because they're paying him $4k. Wow, maybe we missed the boat there.

I'm a 5-2 favorite to take over Heath Hayes, a Level 9 team that's in 3rd place, just 3 points off the promotion spot into Level 8. Although that seems awesome, I'm not a fan of it. I'd have to keep using their system that's working, rather than introduce my own that has us in the driver's seat for winning the league. Their previous manager left to take over a last place Level 8 team and try to get out of the drop zone.

A Level 9 team riddled with injuries and in the drop asks for me too, but I say no. What I find really interesting is that even though these Level 9 teams are all semi-pro, most only have a handful of players under contract. Makes sense, though.

Skimming through the tables, it appears that in this database, Levels 11 and 12 are amateur, and Level 10 is where you start to see semi-pro teams, but there's amateur teams at that level as well. Perhaps Level 9 is where semi-pro is required? We'll find out, hopefully.

Good Trains
Ash Malhotra

Bad Trains
Phil Lindley

Absolutely delighted board, and $5.35k profit. Lee Craig is still a sad face. By the way, we have just over $38k in the bank right now, so we've a nice little nest egg in case we go semipro.

1st vs Enville Athletic (15th)
G: Ash Malhotra
D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close
M: Phil Lindley/Joe Ward
AM: Patrick Lauber/Tom Schofield/Billy Akrigg
ST: Brian Haule

So Paul McDonnell hasn't been the same since his injury, and Billy Akrigg is the young kid with upside, so I let my assman's decisions stand.

33 - Bitchass fluke free kick goal. And we've been outplaying them all god damned half. 0-1

37 - Lindley to Ward just outside the box, but the defense converges and knocks the ball off. Before they can get possession, Schofield slips in, strikes a why not shot, and has his 7th goal of the year! 1-1

56 - Lauber's off with injury. I have no backup, so put in Loughlin to play out of position, and Tevendale's on for a waste of space today in Haule.

80 - Fucking long range shots. Time to Overload. 1-2

89 - Ward comes through with a long range shot of his own to potentially get us at least a point 2-2

And that's what we get. At this stage of the season, every point helps. I tell the gang they were unlucky, because really, they were. Just a couple of fluke goals there. We do lose Patrick Lauber for a month, however, which is horrid news, because he's our AML in our home formation and our second striker in our away one.

Transfer In: ST John Wigglesworth (23) - 1.5/5
A prospect for the future, but one who also will get starting spots the rest of the season, as we're failing to land an AML.

1st vs Rostance Edwards (3rd)
G: Ash Malhotra
D: James Kay/Tom Rowbotham/Anthony Newton/Brian Close
M: Tom Schofield/Joe Ward/Phil Lindley
AM: Liam Loughlin
ST: Brian Haule/James Tevendale

This gives us the most effective lineup, as Wigglesworth and Haule are both suited to be AF, and lousy at DLF. Win this game, and we're in excellent breathing space to promote. Lose, and things get a lot tighter. Especially since Rostance Edwards and Polesworth both have a game in hand on us.

18 - Come on, Loughlin. You need to make those easy ones!

Quiet first half. I mean, I'll take another point, but we're playing meh.

55 - Schofield and Rowbotham move up, and Street comes in at DC, dumping Loughlin. Tevendale is both tired and lousy, so Wynne gets a rare call.

66 - Pathetic. 0-1

Terrible, terrible showing. Polesworth is now just 2 points behind us with a game in hand, Rostance Edwards 6 behind with game in hand. I'm so pissed right now, and I let the team have it.

Athserley Recreation, with the awesome nickname of the Penguins, is an Amateur Level 9 side, and I'm the favorite for the job. As cool as it would be, no thanks to being amateur in a semi-pro dominated league.

Youth Candidates
16 year old DLCR Richard Heath is considered one of our top defenders right now, but he's 5'6 and has poor pace and strength, which are our primary concerns. In the end, I don't think I'll sign any of these kids.

But then AMC/AML/MC James Henders scores 2 goals and I start thinking I can train Richard Heath up in his weak areas. In the end, I sign everyone with 10+ Pace or Strength, plus a couple in between guys.

1st @Burntwood Town (13th)
G: Ash Malhotra
D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close
M: Tom Schofield/Joe Ward/Phil Lindley
AM: Liam Loughlin
ST: Brian Haule/James Tevendale

Good news. Patrick Lauber got back to full training today, so we'll have him back for the last five games of the season. Bad news. This team may be 13th, but they stomped us last game.

19 - Close charges hard to snag a clearance and dribbles to crack a shot from the half-circle. It goes in! I think last game was the first time this season we've been shut out. Glad to know it won't continue. 1-0

33 - Loughlin passes to Tevendale, who immediately has like three defenders surround him. Our veteran striker finds a seam and threads the weighted ball to an open Haule, and just like that, we're double. 2-0

36 - Aaand of course, we let our guard down.

2-1

At the half, I warn everyone of complacency, because I noticed quite a few guys looked lazy out there. We need these 3 points! Malhotra is initially stressed, but I talk him down.

56 - We're getting hammered and Street's treating it like a whatever, so I pull him for Suddaby.

66 - Close dribbles into the right side of the box and crosses near post to Tevendale. Goalie deflects the shot, but Haule's in position to put it away, and he does. Whew. 3-1

83 - Tired Tevendale and we've just about got this wrapped up, so Wigglesworth will make his debut.

8.0 for Brian Close, 8.8 for Brian Haule. I'm worried about the complacency shown by a lot of players, but nonetheless, this was a strong team effort, and a needed win, as Polesworth and Rostance Edwards both won.

Nice to see they fixed the skip bug of the transfer deadline, so it's worth partaking in Media Day at transfer deadline now. Blair McGinness a DL/ML youth candidate I decided to keep, chooses to stay with us because I'm one of his favored personnel already. Awesome. Ian Banks, my assman, has a lot of fans amongst the U21 homegrowns we signed.

No fans yet on the seniors, but I'm sure that'll change if we promote.

We try to steal a 25 year old striker who's his team's leading scorer, but he opts to stay.

1st vs Alcester Town (8th)
G: Ash Malhotra
D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close
M: Phil Lindley/Joe Ward
AM: Patrick Lauber/Tom Schofield/Billy Akrigg
ST: Brian Haule

So awesome to have Lauber back in the fold. 5 games left, including this one and a match against Polesworth in the 2nd to last game of the year.

24 - WTF?! OFFSIDES!!! FUCKING OFFSIDES YOU FUCKING SNOTGOBBLING FUCKING REF!!! 0-1

28 - AKRIGG WAS NOT OFFSIDES! DO YOU EVEN FUCKING KNOW THE DAMN RULE?!?!

36 - Haule dribbles down the pitch and bounce passes it into the box, where Ward says thanks for the easy equalizer. 1-1

41 - What a great game Haule is having. Our corner's cleared out, but he heads it to Newton's feet, and the defender shoots the gap, and we go up! 2-1

Rowbotham replaces a tired and not that good today Street at the break.

71 - Tevendale in for Akrigg, who's played nervy, and is looking tired.

We get several more chances to score in the remaining minutes, but nothing doing. Our defense is great, though. My assman wants me to yell at the team. No way. Good result.

Four games left. We're now 4 up on Polesworth, 6 on Rostance Edwards, but they still have games in hand.

3 weeks off now. Long break, but at least we'll know what we look like heading into the final stretch.

Good Train
Andy Catley

Bad Trains
Patrick Lauber
Lee Craig

$2.55k profit. Nothing's changed otherwise.

Ian Banks is signed away by Colne for $5.75k salary. He'll be there for all of next season unless someone comes in with even more money. I'll miss him. He was a big part of our run with his suggestions.

Ronnie Green, who is amazing at judging players and teaching attacking, is our new assman. Terrible tactically, which may be a mistake, though he's also great at working with youngsters and good at teaching fitness.

Enville Athletic pulls off a major upset in beating Polesworth 4-1, while Rostance Edwards grinds out a 1-0 win over Barton United. So with the table all square, we're 3 points up on 2nd place, 4 up on 3rd, and 10 up on 4th. IOW, we've all but guaranteed a Top 4 finish.

We need 10 points over the last 4 games to guarantee the title, or 3 wins and a tie.

1st @Barton United (10th)
G: Ash Malhotra
D: James Kay/Phil Lindley/Anthony Newton/Mark Bertram
M: Joe Ward/Andy Catley/Brian Close
AM: Tom Schofield
ST: Brian Haule/Patrick Lauber

Interesting choices by our new assman, but we'll roll with it. This is not going to be an easy team to beat by any means. They may be 1-4 in their last five matches, but I smell a trap game.

15 - Catley rewards the new assman's faith by playing a beautiful ball in front of Schofield to pick up in the box. I'm thinking the shot is coming, but he backpasses to Lauber, who cooly kicks it *just* in the gap! 1-0

34 - 35 yard bounce pass by Ward sees a race between Haule and the defender. Our Tanzanian striker wins and scores. 2-0

Excellent half, and despite my qualms, I tell them how well they're doing.

49 - Quit fucking letting them get back in the game! Haule was onside!

58 - No doubt there, as Schofield chips the ball in the box, and Haule beats the defense to put it, and presumably the game, away. 3-0

60 - Yep. Grr. Craig in for Kay, Close back to DR, and Rowbotham in at MC. 3-1

79 - Terrible fucking clearance by Lindley.

3-2

93 - Another reward, as Catley makes a nice, short pass to Lauber. A dribble through the defense later, and we've guaranteed the 3 points! 4-2

8.2 for Tom Schofield, 9.0 for Patrick Lauber, and 8.8 for Brian Haule. All three players really stepped up their game in the second half when things started getting scary. Major win that puts us up 5 points on 2nd, 6 on 3rd with 3 games left, as Polesworth and Rostance Edwards played to a 2-2 tie. We also clinch no worse than 3rd.

The driver's seat is unquestionably ours.

01-01-2015, 09:36 AM	#8
Izulde Head Coach Join Date: Sep 2004	Can we do it? We have a two game buffer with eight to play on third place, at least, so as long as we don't completely blow it (always a possibility in an Izulde FM dynasty), we have a shot. I'm praised for my ability to get players to score. We have 39 goals in 20 games for our 13 wins. Thanks, FM Mad! The manager of Hibernian says his team was complacent, and that a lot of our opponents have been that way lately, which is why we're overachieving. Um.. go fuck yourself, dude. And after I was nice enough to say you should get more time. Our roster continues to thin itself out. Doug Ford leaves, and Kyle King is on his way out as well. Evidently Camberley Town saw something in the young striker, because they're paying him $4k. Wow, maybe we missed the boat there. I'm a 5-2 favorite to take over Heath Hayes, a Level 9 team that's in 3rd place, just 3 points off the promotion spot into Level 8. Although that seems awesome, I'm not a fan of it. I'd have to keep using their system that's working, rather than introduce my own that has us in the driver's seat for winning the league. Their previous manager left to take over a last place Level 8 team and try to get out of the drop zone. A Level 9 team riddled with injuries and in the drop asks for me too, but I say no. What I find really interesting is that even though these Level 9 teams are all semi-pro, most only have a handful of players under contract. Makes sense, though. Skimming through the tables, it appears that in this database, Levels 11 and 12 are amateur, and Level 10 is where you start to see semi-pro teams, but there's amateur teams at that level as well. Perhaps Level 9 is where semi-pro is required? We'll find out, hopefully. Good Trains Ash Malhotra Bad Trains Phil Lindley Absolutely delighted board, and $5.35k profit. Lee Craig is still a sad face. By the way, we have just over $38k in the bank right now, so we've a nice little nest egg in case we go semipro. 1st vs Enville Athletic (15th) G: Ash Malhotra D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close M: Phil Lindley/Joe Ward AM: Patrick Lauber/Tom Schofield/Billy Akrigg ST: Brian Haule So Paul McDonnell hasn't been the same since his injury, and Billy Akrigg is the young kid with upside, so I let my assman's decisions stand. 33 - Bitchass fluke free kick goal. And we've been outplaying them all god damned half. 0-1 37 - Lindley to Ward just outside the box, but the defense converges and knocks the ball off. Before they can get possession, Schofield slips in, strikes a why not shot, and has his 7th goal of the year! 1-1 56 - Lauber's off with injury. I have no backup, so put in Loughlin to play out of position, and Tevendale's on for a waste of space today in Haule. 80 - Fucking long range shots. Time to Overload. 1-2 89 - Ward comes through with a long range shot of his own to potentially get us at least a point 2-2 And that's what we get. At this stage of the season, every point helps. I tell the gang they were unlucky, because really, they were. Just a couple of fluke goals there. We do lose Patrick Lauber for a month, however, which is horrid news, because he's our AML in our home formation and our second striker in our away one. Transfer In: ST John Wigglesworth (23) - 1.5/5 A prospect for the future, but one who also will get starting spots the rest of the season, as we're failing to land an AML. 1st vs Rostance Edwards (3rd) G: Ash Malhotra D: James Kay/Tom Rowbotham/Anthony Newton/Brian Close M: Tom Schofield/Joe Ward/Phil Lindley AM: Liam Loughlin ST: Brian Haule/James Tevendale This gives us the most effective lineup, as Wigglesworth and Haule are both suited to be AF, and lousy at DLF. Win this game, and we're in excellent breathing space to promote. Lose, and things get a lot tighter. Especially since Rostance Edwards and Polesworth both have a game in hand on us. 18 - Come on, Loughlin. You need to make those easy ones! Quiet first half. I mean, I'll take another point, but we're playing meh. 55 - Schofield and Rowbotham move up, and Street comes in at DC, dumping Loughlin. Tevendale is both tired and lousy, so Wynne gets a rare call. 66 - Pathetic. 0-1 Terrible, terrible showing. Polesworth is now just 2 points behind us with a game in hand, Rostance Edwards 6 behind with game in hand. I'm so pissed right now, and I let the team have it. Athserley Recreation, with the awesome nickname of the Penguins, is an Amateur Level 9 side, and I'm the favorite for the job. As cool as it would be, no thanks to being amateur in a semi-pro dominated league. Youth Candidates 16 year old DLCR Richard Heath is considered one of our top defenders right now, but he's 5'6 and has poor pace and strength, which are our primary concerns. In the end, I don't think I'll sign any of these kids. But then AMC/AML/MC James Henders scores 2 goals and I start thinking I can train Richard Heath up in his weak areas. In the end, I sign everyone with 10+ Pace or Strength, plus a couple in between guys. 1st @Burntwood Town (13th) G: Ash Malhotra D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close M: Tom Schofield/Joe Ward/Phil Lindley AM: Liam Loughlin ST: Brian Haule/James Tevendale Good news. Patrick Lauber got back to full training today, so we'll have him back for the last five games of the season. Bad news. This team may be 13th, but they stomped us last game. 19 - Close charges hard to snag a clearance and dribbles to crack a shot from the half-circle. It goes in! I think last game was the first time this season we've been shut out. Glad to know it won't continue. 1-0 33 - Loughlin passes to Tevendale, who immediately has like three defenders surround him. Our veteran striker finds a seam and threads the weighted ball to an open Haule, and just like that, we're double. 2-0 36 - Aaand of course, we let our guard down. 2-1 At the half, I warn everyone of complacency, because I noticed quite a few guys looked lazy out there. We need these 3 points! Malhotra is initially stressed, but I talk him down. 56 - We're getting hammered and Street's treating it like a whatever, so I pull him for Suddaby. 66 - Close dribbles into the right side of the box and crosses near post to Tevendale. Goalie deflects the shot, but Haule's in position to put it away, and he does. Whew. 3-1 83 - Tired Tevendale and we've just about got this wrapped up, so Wigglesworth will make his debut. 8.0 for Brian Close, 8.8 for Brian Haule. I'm worried about the complacency shown by a lot of players, but nonetheless, this was a strong team effort, and a needed win, as Polesworth and Rostance Edwards both won. Nice to see they fixed the skip bug of the transfer deadline, so it's worth partaking in Media Day at transfer deadline now. Blair McGinness a DL/ML youth candidate I decided to keep, chooses to stay with us because I'm one of his favored personnel already. Awesome. Ian Banks, my assman, has a lot of fans amongst the U21 homegrowns we signed. No fans yet on the seniors, but I'm sure that'll change if we promote. We try to steal a 25 year old striker who's his team's leading scorer, but he opts to stay. 1st vs Alcester Town (8th) G: Ash Malhotra D: James Kay/Jordan Street/Anthony Newton/Brian Close M: Phil Lindley/Joe Ward AM: Patrick Lauber/Tom Schofield/Billy Akrigg ST: Brian Haule So awesome to have Lauber back in the fold. 5 games left, including this one and a match against Polesworth in the 2nd to last game of the year. 24 - WTF?! OFFSIDES!!! FUCKING OFFSIDES YOU FUCKING SNOTGOBBLING FUCKING REF!!! 0-1 28 - AKRIGG WAS NOT OFFSIDES! DO YOU EVEN FUCKING KNOW THE DAMN RULE?!?! 36 - Haule dribbles down the pitch and bounce passes it into the box, where Ward says thanks for the easy equalizer. 1-1 41 - What a great game Haule is having. Our corner's cleared out, but he heads it to Newton's feet, and the defender shoots the gap, and we go up! 2-1 Rowbotham replaces a tired and not that good today Street at the break. 71 - Tevendale in for Akrigg, who's played nervy, and is looking tired. We get several more chances to score in the remaining minutes, but nothing doing. Our defense is great, though. My assman wants me to yell at the team. No way. Good result. Four games left. We're now 4 up on Polesworth, 6 on Rostance Edwards, but they still have games in hand. 3 weeks off now. Long break, but at least we'll know what we look like heading into the final stretch. Good Train Andy Catley Bad Trains Patrick Lauber Lee Craig $2.55k profit. Nothing's changed otherwise. Ian Banks is signed away by Colne for $5.75k salary. He'll be there for all of next season unless someone comes in with even more money. I'll miss him. He was a big part of our run with his suggestions. Ronnie Green, who is amazing at judging players and teaching attacking, is our new assman. Terrible tactically, which may be a mistake, though he's also great at working with youngsters and good at teaching fitness. Enville Athletic pulls off a major upset in beating Polesworth 4-1, while Rostance Edwards grinds out a 1-0 win over Barton United. So with the table all square, we're 3 points up on 2nd place, 4 up on 3rd, and 10 up on 4th. IOW, we've all but guaranteed a Top 4 finish. We need 10 points over the last 4 games to guarantee the title, or 3 wins and a tie. 1st @Barton United (10th) G: Ash Malhotra D: James Kay/Phil Lindley/Anthony Newton/Mark Bertram M: Joe Ward/Andy Catley/Brian Close AM: Tom Schofield ST: Brian Haule/Patrick Lauber Interesting choices by our new assman, but we'll roll with it. This is not going to be an easy team to beat by any means. They may be 1-4 in their last five matches, but I smell a trap game. 15 - Catley rewards the new assman's faith by playing a beautiful ball in front of Schofield to pick up in the box. I'm thinking the shot is coming, but he backpasses to Lauber, who cooly kicks it just in the gap! 1-0 34 - 35 yard bounce pass by Ward sees a race between Haule and the defender. Our Tanzanian striker wins and scores. 2-0 Excellent half, and despite my qualms, I tell them how well they're doing. 49 - Quit fucking letting them get back in the game! Haule was onside! 58 - No doubt there, as Schofield chips the ball in the box, and Haule beats the defense to put it, and presumably the game, away. 3-0 60 - Yep. Grr. Craig in for Kay, Close back to DR, and Rowbotham in at MC. 3-1 79 - Terrible fucking clearance by Lindley. 3-2 93 - Another reward, as Catley makes a nice, short pass to Lauber. A dribble through the defense later, and we've guaranteed the 3 points! 4-2 8.2 for Tom Schofield, 9.0 for Patrick Lauber, and 8.8 for Brian Haule. All three players really stepped up their game in the second half when things started getting scary. Major win that puts us up 5 points on 2nd, 6 on 3rd with 3 games left, as Polesworth and Rostance Edwards played to a 2-2 tie. We also clinch no worse than 3rd. The driver's seat is unquestionably ours. __________________ 2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty)