FM10 - From the Bottom Up - Page 16

Radii · 09-05-2011, 06:10 AM

-- At some point in the last week Huddersfield picked up another win. We are once again 15 points out of 17th place, now with just 9 matches to go in the season.

March Update

-- We play on the 2nd, 17th, and 23rd. Light month. Three matches we are capable of competing in, though two are on the road.. @Blackburn, @Southampton, vs Watford. With 9 matches left and that nightmare finish coming up, its essentially over for us, but I'd love to put in a good showing in March and maybe make it exciting. Also, in the EPL your prize money depends on your place. $5.1M for 18th, $3.4M for 19th, $1.7M for 20th, so that's worth playing for. I will say though I'm really close to just turning off all highlights and spamming out the rest of the season as quickly as possible.

-- DL Stuart Kirkland is 3rd in Young Player of the Month voting.

-- The board remains pleased with my leadership. The January capture of Henrique is a positive for the fans. Our 0-3 loss to Birmingham pissed off the fans.

-- We made $1.24M in profit last month. Back up to $2.8M in the black as far as cash flow, and back up to $11M in profits.

March 2nd, 2019

Ipswich(3-3-23, 19th) @ Blackburn(8-9-12, 15th)

They're 4:6 favorites today, making us 7:2 dogs. That's the best odds we've seen for anything in a good long while.

GK: Mason
D: Hughes/Fryers/Henrique/McKerr
M: Guarin/Yebda/Donnelly/Berthet
AMC: Kang
ST: Khan

We are exhausted coming into this one, leading to lots of changes today. Jack Hughes is back from his suspension and starts for Kirkland today. Henrique is back in. Berthet up to MR, Gordon needs the day off. Yebda in at MC, Mariga needs a day off, and Khan in for Constantino. Even with that we are tired as hell.

13': A very, very long highlight, we have it on offense and pass it around for a good long while but can't find a shot, they steal it away and counter, getting a man near the area for a shot but Mason came out nicely and stopped it. We recover and get forward again, Khan earning us a corner as a shot is blocked behind. Corner is cleared away.

42': We've seen a few highlights here, all of Blackburn shooting from 25+ yards out though.

HALF: They shoot 8 times, but 6 from long range and only 2 on target. We shoot twice, both off target, both in the first 15 minutes. We're doing a fairly good job here defending at least, but we need to get something going to generate a shot or two.

53': They try to push the ball forward but McKerr makes an interception and catches them off guard with a long ball ahead to Kang. He's in the area after a good first touch, a man closing in fast to put pressure on him but its a clear cut chance... he shoots, wide left. Not a bad strike just a little wide. Dang.

57': They have it on offense, one striker passes to another, ST Griffiths blows by Fryers and gets into the area where he beats Mason to the near post. 0-1

71': Constantino in for Khan.

82': A highlight opens with us trying to counter, Guarin sends a ball to midfield for Constantino, he's got a lot of space and cuts between two defenders... Kang is running ahead, Constantino finds him, he's in the area, keeper coming out to pressure, but its a clear cut chance... shot is right at the keeper and saved. I cannot help but think that Gordon would score there and find it hard to believe that Kang could not.

That's the game.

Blackburn 1 : 0 Ipswich

We generate two great chances in the second half but cannot convert either. We played pretty well, frustrating!

McKerr 7.3, Yebda 7.1. Khan struggled a lot and had a 5.4 rating when it was done.

Radii · 09-05-2011, 07:00 AM

-- Arsenal beat Man Utd 4:2 to win the league cup. Wow, 21 y/o ST Hans Nooij has 0 goals in 7 league matches this year, they're just starting to break him in. But he had all 4 of their goals in the cup final. And to address Tellisto's comment from earlier on what it takes to get a 10 rating... apparently 4 goals isn't it! That's good for a 9.8.

Injury Update

-- DRC Michael McKerr turns his ankle and is going to miss 4 weeks. That's a shame. That's on March 9th.

-- McDonald Mariga hurts himself in the weight room and is out for 2 weeks. March 12th.

-- ST Valeri Bojinov hurts his calf in training. 3 weeks! March 15th.

-- GK Carlos Antonio resumes full training. Maybe we can finally get an extended look at our new keeper.

March 17th, 2019

Ipswich(3-3-24, 19th) @ Southampton(11-8-11, 10th)

They are 1:2 favorites at their place, making us 9:2 dogs. We beat these guys at our place 2:1 earlier in the year. We're on TV today.

GK: Antonio
D: Kirkland/Fryers/Henrique/Berthet
M: Hughes/Yebda/Donnelly/Gordon
AMC: Kang
ST: Constantino

Southampton ST Tomas Necid has 15 goals, one of 7 players to have 15 or 16 league goals right now.

Hughes starts at ML today, Antonio starts in goal, I think everything else is pretty standard given our 4 current injuries.

3': Yebda turns it over in our end and they look to attack right away, a pass to one of their strikers, Henrique comes way out to defend, leaving a hole in the back, ST Sturridge fills the open space, receives a pass and shoots near post and Carlos Antonio has no chance. 0-1

23': We have a goal kick, its taken long and their defense is playing very high, there's a huge amount of space between the defensive line and the penalty area.. the ball bounces free, Kang runs onto it and into the area, he's got a clear cut chance.. but runs too far with it I think.. and the keeper easily pushes it behind for a corner, which they clear.

39': They earn a corner, taken short, we have to fight hard to tackle it away but finally do and clear. They have 11 shots, all the highlights are theirs.

45': Hughes has it in our end... but he doesn't seem to know what to do. He stands around awhile and passes ahead... right to one of their defenders to start up the action. They quickly work it to Sturridge who shoots from 20 yards out and its a strong blast into the upper right corner of the net.. no chance. 0-2

HALF: We don't look good at all today. Maybe they want revenge for us getting the win at home, or just inconsistency, but this is a huge dropoff for us.

51': Donnelly gets open for a shot from 20 yards out but not enough pace, the keeper saves pretty easily.

65': There's a long ball from Gordon out near midfield towards the area, Constantino runs by the defense and possesses it beautifully, great control of such a long pass through the air. After that its clinical, he easily beats the keeper! 1-2

66': they build up after kickoff.. the ball goes out wide left, a cross comes through the 6 yard box, Hughes goes up to try to win a header... and is called for a penalty... Sturridge takes it and that's his hat trick. 1-3

76': They're really piling it on.. Sturridge gets the assist this time to go with his 3 goals, hitting a man coming in from the left with a nice pass and easy goal. Berthet takes the blame for this one and we might see multiple men under 5.0 here.

87': At least our offense didn't stop playing, Gordon receives a pass 25 yards out well right, he lofts a ball into the area, Constantino runs onto it and strikes it very nicely by the keeper! 2-4

93': At the end of added time they get a sub on the board just for kicks. A free kick goes to a man 20 yards out and he drives a shot into the left side of the net. 2-5

Southampton 5 : 2 Ipswich

This just got completely out of hand.

Goals: Constantino 2 (8.8)
Assists: Gordon 2 (7.5)

Kang 5.7, Henrique 5.9, Fryers 5.0... Berthet 4.4........ Hughes 3.6.

That's it for Hughes. He got a solid taste of top level action after coming off loan but his last two matches have resulted in a red card and one of the lowest ratings I'll see all year. He's going to spend the rest of the year with the reserves and will be featured heavily at the Championship level next year.

We're now 16 points out of 17th with 7 to play. Our next match against Watford will very likely decide who finishes 19th and who finishes 20th, there's a million bucks or so riding on that placement, so we'll watch the highlights for that. After that we rush through the rest of the year.

Radii · 09-05-2011, 07:32 AM

The first knockout round of the Champions Cup is over.

-- Man U advance beating M Haifa of Israel 1:0 (over two legs)
-- Arsenal advance on away goals after a 1:1 draw against FC Bayern
-- Chelsea loses to Barcelona 2:0 aggregate.
-- Man City loses to Benifica, 2:2 but they lose on away goals.

Not such a good result for England!

March 23rd, 2019

Watford(1-8-22, 20th) @ Ipswich(3-3-24, 19th)

For the first and only time this season, we are favored in an EPL Match. We're even money favorites at home vs Watford. They're 11:5 to win, 11:5 to draw. We tied them 1:1 at their place back in November. We're 1 point ahead of Watford with 7 to play. Getting 4 points up would nearly guarentee us the extra Million or so from 19th place!

GK: Antonio
D: Kirkland/Fryers/Henrique/Berthet
M: Adriano/Guarin/Donnelly/Gordon
AMC: Kang
ST: Constantino

This will be the last match we see Adriano. Yebda is traveling so we're down 5 men today with 4 injuries still. Guarin starts at MC along with Donnelly. Lets have some fun and attack at home against a bad team.

4': We build up slowly after a foul in our defensive end. Constantino controls it 35 yards out, runs right, passes to Berthet and heads to the area, Berthet ahead to Gordon, Gordon centers it and Constantino is there 10 yards out to put it by the keeper! 1-0

14': they earn a corner, its taken low into the 6 yard box... man how did we not clear that? Guarin takes the blame for missing an interception, midfielder Wedgbury takes advantage and drills it by Carlos Antonio. 1-1

27': A long run through the area by one of their strikers pulls our defense out of position, allowing a man to get open for a clear cut chance... a dive by Carlos Antonio sees it wide and we clear the corner.

32': They buld up on offense, a ball goes to ST Costea... Henrique and Berthet are both on his ass, but neither can make the tackle... Berthet takes the blame... as its drillled into the net. 1-2

39': Constantino breaks free for what looks like a goal... but offsides.

45': A foul and yellow for Smalling for Watford. Gordon takes the free kick from 20 yards out at about a 45 degree angle, he sends a shot bending in from right to left.. the keeper gets to it and parries it away and they clear.

HALF: Our defense is just falling apart on us. I yell at them and tell them this is a must win match, now go out there and win.

55': Donnelly with a yellow.

59': we have a throwin in their end... its taken to Kang who shoots from 20 yards out and misses badly.

68': We have it and build up to attack, lots of passing down the left side before a pass in to Constantino, he turns left by his man and shoots, but its saved and turned over for a corner. Corner is cleared.

73': Well I guess 20th is where we belong. A through ball gets backup Grimes free in the area and Antonio can't stop it... easy goal. 1-3

88': Midfielder Kearney with a yellow.

91': Kirkland a yellow.

92': Gordon a yellow.

No goals in the end, a sad ending to this one, a total failure in a very very winnable match.

Ipswich 1 : 3 Watford

Goal: Constantino (7.5)
Assist: Gordon (6.6)

Kang Soo-Jin was noticeably awful today with a 5.3 rating. Carlos Antonio with a 6.2 and he hasn't really had a good match for us yet either.

-- We'll finish the season quickly tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to crushing the Championship and getting back up here for another shot.

RPI-Fan · 09-05-2011, 09:36 AM

Good attitude! What's your plan of action for the next 2 years?

Radii · 09-05-2011, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Good attitude! What's your plan of action for the next 2 years?

That's a good question!

A couple simple things: No messing with facilities and stuff yet, ours are good and we're not that wealthy, just "safe" as far as our finances now. Improve the coaching staff if possible. I didn't look at that much this year but when a couple guys left I found very affordable upgrades very easily. Pay more attention!

Other goals I have by the time I start my next season in the EPL:

1) Spend, and spend lots if I can find the right people, on making sure I have strong Central Defenders. Going into this season thinking that Alex Bruce and Troy Brown were adequate was my biggest problem in hindsight.

2) Stick with some kind of wide formation and build for it, doesn't have to be this 4-4-1-1 and in fact I think I might rather it not be in the end, but the super narrow formation I had going made it very hard to change and be flexible. This means getting a real ML (Jack Hughes can play there but he's much better suited for defense). Even though I shoehorned some guys to make the 4-4-1-1 fit I felt like our possession and spacing was a lot better, I felt a lot more like with a little better talent I could be competing instead of "well nothing is coming close to working at all, ever" in the old narrow formation.

3) I like Khan and Constantino but I think I need a legit target man. Khan is ok at best in the air. With my current starting lineup Constantino and Kang at AMC are both terrible, this seems very limiting. Especially when we have a guy like Neil Gordon, creative, great dribbling, great anticipation and brilliant on crosses and corners both. So I think after shoring up the defense building a true "striker partnership" with Constantino and a big guy should be a priority. That would be foreshadowing a change to a 4-4-2 or something down the road. I guess I'm not dead set on this but it seems like we need to find some way to be a bigger threat in the air in general, whatever that way may be.

-- I'm wondering if I can find the guys I want (DC, ML, Target Man #1 priorities) while I'm int he Championship next year or if I won't be able to get someone high quality until I'm back up at the top level and I should use mostly loaners to fill these holes next season. That'll be a decision to make once I see my budget next season and what types of players are willing to come play for me.

Is there anything key to managing at this level that I have never talked about or that it seems I may be oblivous to? Advice always welcome!

Radii · 09-05-2011, 09:04 PM

-- March 27th: Gordon Donnelly is hurt in training and will miss 2 weeks. McDonald Mariga begins full training the same day.

-- March 28th: GK Chris Mason started for the England U19 squad against Azerbaijan and put up a very strong 7.5 rating in a 3:0 win.

-- March 30th: DL Stuart Kirkaland put up an 8.2 rating for the England U21's in a 5:0 win over Azerbaijan.

-- Contract notices come up but at this point its all guys we're letting go... Adriano/Yebda (age/1 year players), Bruce, Coutts and Fryers

April Update

-- Just 3 matches in April.

-- Stuart Kirkland gets a good training report... First Touch (13), Heading(10), Marking (12), Anticipation(11), Decisions (15), and Positioning (12) are all up. He's really becoming a strong all around player. If his technical skills will continue to rise and round out over the next few years he'll be a real stud.

-- The board is pleased still. The increase in stature is a positive, the 5-2 loss to Southampton is the new negative.

-- We made $497k last month.

-- April 2nd: Adriano hurts himself in trianing and he's out 6-8 weeks, the rest of the year basically, which is fine.

-- April 2nd: McKerr resumes full training

-- April 4th: Troy Brown and Bojinov resume full training... but Henrique hurts himself and is out for 3 weeks.

-- The media notes that our next match will be my 500th as a manager in my career. Neat!

April 6th: Wolves (18th) @ Ipswich(20th)

Constantino gets us a 18th minute goal on the counter attack, he receives a ball near midfield and does it all himself, a long run down the right, cutting inside and making one man miss before finishing! 1-0 Assist to Mariga.

They tie it back up in the 53rd minute, a cross and header won over Fryers and McKerr, both were there really.

Those are the only goals of the match. Wolves keep the pressure on til the 80 minute mark or so when we seem to take over and make a real effort to get the winning goal, but 3 different strong looking attacks end in nothing and its a draw.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Wolves

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.3)
Goal: Constantino
Assist: Mariga (7.9)

No one else above 7, Kang struggles with a 6.2, Carlos Antonio 6.3 in goal again.

Ipswich Relegated

-- We are offiically out of contention to stay up.

-- As we are relegated, McDonald Mariga tells us that he has no desire to finish his career at the Championship level and asks for a transfer. While he was one of my best players this year and I wanted him to help me win promotion back up, I go ahead and grant his request. He came over on a free transfer to us and maybe we can make some money and let him finish his career at a higher level if he wants.

law90026 · 09-05-2011, 10:21 PM

Some minor points that you may already be carrying out:

a) make sure your coaches are only training the players in 1 area only and not training all categories. Specialisation is the way to go;

b) scout the eastern European countries. There's normally a wealth of talent there that is relatively cheap although sometimes work permits are required (for places like Ukraine). South America is good as well but the players are normally unable to obtain work permits. One thing I do is to make sure that my filter has "EU National" checked so that it identifies the players which have dual-nationality easily;

c) since the target is to play in the Premier League, your transfer targets should have Premier League level quality or potential, if possible;

d) making it back to the PL immediately is the most important thing probably and I wouldn't be scared to loan some PL players to achieve that goal. You know the massive difference in financial rewards by now so it's key to get back up there. See if you can structure loan deals that allow you to purchase the player at some point.

Radii · 09-05-2011, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by law90026

a) make sure your coaches are only training the players in 1 area only and not training all categories. Specialisation is the way to go;

Hm explain? Training is one area I have not focused on a lot tbh. I try to balance good attacking and defending coaches but as far as which coaches train which areas I have tended to use the recommend button which usually puts some coaches in different roles.

For Strength training am i looking for a fitness coach type or are the other ratings besides fitness that are going to impact that?

For training schedules I am using a set of training schedules for each position that I pulled off fm base or somewhere very early on and I assign each player to one of those.

This is definitely an area where I took a default approach when I started and could get better at.

Quote:

b) scout the eastern European countries. There's normally a wealth of talent there that is relatively cheap although sometimes work permits are required (for places like Ukraine). South America is good as well but the players are normally unable to obtain work permits. One thing I do is to make sure that my filter has "EU National" checked so that it identifies the players which have dual-nationality easily;

I'll have to focus more on this. My first season was silly as I couldn't spend any money on anything, the team only had one scout and for most of the year I wasn't allowed to hire more. I expanded greatly this year but the focus was still mostly on western europe and the british isles.

Quote:

c) since the target is to play in the Premier League, your transfer targets should have Premier League level quality or potential, if possible;

d) making it back to the PL immediately is the most important thing probably and I wouldn't be scared to loan some PL players to achieve that goal. You know the massive difference in financial rewards by now so it's key to get back up there. See if you can structure loan deals that allow you to purchase the player at some point.

Yep!

Radii · 09-05-2011, 11:59 PM

April 13th: Ipswich(20th, EPL) @ Arsenal(7th, EPL)

For awhile it seemed like Arsenal was a lock for a Champions League spot (top 4), but now they're locked in what is a pretty tight battle among ~5 teams who seem likely to finish 4th-8th.

Arsenal score first in the 18th minute on a nice through ball to ST Kerrison, easy goal. 0-1 He gets his second goal in the 31st minute as a beautiful pass into space is made from like 35 yards out and he just races by the defense to get to it. 0-2 Midfielder Niundulu gets one in the 54th minute. 0-3

Arsenal 3 : 0 Ipswich

Kirkland struggles, and I gave Park a start today and he did poorly to the surprise of no one. Carlos Antonio put up a 6.8 today, the best rating on the team actually.

With just 4-5 matches to play, Chelsea has a stranglehold on the title, while Sunderland is a lock for a Champions League spot, Sheffield Utd and Newcastle control their own destinies as well. The big names you'd expect to see there are all fighting for the last two Euro Cup spots right now:

1. Chelsea (5 to go) - 71 pts
2. Sunderland (4 to go) - 67 pts
3. Sheffield Utd (5 to go) - 63 pts
4. Newcastle (5 to go) - 61 pts
5. Aston Villa (4 to go) - 59 pts
6. Arsenal (4 to go) - 59 pts
7. Liverpool (5 to go) - 59 pts
8. Man Utd (5 to go) - 57 pts
9. Man City - (4 to go) - 51 pts

Man City is almost surely out of any sort of European competition and it seems likely that only 1 of Arsenal/Liverpool/Man U would finish in the top 4, maybe none of them will.

-- April 17th: Chelsea beats Sheffield Utd, Man U and Liverpool tie in key league matches.

April 27th: Man City(9th) @ Ipswich(20th)

Man City are 6 out of 7th place with 2 to play. They seem screwed. Hopefully Carlos Antonio is hyped up to play his former team, and they are down about their position in the league.

We build up from the start, Berthet has it up out on the right, passes in to Kang who lays it off into the right side of the area, Mariga with a half volley.. keeper dives but can't stop it, its a 1st minute goal!! 1-0 In the 40th minute we have it, Kang sends a little cross into the 6 yard box, Constantino re-directs it with his head and the keeper can't get to it!!! [b]2-0[b]

In the 78th minute they have a free kick, a quick pass then a shot from 25 yards out is blasted by our keeper. 2-1

Well holy crap!!!

Ipswich 2 : 1 Man City

Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (8.8)
Goals: Mariga, Constantino (8.0)
Assists: Kang 2 (7.2)
Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.1), Kirkland (7.5), Henrique (7.0), Gordon (7.0), Donnelly (7.2)

Sadly Watford have pulled out a couple good results in the last month as well and they're sitll 4 points ahead of us for next to last.

May Update

-- We play 3 matches in May, 4th, 11th, and 19th. All of them are against teams fighting for their place in the top 7.

-- Constantino's goal against Wolverhampton where he made a long run from the midfield down the right, skipping by a defender and scoring was the #2 goal of the month in the EPL.

-- The board is pleased with my leadership. The positive is the solid play of late by constantino which is credited to my coaching abilities. The signing of GK Carlos Antonio is regarded to be a poor piece of business. Ugh. He's had a rough time of things, allowing 14 goals in 6 matches and putting up a 6.47 average rating. My assistant and goalkeeping coach both believe that Carlos Antonio is a quality player (4 stars) and is certainly an EPL caliber player.

-- We made $653k profit last month. Consistent profits since January have us at $4M in the bank and showing a proift of $12M this season. Last year we made $39.7M and spent $37.5M. This year we have made $88.5M and spent $76M.

With Just 3 matches left in the year, here's how we look:

1. Chelsea - 74 pts
2. Sunderland - 68 pts
3. Sheffield Utd - 66 pts
4. Arsenal - 62 pts
5. Newcastle - 61 pts (1 less match played)
6. Liverpool - 61 pts
7. Man Utd - 61p ts
8. Aston Villa - 60 pts

Chelsea/Sunderland/Sheffield Utd have top 4 spots almost certainly. Everyone else could finish 4th or 8th easily.

The Champions League has its final set.

Quarterfinals:

Real Madrid 0 : 2 Benifica
Barcelona 1 : 0 Lazio
Arsenal 2 : 2 Man Utd - Man Utd advances on away goals
Stuttgart 1 : 4 Inter

Semifinals

Benefica 4 : 5 Barcelona
Inter 3 : 2 Man Utd

So Barcelona will play Internazionale for the title. Inter are the defending champs (Italy were the hosts last year). Barcelona won 3 years ago.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 01:33 AM

April 4th: Ipswich (20th) @ Aston Villa (8th)

We have a throwin in the 15th minute... passed quickly to the center of the pitch, ball into the area and their defense has completely fallen apart. Neil Gordon is wide open 10 yards out and beats the keeper! 1-0 In the 35th minute Kirkland sends a cross in from about 35 yards out wide left... its right at the keeper... who mishandles the ball, it goes through his arms and into the net. Its counted as an own goal. [b]2-0[b]

They pressure non stop to start the second half, finally in the 65th minute they get Rinuado free in the area for an easy goal. 2-1. In the 79th minute Constantino with a long run down the left... into the area... skips over a diving tackle of a defender. The keeper dives on the ball but fails to hold it and it squirts away. Constantion recovers and puts it in the net! 3-1 85th minute a through ball to ST Byrne gives them a clear cut chance that they don't miss. 3-2

All of a sudden we decide we're awesome! I mean, you can't say this is like the Man City match where they are probably super dejected that they're out of Europe next year. Aston Villa is right on the edge with a real chance to finish 4th, and we just went into their house and scored 3 goals on them.

Aston Villa 2 : 3 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.3)
Goals: Constantino, Gordon (7.6), and an own goal
Assists: Mariga (8.0), Donnelly (7.1), Guarin (6.9)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

No idea how we have 3 assists and Kirkland isn't one of them, it was his cross that led to the own goal, I didn't see it hit anyone else.

-- Man U ties Chelsea to help their cause a bit. Sunderland loses a match though and its enough to clinch the EPL title for Chelsea.

May 11th: Liverpool(6th) @ Ipswich (20th)

Our last home match of the year. They get a goal 25 seconds in but its called offsides, whew. After that we go quickly to the halftime scoreless. 6 shots from each team, no clear cut chances. We shoot once in the second half, its a clear cut chance after a long run for Constantino but the keeper saves. They shoot 17 times total, it seems like 6 or 7 shots were in the last 10 minutes as they desperately wanted the 3 points, but we didn't give in.

Ipswich 0 : 0 Liverpool

One of their defenders is man of the match.

Notables: Kirkland (7.5), Berthet (7.0), Henrique (7.0)

We're actually tied now with Watford in points but they have a better goal differential. We'd need to finish this run to end the season with another point and have Watford lose to get out of last.

At the top of the league with 1 match to go for almost everyone:

1. Chelsea - 78 pts
2. Sunderland - 69 pts
3. Sheffield Utd - 69 pts
4. Arsenal - 68 pts
5. Newcastle - 65 pts (2 to play)
6. Liverpool - 65 pts
7. Man Utd - 65 pts

Aston Villa cannot finish in the top 7 now.

-- Our young defender Jack Hughes is man of the match for the England U19 squad in the U19 Euro Championship Qualifiers against Moldova, putting up an 8.5 rating and getting an assist in a 2:0 England win.

May 19th: Ipswich (20th) @ Newcastle(5th)

Newcastle has choked their chance at 4th away. A draw at Sunderland and a loss at home vs Nottingham Forest (15th). They need to beat us big and have Arsenal lose to Blackburn to get 4th.

They score in the 14th minute on a counter attack, wow, a ridiculous shot from 25 yards away in between two defenders and perfectly struck into the right side of the net. 0-1. Constantino with a run down the right side in the 32nd minute, he gets to the end line, draws the defense, passes back to Mariga who hits it on a half volley and into the net! 1-1 In the 36th minute their striker Cavani burns Henrique to get into the area and scores easily. 1-2

No scoring in the second half though they dominate it, all the chances to score were Newcastle's.

Newcastle 2 : 1 Ipswich

Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (7.9)
Goal: Mariga
Assist: Constantino (6.7)
Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.3), Kirkland (7.1), Donnelly (7.1)

And that's it for our first season in the EPL. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

Radii · 09-06-2011, 01:40 AM

2018/19 English Premier Division Final Standings

1. Chelsea - 81 pts
2. Sheffield Utd - 70 pts
3. Arsenal - 69 pts
4. Sunderland - 69 pts
5. Newcastle - 68 pts
6. Man Utd - 68 pts
7. Liverpool - 68 pts
8. Aston Villa - 64 pts
9. Man City - 58 pts
10. Tottenham - 52 pts
11. Southampton - 51 pts
12. Birmingham - 50 pts
13. Blackburn - 47 pts
14. West Ham - 46 pts
15. Nottingham Forest - 43 pts
16. Everton - 38 pts
17. Huddersfield - 33 pts
-------------------------------------
18. Wolverhampton - 25 pts
19. Watford - 25 pts
20. Ipswich - 20 pts

We score 30 goals and allow 77.

In our last 8 matches we scored 10 goals and allowed 17 and earned 8 of our 20 points. That's still not great of course, but we really seemed to play a lot better later in the year, whatever the reason.

-- Ipswich are given $1,702,000 for our 20th place finish in the EPL.

-- We pay out a Squad bonus of $450,000 to share amongst the players.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 01:49 AM

Goalkeepers

Name	Age	$/Wk	GM	GA	SO	MoM	Yel	Red	Avg
Brian Murphy	36	XOUT	21	46	2	0	0	0	6.58
Chris Mason	17	$825	6	8	1	0	0	0	6.85
Carlos Antonio	26	$27,500	9	18	1	0	0	0	6.62
Dominic Johnson	20	$1,100	6	9	2	0	0	0	6.63

**GA = Goals Allowed | SO = Shutouts

Carlos Antonio played a lot better in our final few matches and I'm sure he'll settle in and be great for us next year. I was kinda careful about where I chose to play Chris Mason but he performed quite well when I did use him.

Defenders

Name	Age	$/Wk	Apps	GL	AST	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Avg
Stuart Kirkland	19	$7000	42	0	2	3	1	0	2.39	79%	6.94
Henrique	32	$37500	14	0	0	0	1	0	4.29	67%	6.82
Michael McKerr	29	$9500	32(1)	1	0	0	1	0	3.57	77%	6.76
Adriano	34	$23500	14(5)	0	0	0	0	0	1.94	79%	6.52
Sylvain Berthet	25	$40000	30(1)	0	2	0	4	0	3.17	75%	6.60
Zeki Fryers	26	$23000	15(7)	1	1	0	1	0	3.09	74%	6.39
Alex Bruce	34	$10750	17(2)	1	0	0	2	0	1.80	82%	6.33
Troy Brown	28	$19250	21(1)	0	0	0	0	0	2.57	74%	6.31
Jack Hughes	18	$675	8	0	0	0	2	1	1.84	76%	6.32
Park Sang-Ho	19	$575	1(2)	0	0	0	0	0	2.14	80%	5.85

**GL = Goals | TCK = Tackles/game

Bruce, Fryers and Adriano will be gone. I think the biggest surprise here is how badly Berthet struggled.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 01:58 AM

Midfielders

Name	Age	$/Wk	Apps	GL	AST	MoM	Yel	Red	Tck	Pass	Avg
McDonald Mariga	32	$36500	40	7	6	4	4	0	3.31	77%	7.23
Gordon Donnelly	24	$52000	33	0	3	0	7	0	3.23	81%	6.79
Fredy Guarin	32	$35000	29(6)	0	1	0	3	0	2.37	79%	6.74
Neil Gordon	23	$24500	32(5)	5	8	1	5	0	1.98	67%	6.74
Kang Soo-Jin	23	$18250	35(6)	6	6	2	1	0	2.04	76%	6.74
Paul Coutts	30	$17250	2(11)	0	2	0	0	0	1.76	83%	6.62
Hassan Yebda	35	$13000	13(12)	0	0	0	0	0	2.53	80%	6.57

**GL = Goals | TCK = Tackles/game

It seems like there some interest in Mariga so we're probably not going to have him around next year. Donnelly, Gordon and Kang Soo-Jin were all pretty solid and we expect to build around them for the long haul (though there are questions about how Kang will fit in).

Attackers

Name	Age	$/Wk	Apps	GL	AST	MoM	Yel	Red	Drb	Pass	Avg
Constantino	24	$23500	35(3)	14	6	2	1	0	6.85	65%	7.12
Matthew Khan	24	$47500	20(8)	5	1	1	0	0	5.59	69%	6.72
Valeri Bojinov	33	$12250	3(8)	0	0	0	1	0	2.55	75%	6.53

** GL = Goals | Drb = Dribbles/Game

Constantino really picked it up towards the end of the season. He's trained really, really well and has shown great improvement throughout the last 12 months. He's being recognized for it in a way too, by the endo f the season his value is $11.25 Million, the first player I've ever coached worth more than $10M I do believe.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 02:01 AM

Ipswich 2018/19 History/Leaders

Team History

Woking

2009/10 - BS South - 1st - 24 W - 12 D - 6 L - 62 for - 39 ag - +23 GD - 84 pts
2010/11 - BS Premier - 17th - 14 W - 10 D - 22 L - 60 for - 65 ag - -5 GD - 52 pts
2011/12 - BS Premier - 4th - 26 W - 12 D - 8 L - 87 for - 51 ag - +36 GD - 90 pts
2012/13 - BS Premier - 1st - 26 W - 11 D - 9 L - 88 for - 56 ag - 89 pts
2013/14 - League 2 - 18th - 12 W - 17 D - 17 L - 50 for - 54 ag - 53 pts
2014/15 - League 2 - 9th - 20 W - 9 D - 17 L - 57 for - 58 ag - 69 pts
2015/16 - League 2 - 1st - 30 W - 8 D - 8 L - 102 for - 50 ag - 98 pts
2016/17 - League 1 - 1st - 24 W - 14 D - 7 L - 103 for - 61 ag - 89 pts

Ipswich

2017/18 - Championship - 1st - 28 W - 12 D - 6 L - 91 for - 42 ag - 96 pts
2018/19 - Premier League - 20th - 5 W - 5 D - 28 L - 30 for - 77 ag - 20 pts

This year:

Top Goalscorer - Constantino - 14 goals
Top League Goalscorer - Constantino - 10 goals
Most Assists - Neil Gordon - 8 assists
Highest Average Rating - McDonald Mariga - 7.23
Most Man of the Match - McDonald Mariga - 4

Radii · 09-06-2011, 02:31 AM

-- Inter win their second straight Champions League title, beating Barcelona 3:0 in front of 51,000 fans at the National Stadium in Lisbon, Portugal.

-- We're not going to be active in June, there isn't anything to do until we turn over into the new season and see our new budget. But a lot of teams are planning for next year and the rumors fly on June first:

-- Udinese in Serie A are expected to bid on McDonald Mariga. We should get at least $3M for him, maybe more.

-- Aston Villa are rumored to be targeting Neil Gordon, Athletico Madrid are expected to try to buy Stuart Kirkland, and Wolves are expected to go after Kang Soo-Jin. None of these teams will have any luck.

June Update

-- The board is pleased with my leadership. The play of Mcdonald Mariga and my influence in him playing well is a highlight. Our 3-0 loss to Arsenal a lowlight.

-- We made $1.13M profit in May, giving us $5M cash on hand and a profit of $13M for the year now.

-- Newcastle beat Southampton to win the FA Cup.

-- The "Four Associations Tournament" is going on, a little thing among Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Actually it appears to be over now. We have 3 players involved in this tournament:

-- Michael McKerr of Northern Ireland puts up a 6.6 rating in a 2:1 loss to Wales. In the same match Troy Brown put up a 6.8 rating for Wales.

-- Gordon Donnelly is the big highlight for us though. He plays in Scoland's final match, a 2:0 win against Northern Ireland. He assists on both goals and has a stellar 8.2 rating for the match.

Retirements

-- Hassan Yebda is retiring. He played for 8 teams, seeing his first league ation in the 05/06 season in France's Ligue 2. He played 237 matches over the course of his career, scoring 34 goals and making 15 assists. He played one season for me.

-- Valeri Bojinov is retiring. He barely played for me but he had a really nice career, beginning with Lecce in Serie A in the 01/02 season. He scored 96 goals in 290 career matches between Serie A, the EPL, La Liga in Spain and Eredivisie. His best years were 11/12 and 12/13 where he was a dominant star for Ajax, scoring 14 goals one year, and the next scoring 21 goals and making 9 assists.

-- Adriano is also retiring. He began in the Brazilian first division in 2002. In 2004 he went to Sevilla in Spain, where he played for 8 1/2 years. Liverpool bought him for $16.25M in the 12/13 season and he stayed there until I picked him up for $650k for his last year. He played exactly 400 matches in his career, scoring 47 goals and making 30 assists.

-- Finally, Alex Bruce is retiring. Ipswich Co-Captain during my two years at the helm. Bruce came up with Blackburn in the 01/02 season but didn't see any action until loaned out in 04/05. He bounced around for a few years before Ipswich picked him up on a free transfer for the 06/07 season. He was loaned out once to Leicester but otherwise spent the last 12 years of his career with Ipswich. He played 433 matches over his career, scoring 6 goals and making 16 assists. He played 234 matches for Ipswich and is a backup on the all time best 11 for the squad.

-- Chris Mason is hurt in the English U19 4:0 win against Wales. He put up a 7.6 rating in the match before going out. And finally, we find out what it takes to get a 10.0 rating:

-- Jack Hughes starts at DL for the England Under 19s. He completes 53 of 67 passes, wins 5 of 6 tackles, 6 of 7 headers, makes 4 interceptions and 2 runs. He also has 3 assists. This is good for a 10.0 rating and man of the match!

law90026 · 09-06-2011, 02:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

Hm explain? Training is one area I have not focused on a lot tbh. I try to balance good attacking and defending coaches but as far as which coaches train which areas I have tended to use the recommend button which usually puts some coaches in different roles.

What you want is to hire coaches to coach each specific area, eg attacking, defending, goalkeeping, tactics, set pieces, shooting, etc. Different abilities affect their star rating but generally you want high scores in the key stat, plus motivating, determination and determination (if I remember right).

When you go to your coach screen, you can clear all assignments and then click on each coach and assign a specific area for him to coach. You will see how many stars he has in that category. You basically want each category to have as many stars as possible, though it's not a cumulative calculation. So you can't hire 2 2-star coaches and get them to coach one area and get 4 stars.

Quote:

For Strength training am i looking for a fitness coach type or are the other ratings besides fitness that are going to impact that?

Strength and aerobics are fitness coaches so you should get 2 of them and assign one to each category.

Quote:

For training schedules I am using a set of training schedules for each position that I pulled off fm base or somewhere very early on and I assign each player to one of those.

I do something similar, I downloaded a set of schedules because that area was too technical for me.

Quote:

This is definitely an area where I took a default approach when I started and could get better at.

I don't know how good the AI is at assigning the coaches. Just play around with the coaches screen and see if you can kinda figure out what I'm saying, I think I'm not doing a fantastic job of it.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 03:04 AM

-- A strong $11M bid comes in for Neil Gordon from a french first division team, but we aren't even close to interested.

-- Dundee bids almost $3 Million for our young DR/MR Clive Jackson. I seriously consider this one, I have never viewed Jackson to be as good a prospect as Jack Hughes, but when I go to my coaches and scouts, they tell me he's trained really well and that he has the potential to be a better DR than Sylvain Berthet. I'm sold. I don't need money, I see he's trained well over the last year, he's pretty determined, fast as hell (18 pace/17 accel) and appears to have at least decent EPL potential. In fact he may well play for us some next year as a 20 year old.

European Club Rankings

Barcelona take the top spot in Europe back from Chelsea thanks to their much, much better showing in the Champions League i'm sure. Inter winning twice in a row has them in 4th. Current rankings:

1. Barcelona - 158.529
2. Chelsea - 156.759
3. Liverpool - 149.759
4. Inter - 147.169
5. Leverkusen - 146.677
6. Olympique Lyonnais - 144.020
7. Benfica - 142.481
8. Real Madrid - 141.529
9. Man Utd - 140.759
10. Man City - 133.759

Olympique and Athletico Madrid were #4 and #5 last year. Olympique Lyonnais fell to 6th this year, At. Madrid all the way down to 11th.

We moved up from 118th to 110th, but it doesn't seem to have squat to do with our playing in the EPL this year. A bunch of lower rated EPL and top rated Championship teams are tied from 104th to 116th.

Euro U21 Championships

-- There's 8 teams that qualified in this tournament. England is grouped with France, Spain and Bulgaria. The other group is Georiga(??), Portugal, Russia and Italy. The top two teams in each group advance. I care because Stuart Kirkland and Neil Gordon were both selected to represent England. PS Neil Gordon is 23. I guess the age limit was set maybe when qualifying began or something?

-- Kirkland plays 90 minutes and earns a 7.5 rating in a 3:0 win over Bulgaria.

-- Gordon plays 45 minutes against France in a 1:1 draw, putting up a 6.5 rating.

-- In their final group match Kirkland is back in. England draws Spain 1:1. Kirkland puts up the second best rating on the team, a 7.1.

-- England will play Georgia in the Semifinals. Spain and Russia in the other semi I believe.

June 19th: Celtic bid $13.2M for Neil Gordon. His dribbling recently rose to 18, giving him 5 skills rated 18 or 19 now (Corners, Crossing, Dribbling, Anticipation, Creativity). I make an incredibly outrageous counter requesting $50M to try to show how insane I am about not letting him go. If they pay that I'll just buy a better team. :P

-- Celtic withdraw their bid.

We're getting real close to the end of June here.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 03:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by law90026

I don't know how good the AI is at assigning the coaches. Just play around with the coaches screen and see if you can kinda figure out what I'm saying, I think I'm not doing a fantastic job of it.

Nah I understand. I think I'm pretty close to what you're suggesting so hopefully I'm not suffering too much. And for those types of coaches I think the ratings you mention are the same ones I've read elsewhere. Motivating, Discipline, Determination and their area of focus, yep.

One other question though, as far as training what do you do with your "Assistant" and "1st team coach"? Put them training in their best area, or are they different?

I think I can manage the staff better, similar to what I've said about just looking for a better staff in general. My goalkeeper coach is great technically but his motivation and determination sucks, that's pretty damn important right now with Chris Mason coming up. Rio Ferdinand is a *great* defensive coach, to the point that I expect to lose him to an EPL team this season. I could do better in some other areas though.

Thanks!

law90026 · 09-06-2011, 03:28 AM

My assistant just helps out in 1 category he has the most stars in.

First team coaches only work with your first team and do not coach the youth team or reserve team so bear that in mind if you hire first team coaches. If you have a whole bunch of them, it means your youth development might suffer since you essentially have no one working with the youngsters.

Radii · 09-06-2011, 03:53 AM

-- McDonald Mariga is named the Ipswich fans Player of the Year this year.

Ipswich Best Eleven

One real dumb decision here.

GK: Murphy
D: Kirkland/Henrique/Fryers/McKerr
M: Guarin/Donnelly/Mariga/Coutts
AMC: Gordon
ST: Constantino

Coutts doesn't belong anywhere near this team. Gordon played a lot of AMC before we changed formation so I assume that threw off the logic. But Kang AMC/Gordon MR is the only way to go here. McKerr on the team, Berthet off should be a huge wake-up call to him.

Ipswich All Time Best Eleven

GK: Brian Murphy (396 apps/6.79 rating)
DL: Danny Mathijssen (121 apps/2 goals/6.59 rating)
DC: Steven Caldwell (120 apps/1 goal/7.03 rating)
DC: Troy Brown (240 apps/2 goals/6.79 rating)
DR: David Wright (166 apps/2 goals/7.11 rating)
ML: Mario Licka (115 apps/8 goals/7.23 rating)
MC: Gordon Donnelly (202 apps/28 goals/6.88 rating)
MC: Owen Garvan (263 apps/18 goals/6.82 rating)
MR: Sylvain Berthet (167 apps/3 goals/6.89 rating)
ST: Jon Stead (241 apps/112 goals/7.00 rating)
ST: Achille Webo (152 apps/70 goals/6.91 ratings)

Brown, Donnelly and Berthet are active players. No one in this starting all time best 11 changed. Constantino was moved into the backup list though. He's played 79 matches and has 50 goals for Ipswich. He could take over a spot from Achille Webo if he has another superstar type year in the Championship.

Matthew Khan and Alex Bruce are both backups to the All Time Best Eleven also.

-- Ipswich receive $1.650,000 for TV rights. Ahh, $47 Million away from what we got last year.

Season Expectations

I tell the bosses that I expect no less than to win the league. This gives me a transfer budget of $4.7M and a wage budget of $475,000. That will give us some flexibility. We're spending $478,000 right now but that's before 4 or 5 players leave the club and everyone takes a salary reduction due to relegation. We should start the season under $350,000/wk I *think*.

-- 8 players are promoted from the U18 squad to the reserves. The only one worth noting is Chris Mason. I'm going to cut a bunch of U18 kids and clean up my squad a bit during July.

Youth Intake

We get 8 new players this year. 6 of them are complete crap and not worth my time.

DC/ST Duane Woodley has the potential "to be a decent player". Not someone expected to b a star and probably never an EPL player, but I'm interested because he's got some decent physical attributes and a determination of 19. Even if he never makes the EPL maybe we can make some money training him up and selling him to a Championship side.

ST Rob Kershaw has 2* potential, "to be a useful player". Nothing like that 19 determination to get me even a little excited. But he has decent flair, his dribbling and finishing are his best technical ratings. If there's room we'll get him a mentor and see if we can do anything with him.

Not too exciting this year.

Preseason Coaches Meeting

-- We're one of the younger squads in the league.
-- We're one of the most aggressive teams.
-- We're one of the best when it comes to concentration.
-- We're one of the best dribbling.
-- Our first touch is near the top.
-- Our flair is near the top.
-- We are short.
-- We are fast.
-- We pass really well.
-- We are the single most technically gifted squad in the league. This is the only one where we're at the top, but we're near the top basically everywhere.

-- Our coaches feel a 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, or 4-1-2-1-2 would be our best formations. I'm happy with the 4-4-1-1 going into the season.

Promotion Odds

Wolverhampton are considered the favorite to win the league and promote back up at 5:2.

Ipswich and Watford are both 5:1. QPR 14:1, Exeter 16:1, Bristol City 33:1.

-- Neil Gordon and Stuart Kirkland both play in England's 3:0 win over Georgia in the U21 Euro Championship. Neil Gordon is an absolute stud in this one, he's got a part in all 3 goals, scoring once and assisting on the other two. He's got a 9.2 rating and man of the match. Kirkland puts up a strong 7.9 in defense.

-- In the U21 Euro Championship Final, Stuart Kirkland plays 120 minutes, earning a 6.9 rating as Spain beats England 3:2. Unfortunately, Kirkland was injured in this match. Fortunately, he's only out a week and will be ready when friendlies start.

-- June 30th hits and retirements occur, and a lot of kids that I didn't keep on as they turned 18 leave. Our wage budget drops to $445k/wk with that.

-- As we hit July 1st, Birmingham offer me $5.5M for Kang Soo-Jin. He's unsettled in england still, so why would he want to go to Birmingham? But, he releases a statement saying he's unhappy that I wont allow him to decide whether or not he wants to go to Birmingham.

July Update

-- The board is satisfied with my leadership. The positive atmosphere among the team is a high point. The signing of Carlos Antonio remains a concern.

-- We mad $5.76M in June.

-- Zeki Fryers and Paul Coutts leave the club as their contracts expire. Our wage budget drops to $398,000. And apparently the relegation salary drop doesn't work right or simply doesn't occur based on my reading of the forums... or both. I had assumed that everyone would take a 25% salary hit. It hasn't happened yet. Google points me to a thread that says its a known bug that "hopefully gets fixed in FM11"... but also people saying that the clause only kicks in if you're relegated below the level that the contract was initially signed in.

Either way, we're fine this year, we have tons of flexibility. But a guy like Gordon Donnelly got a huge raise from like $39,000/wk to $52,000/wk when we promoted up. Should I be concerned that its going to stay at $52,000/wk and then if we re-promote he'll get another raise to $65,000/wk??

Sleeping on that one, I'm at a good stopping point anyway.

Alf · 09-06-2011, 06:17 AM

Weird end of seasons where you beat two great teams and lose vs lousy opponents. As usual, an always appreciated read, you do have the proper formating done. Excellent !

And go back up to EPL !

RPI-Fan · 09-06-2011, 09:50 AM

Keep up the great work, very interested to see how you move forward!

RPI-Fan · 09-06-2011, 09:50 AM

For what it's worth - and this certainly may be a "me" thing - I don't read the detailed game reviews, so if you had desire to just type up the shorter post-game summaries instead of the play-by-play, at least as far as I am concerned I would enjoy that every bit as much.

Alf · 09-06-2011, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

For what it's worth - and this certainly may be a "me" thing - I don't read the detailed game reviews, so if you had desire to just type up the shorter post-game summaries instead of the play-by-play, at least as far as I am concerned I would enjoy that every bit as much.

I appreciate the "month by month review", with list of games to play, notes on players news (contracts, injuries), overall board information. Game result with player notes and your comments on players, and the post game sequences (player injuries and notes).

Radii · 09-07-2011, 01:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

For what it's worth - and this certainly may be a "me" thing - I don't read the detailed game reviews, so if you had desire to just type up the shorter post-game summaries instead of the play-by-play, at least as far as I am concerned I would enjoy that every bit as much.

I intend to go into every season with extended highlights and then to drop back to key highlights once I'm comfortable with my team. I always forget or just get into watching the games

I do try to format things so that if you don't care about the play by play its easy to scan by and skip it. I know in other dynasties I skip by it.

If we're sitting in the top 2 spots and crushing things this year I may rush through the latter part of the year like I did the end of this year. That's just a balance between how in depth I want to be in the game vs pumping out seasons right now.

I fully intend to buy FM12(though maybe not right away, depends on how this is going) which is pushing me towards the "pumping out seasons" side of things

Radii · 09-07-2011, 03:14 AM

-- Kang Soo-Jin now "Wants to Leave the Club". I really want to give him another year to try to settle in if he doesn't completely go out of control and demand to leave. His value has gone up if I do have to sell him. I really don't want to though.

-- Dinamo Kiev and Stuttgart make offers for Stuart Kirkland that I reject.

Training Update

Most of my initial work is done with my coaching staff based on the great tips I got from you guys. I review my coaches and figure out what they're best at, I read a couple posts on assigning coaches and put together a list of attributes I'm interested in and go hunting. With too many of my coaches assigned to 2 positions and too many of them simply not as good as I would want, most of our training was at the 2-3* level at best.

-- I hire 4 new coaches and re-assign all my coaches, I'm not going to go too deep into individual ratings and all, but we're allowed 10 total coaches and I end up hiring that amount to cover first team/youth differences and that leaves me with the following:

Strength: 3 1/2*
Aerobic: 4 1/2*
Goalkeeping: 3 1/2*
Tactics: 4*
Ball Control: 4*
Defending: 4 1/2*
Attacking: 3 1/2*
Shooting: 4 1/2*
Set Pieces: 4*

Most youth coach training ratings are the same except keeper where we're at a 2*. Chris Mason is 18 now and training with the senior squad so right now that's irrelevant.

I feel pretty good about that!

-- Currently we're spending $393k/wk on salaries. I'm going on the assumption that for whatever reason I will not be getting any drops in salary since we're already into July and they haven't happened yet. I play with the transfer budget slider and I can increase my transfer budget to $6.2M with a $450,000/wk wage budget. I do that for now.

-- Another offer comes in for Kang Soo-Jin, this one for $6.25M from Birmingham, and he officially requests to be transfer listed. I paid $4M for him and he's valued at $5.25M, but I was really hoping to make it work out... I decide to give him what he wants but notify everyone that I want a premium since I've already gotten multiple offers for him. I do transfer list him, but I set my asking price at $10M.

-- Its now June 10th and I've done some cursory player scouting but advanced the game a few times with a hyperfocus on staff without doing any player searches. So its time to really bear down and look at loaners/player transfers.

-- I go ahead and scout a few strikers with good heading ratings, ML's and DC's both availble for transfer and available for loan.

-- Wow, maybe I should have shot even higher here. Within days I get about 10 offers for Kang Soo-Jin. Many are at his original price of $5.25M and I turn those down. But I do get 4 offers for $10M and I go ahead and accept them. I must say I'm a bit unsure of myself here but my tendency in the past has been to go for squad harmony at most costs... buying for $4M and turning around for $10M when he seems very, very unhappy is hopefully a success.

League Cup Draw

-- We'll play Aldershot in the first round of the league cup. They're in League 1.

-- More advice taken here, I hire a Ukranian scout with lots of knowledge in that region in general and assign him to scout Eastern Europe. Our Eastern European knowledge just goes from minimal to "decent" with this hire so I dunno if there would be a lot to expect just yet. This guy is more of an expert int he Ukraine and Russia but has no Czech knowledge, it seems like that'd be something to fill as well.

I do tons and tons of scouting and have made two loan offers (a young target man ST and a young DC). I'm considering buying a ML but haven't made the offer yet.

Radii · 09-07-2011, 03:59 AM

-- The ML I had my eye on starts getting some offers and I go ahead and make one myself. My hesitancy is that I don't think he's necessarily a sure thing at the EPL level... but hey we have to win here too and we are real weak at ML.

Transfer Out

Man that all happened so far. Like I mentioned above, I hope I made the right decision.

AMC Kang Soo-Jin quickly agrees to terms with Naploi in Seire A and wants to go there. I allow the deal to go through, raking in $10 Million in the process.

-- This changes things a bit if I want to try to do something big this year. My Transfer Budget is now $11,700,585 with a wage budget allowed of $475,000/wk. I don't know what the likelyhood of being able to sign a big player at this level will be... but the option is certainly there now.

New Loan In

Welcome 20 y/o ST Simon Hamilton on loan for the year from Southampton. He's 6'2", reasonably strong (13), can jump (15), and head the ball (15). He's got good teamwork and he's good off the ball. I'm hoping these things add up to a guy who could potentially be a good target man for Neil Gordon crosses and will make me a bigger threat when playing wide and on corners.

Physical: all 13-15.
Mental: Off the Ball 15, Teamwork 16, Work Rate 14, Determination 11. Other ratings 8-11. Some low ones, not creative, 10 anticipation I'd like to see higher.

Technical: Heading 15, Technique 15, First Touch 17, Dribbling 13. Finishing is 10.

With the departure of Kang and the arrival of Hamilton its become a near certainty that we'll play a 4-4-2 formation this year.

-- The players I'm looking to loan in are hot this year and its taking awhile for some to decide.

-- While that's going on I find a couple guys that scout very well that I feel like could be really strong additions to the club at this and at the next level and look to quickly blow some of that extra money I got from Kang.

-- And while some transfer offers really start to heat up, a loaner comes in that I'm really excited about:

New Loan In

Welcome 20 y/o DLC/ML Turgay Colak to Ipswich! Colak is a reserve at Inter and a spectacular technical talent. His physical attributes are a little less than I want but this is no James Chester situation... this is a kid that looks spectacular at least for the Championship. Right now all the guys I'm loaning in are guys i might be interested in trying to buy if we move back up too.

Physical: 13 pace/8 accel. 14 str/14 sta.

Mental: Positioning 16/Teamwork 14/Work Rate 16/Anticipation 14. All other ratings between 10-14 except Influence is 6.

Technical: Marking 16, Passing 17, Tackling 16, Crossing 18, Dribbling 14, Heading 13.

While I think his best position is likely DL, we are kinda set there and Colak seems to have what it takes at least at this level to play both ML and DC as well. At DC I'm a little concerned about only 11 jumping as far as winning headers goes. At ML I'm a bit concerned about his lack of acceleration. But I think at the Championship level he could succeed at both.

-- I actually get another loan accepted from a promising DC from Celtic, but I delay it because of a couple other things I have in the works at DC. The English Trialist matches just occurred and there was one player who really stood out, an unsigned Scottish DC who my scouts feel is "as good as Henrique". If I can sign this guy on a free transfer I may bet fairly set in defense.

-- Though really it gets a bit more intriguing... Murcia make a $7M offer for Henrique. Man, that's a tough call. Henrique can play. He'd definitely help me get back up to the EPL this year. But he's turning 33 this year. I paid $4.1M for him. If I sign this free transfer DC that I like so much, and take on this loaner that I've delayed... selling high on a guy that would turn 34 when I next go up to the EPL seems to have a lot of merit. I delay the offer for now.

-- Ahh, heartbreak. After a few negotiations, I make a deal for a 23 y/o MC from Arsenal that is deemed to be "as good as McDonald Mariga", getting him for $6.25M + a % of the profits of his next sale. I worked pretty hard for this one.. but he has no interest in playing for me. Oops. I offer him a contract and when he rejects it I may change the offer around to a loan w/ option to buy, assuming that if I make it back up to the EPL his views would change.

Radii · 09-07-2011, 04:51 AM

-- The ML I was trying to buy signs for Sporting CP in Portugal so while new loaner Turgay Colak will begin the season starting for me there I am still looking around at ML.

And with loan offers outstanding and a ton of transfer money, the Ipswich squad still hasn't fully taken shape. But that doesn't mean its not time to play some football anyway!

Friendly #1

We travel to Brighton today in one we should win easily. My lineup will look familiar here, its shocking how little I had to modify it:

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/McKerr/Henrique/Berthet
M: Colak/Donnelly/Mariga/Gordon
F: Hamilton/Constantino

New loaners Turgay Colak and Simon Hamilton get into the lineup.

We get a goal in the first minute but we're offsides. In the 18th minute Constantino hits Neil Gordon for an easy goal. That's the score at the half and I sub out all my starters at the half as I traditionally do in my first few friendies. This means a number of U18 guys are out there running around, whee. One of their men burns my now useless DC Park and scores in the 52nd minute. Another defensive failure allows a 2nd goal through in the 63rd minute.

Brighton 2 : 1 Ipswich

We had a number of guys in there who were U18 kids who ought to be cut. That if nothing else reminds me of the need not just to find the big splash in the midfield but to add a bit of depth as well.

New Signing

Oh god after the unhappy Kang experience I'm worried all of a sudden. After saying he didn't think he'd want to play for me, Arsenal's MC accepts my contract offer.

We pay Arsenal a little more than half our transfer budget ($6.25M) and hope it's going to be worth it!

Welcome 22 y/o MC Steven Mills to Ipswich. Mills has mostly played for the arsenal reserves but played well when called upon last year. My assistant feels he's on the same level as McDonald Mariga as a player, his only weakness is in set pieces, and he's a good strong team player.

Physical: Strength 19, Balance 18, Pace 12/Acceleration 16. Nothing below 12.

Mental: Determination 16, Creativity 16, Decisions 12, Off the Ball 13, Teamwork 18. Positioning is low at 9, Influence and flair are under 10 as well. All other ratings that I didn't mention are between 12-15. After reading through some of SFraser's stuff I'm noticing Determination and Anticipation more and more and really like the 16 determination here.

Technical: Passing 18, First Touch, Technique 13. I'm hoping to see a little improvement here to round him out but the passing/first touch/technique combo I'm hoping will be a good basis for him to build up from. Dribbling, Marking and Heading are all 9. Tackling is 12 which will help in the midfield.

McDonald Mariga is still on the squad, but remember he wants to play for a higher level club and I have him transfer listed. I'd love to keep him around this year and will begin the year rotating Donnelly/Mariga/Mills quite a bit.

I did offer Mills a large contract, he and Donnelly are now my two highest paid players at $52,000/wk and $51,000/wk. That's almost 20% of the wage budget (though I'm pretty pissed off about the salary drop clause not working and that is inflating things an awful lot!).

Hell, offering mills $50k/wk may be a bigger gamble that I made with anyone I signed in the EPL last year.

New Signing #2

I mentioned an exciting DC in the England Trialist Matches. This kid just got released by Chelsea and hadn't been signed yet. He performed well and caught the eye of my scouts and many others. In the end he agrees to sign for Ipswich:

Welcome 23 y/o DC James Welsh on a free transfer! The scouting report on Welsh compares him favoribly to Henrique, touting his marking ability and pointing out no real weaknesses. He's got pretty good speed, he's determined, brave, positions himself well, he's great in the air and in man marking. Technique and Tackling leave a bit to be desired or I'd say he is an insanely complete player.

Still, Welsh will make $16,500/wk and comes in valued at $2.6M. Signing this kid on a free transfer is an absolute steal.

Physical: All ratings 13-14 except Agility 11/Accel 12.

Mental: Determination 16, Bravery 19, Positioning 15, Anticipation 12. Influence is 14 which is nice. Other ratings in the 11-12 range.

Technical: Marking 18, Heading 15, Tackling 12, First Touch 12. Technique 8.

I'm really really thrilled to have signed Welsh. I'm hoping he can make an immediate impact.

New Loan In

-- With Fryers and Bruce gone I don't really have the easy depth in defense that I did last year. So I get rid of the silly notion of selling my best DC, and also loan in the young DC I had left waiting in the wings.

Welcome 20 y/o DC Vinny Burke to Ipswich. Burke is a step down from Henrique and Welsh but not a big one. We'll be rotating him in with regularity if he plays well. He's a monster in the air, we could have used this kid to clear some crap out of the penalty area in the EPL last year I bet.

Physical: Jumping 17, Fitness 15, everything else 11-12.

Mental: Positioning 14, Teamwork 16, Work Rate 13, Bravery 16, Anticipation 15, Decisions 15, Determination 12. Composure is 8 so we'll see if he picks up any red cards. But he's really really strong in the areas I care about the most.

Technical: Heading 17, Marking 14, Tackling 13, Passing 15. He can't dribble the ball at all (2), and his Technique is poor (6). I'll be trying to make sure I get this kid forward on corner kicks for sure.

With a number of things coming in now lets look at a depth chart and see how we feel about things.

GK: Carlos Antonio/Chris Mason

Good.

DL: Kirkland/Colak/Hughes

Spectacular.

DC: Henrique/Welsh/Burke/Hughes

Probably better than I fielded in the EPL last year.

DR: Berthet/McKerr/Jackson

Okay. Shoudl be fine at this level, I am still worried a bit about Berthet's struggles at the next level last year. But he's fine for now.

ML: Colak/Hughes/Guarin

Guarin was actually pretty decent at ML last year for us so I'm sure he can do it now. Hughes I expect will be fine in the championship as well. In the EPL I'd have depth concerns but I think I'm good.

MC: Donnelly/Mills/Mariga/Guarin

I could run a bit thin on depth if I have injuriies, but I'm starting in a good place.

MR: Gordon/Jackson/Berthet

-- I love Gordon. Clive Jackson is an up and comer like Jack Hughes, he'll be Gordon's primary backup this year.

FC: Constantino/Hamilton/Khan/Taylor

Ian Taylor isn't ready for prime time and will mostly play with the reserves. But when i've needed that striker that won't see the field much unless we have injuries (Bojinov last year, Jon Stead my first year)... they've been massive failures, so might as well make that 4th guy a youngster who will play with the reserves until requested.

I actually feel pretty solid here. That all came togther really quickly with the signings of Welsh and Mills both going my way on back to back days in game. Hell I actually think this team is better than the one I took to the EPL last year. I guess that's the goal, keep improving.

Financial Update

Right Now I'm left with a transfer budget of $5.4 Million and I'm $25,000/wk under my wage budget. I see little reason to bring anyone else on, I've got 3 loaners that I think could be very big contributors and I think we're basically ready. If we start out the season with some sort of disaster maybe I change my mind, or if Mariga gets real unhappy, but right now I probably won't look to bring anyone else in during this transfer window.

I do notice that Troy Brown isn't even listed on my depth chart. I only noticed as a total afterthought. Maybe I should sell him.

Additionally, Park Sang-Ho no longer has any use to me at all. I transfer list him and offer him around. He's got some interest from lower level clubs so maybe I'll unload him easily. He isn't worth much, hardly worth mentioning.

Radii · 09-07-2011, 05:28 AM

Friendly #2

We travel to Shrewsbury. We've got a bit more depth, less U18s today! We also have 2 injured and 2 travelling internationally.

We score in the 35th minute but its offside. In the 42nd Hamilton feeds Constantino for an easy goal. No goals in the second half. We had a few solid chances that didn't come through but we got the win.

Shrewsbury 0 : 1 Ipswich

Friendly #3

We host the Glen Hoddle Academy.

14th minute goal as Mills hits Constantino for an easy one. 23rd minute goal as Mills passes to Constantino and Constantino does all the work to create this one. 30th minute goal on a counter attack, Constantino starts near midfield and makes the long run himself and scores easily. 36th minute goal as Donnelly takes a corner and Constantino heads it in... 40th minute goal as Mills plays a pretty ball into the area for Gordon who volleys it home.

Guarin adds one from long range in the 62nd minute. Mariga on a volley from 30 yards out after they try to clear one out of the area that's real damn impressive.

Well that's where all the goals went that we didn't get our first two matches I suppose.

Constantino 4, Gordon, Mariga, Guarin score goals.

Mills 3 assists, Donnelly, Gordon, and McKerr. Great to see Steve Mills hooking up with Constantino like that. Earn that $51,000/wk buddy!

Ipswich 7 : 0 GH Academy

Expiring Contracts

We've got 11 player contracts expiring this year.

Starters:

DL Kirkland is the top priority, keep at any cost.
MC Mariga turns 33 this year. If he's willing to stay and if his skills don't degrade I'd love to have him around.
MC Fredy Guarin will turn 34 by the time the next season starts. He's already a backup and won't be brought back.

Backups:

DR Michael McKerr - Turns 30 this year. He's been a solid backup, if he'll stay on for cheap I'll keep him.

Hot Prospects:

DLC Jack Hughes - I'd like to keep him, he's only 18. With my improved training maybe I can make something of him.

DR/MR Clive Jackson - Every time I look at him he looks better and better, despite me showering all my youth praise on Hughes for so long. Jackson will stay around too I'm sure.

ST Ian Taylor - Unless he shows a development miracle this year he's gone. He was on equal footing with Hughes/Jackson awhile back I believe. Those guys are worth $1M+, Taylor is worth $30,000, and it shows.

backup GK Dominic Johnson should be unneeded as Chris Mason gets closer, and we've got a few youth guys that appear to be crap that we'll let go.

-- I go ahead and offer Kirkland immediately. He wants a raise from $8000/wk to $24,000/wk for 4 years. Totally fair, and done.

August Update

We've still got a couple friendlies left, the auto scheduling of the ones with the feeder clubs stuck some things weird. But we're ok.

-- We play league matches on the 10th, 17th, 20th, 24th, and 31st. League Cup opens on the 13th with round 2 on the 28th should we win.

-- The board is satisfied at my coaching. The signing of Henrique remains a positive. Hopefully everyone is cooing over Mills soon. There is a concern over "a slight lack of harmony" in the locker room. And what that is... everyone on the team loves McDonald Mariga. I transfer listed him to be nice to him and because I generally do transfer list those that tell me they want out. But the team doesn't want him gone. I'd love for him to stay too, but a lot of players have expressed a desire for him not to leave. I can't un-list him I assume b/c I listed him at his request... hopefully this works itself out early in the season.

-- We made $10.5M last month. Between our shirt sponsorship of $2.7M, selling Kang for $10M offsetting buying Mills for $6.25M and selling about 20,000 season tickets, we're off to a strong start. So far this year we've turned a profit of $15.1M and have $21M cash on hand. Unlike last year this number will drop, and probably drop quickly, throughout the season. But we're in a good spot now!

-- I don't see anything about the parachute payments that get paid to teams that drop out of the EPL. We didn't have to stay up a year before falling to get that did we? When/where should I see info about that. Between the lack of salary drops and the lack of parachute payment info I feel like something is really fucked up here.

law90026 · 09-07-2011, 07:29 AM

You can totally unlist Mariga if there is no interest. He may or may not be unhappy but nothing stops you from doing so. Alternatively, offer him out to clubs if you really want him gone.

For parachute payments, there should be something in your income about this but not sure if they have an announcement. The reason why I think it's in the game is because you sometimes get notices of a windfall when you manage a smaller team in the lower divisions if a club was promoted back up, which is the parachute payments being spread out amongst the clubs in the league. Maybe I'm wrong though.

Radii · 09-07-2011, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by law90026

You can totally unlist Mariga if there is no interest. He may or may not be unhappy but nothing stops you from doing so. Alternatively, offer him out to clubs if you really want him gone.

When I go to his transfer status the options to change between "Transfer Listed" and "No Status Set" are greyed out. I can change everything else, including the setting to automatically reject all offers if I want. But at least for right now I can't take away the "Transfer Listed" option, I had assumed that had something to do with the fat that he requested to be put there or something and hadn't really given it much thought.

Tellistto · 09-07-2011, 10:20 PM

I do believe that since you granted his request to be listed for transfer the only way he'll come off that list is if he decides to be taken off it. Is how it's worked for me in the past, at least.

Tell

Radii · 09-07-2011, 11:12 PM

-- Park Sang-Ho is sold to Lemona in the Spanish Second Division for $60,000.

-- GK Carlos Antonio expresses concern over the lack of harmony in the clubhouse. I hold on to the hope that winning fixes everything, and that we'll be able to do that.

New Youth Signing

I decided to at least look a little into the youth program after reading some of the awesome SFraser posts that were documented in the FM11 thread, not expecting to turn into Man U but interested in learning more about this part of the game and maybe making some cash if nothing else. I released a bunch of total dead weight, 1/2* prospects that had been training under my inferior old coaching setup for the last couple years to clean things up.

With that done, I lucked into a scout recommendation for a youngster from Oxford and ended up paying $325,000 for 16 y/o ST Chris Bryan. Bryan looks to be better right now than Ian Taylor, the youth striker I had when I took over Ipswich who appears to not be panning out.

Physical: Pace 14, Accel 15, Fitness 17. Stamina is 9, everything else is 11+

Mental: Off The Ball 15, Anticipation 14, Flair 12, Determination 11, Decisions 12, Concentration 13. He seems to have an extremely good base to build from here

Technical: Finishing 15, Dribbling 15, First Touch 12, Technique 12.

A really well rounded and exciting youngster for my level. My scouts believe he has the potential to be as good as Khan and Constantino. I'm looking forward to training him and seeing how much he can improve in the next year and a half before he turns 18.

-- The fans are excited by my new signing and feel I've shown good vision and ambition.

Friendly #4

We travel to Braintree in the BS South, one of our feeder clubs. We score in the 7th minute as Mills gets into the area, crosses into the 6 yard box and Turgay Colak charges in to head it home. Constantino with a nice goal in the 19th minute receiving a pass 25 yards out, burning the defense and scoring easily. Henrique scores off a corner in the 43rd minute. Henrique scores his second goal on another corner in the 66th minute.

Henrique is man of the match with 2 goals. Colak and Constantino also score. Assists are 2 from Donnelly and 2 from Mills.

Braintree 0 : 4 Ipswich

-- Reading's boss declares interest in Mariga. Perhaps someone will come after him after all. Khan and Kirkland both receive offers as well from Sunderland and Sheffield Utd. I reject both.

-- It takes a few days but Stuart Kirkland signs the contract I offer him, locking him up for 4 years at $24,000/wk.

New Captains

-- Since I took over at Ipswich its been pretty automatic, Troy Brown and Alex Bruce for captain/vice captain. Bruce is gone and Brown doesn't start anymore. Its time for a change. After a quick google I'm actually a bit torn. Gordon Donnelly and Stuart Kirkland have the highest influence on the team after Brown at 15. Kirkland is younger than Donnelly, only 20 years old to Donnelly's 25. But Kirkland's other mental attributes seem better. If they were the same age Kirkland would be clear choice for captain with 17 teamwork/16 work rate/17 bravery/12 determination. Donnelly is more determined and that's it.

-- In the end I choose to go with experience, naming Gordon Donnelly my captain and Stuart Kirkland my vice captain.

Friendly #5

We travel to EPL side Huddersfield in our last friendly before opening league play. Constantino makes a great run in a crowded penalty area, beating 3 defenders and the keeper to score in the 14th minute. DC Welsh gives up a penalty in the 20th minute and they tie it.

We sub out the starters in the 60th minute. They get a goal from a starting striker on a strong header in the 65th. Same guy, Ibai Platas, scores in the 73rd. This is the guy they spent all their money on last year to stay up in the EPL.

Huddersfield 3 : 1 Ipswich

-- After our last friendly I go through and make sure the squad is set, getting guys reserve team time that don't figure to play much. I want Chris Mason getting all of the playing time on the reserve team but really GK Dominic Johnson is dead weight at this point. I offer him out to other clubs and get a few quick offers from League 2 sides.

-- Sunderland won't stop trying to raid the squad. They offer me $10.75M for Matthew Khan. Khan has slightly fallen out of favor as Constantino has trained incredibly well and I moved to a 1 striker formation last year and this year look to the strength & speed striker combo with Hamilton/Constantino... but Khan is 24 y/o, well liked, and talented, and I don't see a reason to let him go even for that amount right now.

-- Celtic shower praise on Neil Gordon and he is flattered by that praise and they seem to be winning him over a little. NO. I see you batting your eyes at that rich team across the way, stop it!

Despite all the harmony concerns and issues with bigger teams trying to make my best players want to leave me, we go into the regular season with superb morale all around. Its opening day vs Leicester!

Radii · 09-07-2011, 11:41 PM

-- A sellout is expected as we open the season at home.

August 10th, 2019

Leicester @ Ipswich

We're even money favorites in our first match back in the Championship today. Leicester finished 6th last year in the Championship, making the playoffs but failing to advance. We're 5-10-3 lifetime against Leicester. We beat them in the FA Cup last year 5:1 and tied them 5 of the last 6 times we met in the Championship prior to that.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/Berthet
M: Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

My backups are Mariga, McKerr, Khan, Hughes, Jackson, Burke, and Chris Mason. This leaves Guarin, Brown, and Ian Taylor out in the cold. With our speed and talent advantage my default behavior this year will be to play wide and to attack until I learn that i need to do something different.

3': they shoot first on a free kick from 25 yards out, a nice bending shot that hits the left post.

5': We earn a corner after some good possession, Constantino tried a ball to Hamilton that was tackled behind. Corner goes nowhere.

10': They try to clear a cross but Donnelly recovers, puts a great ball into the area for Turgay Colak, he's got our first clear cut chance of the season... but puts it into the side netting.

22': We have a throwin in their end, after a pass Henrique shoots from 25 yards out, it deflects off a defender and is easily saved. Their keeper kicks it long down the left side and oh dear god they have a man streaking down the left unmarked... midfielder Neokleous totally breaks free here, our defenders can't catch up, he's into the area and has a clear cut chance that he puts to the far post for a goal. 0-1

30': They show good patience and passing in controlling the ball on the left side for a good long while, they aren't able to threaten but we can't take it away either, eventually Gordon commits a foul. On the free kick we concede a corner and clear it away.

41': Two highlights in a row with crosses into the area for Simon Hamilton, on both of them he wins his header and puts the ball into the crossbar. So close!

HALF: We could be doing a lot better here, one jailbreak counter attack for them and a few missed chances for us. We have 7 shots to their 5, each team has just 1 on target so far. Possession is even and we struggle to win in the air here, winning 50% of our headers to their 65%. We'll be checking this a bit closer this year to see where our troubles lie and will try to adjust if possible. For now though, keep up the pressure.

46': We advance quickly after kickoff and earn a throwin in their end. Gordon takes it into the area... they head it out but Henrique is there to pick up the loose ball. He makes a run unmarked into the area and gets a strong shot off but its from a narrow angle and saved. We earn a corner but they head it away.

54': Long attacking move for Ipswich.. we try a couple through balls but they push it back out... eventually we get it out wide right, a brilliant cross is played in by Gordon, Hamilton gets to it around 8 yards out and heads it... but the keeper positioned well and was able to dive and push it away and they clear it.

75': Jack Hughes in for Colak, Mariga in for Mills.

91': As we push harder to try to get the tying goal, we are pretty high up on a goal kick. Berthet goes up with ST Carroll for a header... Berthet misses the header, they push it ahead and ST Wright is able to get to the ball and lob it over the head of Carlos Antonio to seal the deal. 0-2

Ipswich 0 : 2 Leicester

I'm pretty sure this is 3 years in a row where I've gotten off to a very disappointing first match for Ipswich. Doh!!

No one played well but no one was terrible either. ST Hamilton puts up a 6.3, our lowest rating, missing one of our 2 clear cut chances. Clearly some things we can improve upon.

I look at the headers... Henrique 12/18, Hamilton 8/14 on the good side. Gordon 2/11, Donnelly 1/9, Constantino 8/18, Welsh 5/13(that one surprises me, I expect him to get pretty good in the air in defense).

Prematch comments from my assistant indicate that "a number of our players are still trying to blend into the squad." I went with the same lineup every friendly to help with that but it makes sense that we'll need a bit more time for that.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 12:10 AM

-- We did sell out our last match.

-- AC Milan offer $5M for Kirkland. Murcia offer $6M. I reject both.

-- Reading offer $2.5M for Mcdonald Mariga. I'm real torn here, he's not really unhappy... I clearly jumped the gun transfer listing him, and I decide to reject the offer to see how he reacts. I feel like I'm being a bit wishy-washy here, and also that I'm gambling with our morale and unity. He lists me as favored personnel and enjoys playing with Constantino... I feel I made a mistake listing him and want to see if I can hang on to him and make everyone happy.

-- We announce our final season ticket sales numbers, we sold 19,475 season tickets. That's down from 22,912 last year, not bad considering the relegation.

-- Mariga is unhappy that I didn't let him chat with Reading. Crap, I screwed this up every way possible huh? Ahh, learning experiences.

August 14th, 2019

League Cup First Round

Ipswich(CH) @ Aldershot(L1)

We're huge 1:2 favorites on the road here. They're 9:2 to get a win. We've never met before. They've bounced between L2 and L1 since the 08/09 season. They actually just promoted back up from League 2 last year. The first year I managed Ipswich we lost to a lower level squad in my second ever match as their manager. Lets not repeat that. We're expected to reach the 3rd round of the League Cup.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/Berthet
M: Colak/Mariga/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

I start Mariga for Mills today. No other changes. attack attack attack.

7': We earn a corner as Constantino sprints through their defense with the ball, they desperately tackle it away and clear the corner. We retain possession, they foul us about 30 yards out but clear out the free kick.

16': Mariga wins a ball from a defender after they set up their offense. He passes to Hamilton, ahead for Constantino and he simply runs by his man,into the area, ignores the keeper rushing out and puts it into the net. 1-0

24': Foul by defender Ferrell on Constantino near the penalty area, its a yellow for him. Free kick is blocked by the wall.

28': Gordon dodges a couple defenders to get forward a bit, passes to Constantino, he has a shot just tipped by the keeper to go behind for a corner. They clear the corner.

33': Constantino with a long run down the right after receiving a ball near midfield.. He holds it up to let the offense get forward, finds Mariga in the area, Mariga shoots but its high.

44': A pass goes to Hamilton near midfield, their defenders shade that way and that's enough... Hamilton lays it back to Mariga, he puts it ahead into a huge hole down the middle. Constantino runs onto it, easily into the area, and easily scores. 2-0

HALF: This one looks to be an easy one. I bring Clive Jackson in at MR for Gordon and Khan in for Hamilton up front, holding on to one sub.

49': Khan has taken 3 terrible shots the second he touches the ball 20-25 yards out. Desparate to win his starting job? Ugly stuff.

75': Berthet comes down with an injury. His fitness takes a huge hit, we'll check on him post match. I sub in McKerr at first opportunity.

We end it easily.

Aldershot 0 : 2 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0)
Goals: Constantino 2
Assists: Hamilton (6.9), Mariga (8.0)
Notables: Berthet (7.2), Kirkland (7.0), Henrique (7.1), Donnelly (7.3)

-- Berthet is hurt and out for 2 weeks.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 12:34 AM

League Cup 2nd Round Draw

We just hope to avoid the EPL to have our best chance to keep advancing. We end up getting a home match vs Fulham, a team spending their 8th year in a row in the Championsihp after a nice long EPL run in the first decade of the century. Fair enough.

August 17th, 2019

Exeter @ Ipswich

Even money favorites today against Exeter. We'd be embarrassed to start 0-2 at home. They finished 19th last year and have struggled each of the last 3 years in the league.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/McKerr
M: Hughes/Mills/Mariga/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

McKerr is in for the injured Berthet. Hughes starts for Colak out left today, Mills and Mariga are the central mids. Attack attack attack.

5': Hamilton earns us a corner with a shot from 25 yards out, saved and turned behind... corner is cleared, we fight to keep the ball in the attacking end but finally they make a good long clearance.

16': They get a free kick in our end and earn a corner off it, we clear easily though.

18': Mariga plays a ball forward to Constantino. He shows great control to get by his man and into the area but its crowded, he pulls out wide to the right, puts in a short cross, and Hamilton is there, wins the header, and its into the back of the net! His first goal for us. 1-0

33': An attacking move down the right... Gordon sends it to McKerr, a cross into the area, Hamilton wins a header 15 yards away, he gets a solid shot, but its a bit high, good effort.

HALF: I've dropped to key highlights for now so we're seeing a little less in low shot matches. We do have 8 shots, 4 on target, only allowing one shot all half. This is more like what I expect to see most of the year. We're winning in the air today too which is good to see. Go team!

48': They earn a corner and Carlos Antonio has to make two saves in the process of conceding another corner, this one we clear and look to counter. Its played quickly to midfield, then sent out left for us to build up, Hughes ends up sending a cross in, Hamilton gets his head to it but its easily saved.

54': A pass ahead to Constantino leads to a long run down the right... he plays a solid cross into the 6 yard box, Hamilton charges it, wins the header from very close range, but the keeper somehow stops it! That was a clear cut chance and he probably should have scored, there was a lot of the net open there.

58': Constantino receives a pass 30 yards out, splits two defenders, and is tackled just before he gets into the area... no card. Gordon's shot is blocked.

66': Free kick from 25 yards out, I didn't see how we earned it. Gordon takes it and shows some of the potential he has to be a set piece god, bending it around the wall and rocketing it into the right side of the net. 2-0

81': They counter attack, a long ball goes ahead to ST Rooney, he makes Welsh miss a tackle, gets into the area and puts a good shot by the keeper. 2-1

81': Jackson in for Gordon, Guarin in for Hughes, Burke in for Welsh. Guys i want to rest + guys I don't look to be playing as often. I made these subs before we gave up the goal but I'm confident we'll hold.

90': Hamilton with a foul about 25 yards out. They earn a free kick, its taken off the wall and Carlos Antonio holds it safely.

We hold out for the win pretty easily here.

Ipswich 2 : 1 Exeter

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0)
Goals: Hamilton (7.2), Gordon (7.5)
Assits: Constantino 2
Notables: Kirkland (7.1)

Everyone else in the 6.8-6.9 range. Carlos Antonio had a 7.3 until that goal was let in, I want to see him do well.

We were much better in the air today. Steven Mills at MC is a big reason winning 10 of 13. Our four defenders combine to win 23 of 24 headers. I love Constantino and love his speed and flashy goals, but it made me real happy to see crosses being won by Hamilton and actually threatening them.

law90026 · 09-08-2011, 02:48 AM

Ah I didn't know about the inability to remove the transfer-listed player! Good to know.

Alf · 09-08-2011, 04:34 AM

Transfer listing out the team beloved player causes team chemistry issues. I like that

Very good offseason so far. Looking forward to reading more.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 08:44 AM

-- GK Dominic Johnson turned down 3 contracts, saying they weren't good enough for him, so he's still with us. And now he's broken his wrist and is out for 6-7 weeks.

August 20th, 2019

Ipswich @ Barnsley

We are slim 5:4 favorites on the road against Barnsley. Barnsley won League 1 last year and have a 1-1-0 start here in the Championship.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Burke/Henrique/McKerr
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

loaner DC Vinny Burke gets his first start of the year for Welsh today. Turgay Colak back at ML, Mills/Donnelly mids.

3': They get two quick shots on target but both are easily parried by Antonio... we get the ball forward, Constantino at the edge of the area, there's 3 defenders on top of him, one wins the ball, tries to clear, but it hits one of the other men in the area and trickles away... Constantino races to it and has space and puts it in the net! 1-0

14': A quick counterattack, a pass ahead to Constantino, he lays it off to Donnelly, Donnelly has space, runs into the area and easily beats the keeper! 2-0

33': Both teams have 7 shots, they've tried to press a little but our defense is faster than theirs and we aren't allowing any openings.

44': Buildup down the right, McKerr pulls up 30 yards out and crosses into the area and by god this is working. Simon Hamilton gets above his man, wins a header and its in the net! 3-0

HALF: Vinny Burke got hurt at the very end of the half and his fitness is shot. We're putting Welsh in immediately. We shoot 9 times with 6 on target, 2 clear cut chances, and 60% of the possession. They shoot 7 times, 4 on target. We're winning 80% of our headers and limiting them to 37% in the air, that's what I want to see.

46': We get a free kick from 40 yards out, Gordon takes it and its a great shot that hits the crossbar, close!

64': They clear a ball out of our end, a header goes from the midfield to say 30 yards out... and Carlos Antonio decides to rush out for the ball. Its a race between him and striker Weghorn... and he loses. A horrid decision by our keeper. They recover the ball first, their man skips over our keeper and puts it into the empty net. That was just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far out. 3-1

71': Hamilton ahead to Constantino, he's in the area.. and tackled hard, penalty! Constantino takes it and buries it. 4-1

79': They inexplicably get a long through ball by our defense and to a forward from way too far away, we've been intercepting these every time, Carlos Antonio comes out though and this time its a great decision, he blocks a clear cut chance.

85': We attack down the left side, Turgay Colak gets down near the end line, puts a cross into the area, it hits a defender and changes path a bit, falling in the penalty area. Steven Mills is the first one there and he puts it into the upper right corner of the net! His first Ipswich goal! 5-1

Great win, and maybe we're starting to get on a roll.

Barnsley 1 : 5 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.2)
Goals: Constantino 2, Donnelly (8.4), Hamilton (8.3), Mills (8.1)
Assists: McKerr (8.5), Turgay Colak (7.7), Constantino .. 2 of our goals are unassisted.
Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.4), Kirkland (7.6), Henrigue (7.2)

Good Stuff!

Injury Update

DC Vinny Burke is going to be out for 3 weeks.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 09:29 AM

-- I continue to play with fire. Sevilla offer me $3M for McDonald Mariga. I am very slowly resigning myself to the fact that he will be leaving, but I want to get paid (and drag it out). I tell them I want $8M.

August 24th, 2019

Ipswich(2-0-1, 7th) @ Stoke(1-0-2, 15th)

For the first time this year we're underdogs at Stoke on the road. They're 5:4 favorites, we're 7:4 dogs. We're 1-2-3 lifetime against them.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/McKerr
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

17': Donnelly passes ahead to Constantino, he turns by his man, sprints into the area and has a clear cut chance... and the keeper is able to get to it and make the save. He would normally score there.

37': They have a little counter attack after winning a ball in the midfield. We close down hard on the first man to get the ball but he gets it ahead to their other striker and he's got a complete breakaway. Into the area, Carlos Antonio rushes out... and makes a good stop.

HALF: Not a huge number of good looks here on either team. We actually have some pretty damn low ratings out there, 6.0 from Hamilton and 6.3 from Gordon, 6.2 McKerr, seems like we should be doing more. They actually take 8 shots to our 6, we don't see many of these at all. We do have a 56/44 possession edge, we're losing out in the air today.

63': They have a free kick and send it long towards the area, we've got a lot of men back but somehow let a ball through into the area for a striker... its a clear cut chance for Stoke and Carlos Antonio makes a really good save.

66': We build up on offense, Donnelly plays a pretty ball into the area for Hamilton, Hamilton has our second clear cut chance after making a great cut, but he can't finish.

84': Mariga in for Donnelly, Khan in for Hamilton, Jackson in for Gordon to try to get us a goal at the end.

Its a tie on the road against a decent team. I played a counterattacking strat today and never felt comfortable enough to come out and attack harder than that.

Stoke 0 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Henrique (7.6)
Notables: Kirkland (7.2), Colak (7.0), Constantino (7.1)

I tend to ignore milestones for reasons I can't explain, I love counting stats:

-- Gordon Donnelly played in his 225th league match
-- Constantino plays in his 75th league match for Ipswich today.

-- I turned down a $400,000 offer from Reading for backup DR Michael McKerr. He's unhappy that I don't let him leave.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 10:07 AM

-- I turn down yet another offer for Henrique and he's unhappy with me too. The transfer window is almost closed and we can get back to soccer for awhile and relieve the dramaz.

-- We play Fulham at home two matches in a row, league cup and league.

August 27th, 2019

League Cup 2nd Round

Fulham(3rd, CH) @ Ipswich(9th, CH)

We're an even money favorite at home vs Fulham today but they are off to a good start in the league. We're 5-2-5 lifetime against Fulham.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/McKerr
M: Guarin/Mariga/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Khan

Couple lineup changes today to keep guys fresh. Guarin, Mariga, Khan in. Turgay Colak, Mills, Constantino out.

8': We win a ball deep in the defensive end, Kirkland sends it long to Hamilton, he runs down the left and lays a ball off for Mariga. Mariga plays a brilliant pass through the defense to Donnelly at the edge of the penalty area. Donnelly fires, its a solid shot, but off the post, so close!

20': Donnelly with a yellow.

22': Quick counter for Ipswich, a ball ahead to Khan, a pass to Hamilton who is 20 yards out, a strike... keeper has to dive to turn it behind. First corner is headed back for a second corner. This one is cleared away.

32': They have it in our end, a throwin, the penalty area is really crowded but they sneak a through ball for ST Dan Taylor, he's hurt and slowed and probably scores if he wasn't. Its still a clear cut chance for him but brilliant save by Carlos Antonio.

39': We're up to 9 shots, just had a very nice attacking move lead to a strong shot from Hamilton but its saved, we're looking really really good on the attack but just not getting the finish.

43': Disaster strikes... Donnelly makes a tackle in the midfield... he's given his second yellow and he's out of the match. Constantino in for Khan, Mills in for Hamilton. We change to a 4-4-1 and we're going to want Constantino up front for that.

HALF: We shoot 11 times, putting 6 on target, we do settle from long range a little much I think. They only have a 3 shots. The man down will be the big story of the second half. Can we hold them off? Can Constantino generate a goal to possibly win a man down?

71': They get a lob down the right side... a man forward, into the area but at a tough angle, Carlos Antonio covers the near post brilliantly and stops the shot.

75': After Mills and Gordon work the ball around a bit on the right a pass goes ahead to Constantino... he draws the defense and spots Guarin open in a dangerous position, a shot from 15 yards out... saved. Guarin needs to finish that.

76': We earn a throwin, Kirkland plays it up to Neil Gordon, he centers it to Steven Mills who is 20 yards out. Mills has a shot, its not struck too hard but its placed as perfectly as possible, into the upper left corner of the net, the keeper can't stop it!! 1-0

89': a strong attacking move as they are getting desperate and we exploit it well, Constantino receives a pass 30 yards out, sends it ahead to Gordon, the defense has come way high up and is converging on Gordon to try to take the ball away... Mariga cuts into the open space, Gordon finds him, Mariga shoots, on target!! We play a brilliant second half to get 2 goals a man down. 2-0

Ipswich 2 : 0 Fulham

Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (7.9)
Goals: Mariga, Mills (7.6)
Assists: Gordon 2 (7.7)
Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.0), McKerr (7.3), Kirkland (7.5), Constantino (7.3)

-- We're up to August 29th... we get a random $8.75M offer from a french team for Berthet. Sorta tempting since McKerr is playing well and Berthet shit the bed in the EPL last year, but I'm sticking to my guns. This team is promoting back up, the one I have right now. I don't need millions of dollars right now, I need wins, and even though I have some concerns about Berthet, I'm not confident enough that I could go out and buy better reliably to take the risk.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 10:44 AM

-- Looking just very briefly at Europe, Champions League groups are drawn today. Sunderland didn't make it through the playoffs to the group stage, losing to Juventus. Chelsea draws Cagliari, Porto and AaB in Denmark. Sheffield Utd draws Dinamo Kiev, Juventus, and AS Monaco from France. Arsenal draws Ajax and a Turkish and Russian squad, they seem to have the best draw of the lot.

League Cup 3rd Round Draw

Looks like we're down to 32 teams in the League Cup so we expect mostly EPL and Championship teams here. We end up with one of the worst possible draws, we'll be traveling to Sheffield Utd, a top 4 finisher in the EPL last season.

August 31st, 2019

Fulham(3-1-0, 3rd) @ Ipswich(2-1-1, 9th)

Having just beaten them short handed in cup play, we're even money favorites in league play today against Fulham again.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/Berthet
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Mariga/Jackson
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

Berthet is healthy and starting. Clive Jackson gets his first start as Neil Gordon gets his first break, and Constantino is back in. Donnelly serving his suspension for his red card.

11': Through ball for Fulham to ST Acosta, he's quickly onto it very deep in the area and easily beats Carlos Antonio. 0-1

15': Brilliant run by Constantino from within our own end, down the right side, he sets up Jackson perfectly with a pass, Jackson on the volley... keeper is able to make the save and turn it back for a corner, which they clear.

27': We build up on offense, getting it forward to Jackson near the penalty area, he lays it off nicely for Hamilton who shoots.. but its saved and cleared away.

30': Clive Jackson is everywhere today but needs a finish... Constantino hits him with a beautiful ball in the area, its a clear cut chance from 15 yards out... but right at the keeper.

40': We have a throwin in their end, a pass goes to Mills, ahead ot Jackson, he splits two defenders with a great pass for Simon Hamilton. Hamilton has it 8 yards out and he doesn't miss this time, easy finish! 1-1

HALF: It looks like Welsh took the blame for the goal we let in, I can see that, we were out of position to let a ball in as easily as the one that they scored off of. Clive Jackson has really been everywhere today, he's been a huge part of the offense. On the one hand I think if that were Neil Gordon instead we lead 3-1. But Jackson has handled himself well and made some nice passes, I like what I see out of the youngster. Despite the tie we appear to be in full control with 11 shots, 4 on target to their 3 total shots. We've got possession edge and we're winning every stat.

56': All the highlights remain ours early, but we've ended up with a lot of possession and only speculative shots.

63': We allow two corner kicks but easily clear the second one. Its cleared really well and Constantino runs onto it and has a breakaway.. he's well ahead of the defense, into the area, the keeper comes out... and Constantino should have shoot sooner. His shot is blocked. Doh!

65': Constantino with another really nice run down the middle, Hamilton is off to his left, he's got our 5th clear cut chance of the match here as he cut inside his man nicely... but shoots wide.

79': We counter after winning a ball in the defense. Mills plays a long pass ahead to Constantino, one of their defenders takes the blame for missing an interception, allowing Constantino a free run at the keeper and this time he finishes! 2-1

82': Wow, huge lapse... we let them march right down the field and get it back... a run down the right, cross to the 6 yard box, a header without our defender even rising up for it, and a goal. 2-2

86': Mills wins a 50/50 ball in midfield, a quick pass ahead to Hamilton, another quick pass to Constantion who has lost the defense, and its our 7th clear cut chance and 3rd goal, great play there! 3-2

92': Simon Hamilton goes down near midfield trying to win a ball to keep possession for us.. he's hurt. ugh, we'll check on him postmatch. play continues, Constantino receives a pass and sprints towards the area, he's fouled as he tries to beat the last defender, just outside the area. Berthet takes the free kick and shoots wide.

That'll do it.

Ipswich 3 : 2 Fulham

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0)
Goals: Constantino 2, Hamilton (8.4)
Assists: Hamilton, Mills (7.4)
Notables: Jackson (7.7), Mariga (7.8)

I'm absolutely thrilled with our young right midfielder Clive Jackson today. He wasn't perfect but it seemed like he was in the right place all the time and made really good decisions, just his finishing was slightly lacking.

Radii · 09-08-2011, 08:26 PM

September Update

-- Euro Championship qualifying gives us some time off in early September. We play on the 14th, 17th, 21st, 24th and 28th. The match ont he 24th is the 4th round of the League cup.

-- I receive a training update indicating that GK Chris Mason has trained well recently. Carlos Antonio is mentoring him and his Composure (13), Concentration (14) and Determination (6) have all gone up recently. It seems like our scouts view of Mason has dropped slightly, his potential is now presumed to be less than Carlos Antonio's level and he might be marginal as an EPL level keeper. I think I'll let him stay with me this year to train and be mentored and play every match with the reserves, hopefully make it back to the EPL next year, and then loan him to a championship squad that will start him next season. Then he'd be 20 y/o and I'll hopefully have a much better idea of whether he could ever start for me or not.

-- Constantino is the Championship player of the month. He's got 4 goals and 3 assists in 5 league matches and 2 cup goals as well. He's developed so well, the numbers he is capable of putting up this year could dwarf what he's done in the past. I don't expect a 50 goal season or anything. His last Championship season was 34 goals/11 assists. I would not at all be surprised to see 35 goals/20 assists this year with a rating over 8.0.

-- I win the manager of the month award. Right now there are 8 teams tied for 1st with a 3-1-1- record. We're one of them. Three managers in that group took 1st/2nd/3rd in the manager voting.

-- The board is satisfied with my leadership. The highlight is that I am "getting the best out of Constantino".

-- We lost $2.56M last month. Ouch. Our salary costs alone were higher than our revenue. If we lose $2.5M every month our early profits will be gone in February and we would end up losing about $12-$13M this season. That's worth it of course if we advance back up and as long as parachute payments work its actually ok if we don't b/c the parachute payment at the end of the season would cover it. I hate to keep harping on the salary drop that didn't happen but that's costing us about $80,000/wk right now. Basically not enough to make me want to stop playing or look into the game editor, but enough that I feel the need to continue bitching about it

-- Huddersfield offer Rio Ferdinand a job. I don't want to lose him. He's my 4* Ball Control coach. He's also a 4* tactics and 4* defending coach. I offer him a raise, but I suspect he'll leave anyway.

-- McDonald Mariga puts up an 8.1 rating and gets a goal in a 2:0 win for Kenya over Sao Tome in the African Cup of Nations Qualifiers. Morocco won their group unfortunately.

-- Clive Jackson scores for the England U19 squad against Finland in a friendly, a 5:0 rout, he puts up an 8.1 rating.

-- The England U21 squad beats Lithuania 7:0. Stuart Kirkland's performance is called "Magnificient" as he earns an 8.5 rating.

-- Chris Mason starts for the England U20s in a 4:1 win over Finland. He earns a 6.9 rating and is subbed out in the 79th minute.

-- In a coaches meeting I'm informed of more Chris Mason training goodness. In addition to the ratings mentioned at the start of the month (its Sept 12th now, good long break here) his Communication (8) and Handling (16) have also gone up.

September 14th, 2019

Ipswich(3-1-1, 4th) @ Cardiff(3-1-1, 7th)

Cardiff are 5:4 favorites today, making us 7:4 to win. We're 10-3-6 lifetime against them. Cardiff's worst finish in the Championship the last 5 years is 11th. They've only made the playoffs once though. A news report mentions that Rob Lewis is looking forward to playing against his old manager. He was our 3rd young ST behind Khan and Constantino that I decided to sell last year. He scored 4 goals in 6 matches for them to finish off last season, but has 5 games w/o a goal yet this year.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Henrique/Welsh/Berthet
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

Donnelly and Gordon are back in, Mariga out. Standard mindset on the road.

5': We lose the ball while charging forward to start up an attack, they get a long ball to Rob Lewis, he gets into the area but has a shot stopped by Carlos Antonio.

22': They build up quickly on offense, a ball from midfielder Ellis to Rob Lewis... seems like Berthet needed to be on Lewis and just lost sight of him there. Lewis gets into the area and its their first clear cut chance... and he finishes. 0-1

44': yellow for midfielder Ellis.

HALF: We look like shit out there. They shoot 6 times, putting 4 on target. We have 5 shots, 4 from long range, just 1 on target and nothing remotely threatening. We're passing, tackling and winning headers better, but they are by far the more threatening of the two teams.

47': We have a throwin in their end, its taken to constantino, he's in the right side of a crowded penalty area, he runs up and around to the middle of the pitch, cuts right quickly, fires a bending shot around 2 defenders from 20 yards out and places it perfectly into the right side of the net! A spectacular individual effort. 1-1

60': Donnelly a yellow.

64': They have a corner, its taken to the far post, there's a ton of our guys there but they win the header, Carlos Antonio can't get to it, but Berthet heads it off the line!

66': Yellow for midfielder Ledley.

71': Yellow for Hamilton.

80': Mariga in for Donnelly, Hughes in for Turgay Colak.

94': They have a free kick 20 yards out, its taken well but sails just wide.

With the pressure they put on us in the first half I'm happy to get out of here with a draw. I thikn they were the better team but we had the best player on the pitch and he single handedly got us a point today.

Cardiff 1 : 1 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.4)
Goal: Constantino
Assist: Gordon (6.8)
Notable: Kirkland (7.0), Henrique (7.0)

Brian Swartz · 09-08-2011, 09:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radii

We look like shit out there.

Quit overselling your club! :P

Radii · 09-09-2011, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Quit overselling your club! :P

hah, at that point based on the highlights I'd seen it was quite true, and I would have enjoyed yelling at every one of them in the locker room

Radii · 09-09-2011, 01:04 AM

September 17th, 2019

Swansea(3-1-2, 11th) @ Ipswich(3-2-1, 6th)

We are very large 4:7 favorites at home today. Its a close series over the last decade, we're 6-5-5 against them, winning both matches the year we promoted up.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Henrique/Burke/Berthet
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Mariga/Jackson
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

We rotate some guys as we play again in 4 days. Mariga, Jackson start in the midfield, loaner Vinny Burke at DC. Attack attack.

11': Their striker scoots by Henrique to receive a through ball, he gets a clear cut chance but Carlos Antonio makes a good stop.

18': Fantastic quick attack, a ball goes forward, Hamilton wins a header in the midfield, flicking it over to Constantino. Constantino passes back to Mills, Mills with a ball into the area, Hamilton runs onto it and strikes it to the far post by the keeper! 1-0

25': Not so happy with the defense here. They get a throwin in our end, and its another through ball to a man who just ran right by Henrique... maybe we thought they were offsides... its another clear cut chance and this one is finished. 1-1

37': They have a goal kick, it comes down about 20 yards from our goal... Carlos Antonio ran out for the ball, a huge mistake... they win the header for it, heading it towards the net but its luckily just wide.

39': Another Swansea attack, and Henrique just looks bad, ST Spear receives it 20 yards out, Henrique flat out misses the tackle, he turns and is into the area, easy goal. 1-2

43': We have a corner, they clear it but we recover. Mills puts a ball perfectly into the area in between their two central defenders. Constantino is there to receive the ball and we're able to quickly equalize. 2-2

HALF: Henrique has been beaten badly 3 times so far today but somehow is rating is a 6.5. Lots of successful passes and 5/5 on headers. He's also made 6 interceptions. I'm going to drop back to a standard mindset here. Mariga and Mills are both way more offensive minded in the midfield, I wonder if leaving Donnelly out of the lineup allows these things to happen a little more often. Or just bad luck, who knows. We do shoot 7 times to their 5, each team has 3 on target. We've got an amazing amount of possession, 64%, they're just hitting us with a couple quick strikes.

56': Steven Mills is having an awesome game. A pass comes in from a defender as we set up on offense, Mills plays it forward with his first touch and its an inch perfect pass for Constantino, he's in the area, has a step on his man and is able to put it in the net! 3-2

80': More great passing for Ipswich, we build up after a throwin in the midfield. Mills with a pass to Constantino, a little ways out right, he passes ahead into the area, Hamilton runs onto it perfectly and hits it with his first touch... but its wide. I love Hamilton in the air but his finishing is not the best, he's going to miss some of those that Constantino almost never does.

87': We attack, a cross comes in from the right towards the far post, Turgay Colak is there, heads it, the keeper has to dive to push it away. A defender goes to make a clearance but mishits it and puts it into his own net! 4-2

94': We have a free kick in our own end. Carlos Antonio sends it down the left. Turgay Colak wins a header and sends it to Hamilton, he makes a run out wide to the left, passes to constantino who is 20 yards out, Constantino turns by his man and strikes and blows it by the keeper!! It was a slow start but we made it look like a huge blowout by the time the final whistle comes. 5-2

Ipswich 5 : 2 Swansea

Man of the Match: Constantino (9.5)
Goals: Constantino 3, Hamilton 1 (7.9), 1 own goal
Assists: Mills 3 (9.0), Hamilton, Turgay Colak (7.8)
Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.2), Berthet (7.0), Kirkland (7.1), Jackson (7.2), Mariga (7.3)

Solid win!

7 matches in there are 7 teams tied for first with 14 points and 3 more teams have 13 points.

Radii · 09-09-2011, 01:22 AM

September 21th, 2019

Ipswich(4-2-1, 2nd) @ Scunthorpe(4-1-2, 8th)

We're 5:4 favorites on the road today, Scunthorpe are 7:4 to win here. We're 4-4-5 against them lifetime.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Henrique/Welsh/Berthet
M: Hughes/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

Scunthorpe ST John Bullock has 7 goals in 7 matches. That's just one less than Constantino has in league play so far.

We change up most of the midfield (leaving Mills in, he's playing so well right now). We open up counter attacking on the road.

12': Two attacking highlights in a row, both throwins in their end, the first has Mills put a ball into the area for Hughes who has a clear cut chance but its right at their keeper. Next throwin, Mills ends up shooting from 25 yards out and its close, but a bit high.

21': Donnelly with a yellow.

40': 20 minutes go by without a highlight.

47': They have a free kick just out wide left, its taken into the area, Mills does a good job heading it out. Hughes recovers the ball and sends it long. Constantino outruns the defense, picking it up just past midfield and he's off... he makes a long run into the area, one defender keeps pretty close but he's clearly behind and shouldn't be putting any pressure on here... the keeper comes out but Constantino blasts it by the keeper and into the net. 1-0

HALF: A slow and fairly boring half with one beautiful counterattacking strike to end the half. We have 6 shots, 4 on target, they have 5. Just a long long lull after the first 15 minutes I suppose.

48': They have a corner, taken to the far end of the 6 yard box, there's a strong header, Carlos Antonio makes a strong save to turn it behind. We clear the second corner.

48': Yellow for their ST Townsend.

58': Jackson in for Gordon, Mariga in for Mills. A little early to sub out key guys but I want them in vs Sheffield Utd in a few days in the League Cup.

63': Hughes gets a yellow.

74': Henrique goes down and he's injured. He looks pretty bad, can stay in but horrible fitness.

77': They have a throwin deep in our end. We have our whole team in the box... we tackle the ball away from a defender, it falls to a man 20 yards out, eh blasts a shot that deflects off a couple of our defenders and falls to ST Bullock... and he takes advantage and sends it into the net. 1-1

The game ends there with neither team threatening again.

Scunthorpe 1 : 1 Ipswich

They get a bit of a lucky goal at the end and we leave with 1 point.

Man of the Match: Constantino (7.3)
Goal: Constantino
Assists: Hughes (7.2)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

Radii · 09-09-2011, 01:42 AM

Injury Update

Henrique has a thigh strain after that last match and he's going to miss 2 weeks.

-- Turgay Colak and Steven Mills are both named to the Championship team of the week.

September 24th, 2019

League Cup 3rd Round

Ipswich(7th, CH) @ Sheffield Utd(1st, EPL)

Sheffield Utd are 5-0-1 in the EPL and are currently rockin first place. The one advantage we may have is that they played their first Champions League match recently and their next two matches are at Arsenal and another champions league match, so it seems like there's a good chance we won't be taken seriously. They are 4:7 favorites and we're 4:1 dogs.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/Berthet
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

Burke starts for the injured Henrique, Turgay Colak back in at ML today. We'll defend.

25': Sheffield Utd has their keeper get injured. Before he can be subbed off we have a strong attacking move and Hamilton has a nice shot just saved. They sub out their keeper and clear the corner.

29': Mills is hurt. He can stay in but I'll bring Mariga in at the half.

39': we have a throwin in their end, a pass goes to Mills, he puts a great ball into the area, Constantino runs onto it and its the first clear cut chance for either team... but the keeper makes the save. Dang!

43': They earn a corner, we clear it out of the area but they recover, settle for a long shot though and its high.

49': Lots of added time here, they have a throwin in our end, a pass goes into the area and ... I dunno, in the struggle for the ball Welsh goes down after missing a tackle, leaving their man wide open in the area. Carlos Antonio rushes their striker... and makes a brilliant save!! WHEW.

HALF: They have 7 shots, 3 on target with 1 clear cut chance. We're doing alright holding our own here, 6 shots, 4 on target with 1 clear cut chance. Carlos Antonio has a 7.3 rating at the half, no one else is anywhere close. Mariga in for Mills.

48': They build up and get a man free in the area after a nice through ball, its their second clear cut chance and another brilliant save by Carlos Antonio!

51': Another attack for Sheffield Utd, a cross into the area, Welsh tries to clear it but its a weak thing that doesn't even leave the area, their man Broers is there and blasts it into the net before we can react. 0-1

66': We earn a free kick from 25 yards out. Gordon takes it and puts in a nice shot, but the keeper gets to it and turns it over for a corner. Corner goes nowhere.

73': DC Welsh is hurt...

We try to attack in the last 10 minutes but can't get anything done.

Sheffield Utd 1 : 0 Ipswich

Their scorer is man of the match. We played pretty well here. Welsh took the blame for the goal and didn't win many headers and ended with an awful 4.8 rating before he got hurt. Everyone else is in the 6.5-6.9 range.

We did meet expectations making the 3rd round.

Neither of our guys that got hurt during the match have any long term issues, but it may impact their readiness for yet another game on short rest coming up.

Radii · 09-09-2011, 02:19 AM

-- Gordon Donnelly tells the BBC in an interview that he feels like Ipswich is underachieving. We're not running away with the league but I think that's going a bit far! Unless he is just pissed that we didn't beat Sheffield Utd at their house, in which case screw him.

Injury Update

backup ML Jack Hughes is injured in training and is going to miss 4 weeks.

September 28th, 2019

Ipswich(4-3-1, 7th) @ Bolton(3-0-6, 17th)

We are huge 4:7 favorites on the road today, Bolton are 4:1 dogs. Bolton finished 20th each of the last 2 seasons and is very lucky they haven't dropped back to League 1 yet.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/McKerr/Welsh/Berthet
M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Khan/Constantino

McKerr starts for Burke today, and Khan gets a start for Hamilton. Standard mindset today.

4': Khan is hurt immediately. Neat. He'll stay in for now but I'll probably bring in Hamilton (or Ian Taylor if we're doing well) in the 2nd half.

24': Free kick for us, Gordon takes it from 25 yards but puts it just wide.

26': Corner for Bolton, they take it to the near man, we miss a tackle and Forward Smalley recovers the ball and blasts it into the net.. Carlos Antonio's positioning seemed really poor there. 0-1

30': We have a goal kick... its taken long, their last defender tries to go up for a header but the ball is past him. The keeper doesn't rush out and this allows Constantino to keep chasing it, he picks it up and easily scores from close range. 1-1

36': A pass from Mills to Khan, he shoots from the edge of the penalty box, keeper has to dive to save it. Gordon takes the corner but they clear it.

37': we push it forward and earn another corner. Gordon takes it, they win a header and send it out wide, throwin for us. They head it away and we're offsides as we try to head it back in.

HALF: We definitely need to do better than this today. Hamilton is in for Khan at the half. We have 7 shots to their 5, we've got 2 clear cut chances but missed one. I'm hopeful we keep it going here and put this one away.

47': Mills has it about 40 yards out, he plays a ball into the right side of the area for Gordon, Gordon is tackled trying to win it.. penalty!! Constantino takes it and buries it. 2-1

56': We have a corner, played in to Constantino, a shot is blocked, we recover and try to send it back in... and Constantino goes down injured. He takes a pretty big hit to his fitness.

66': We've seen Constantino take two more shots since he got hurt and both looked a bit weaker, but maybe that's just me panicing until I see if he's hurt long term.

74': Guarin in for Constantino. I drop him back to DMC and run a 4-1-4-1.

75': We've got a free kick near midfield. Kirkland takes it and plays it into the area, Hamilton wins a header there but the keeper saves it, but can only parry it away. Neil Gordon is in the right spot to followup and puts it into the net before the keeper can get back up. 3-1

87': I've long since dropped back to defensive but they can't keep us from controlling possession and here we see Donnelly spot Hamilton in the area, Hamilton shoots, but its right at the keeper. Keeper can only deflect it away, it falls back to Hamilton who puts this one in! 4-1

91': Welsh goes down hurt in added time.. and the match stops, he can't walk this one off. That's 3 injuries today.

Bolton 1 : 4 Ipswich

Solid win. Lets hope the damage isn't too bad.

Man of the Match: Constantino (8.6)
Goals: Constantino 2, Gordon (8.2), Hamilton (8.4)
Assists: Carlos Antonio (7.6), Gordon, Hamilton. Hamilton's goal was unassisted.
Notables: Kirkland (7.3), Donnelly (7.0)

Injury Update

Well the good news is that Constantino isn't hurt long term. The bad news is that James Welsh is, he's going to miss 5-6 weeks with an ankle injury picked up in added time today.

-- Right now Henrique, James Welsh, Jack Hughes and Troy Brown are all out injured. We've got 7 guys on the senior squad that can play the position at all, and 4 are hurt. That leaves us right now with Turgay Colak, Burke, and McKerr.

Radii · 09-09-2011, 02:48 AM

-- Carlos Antonio, Gordon, Constantino and Hamilton are all named to the Championship team of the week this week.

October Update

-- We play on the 1st, 5th, 9th, 19th, and 26th. All League Matches.

-- Constantino is player of the month again in the Championship. That's two in a row. He's played 9 league matches and been man of the match 7 times.

-- The board is pleased with my leadership. Constantino's play is the highlight. No negative.

-- We lost $2.96M last month.

October 1st, 2019

Leeds(6-1-3, 3rd) @ Ipswich(5-3-1, 5th)

We're 4:5 favorites today, making Leeds 3:1 despite their 3rd place standing currently.

GK: Carlos Antonio
D: Kirkland/McKerr/Burke/Berthet
M: Guarin/Mariga/Donnelly/Gordon
ST: Hamilton/Constantino

McKerr and Burke DC's. Guarin starts at ML, Mariga over Mills at MC today. Standard mindset today.

8': We have a number of attacking highlights early, but just 2 shots so far, both saved.

12': We have a corner, taken to the far end of the 6 yard box, Burke heads it, keeper has to dive to turn it back for a second corner. We get a shot off that corner but its put wide.

30': we get another corner, they head it out, we recover and send it back wide to Gordon. Gordon crosses in, Hamilton wins a header... and its off the crossbar.

HALF: Scoreless here. We're in control, 55/45 possession, 12 shots for us/5 for them. 6 on target for us/1 for them. The big issues is that we have 8 shots from long range. I issue the "work ball into box" instruction for the second half.

48': Constantino is my hero. They have a goal kick and kick it to a defender... Constantino attacks, wins the ball, runs towards the center of the pitch, but the defense is set. He controls it very well, Mariga into the area, Constantino finds him with a great pass, and Mariga blasts a shot into the net!! 1-0

61': We have it in the offensive end, winning a couple 50/50 balls to keep possession in the midfield, Berthet ahead to Hamilton, Hamilton hits Guarin coming into the area, Guarin has a clear cut chance and he puts it by the keeper! 2-0

65': We build up on offense, Kirkland plays a long ball from the midfield to Hamilton, Hamilton into the left side of the area, a centering pass for Constantino and he volleys it into the net! 3-0 Three very quick goals.

68': Turgay Colak in for McKerr. Taylor and Khan in for Hamilton and Constantino. Lets finish this off without injuries heh.

86': we control it well on offense, Donnelly with a through ball to Khan, Khan with a nice shot from 15 yards out, near post by the keeper! 4-0

90': Donnelly with a yellow.

91': Their leading scorer Steve Carroll avoids a tackle by Turgay Colak and shoots from 20 yards out... he hits the bottom of the crossbar and it bounces in. 4-1

No shutout but that's ok!

Ipswich 4 : 1 Leeds

Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (8.4)
Goals: Mariga, Constantino (8.3), Guarin (8.0), Khan (7.1)
Assists: Hamilton 2 (7.6), Constantino, Donnelly (7.4)
Notables: Berthet (7.3), Kirkland (7.1), Burke (7.2)

Strong win. We had 1 less match played than a few teams. Combine catching up to the rest of the league in matches played with a QPR loss and we now sit in first place by ourselves 10 matches into the season. Who's underperforming now?

09-05-2011, 09:36 AM	#754
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Good attitude! What's your plan of action for the next 2 years? __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

09-06-2011, 06:17 AM	#771
Alf Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Rennes, France	Weird end of seasons where you beat two great teams and lose vs lousy opponents. As usual, an always appreciated read, you do have the proper formating done. Excellent ! And go back up to EPL ! __________________ FOFL - GML - IHOF - FranceStats

09-06-2011, 09:50 AM	#772
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	Keep up the great work, very interested to see how you move forward! __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

09-06-2011, 09:50 AM	#773
RPI-Fan Pro Starter Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Troy, NY	For what it's worth - and this certainly may be a "me" thing - I don't read the detailed game reviews, so if you had desire to just type up the shorter post-game summaries instead of the play-by-play, at least as far as I am concerned I would enjoy that every bit as much. __________________ Quis custodiets ipsos custodes?

09-07-2011, 04:51 AM	#778
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- The ML I was trying to buy signs for Sporting CP in Portugal so while new loaner Turgay Colak will begin the season starting for me there I am still looking around at ML. And with loan offers outstanding and a ton of transfer money, the Ipswich squad still hasn't fully taken shape. But that doesn't mean its not time to play some football anyway! Friendly #1 We travel to Brighton today in one we should win easily. My lineup will look familiar here, its shocking how little I had to modify it: GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/McKerr/Henrique/Berthet M: Colak/Donnelly/Mariga/Gordon F: Hamilton/Constantino New loaners Turgay Colak and Simon Hamilton get into the lineup. We get a goal in the first minute but we're offsides. In the 18th minute Constantino hits Neil Gordon for an easy goal. That's the score at the half and I sub out all my starters at the half as I traditionally do in my first few friendies. This means a number of U18 guys are out there running around, whee. One of their men burns my now useless DC Park and scores in the 52nd minute. Another defensive failure allows a 2nd goal through in the 63rd minute. Brighton 2 : 1 Ipswich We had a number of guys in there who were U18 kids who ought to be cut. That if nothing else reminds me of the need not just to find the big splash in the midfield but to add a bit of depth as well. New Signing Oh god after the unhappy Kang experience I'm worried all of a sudden. After saying he didn't think he'd want to play for me, Arsenal's MC accepts my contract offer. We pay Arsenal a little more than half our transfer budget ($6.25M) and hope it's going to be worth it! Welcome 22 y/o MC Steven Mills to Ipswich. Mills has mostly played for the arsenal reserves but played well when called upon last year. My assistant feels he's on the same level as McDonald Mariga as a player, his only weakness is in set pieces, and he's a good strong team player. Physical: Strength 19, Balance 18, Pace 12/Acceleration 16. Nothing below 12. Mental: Determination 16, Creativity 16, Decisions 12, Off the Ball 13, Teamwork 18. Positioning is low at 9, Influence and flair are under 10 as well. All other ratings that I didn't mention are between 12-15. After reading through some of SFraser's stuff I'm noticing Determination and Anticipation more and more and really like the 16 determination here. Technical: Passing 18, First Touch, Technique 13. I'm hoping to see a little improvement here to round him out but the passing/first touch/technique combo I'm hoping will be a good basis for him to build up from. Dribbling, Marking and Heading are all 9. Tackling is 12 which will help in the midfield. McDonald Mariga is still on the squad, but remember he wants to play for a higher level club and I have him transfer listed. I'd love to keep him around this year and will begin the year rotating Donnelly/Mariga/Mills quite a bit. I did offer Mills a large contract, he and Donnelly are now my two highest paid players at $52,000/wk and $51,000/wk. That's almost 20% of the wage budget (though I'm pretty pissed off about the salary drop clause not working and that is inflating things an awful lot!). Hell, offering mills $50k/wk may be a bigger gamble that I made with anyone I signed in the EPL last year. New Signing #2 I mentioned an exciting DC in the England Trialist Matches. This kid just got released by Chelsea and hadn't been signed yet. He performed well and caught the eye of my scouts and many others. In the end he agrees to sign for Ipswich: Welcome 23 y/o DC James Welsh on a free transfer! The scouting report on Welsh compares him favoribly to Henrique, touting his marking ability and pointing out no real weaknesses. He's got pretty good speed, he's determined, brave, positions himself well, he's great in the air and in man marking. Technique and Tackling leave a bit to be desired or I'd say he is an insanely complete player. Still, Welsh will make $16,500/wk and comes in valued at $2.6M. Signing this kid on a free transfer is an absolute steal. Physical: All ratings 13-14 except Agility 11/Accel 12. Mental: Determination 16, Bravery 19, Positioning 15, Anticipation 12. Influence is 14 which is nice. Other ratings in the 11-12 range. Technical: Marking 18, Heading 15, Tackling 12, First Touch 12. Technique 8. I'm really really thrilled to have signed Welsh. I'm hoping he can make an immediate impact. New Loan In -- With Fryers and Bruce gone I don't really have the easy depth in defense that I did last year. So I get rid of the silly notion of selling my best DC, and also loan in the young DC I had left waiting in the wings. Welcome 20 y/o DC Vinny Burke to Ipswich. Burke is a step down from Henrique and Welsh but not a big one. We'll be rotating him in with regularity if he plays well. He's a monster in the air, we could have used this kid to clear some crap out of the penalty area in the EPL last year I bet. Physical: Jumping 17, Fitness 15, everything else 11-12. Mental: Positioning 14, Teamwork 16, Work Rate 13, Bravery 16, Anticipation 15, Decisions 15, Determination 12. Composure is 8 so we'll see if he picks up any red cards. But he's really really strong in the areas I care about the most. Technical: Heading 17, Marking 14, Tackling 13, Passing 15. He can't dribble the ball at all (2), and his Technique is poor (6). I'll be trying to make sure I get this kid forward on corner kicks for sure. With a number of things coming in now lets look at a depth chart and see how we feel about things. GK: Carlos Antonio/Chris Mason Good. DL: Kirkland/Colak/Hughes Spectacular. DC: Henrique/Welsh/Burke/Hughes Probably better than I fielded in the EPL last year. DR: Berthet/McKerr/Jackson Okay. Shoudl be fine at this level, I am still worried a bit about Berthet's struggles at the next level last year. But he's fine for now. ML: Colak/Hughes/Guarin Guarin was actually pretty decent at ML last year for us so I'm sure he can do it now. Hughes I expect will be fine in the championship as well. In the EPL I'd have depth concerns but I think I'm good. MC: Donnelly/Mills/Mariga/Guarin I could run a bit thin on depth if I have injuriies, but I'm starting in a good place. MR: Gordon/Jackson/Berthet -- I love Gordon. Clive Jackson is an up and comer like Jack Hughes, he'll be Gordon's primary backup this year. FC: Constantino/Hamilton/Khan/Taylor Ian Taylor isn't ready for prime time and will mostly play with the reserves. But when i've needed that striker that won't see the field much unless we have injuries (Bojinov last year, Jon Stead my first year)... they've been massive failures, so might as well make that 4th guy a youngster who will play with the reserves until requested. I actually feel pretty solid here. That all came togther really quickly with the signings of Welsh and Mills both going my way on back to back days in game. Hell I actually think this team is better than the one I took to the EPL last year. I guess that's the goal, keep improving. Financial Update Right Now I'm left with a transfer budget of $5.4 Million and I'm $25,000/wk under my wage budget. I see little reason to bring anyone else on, I've got 3 loaners that I think could be very big contributors and I think we're basically ready. If we start out the season with some sort of disaster maybe I change my mind, or if Mariga gets real unhappy, but right now I probably won't look to bring anyone else in during this transfer window. I do notice that Troy Brown isn't even listed on my depth chart. I only noticed as a total afterthought. Maybe I should sell him. Additionally, Park Sang-Ho no longer has any use to me at all. I transfer list him and offer him around. He's got some interest from lower level clubs so maybe I'll unload him easily. He isn't worth much, hardly worth mentioning. Last edited by Radii : 09-07-2011 at 04:51 AM.

09-05-2011, 06:10 AM	#751
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- At some point in the last week Huddersfield picked up another win. We are once again 15 points out of 17th place, now with just 9 matches to go in the season. March Update -- We play on the 2nd, 17th, and 23rd. Light month. Three matches we are capable of competing in, though two are on the road.. @Blackburn, @Southampton, vs Watford. With 9 matches left and that nightmare finish coming up, its essentially over for us, but I'd love to put in a good showing in March and maybe make it exciting. Also, in the EPL your prize money depends on your place. $5.1M for 18th, $3.4M for 19th, $1.7M for 20th, so that's worth playing for. I will say though I'm really close to just turning off all highlights and spamming out the rest of the season as quickly as possible. -- DL Stuart Kirkland is 3rd in Young Player of the Month voting. -- The board remains pleased with my leadership. The January capture of Henrique is a positive for the fans. Our 0-3 loss to Birmingham pissed off the fans. -- We made $1.24M in profit last month. Back up to $2.8M in the black as far as cash flow, and back up to $11M in profits. March 2nd, 2019 Ipswich(3-3-23, 19th) @ Blackburn(8-9-12, 15th) They're 4:6 favorites today, making us 7:2 dogs. That's the best odds we've seen for anything in a good long while. GK: Mason D: Hughes/Fryers/Henrique/McKerr M: Guarin/Yebda/Donnelly/Berthet AMC: Kang ST: Khan We are exhausted coming into this one, leading to lots of changes today. Jack Hughes is back from his suspension and starts for Kirkland today. Henrique is back in. Berthet up to MR, Gordon needs the day off. Yebda in at MC, Mariga needs a day off, and Khan in for Constantino. Even with that we are tired as hell. 13': A very, very long highlight, we have it on offense and pass it around for a good long while but can't find a shot, they steal it away and counter, getting a man near the area for a shot but Mason came out nicely and stopped it. We recover and get forward again, Khan earning us a corner as a shot is blocked behind. Corner is cleared away. 42': We've seen a few highlights here, all of Blackburn shooting from 25+ yards out though. HALF: They shoot 8 times, but 6 from long range and only 2 on target. We shoot twice, both off target, both in the first 15 minutes. We're doing a fairly good job here defending at least, but we need to get something going to generate a shot or two. 53': They try to push the ball forward but McKerr makes an interception and catches them off guard with a long ball ahead to Kang. He's in the area after a good first touch, a man closing in fast to put pressure on him but its a clear cut chance... he shoots, wide left. Not a bad strike just a little wide. Dang. 57': They have it on offense, one striker passes to another, ST Griffiths blows by Fryers and gets into the area where he beats Mason to the near post. 0-1 71': Constantino in for Khan. 82': A highlight opens with us trying to counter, Guarin sends a ball to midfield for Constantino, he's got a lot of space and cuts between two defenders... Kang is running ahead, Constantino finds him, he's in the area, keeper coming out to pressure, but its a clear cut chance... shot is right at the keeper and saved. I cannot help but think that Gordon would score there and find it hard to believe that Kang could not. That's the game. Blackburn 1 : 0 Ipswich We generate two great chances in the second half but cannot convert either. We played pretty well, frustrating! McKerr 7.3, Yebda 7.1. Khan struggled a lot and had a 5.4 rating when it was done.

09-05-2011, 07:00 AM	#752
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- Arsenal beat Man Utd 4:2 to win the league cup. Wow, 21 y/o ST Hans Nooij has 0 goals in 7 league matches this year, they're just starting to break him in. But he had all 4 of their goals in the cup final. And to address Tellisto's comment from earlier on what it takes to get a 10 rating... apparently 4 goals isn't it! That's good for a 9.8. Injury Update -- DRC Michael McKerr turns his ankle and is going to miss 4 weeks. That's a shame. That's on March 9th. -- McDonald Mariga hurts himself in the weight room and is out for 2 weeks. March 12th. -- ST Valeri Bojinov hurts his calf in training. 3 weeks! March 15th. -- GK Carlos Antonio resumes full training. Maybe we can finally get an extended look at our new keeper. March 17th, 2019 Ipswich(3-3-24, 19th) @ Southampton(11-8-11, 10th) They are 1:2 favorites at their place, making us 9:2 dogs. We beat these guys at our place 2:1 earlier in the year. We're on TV today. GK: Antonio D: Kirkland/Fryers/Henrique/Berthet M: Hughes/Yebda/Donnelly/Gordon AMC: Kang ST: Constantino Southampton ST Tomas Necid has 15 goals, one of 7 players to have 15 or 16 league goals right now. Hughes starts at ML today, Antonio starts in goal, I think everything else is pretty standard given our 4 current injuries. 3': Yebda turns it over in our end and they look to attack right away, a pass to one of their strikers, Henrique comes way out to defend, leaving a hole in the back, ST Sturridge fills the open space, receives a pass and shoots near post and Carlos Antonio has no chance. 0-1 23': We have a goal kick, its taken long and their defense is playing very high, there's a huge amount of space between the defensive line and the penalty area.. the ball bounces free, Kang runs onto it and into the area, he's got a clear cut chance.. but runs too far with it I think.. and the keeper easily pushes it behind for a corner, which they clear. 39': They earn a corner, taken short, we have to fight hard to tackle it away but finally do and clear. They have 11 shots, all the highlights are theirs. 45': Hughes has it in our end... but he doesn't seem to know what to do. He stands around awhile and passes ahead... right to one of their defenders to start up the action. They quickly work it to Sturridge who shoots from 20 yards out and its a strong blast into the upper right corner of the net.. no chance. 0-2 HALF: We don't look good at all today. Maybe they want revenge for us getting the win at home, or just inconsistency, but this is a huge dropoff for us. 51': Donnelly gets open for a shot from 20 yards out but not enough pace, the keeper saves pretty easily. 65': There's a long ball from Gordon out near midfield towards the area, Constantino runs by the defense and possesses it beautifully, great control of such a long pass through the air. After that its clinical, he easily beats the keeper! 1-2 66': they build up after kickoff.. the ball goes out wide left, a cross comes through the 6 yard box, Hughes goes up to try to win a header... and is called for a penalty... Sturridge takes it and that's his hat trick. 1-3 76': They're really piling it on.. Sturridge gets the assist this time to go with his 3 goals, hitting a man coming in from the left with a nice pass and easy goal. Berthet takes the blame for this one and we might see multiple men under 5.0 here. 87': At least our offense didn't stop playing, Gordon receives a pass 25 yards out well right, he lofts a ball into the area, Constantino runs onto it and strikes it very nicely by the keeper! 2-4 93': At the end of added time they get a sub on the board just for kicks. A free kick goes to a man 20 yards out and he drives a shot into the left side of the net. 2-5 Southampton 5 : 2 Ipswich This just got completely out of hand. Goals: Constantino 2 (8.8) Assists: Gordon 2 (7.5) Kang 5.7, Henrique 5.9, Fryers 5.0... Berthet 4.4........ Hughes 3.6. That's it for Hughes. He got a solid taste of top level action after coming off loan but his last two matches have resulted in a red card and one of the lowest ratings I'll see all year. He's going to spend the rest of the year with the reserves and will be featured heavily at the Championship level next year. We're now 16 points out of 17th with 7 to play. Our next match against Watford will very likely decide who finishes 19th and who finishes 20th, there's a million bucks or so riding on that placement, so we'll watch the highlights for that. After that we rush through the rest of the year.

09-05-2011, 07:32 AM	#753
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	The first knockout round of the Champions Cup is over. -- Man U advance beating M Haifa of Israel 1:0 (over two legs) -- Arsenal advance on away goals after a 1:1 draw against FC Bayern -- Chelsea loses to Barcelona 2:0 aggregate. -- Man City loses to Benifica, 2:2 but they lose on away goals. Not such a good result for England! March 23rd, 2019 Watford(1-8-22, 20th) @ Ipswich(3-3-24, 19th) For the first and only time this season, we are favored in an EPL Match. We're even money favorites at home vs Watford. They're 11:5 to win, 11:5 to draw. We tied them 1:1 at their place back in November. We're 1 point ahead of Watford with 7 to play. Getting 4 points up would nearly guarentee us the extra Million or so from 19th place! GK: Antonio D: Kirkland/Fryers/Henrique/Berthet M: Adriano/Guarin/Donnelly/Gordon AMC: Kang ST: Constantino This will be the last match we see Adriano. Yebda is traveling so we're down 5 men today with 4 injuries still. Guarin starts at MC along with Donnelly. Lets have some fun and attack at home against a bad team. 4': We build up slowly after a foul in our defensive end. Constantino controls it 35 yards out, runs right, passes to Berthet and heads to the area, Berthet ahead to Gordon, Gordon centers it and Constantino is there 10 yards out to put it by the keeper! 1-0 14': they earn a corner, its taken low into the 6 yard box... man how did we not clear that? Guarin takes the blame for missing an interception, midfielder Wedgbury takes advantage and drills it by Carlos Antonio. 1-1 27': A long run through the area by one of their strikers pulls our defense out of position, allowing a man to get open for a clear cut chance... a dive by Carlos Antonio sees it wide and we clear the corner. 32': They buld up on offense, a ball goes to ST Costea... Henrique and Berthet are both on his ass, but neither can make the tackle... Berthet takes the blame... as its drillled into the net. 1-2 39': Constantino breaks free for what looks like a goal... but offsides. 45': A foul and yellow for Smalling for Watford. Gordon takes the free kick from 20 yards out at about a 45 degree angle, he sends a shot bending in from right to left.. the keeper gets to it and parries it away and they clear. HALF: Our defense is just falling apart on us. I yell at them and tell them this is a must win match, now go out there and win. 55': Donnelly with a yellow. 59': we have a throwin in their end... its taken to Kang who shoots from 20 yards out and misses badly. 68': We have it and build up to attack, lots of passing down the left side before a pass in to Constantino, he turns left by his man and shoots, but its saved and turned over for a corner. Corner is cleared. 73': Well I guess 20th is where we belong. A through ball gets backup Grimes free in the area and Antonio can't stop it... easy goal. 1-3 88': Midfielder Kearney with a yellow. 91': Kirkland a yellow. 92': Gordon a yellow. No goals in the end, a sad ending to this one, a total failure in a very very winnable match. Ipswich 1 : 3 Watford Goal: Constantino (7.5) Assist: Gordon (6.6) Kang Soo-Jin was noticeably awful today with a 5.3 rating. Carlos Antonio with a 6.2 and he hasn't really had a good match for us yet either. -- We'll finish the season quickly tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to crushing the Championship and getting back up here for another shot.

09-05-2011, 09:04 PM	#756
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- March 27th: Gordon Donnelly is hurt in training and will miss 2 weeks. McDonald Mariga begins full training the same day. -- March 28th: GK Chris Mason started for the England U19 squad against Azerbaijan and put up a very strong 7.5 rating in a 3:0 win. -- March 30th: DL Stuart Kirkaland put up an 8.2 rating for the England U21's in a 5:0 win over Azerbaijan. -- Contract notices come up but at this point its all guys we're letting go... Adriano/Yebda (age/1 year players), Bruce, Coutts and Fryers April Update -- Just 3 matches in April. -- Stuart Kirkland gets a good training report... First Touch (13), Heading(10), Marking (12), Anticipation(11), Decisions (15), and Positioning (12) are all up. He's really becoming a strong all around player. If his technical skills will continue to rise and round out over the next few years he'll be a real stud. -- The board is pleased still. The increase in stature is a positive, the 5-2 loss to Southampton is the new negative. -- We made $497k last month. -- April 2nd: Adriano hurts himself in trianing and he's out 6-8 weeks, the rest of the year basically, which is fine. -- April 2nd: McKerr resumes full training -- April 4th: Troy Brown and Bojinov resume full training... but Henrique hurts himself and is out for 3 weeks. -- The media notes that our next match will be my 500th as a manager in my career. Neat! April 6th: Wolves (18th) @ Ipswich(20th) Constantino gets us a 18th minute goal on the counter attack, he receives a ball near midfield and does it all himself, a long run down the right, cutting inside and making one man miss before finishing! 1-0 Assist to Mariga. They tie it back up in the 53rd minute, a cross and header won over Fryers and McKerr, both were there really. Those are the only goals of the match. Wolves keep the pressure on til the 80 minute mark or so when we seem to take over and make a real effort to get the winning goal, but 3 different strong looking attacks end in nothing and its a draw. Ipswich 1 : 1 Wolves Man of the Match: Constantino (8.3) Goal: Constantino Assist: Mariga (7.9) No one else above 7, Kang struggles with a 6.2, Carlos Antonio 6.3 in goal again. Ipswich Relegated -- We are offiically out of contention to stay up. -- As we are relegated, McDonald Mariga tells us that he has no desire to finish his career at the Championship level and asks for a transfer. While he was one of my best players this year and I wanted him to help me win promotion back up, I go ahead and grant his request. He came over on a free transfer to us and maybe we can make some money and let him finish his career at a higher level if he wants.

09-05-2011, 10:21 PM	#757
law90026 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jan 2006	Some minor points that you may already be carrying out: a) make sure your coaches are only training the players in 1 area only and not training all categories. Specialisation is the way to go; b) scout the eastern European countries. There's normally a wealth of talent there that is relatively cheap although sometimes work permits are required (for places like Ukraine). South America is good as well but the players are normally unable to obtain work permits. One thing I do is to make sure that my filter has "EU National" checked so that it identifies the players which have dual-nationality easily; c) since the target is to play in the Premier League, your transfer targets should have Premier League level quality or potential, if possible; d) making it back to the PL immediately is the most important thing probably and I wouldn't be scared to loan some PL players to achieve that goal. You know the massive difference in financial rewards by now so it's key to get back up there. See if you can structure loan deals that allow you to purchase the player at some point.

09-05-2011, 11:59 PM	#759
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	April 13th: Ipswich(20th, EPL) @ Arsenal(7th, EPL) For awhile it seemed like Arsenal was a lock for a Champions League spot (top 4), but now they're locked in what is a pretty tight battle among ~5 teams who seem likely to finish 4th-8th. Arsenal score first in the 18th minute on a nice through ball to ST Kerrison, easy goal. 0-1 He gets his second goal in the 31st minute as a beautiful pass into space is made from like 35 yards out and he just races by the defense to get to it. 0-2 Midfielder Niundulu gets one in the 54th minute. 0-3 Arsenal 3 : 0 Ipswich Kirkland struggles, and I gave Park a start today and he did poorly to the surprise of no one. Carlos Antonio put up a 6.8 today, the best rating on the team actually. With just 4-5 matches to play, Chelsea has a stranglehold on the title, while Sunderland is a lock for a Champions League spot, Sheffield Utd and Newcastle control their own destinies as well. The big names you'd expect to see there are all fighting for the last two Euro Cup spots right now: 1. Chelsea (5 to go) - 71 pts 2. Sunderland (4 to go) - 67 pts 3. Sheffield Utd (5 to go) - 63 pts 4. Newcastle (5 to go) - 61 pts 5. Aston Villa (4 to go) - 59 pts 6. Arsenal (4 to go) - 59 pts 7. Liverpool (5 to go) - 59 pts 8. Man Utd (5 to go) - 57 pts 9. Man City - (4 to go) - 51 pts Man City is almost surely out of any sort of European competition and it seems likely that only 1 of Arsenal/Liverpool/Man U would finish in the top 4, maybe none of them will. -- April 17th: Chelsea beats Sheffield Utd, Man U and Liverpool tie in key league matches. April 27th: Man City(9th) @ Ipswich(20th) Man City are 6 out of 7th place with 2 to play. They seem screwed. Hopefully Carlos Antonio is hyped up to play his former team, and they are down about their position in the league. We build up from the start, Berthet has it up out on the right, passes in to Kang who lays it off into the right side of the area, Mariga with a half volley.. keeper dives but can't stop it, its a 1st minute goal!! 1-0 In the 40th minute we have it, Kang sends a little cross into the 6 yard box, Constantino re-directs it with his head and the keeper can't get to it!!! [b]2-0[b] In the 78th minute they have a free kick, a quick pass then a shot from 25 yards out is blasted by our keeper. 2-1 Well holy crap!!! Ipswich 2 : 1 Man City Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (8.8) Goals: Mariga, Constantino (8.0) Assists: Kang 2 (7.2) Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.1), Kirkland (7.5), Henrique (7.0), Gordon (7.0), Donnelly (7.2) Sadly Watford have pulled out a couple good results in the last month as well and they're sitll 4 points ahead of us for next to last. May Update -- We play 3 matches in May, 4th, 11th, and 19th. All of them are against teams fighting for their place in the top 7. -- Constantino's goal against Wolverhampton where he made a long run from the midfield down the right, skipping by a defender and scoring was the #2 goal of the month in the EPL. -- The board is pleased with my leadership. The positive is the solid play of late by constantino which is credited to my coaching abilities. The signing of GK Carlos Antonio is regarded to be a poor piece of business. Ugh. He's had a rough time of things, allowing 14 goals in 6 matches and putting up a 6.47 average rating. My assistant and goalkeeping coach both believe that Carlos Antonio is a quality player (4 stars) and is certainly an EPL caliber player. -- We made $653k profit last month. Consistent profits since January have us at $4M in the bank and showing a proift of $12M this season. Last year we made $39.7M and spent $37.5M. This year we have made $88.5M and spent $76M. With Just 3 matches left in the year, here's how we look: 1. Chelsea - 74 pts 2. Sunderland - 68 pts 3. Sheffield Utd - 66 pts 4. Arsenal - 62 pts 5. Newcastle - 61 pts (1 less match played) 6. Liverpool - 61 pts 7. Man Utd - 61p ts 8. Aston Villa - 60 pts Chelsea/Sunderland/Sheffield Utd have top 4 spots almost certainly. Everyone else could finish 4th or 8th easily. The Champions League has its final set. Quarterfinals: Real Madrid 0 : 2 Benifica Barcelona 1 : 0 Lazio Arsenal 2 : 2 Man Utd - Man Utd advances on away goals Stuttgart 1 : 4 Inter Semifinals Benefica 4 : 5 Barcelona Inter 3 : 2 Man Utd So Barcelona will play Internazionale for the title. Inter are the defending champs (Italy were the hosts last year). Barcelona won 3 years ago.

09-06-2011, 01:33 AM	#760
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	April 4th: Ipswich (20th) @ Aston Villa (8th) We have a throwin in the 15th minute... passed quickly to the center of the pitch, ball into the area and their defense has completely fallen apart. Neil Gordon is wide open 10 yards out and beats the keeper! 1-0 In the 35th minute Kirkland sends a cross in from about 35 yards out wide left... its right at the keeper... who mishandles the ball, it goes through his arms and into the net. Its counted as an own goal. [b]2-0[b] They pressure non stop to start the second half, finally in the 65th minute they get Rinuado free in the area for an easy goal. 2-1. In the 79th minute Constantino with a long run down the left... into the area... skips over a diving tackle of a defender. The keeper dives on the ball but fails to hold it and it squirts away. Constantion recovers and puts it in the net! 3-1 85th minute a through ball to ST Byrne gives them a clear cut chance that they don't miss. 3-2 All of a sudden we decide we're awesome! I mean, you can't say this is like the Man City match where they are probably super dejected that they're out of Europe next year. Aston Villa is right on the edge with a real chance to finish 4th, and we just went into their house and scored 3 goals on them. Aston Villa 2 : 3 Ipswich Man of the Match: Constantino (8.3) Goals: Constantino, Gordon (7.6), and an own goal Assists: Mariga (8.0), Donnelly (7.1), Guarin (6.9) Notables: Kirkland (7.0) No idea how we have 3 assists and Kirkland isn't one of them, it was his cross that led to the own goal, I didn't see it hit anyone else. -- Man U ties Chelsea to help their cause a bit. Sunderland loses a match though and its enough to clinch the EPL title for Chelsea. May 11th: Liverpool(6th) @ Ipswich (20th) Our last home match of the year. They get a goal 25 seconds in but its called offsides, whew. After that we go quickly to the halftime scoreless. 6 shots from each team, no clear cut chances. We shoot once in the second half, its a clear cut chance after a long run for Constantino but the keeper saves. They shoot 17 times total, it seems like 6 or 7 shots were in the last 10 minutes as they desperately wanted the 3 points, but we didn't give in. Ipswich 0 : 0 Liverpool One of their defenders is man of the match. Notables: Kirkland (7.5), Berthet (7.0), Henrique (7.0) We're actually tied now with Watford in points but they have a better goal differential. We'd need to finish this run to end the season with another point and have Watford lose to get out of last. At the top of the league with 1 match to go for almost everyone: 1. Chelsea - 78 pts 2. Sunderland - 69 pts 3. Sheffield Utd - 69 pts 4. Arsenal - 68 pts 5. Newcastle - 65 pts (2 to play) 6. Liverpool - 65 pts 7. Man Utd - 65 pts Aston Villa cannot finish in the top 7 now. -- Our young defender Jack Hughes is man of the match for the England U19 squad in the U19 Euro Championship Qualifiers against Moldova, putting up an 8.5 rating and getting an assist in a 2:0 England win. May 19th: Ipswich (20th) @ Newcastle(5th) Newcastle has choked their chance at 4th away. A draw at Sunderland and a loss at home vs Nottingham Forest (15th). They need to beat us big and have Arsenal lose to Blackburn to get 4th. They score in the 14th minute on a counter attack, wow, a ridiculous shot from 25 yards away in between two defenders and perfectly struck into the right side of the net. 0-1. Constantino with a run down the right side in the 32nd minute, he gets to the end line, draws the defense, passes back to Mariga who hits it on a half volley and into the net! 1-1 In the 36th minute their striker Cavani burns Henrique to get into the area and scores easily. 1-2 No scoring in the second half though they dominate it, all the chances to score were Newcastle's. Newcastle 2 : 1 Ipswich Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (7.9) Goal: Mariga Assist: Constantino (6.7) Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.3), Kirkland (7.1), Donnelly (7.1) And that's it for our first season in the EPL. Hopefully we'll be back soon!

09-06-2011, 01:40 AM	#761
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	2018/19 English Premier Division Final Standings 1. Chelsea - 81 pts 2. Sheffield Utd - 70 pts 3. Arsenal - 69 pts 4. Sunderland - 69 pts 5. Newcastle - 68 pts 6. Man Utd - 68 pts 7. Liverpool - 68 pts 8. Aston Villa - 64 pts 9. Man City - 58 pts 10. Tottenham - 52 pts 11. Southampton - 51 pts 12. Birmingham - 50 pts 13. Blackburn - 47 pts 14. West Ham - 46 pts 15. Nottingham Forest - 43 pts 16. Everton - 38 pts 17. Huddersfield - 33 pts ------------------------------------- 18. Wolverhampton - 25 pts 19. Watford - 25 pts 20. Ipswich - 20 pts We score 30 goals and allow 77. In our last 8 matches we scored 10 goals and allowed 17 and earned 8 of our 20 points. That's still not great of course, but we really seemed to play a lot better later in the year, whatever the reason. -- Ipswich are given $1,702,000 for our 20th place finish in the EPL. -- We pay out a Squad bonus of $450,000 to share amongst the players.

09-06-2011, 02:01 AM	#764
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Ipswich 2018/19 History/Leaders Team History Woking 2009/10 - BS South - 1st - 24 W - 12 D - 6 L - 62 for - 39 ag - +23 GD - 84 pts 2010/11 - BS Premier - 17th - 14 W - 10 D - 22 L - 60 for - 65 ag - -5 GD - 52 pts 2011/12 - BS Premier - 4th - 26 W - 12 D - 8 L - 87 for - 51 ag - +36 GD - 90 pts 2012/13 - BS Premier - 1st - 26 W - 11 D - 9 L - 88 for - 56 ag - 89 pts 2013/14 - League 2 - 18th - 12 W - 17 D - 17 L - 50 for - 54 ag - 53 pts 2014/15 - League 2 - 9th - 20 W - 9 D - 17 L - 57 for - 58 ag - 69 pts 2015/16 - League 2 - 1st - 30 W - 8 D - 8 L - 102 for - 50 ag - 98 pts 2016/17 - League 1 - 1st - 24 W - 14 D - 7 L - 103 for - 61 ag - 89 pts Ipswich 2017/18 - Championship - 1st - 28 W - 12 D - 6 L - 91 for - 42 ag - 96 pts 2018/19 - Premier League - 20th - 5 W - 5 D - 28 L - 30 for - 77 ag - 20 pts This year: Top Goalscorer - Constantino - 14 goals Top League Goalscorer - Constantino - 10 goals Most Assists - Neil Gordon - 8 assists Highest Average Rating - McDonald Mariga - 7.23 Most Man of the Match - McDonald Mariga - 4

09-06-2011, 02:31 AM	#765
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- Inter win their second straight Champions League title, beating Barcelona 3:0 in front of 51,000 fans at the National Stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. -- We're not going to be active in June, there isn't anything to do until we turn over into the new season and see our new budget. But a lot of teams are planning for next year and the rumors fly on June first: -- Udinese in Serie A are expected to bid on McDonald Mariga. We should get at least $3M for him, maybe more. -- Aston Villa are rumored to be targeting Neil Gordon, Athletico Madrid are expected to try to buy Stuart Kirkland, and Wolves are expected to go after Kang Soo-Jin. None of these teams will have any luck. June Update -- The board is pleased with my leadership. The play of Mcdonald Mariga and my influence in him playing well is a highlight. Our 3-0 loss to Arsenal a lowlight. -- We made $1.13M profit in May, giving us $5M cash on hand and a profit of $13M for the year now. -- Newcastle beat Southampton to win the FA Cup. -- The "Four Associations Tournament" is going on, a little thing among Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. Actually it appears to be over now. We have 3 players involved in this tournament: -- Michael McKerr of Northern Ireland puts up a 6.6 rating in a 2:1 loss to Wales. In the same match Troy Brown put up a 6.8 rating for Wales. -- Gordon Donnelly is the big highlight for us though. He plays in Scoland's final match, a 2:0 win against Northern Ireland. He assists on both goals and has a stellar 8.2 rating for the match. Retirements -- Hassan Yebda is retiring. He played for 8 teams, seeing his first league ation in the 05/06 season in France's Ligue 2. He played 237 matches over the course of his career, scoring 34 goals and making 15 assists. He played one season for me. -- Valeri Bojinov is retiring. He barely played for me but he had a really nice career, beginning with Lecce in Serie A in the 01/02 season. He scored 96 goals in 290 career matches between Serie A, the EPL, La Liga in Spain and Eredivisie. His best years were 11/12 and 12/13 where he was a dominant star for Ajax, scoring 14 goals one year, and the next scoring 21 goals and making 9 assists. -- Adriano is also retiring. He began in the Brazilian first division in 2002. In 2004 he went to Sevilla in Spain, where he played for 8 1/2 years. Liverpool bought him for $16.25M in the 12/13 season and he stayed there until I picked him up for $650k for his last year. He played exactly 400 matches in his career, scoring 47 goals and making 30 assists. -- Finally, Alex Bruce is retiring. Ipswich Co-Captain during my two years at the helm. Bruce came up with Blackburn in the 01/02 season but didn't see any action until loaned out in 04/05. He bounced around for a few years before Ipswich picked him up on a free transfer for the 06/07 season. He was loaned out once to Leicester but otherwise spent the last 12 years of his career with Ipswich. He played 433 matches over his career, scoring 6 goals and making 16 assists. He played 234 matches for Ipswich and is a backup on the all time best 11 for the squad. -- Chris Mason is hurt in the English U19 4:0 win against Wales. He put up a 7.6 rating in the match before going out. And finally, we find out what it takes to get a 10.0 rating: -- Jack Hughes starts at DL for the England Under 19s. He completes 53 of 67 passes, wins 5 of 6 tackles, 6 of 7 headers, makes 4 interceptions and 2 runs. He also has 3 assists. This is good for a 10.0 rating and man of the match!

09-06-2011, 03:04 AM	#767
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- A strong $11M bid comes in for Neil Gordon from a french first division team, but we aren't even close to interested. -- Dundee bids almost $3 Million for our young DR/MR Clive Jackson. I seriously consider this one, I have never viewed Jackson to be as good a prospect as Jack Hughes, but when I go to my coaches and scouts, they tell me he's trained really well and that he has the potential to be a better DR than Sylvain Berthet. I'm sold. I don't need money, I see he's trained well over the last year, he's pretty determined, fast as hell (18 pace/17 accel) and appears to have at least decent EPL potential. In fact he may well play for us some next year as a 20 year old. European Club Rankings Barcelona take the top spot in Europe back from Chelsea thanks to their much, much better showing in the Champions League i'm sure. Inter winning twice in a row has them in 4th. Current rankings: 1. Barcelona - 158.529 2. Chelsea - 156.759 3. Liverpool - 149.759 4. Inter - 147.169 5. Leverkusen - 146.677 6. Olympique Lyonnais - 144.020 7. Benfica - 142.481 8. Real Madrid - 141.529 9. Man Utd - 140.759 10. Man City - 133.759 Olympique and Athletico Madrid were #4 and #5 last year. Olympique Lyonnais fell to 6th this year, At. Madrid all the way down to 11th. We moved up from 118th to 110th, but it doesn't seem to have squat to do with our playing in the EPL this year. A bunch of lower rated EPL and top rated Championship teams are tied from 104th to 116th. Euro U21 Championships -- There's 8 teams that qualified in this tournament. England is grouped with France, Spain and Bulgaria. The other group is Georiga(??), Portugal, Russia and Italy. The top two teams in each group advance. I care because Stuart Kirkland and Neil Gordon were both selected to represent England. PS Neil Gordon is 23. I guess the age limit was set maybe when qualifying began or something? -- Kirkland plays 90 minutes and earns a 7.5 rating in a 3:0 win over Bulgaria. -- Gordon plays 45 minutes against France in a 1:1 draw, putting up a 6.5 rating. -- In their final group match Kirkland is back in. England draws Spain 1:1. Kirkland puts up the second best rating on the team, a 7.1. -- England will play Georgia in the Semifinals. Spain and Russia in the other semi I believe. June 19th: Celtic bid $13.2M for Neil Gordon. His dribbling recently rose to 18, giving him 5 skills rated 18 or 19 now (Corners, Crossing, Dribbling, Anticipation, Creativity). I make an incredibly outrageous counter requesting $50M to try to show how insane I am about not letting him go. If they pay that I'll just buy a better team. :P -- Celtic withdraw their bid. We're getting real close to the end of June here.

09-06-2011, 03:28 AM	#769
law90026 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jan 2006	My assistant just helps out in 1 category he has the most stars in. First team coaches only work with your first team and do not coach the youth team or reserve team so bear that in mind if you hire first team coaches. If you have a whole bunch of them, it means your youth development might suffer since you essentially have no one working with the youngsters.

09-06-2011, 03:53 AM	#770
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- McDonald Mariga is named the Ipswich fans Player of the Year this year. Ipswich Best Eleven One real dumb decision here. GK: Murphy D: Kirkland/Henrique/Fryers/McKerr M: Guarin/Donnelly/Mariga/Coutts AMC: Gordon ST: Constantino Coutts doesn't belong anywhere near this team. Gordon played a lot of AMC before we changed formation so I assume that threw off the logic. But Kang AMC/Gordon MR is the only way to go here. McKerr on the team, Berthet off should be a huge wake-up call to him. Ipswich All Time Best Eleven GK: Brian Murphy (396 apps/6.79 rating) DL: Danny Mathijssen (121 apps/2 goals/6.59 rating) DC: Steven Caldwell (120 apps/1 goal/7.03 rating) DC: Troy Brown (240 apps/2 goals/6.79 rating) DR: David Wright (166 apps/2 goals/7.11 rating) ML: Mario Licka (115 apps/8 goals/7.23 rating) MC: Gordon Donnelly (202 apps/28 goals/6.88 rating) MC: Owen Garvan (263 apps/18 goals/6.82 rating) MR: Sylvain Berthet (167 apps/3 goals/6.89 rating) ST: Jon Stead (241 apps/112 goals/7.00 rating) ST: Achille Webo (152 apps/70 goals/6.91 ratings) Brown, Donnelly and Berthet are active players. No one in this starting all time best 11 changed. Constantino was moved into the backup list though. He's played 79 matches and has 50 goals for Ipswich. He could take over a spot from Achille Webo if he has another superstar type year in the Championship. Matthew Khan and Alex Bruce are both backups to the All Time Best Eleven also. -- Ipswich receive $1.650,000 for TV rights. Ahh, $47 Million away from what we got last year. Season Expectations I tell the bosses that I expect no less than to win the league. This gives me a transfer budget of $4.7M and a wage budget of $475,000. That will give us some flexibility. We're spending $478,000 right now but that's before 4 or 5 players leave the club and everyone takes a salary reduction due to relegation. We should start the season under $350,000/wk I think. -- 8 players are promoted from the U18 squad to the reserves. The only one worth noting is Chris Mason. I'm going to cut a bunch of U18 kids and clean up my squad a bit during July. Youth Intake We get 8 new players this year. 6 of them are complete crap and not worth my time. DC/ST Duane Woodley has the potential "to be a decent player". Not someone expected to b a star and probably never an EPL player, but I'm interested because he's got some decent physical attributes and a determination of 19. Even if he never makes the EPL maybe we can make some money training him up and selling him to a Championship side. ST Rob Kershaw has 2* potential, "to be a useful player". Nothing like that 19 determination to get me even a little excited. But he has decent flair, his dribbling and finishing are his best technical ratings. If there's room we'll get him a mentor and see if we can do anything with him. Not too exciting this year. Preseason Coaches Meeting -- We're one of the younger squads in the league. -- We're one of the most aggressive teams. -- We're one of the best when it comes to concentration. -- We're one of the best dribbling. -- Our first touch is near the top. -- Our flair is near the top. -- We are short. -- We are fast. -- We pass really well. -- We are the single most technically gifted squad in the league. This is the only one where we're at the top, but we're near the top basically everywhere. -- Our coaches feel a 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, or 4-1-2-1-2 would be our best formations. I'm happy with the 4-4-1-1 going into the season. Promotion Odds Wolverhampton are considered the favorite to win the league and promote back up at 5:2. Ipswich and Watford are both 5:1. QPR 14:1, Exeter 16:1, Bristol City 33:1. -- Neil Gordon and Stuart Kirkland both play in England's 3:0 win over Georgia in the U21 Euro Championship. Neil Gordon is an absolute stud in this one, he's got a part in all 3 goals, scoring once and assisting on the other two. He's got a 9.2 rating and man of the match. Kirkland puts up a strong 7.9 in defense. -- In the U21 Euro Championship Final, Stuart Kirkland plays 120 minutes, earning a 6.9 rating as Spain beats England 3:2. Unfortunately, Kirkland was injured in this match. Fortunately, he's only out a week and will be ready when friendlies start. -- June 30th hits and retirements occur, and a lot of kids that I didn't keep on as they turned 18 leave. Our wage budget drops to $445k/wk with that. -- As we hit July 1st, Birmingham offer me $5.5M for Kang Soo-Jin. He's unsettled in england still, so why would he want to go to Birmingham? But, he releases a statement saying he's unhappy that I wont allow him to decide whether or not he wants to go to Birmingham. July Update -- The board is satisfied with my leadership. The positive atmosphere among the team is a high point. The signing of Carlos Antonio remains a concern. -- We mad $5.76M in June. -- Zeki Fryers and Paul Coutts leave the club as their contracts expire. Our wage budget drops to $398,000. And apparently the relegation salary drop doesn't work right or simply doesn't occur based on my reading of the forums... or both. I had assumed that everyone would take a 25% salary hit. It hasn't happened yet. Google points me to a thread that says its a known bug that "hopefully gets fixed in FM11"... but also people saying that the clause only kicks in if you're relegated below the level that the contract was initially signed in. Either way, we're fine this year, we have tons of flexibility. But a guy like Gordon Donnelly got a huge raise from like $39,000/wk to $52,000/wk when we promoted up. Should I be concerned that its going to stay at $52,000/wk and then if we re-promote he'll get another raise to $65,000/wk?? Sleeping on that one, I'm at a good stopping point anyway.

09-07-2011, 03:14 AM	#776
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- Kang Soo-Jin now "Wants to Leave the Club". I really want to give him another year to try to settle in if he doesn't completely go out of control and demand to leave. His value has gone up if I do have to sell him. I really don't want to though. -- Dinamo Kiev and Stuttgart make offers for Stuart Kirkland that I reject. Training Update Most of my initial work is done with my coaching staff based on the great tips I got from you guys. I review my coaches and figure out what they're best at, I read a couple posts on assigning coaches and put together a list of attributes I'm interested in and go hunting. With too many of my coaches assigned to 2 positions and too many of them simply not as good as I would want, most of our training was at the 2-3* level at best. -- I hire 4 new coaches and re-assign all my coaches, I'm not going to go too deep into individual ratings and all, but we're allowed 10 total coaches and I end up hiring that amount to cover first team/youth differences and that leaves me with the following: Strength: 3 1/2* Aerobic: 4 1/2* Goalkeeping: 3 1/2* Tactics: 4* Ball Control: 4* Defending: 4 1/2* Attacking: 3 1/2* Shooting: 4 1/2* Set Pieces: 4* Most youth coach training ratings are the same except keeper where we're at a 2. Chris Mason is 18 now and training with the senior squad so right now that's irrelevant. I feel pretty good about that! -- Currently we're spending $393k/wk on salaries. I'm going on the assumption that for whatever reason I will not be getting any drops in salary since we're already into July and they haven't happened yet. I play with the transfer budget slider and I can increase my transfer budget to $6.2M with a $450,000/wk wage budget. I do that for now. -- Another offer comes in for Kang Soo-Jin, this one for $6.25M from Birmingham, and he officially requests to be transfer listed. I paid $4M for him and he's valued at $5.25M, but I was really hoping to make it work out... I decide to give him what he wants but notify everyone that I want a premium since I've already gotten multiple offers for him. I do transfer list him, but I set my asking price at $10M. -- Its now June 10th and I've done some cursory player scouting but advanced the game a few times with a hyperfocus on staff without doing any player searches. So its time to really bear down and look at loaners/player transfers. -- I go ahead and scout a few strikers with good heading ratings, ML's and DC's both availble for transfer and available for loan. -- Wow, maybe I should have shot even higher here. Within days I get about 10 offers for Kang Soo-Jin. Many are at his original price of $5.25M and I turn those down. But I do get 4 offers for $10M and I go ahead and accept them. I must say I'm a bit unsure of myself here but my tendency in the past has been to go for squad harmony at most costs... buying for $4M and turning around for $10M when he seems very, very unhappy is hopefully a success. League Cup Draw* -- We'll play Aldershot in the first round of the league cup. They're in League 1. -- More advice taken here, I hire a Ukranian scout with lots of knowledge in that region in general and assign him to scout Eastern Europe. Our Eastern European knowledge just goes from minimal to "decent" with this hire so I dunno if there would be a lot to expect just yet. This guy is more of an expert int he Ukraine and Russia but has no Czech knowledge, it seems like that'd be something to fill as well. I do tons and tons of scouting and have made two loan offers (a young target man ST and a young DC). I'm considering buying a ML but haven't made the offer yet.

09-07-2011, 03:59 AM	#777
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- The ML I had my eye on starts getting some offers and I go ahead and make one myself. My hesitancy is that I don't think he's necessarily a sure thing at the EPL level... but hey we have to win here too and we are real weak at ML. Transfer Out Man that all happened so far. Like I mentioned above, I hope I made the right decision. AMC Kang Soo-Jin quickly agrees to terms with Naploi in Seire A and wants to go there. I allow the deal to go through, raking in $10 Million in the process. -- This changes things a bit if I want to try to do something big this year. My Transfer Budget is now $11,700,585 with a wage budget allowed of $475,000/wk. I don't know what the likelyhood of being able to sign a big player at this level will be... but the option is certainly there now. New Loan In Welcome 20 y/o ST Simon Hamilton on loan for the year from Southampton. He's 6'2", reasonably strong (13), can jump (15), and head the ball (15). He's got good teamwork and he's good off the ball. I'm hoping these things add up to a guy who could potentially be a good target man for Neil Gordon crosses and will make me a bigger threat when playing wide and on corners. Physical: all 13-15. Mental: Off the Ball 15, Teamwork 16, Work Rate 14, Determination 11. Other ratings 8-11. Some low ones, not creative, 10 anticipation I'd like to see higher. Technical: Heading 15, Technique 15, First Touch 17, Dribbling 13. Finishing is 10. With the departure of Kang and the arrival of Hamilton its become a near certainty that we'll play a 4-4-2 formation this year. -- The players I'm looking to loan in are hot this year and its taking awhile for some to decide. -- While that's going on I find a couple guys that scout very well that I feel like could be really strong additions to the club at this and at the next level and look to quickly blow some of that extra money I got from Kang. -- And while some transfer offers really start to heat up, a loaner comes in that I'm really excited about: New Loan In Welcome 20 y/o DLC/ML Turgay Colak to Ipswich! Colak is a reserve at Inter and a spectacular technical talent. His physical attributes are a little less than I want but this is no James Chester situation... this is a kid that looks spectacular at least for the Championship. Right now all the guys I'm loaning in are guys i might be interested in trying to buy if we move back up too. Physical: 13 pace/8 accel. 14 str/14 sta. Mental: Positioning 16/Teamwork 14/Work Rate 16/Anticipation 14. All other ratings between 10-14 except Influence is 6. Technical: Marking 16, Passing 17, Tackling 16, Crossing 18, Dribbling 14, Heading 13. While I think his best position is likely DL, we are kinda set there and Colak seems to have what it takes at least at this level to play both ML and DC as well. At DC I'm a little concerned about only 11 jumping as far as winning headers goes. At ML I'm a bit concerned about his lack of acceleration. But I think at the Championship level he could succeed at both. -- I actually get another loan accepted from a promising DC from Celtic, but I delay it because of a couple other things I have in the works at DC. The English Trialist matches just occurred and there was one player who really stood out, an unsigned Scottish DC who my scouts feel is "as good as Henrique". If I can sign this guy on a free transfer I may bet fairly set in defense. -- Though really it gets a bit more intriguing... Murcia make a $7M offer for Henrique. Man, that's a tough call. Henrique can play. He'd definitely help me get back up to the EPL this year. But he's turning 33 this year. I paid $4.1M for him. If I sign this free transfer DC that I like so much, and take on this loaner that I've delayed... selling high on a guy that would turn 34 when I next go up to the EPL seems to have a lot of merit. I delay the offer for now. -- Ahh, heartbreak. After a few negotiations, I make a deal for a 23 y/o MC from Arsenal that is deemed to be "as good as McDonald Mariga", getting him for $6.25M + a % of the profits of his next sale. I worked pretty hard for this one.. but he has no interest in playing for me. Oops. I offer him a contract and when he rejects it I may change the offer around to a loan w/ option to buy, assuming that if I make it back up to the EPL his views would change.

09-07-2011, 05:28 AM	#779
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	Friendly #2 We travel to Shrewsbury. We've got a bit more depth, less U18s today! We also have 2 injured and 2 travelling internationally. We score in the 35th minute but its offside. In the 42nd Hamilton feeds Constantino for an easy goal. No goals in the second half. We had a few solid chances that didn't come through but we got the win. Shrewsbury 0 : 1 Ipswich Friendly #3 We host the Glen Hoddle Academy. 14th minute goal as Mills hits Constantino for an easy one. 23rd minute goal as Mills passes to Constantino and Constantino does all the work to create this one. 30th minute goal on a counter attack, Constantino starts near midfield and makes the long run himself and scores easily. 36th minute goal as Donnelly takes a corner and Constantino heads it in... 40th minute goal as Mills plays a pretty ball into the area for Gordon who volleys it home. Guarin adds one from long range in the 62nd minute. Mariga on a volley from 30 yards out after they try to clear one out of the area that's real damn impressive. Well that's where all the goals went that we didn't get our first two matches I suppose. Constantino 4, Gordon, Mariga, Guarin score goals. Mills 3 assists, Donnelly, Gordon, and McKerr. Great to see Steve Mills hooking up with Constantino like that. Earn that $51,000/wk buddy! Ipswich 7 : 0 GH Academy Expiring Contracts We've got 11 player contracts expiring this year. Starters: DL Kirkland is the top priority, keep at any cost. MC Mariga turns 33 this year. If he's willing to stay and if his skills don't degrade I'd love to have him around. MC Fredy Guarin will turn 34 by the time the next season starts. He's already a backup and won't be brought back. Backups: DR Michael McKerr - Turns 30 this year. He's been a solid backup, if he'll stay on for cheap I'll keep him. Hot Prospects: DLC Jack Hughes - I'd like to keep him, he's only 18. With my improved training maybe I can make something of him. DR/MR Clive Jackson - Every time I look at him he looks better and better, despite me showering all my youth praise on Hughes for so long. Jackson will stay around too I'm sure. ST Ian Taylor - Unless he shows a development miracle this year he's gone. He was on equal footing with Hughes/Jackson awhile back I believe. Those guys are worth $1M+, Taylor is worth $30,000, and it shows. backup GK Dominic Johnson should be unneeded as Chris Mason gets closer, and we've got a few youth guys that appear to be crap that we'll let go. -- I go ahead and offer Kirkland immediately. He wants a raise from $8000/wk to $24,000/wk for 4 years. Totally fair, and done. August Update We've still got a couple friendlies left, the auto scheduling of the ones with the feeder clubs stuck some things weird. But we're ok. -- We play league matches on the 10th, 17th, 20th, 24th, and 31st. League Cup opens on the 13th with round 2 on the 28th should we win. -- The board is satisfied at my coaching. The signing of Henrique remains a positive. Hopefully everyone is cooing over Mills soon. There is a concern over "a slight lack of harmony" in the locker room. And what that is... everyone on the team loves McDonald Mariga. I transfer listed him to be nice to him and because I generally do transfer list those that tell me they want out. But the team doesn't want him gone. I'd love for him to stay too, but a lot of players have expressed a desire for him not to leave. I can't un-list him I assume b/c I listed him at his request... hopefully this works itself out early in the season. -- We made $10.5M last month. Between our shirt sponsorship of $2.7M, selling Kang for $10M offsetting buying Mills for $6.25M and selling about 20,000 season tickets, we're off to a strong start. So far this year we've turned a profit of $15.1M and have $21M cash on hand. Unlike last year this number will drop, and probably drop quickly, throughout the season. But we're in a good spot now! -- I don't see anything about the parachute payments that get paid to teams that drop out of the EPL. We didn't have to stay up a year before falling to get that did we? When/where should I see info about that. Between the lack of salary drops and the lack of parachute payment info I feel like something is really fucked up here. Last edited by Radii : 09-07-2011 at 05:29 AM.

09-07-2011, 07:29 AM	#780
law90026 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jan 2006	You can totally unlist Mariga if there is no interest. He may or may not be unhappy but nothing stops you from doing so. Alternatively, offer him out to clubs if you really want him gone. For parachute payments, there should be something in your income about this but not sure if they have an announcement. The reason why I think it's in the game is because you sometimes get notices of a windfall when you manage a smaller team in the lower divisions if a club was promoted back up, which is the parachute payments being spread out amongst the clubs in the league. Maybe I'm wrong though.

09-07-2011, 10:20 PM	#782
Tellistto College Prospect Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Whitman, MA	I do believe that since you granted his request to be listed for transfer the only way he'll come off that list is if he decides to be taken off it. Is how it's worked for me in the past, at least. Tell

09-07-2011, 11:12 PM	#783
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- Park Sang-Ho is sold to Lemona in the Spanish Second Division for $60,000. -- GK Carlos Antonio expresses concern over the lack of harmony in the clubhouse. I hold on to the hope that winning fixes everything, and that we'll be able to do that. New Youth Signing I decided to at least look a little into the youth program after reading some of the awesome SFraser posts that were documented in the FM11 thread, not expecting to turn into Man U but interested in learning more about this part of the game and maybe making some cash if nothing else. I released a bunch of total dead weight, 1/2* prospects that had been training under my inferior old coaching setup for the last couple years to clean things up. With that done, I lucked into a scout recommendation for a youngster from Oxford and ended up paying $325,000 for 16 y/o ST Chris Bryan. Bryan looks to be better right now than Ian Taylor, the youth striker I had when I took over Ipswich who appears to not be panning out. Physical: Pace 14, Accel 15, Fitness 17. Stamina is 9, everything else is 11+ Mental: Off The Ball 15, Anticipation 14, Flair 12, Determination 11, Decisions 12, Concentration 13. He seems to have an extremely good base to build from here Technical: Finishing 15, Dribbling 15, First Touch 12, Technique 12. A really well rounded and exciting youngster for my level. My scouts believe he has the potential to be as good as Khan and Constantino. I'm looking forward to training him and seeing how much he can improve in the next year and a half before he turns 18. -- The fans are excited by my new signing and feel I've shown good vision and ambition. Friendly #4 We travel to Braintree in the BS South, one of our feeder clubs. We score in the 7th minute as Mills gets into the area, crosses into the 6 yard box and Turgay Colak charges in to head it home. Constantino with a nice goal in the 19th minute receiving a pass 25 yards out, burning the defense and scoring easily. Henrique scores off a corner in the 43rd minute. Henrique scores his second goal on another corner in the 66th minute. Henrique is man of the match with 2 goals. Colak and Constantino also score. Assists are 2 from Donnelly and 2 from Mills. Braintree 0 : 4 Ipswich -- Reading's boss declares interest in Mariga. Perhaps someone will come after him after all. Khan and Kirkland both receive offers as well from Sunderland and Sheffield Utd. I reject both. -- It takes a few days but Stuart Kirkland signs the contract I offer him, locking him up for 4 years at $24,000/wk. New Captains -- Since I took over at Ipswich its been pretty automatic, Troy Brown and Alex Bruce for captain/vice captain. Bruce is gone and Brown doesn't start anymore. Its time for a change. After a quick google I'm actually a bit torn. Gordon Donnelly and Stuart Kirkland have the highest influence on the team after Brown at 15. Kirkland is younger than Donnelly, only 20 years old to Donnelly's 25. But Kirkland's other mental attributes seem better. If they were the same age Kirkland would be clear choice for captain with 17 teamwork/16 work rate/17 bravery/12 determination. Donnelly is more determined and that's it. -- In the end I choose to go with experience, naming Gordon Donnelly my captain and Stuart Kirkland my vice captain. Friendly #5 We travel to EPL side Huddersfield in our last friendly before opening league play. Constantino makes a great run in a crowded penalty area, beating 3 defenders and the keeper to score in the 14th minute. DC Welsh gives up a penalty in the 20th minute and they tie it. We sub out the starters in the 60th minute. They get a goal from a starting striker on a strong header in the 65th. Same guy, Ibai Platas, scores in the 73rd. This is the guy they spent all their money on last year to stay up in the EPL. Huddersfield 3 : 1 Ipswich -- After our last friendly I go through and make sure the squad is set, getting guys reserve team time that don't figure to play much. I want Chris Mason getting all of the playing time on the reserve team but really GK Dominic Johnson is dead weight at this point. I offer him out to other clubs and get a few quick offers from League 2 sides. -- Sunderland won't stop trying to raid the squad. They offer me $10.75M for Matthew Khan. Khan has slightly fallen out of favor as Constantino has trained incredibly well and I moved to a 1 striker formation last year and this year look to the strength & speed striker combo with Hamilton/Constantino... but Khan is 24 y/o, well liked, and talented, and I don't see a reason to let him go even for that amount right now. -- Celtic shower praise on Neil Gordon and he is flattered by that praise and they seem to be winning him over a little. NO. I see you batting your eyes at that rich team across the way, stop it! Despite all the harmony concerns and issues with bigger teams trying to make my best players want to leave me, we go into the regular season with superb morale all around. Its opening day vs Leicester!

09-07-2011, 11:41 PM	#784
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- A sellout is expected as we open the season at home. August 10th, 2019 Leicester @ Ipswich We're even money favorites in our first match back in the Championship today. Leicester finished 6th last year in the Championship, making the playoffs but failing to advance. We're 5-10-3 lifetime against Leicester. We beat them in the FA Cup last year 5:1 and tied them 5 of the last 6 times we met in the Championship prior to that. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/Berthet M: Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino My backups are Mariga, McKerr, Khan, Hughes, Jackson, Burke, and Chris Mason. This leaves Guarin, Brown, and Ian Taylor out in the cold. With our speed and talent advantage my default behavior this year will be to play wide and to attack until I learn that i need to do something different. 3': they shoot first on a free kick from 25 yards out, a nice bending shot that hits the left post. 5': We earn a corner after some good possession, Constantino tried a ball to Hamilton that was tackled behind. Corner goes nowhere. 10': They try to clear a cross but Donnelly recovers, puts a great ball into the area for Turgay Colak, he's got our first clear cut chance of the season... but puts it into the side netting. 22': We have a throwin in their end, after a pass Henrique shoots from 25 yards out, it deflects off a defender and is easily saved. Their keeper kicks it long down the left side and oh dear god they have a man streaking down the left unmarked... midfielder Neokleous totally breaks free here, our defenders can't catch up, he's into the area and has a clear cut chance that he puts to the far post for a goal. 0-1 30': They show good patience and passing in controlling the ball on the left side for a good long while, they aren't able to threaten but we can't take it away either, eventually Gordon commits a foul. On the free kick we concede a corner and clear it away. 41': Two highlights in a row with crosses into the area for Simon Hamilton, on both of them he wins his header and puts the ball into the crossbar. So close! HALF: We could be doing a lot better here, one jailbreak counter attack for them and a few missed chances for us. We have 7 shots to their 5, each team has just 1 on target so far. Possession is even and we struggle to win in the air here, winning 50% of our headers to their 65%. We'll be checking this a bit closer this year to see where our troubles lie and will try to adjust if possible. For now though, keep up the pressure. 46': We advance quickly after kickoff and earn a throwin in their end. Gordon takes it into the area... they head it out but Henrique is there to pick up the loose ball. He makes a run unmarked into the area and gets a strong shot off but its from a narrow angle and saved. We earn a corner but they head it away. 54': Long attacking move for Ipswich.. we try a couple through balls but they push it back out... eventually we get it out wide right, a brilliant cross is played in by Gordon, Hamilton gets to it around 8 yards out and heads it... but the keeper positioned well and was able to dive and push it away and they clear it. 75': Jack Hughes in for Colak, Mariga in for Mills. 91': As we push harder to try to get the tying goal, we are pretty high up on a goal kick. Berthet goes up with ST Carroll for a header... Berthet misses the header, they push it ahead and ST Wright is able to get to the ball and lob it over the head of Carlos Antonio to seal the deal. 0-2 Ipswich 0 : 2 Leicester I'm pretty sure this is 3 years in a row where I've gotten off to a very disappointing first match for Ipswich. Doh!! No one played well but no one was terrible either. ST Hamilton puts up a 6.3, our lowest rating, missing one of our 2 clear cut chances. Clearly some things we can improve upon. I look at the headers... Henrique 12/18, Hamilton 8/14 on the good side. Gordon 2/11, Donnelly 1/9, Constantino 8/18, Welsh 5/13(that one surprises me, I expect him to get pretty good in the air in defense). Prematch comments from my assistant indicate that "a number of our players are still trying to blend into the squad." I went with the same lineup every friendly to help with that but it makes sense that we'll need a bit more time for that.

09-08-2011, 12:10 AM	#785
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- We did sell out our last match. -- AC Milan offer $5M for Kirkland. Murcia offer $6M. I reject both. -- Reading offer $2.5M for Mcdonald Mariga. I'm real torn here, he's not really unhappy... I clearly jumped the gun transfer listing him, and I decide to reject the offer to see how he reacts. I feel like I'm being a bit wishy-washy here, and also that I'm gambling with our morale and unity. He lists me as favored personnel and enjoys playing with Constantino... I feel I made a mistake listing him and want to see if I can hang on to him and make everyone happy. -- We announce our final season ticket sales numbers, we sold 19,475 season tickets. That's down from 22,912 last year, not bad considering the relegation. -- Mariga is unhappy that I didn't let him chat with Reading. Crap, I screwed this up every way possible huh? Ahh, learning experiences. August 14th, 2019 League Cup First Round Ipswich(CH) @ Aldershot(L1) We're huge 1:2 favorites on the road here. They're 9:2 to get a win. We've never met before. They've bounced between L2 and L1 since the 08/09 season. They actually just promoted back up from League 2 last year. The first year I managed Ipswich we lost to a lower level squad in my second ever match as their manager. Lets not repeat that. We're expected to reach the 3rd round of the League Cup. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/Berthet M: Colak/Mariga/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino I start Mariga for Mills today. No other changes. attack attack attack. 7': We earn a corner as Constantino sprints through their defense with the ball, they desperately tackle it away and clear the corner. We retain possession, they foul us about 30 yards out but clear out the free kick. 16': Mariga wins a ball from a defender after they set up their offense. He passes to Hamilton, ahead for Constantino and he simply runs by his man,into the area, ignores the keeper rushing out and puts it into the net. 1-0 24': Foul by defender Ferrell on Constantino near the penalty area, its a yellow for him. Free kick is blocked by the wall. 28': Gordon dodges a couple defenders to get forward a bit, passes to Constantino, he has a shot just tipped by the keeper to go behind for a corner. They clear the corner. 33': Constantino with a long run down the right after receiving a ball near midfield.. He holds it up to let the offense get forward, finds Mariga in the area, Mariga shoots but its high. 44': A pass goes to Hamilton near midfield, their defenders shade that way and that's enough... Hamilton lays it back to Mariga, he puts it ahead into a huge hole down the middle. Constantino runs onto it, easily into the area, and easily scores. 2-0 HALF: This one looks to be an easy one. I bring Clive Jackson in at MR for Gordon and Khan in for Hamilton up front, holding on to one sub. 49': Khan has taken 3 terrible shots the second he touches the ball 20-25 yards out. Desparate to win his starting job? Ugly stuff. 75': Berthet comes down with an injury. His fitness takes a huge hit, we'll check on him post match. I sub in McKerr at first opportunity. We end it easily. Aldershot 0 : 2 Ipswich Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0) Goals: Constantino 2 Assists: Hamilton (6.9), Mariga (8.0) Notables: Berthet (7.2), Kirkland (7.0), Henrique (7.1), Donnelly (7.3) -- Berthet is hurt and out for 2 weeks.

09-08-2011, 12:34 AM	#786
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	League Cup 2nd Round Draw We just hope to avoid the EPL to have our best chance to keep advancing. We end up getting a home match vs Fulham, a team spending their 8th year in a row in the Championsihp after a nice long EPL run in the first decade of the century. Fair enough. August 17th, 2019 Exeter @ Ipswich Even money favorites today against Exeter. We'd be embarrassed to start 0-2 at home. They finished 19th last year and have struggled each of the last 3 years in the league. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Welsh/Henrique/McKerr M: Hughes/Mills/Mariga/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino McKerr is in for the injured Berthet. Hughes starts for Colak out left today, Mills and Mariga are the central mids. Attack attack attack. 5': Hamilton earns us a corner with a shot from 25 yards out, saved and turned behind... corner is cleared, we fight to keep the ball in the attacking end but finally they make a good long clearance. 16': They get a free kick in our end and earn a corner off it, we clear easily though. 18': Mariga plays a ball forward to Constantino. He shows great control to get by his man and into the area but its crowded, he pulls out wide to the right, puts in a short cross, and Hamilton is there, wins the header, and its into the back of the net! His first goal for us. 1-0 33': An attacking move down the right... Gordon sends it to McKerr, a cross into the area, Hamilton wins a header 15 yards away, he gets a solid shot, but its a bit high, good effort. HALF: I've dropped to key highlights for now so we're seeing a little less in low shot matches. We do have 8 shots, 4 on target, only allowing one shot all half. This is more like what I expect to see most of the year. We're winning in the air today too which is good to see. Go team! 48': They earn a corner and Carlos Antonio has to make two saves in the process of conceding another corner, this one we clear and look to counter. Its played quickly to midfield, then sent out left for us to build up, Hughes ends up sending a cross in, Hamilton gets his head to it but its easily saved. 54': A pass ahead to Constantino leads to a long run down the right... he plays a solid cross into the 6 yard box, Hamilton charges it, wins the header from very close range, but the keeper somehow stops it! That was a clear cut chance and he probably should have scored, there was a lot of the net open there. 58': Constantino receives a pass 30 yards out, splits two defenders, and is tackled just before he gets into the area... no card. Gordon's shot is blocked. 66': Free kick from 25 yards out, I didn't see how we earned it. Gordon takes it and shows some of the potential he has to be a set piece god, bending it around the wall and rocketing it into the right side of the net. 2-0 81': They counter attack, a long ball goes ahead to ST Rooney, he makes Welsh miss a tackle, gets into the area and puts a good shot by the keeper. 2-1 81': Jackson in for Gordon, Guarin in for Hughes, Burke in for Welsh. Guys i want to rest + guys I don't look to be playing as often. I made these subs before we gave up the goal but I'm confident we'll hold. 90': Hamilton with a foul about 25 yards out. They earn a free kick, its taken off the wall and Carlos Antonio holds it safely. We hold out for the win pretty easily here. Ipswich 2 : 1 Exeter Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0) Goals: Hamilton (7.2), Gordon (7.5) Assits: Constantino 2 Notables: Kirkland (7.1) Everyone else in the 6.8-6.9 range. Carlos Antonio had a 7.3 until that goal was let in, I want to see him do well. We were much better in the air today. Steven Mills at MC is a big reason winning 10 of 13. Our four defenders combine to win 23 of 24 headers. I love Constantino and love his speed and flashy goals, but it made me real happy to see crosses being won by Hamilton and actually threatening them.

09-08-2011, 02:48 AM	#787
law90026 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Jan 2006	Ah I didn't know about the inability to remove the transfer-listed player! Good to know.

09-08-2011, 04:34 AM	#788
Alf Pro Starter Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Rennes, France	Transfer listing out the team beloved player causes team chemistry issues. I like that Very good offseason so far. Looking forward to reading more. __________________ FOFL - GML - IHOF - FranceStats

09-08-2011, 08:44 AM	#789
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- GK Dominic Johnson turned down 3 contracts, saying they weren't good enough for him, so he's still with us. And now he's broken his wrist and is out for 6-7 weeks. August 20th, 2019 Ipswich @ Barnsley We are slim 5:4 favorites on the road against Barnsley. Barnsley won League 1 last year and have a 1-1-0 start here in the Championship. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Burke/Henrique/McKerr M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino loaner DC Vinny Burke gets his first start of the year for Welsh today. Turgay Colak back at ML, Mills/Donnelly mids. 3': They get two quick shots on target but both are easily parried by Antonio... we get the ball forward, Constantino at the edge of the area, there's 3 defenders on top of him, one wins the ball, tries to clear, but it hits one of the other men in the area and trickles away... Constantino races to it and has space and puts it in the net! 1-0 14': A quick counterattack, a pass ahead to Constantino, he lays it off to Donnelly, Donnelly has space, runs into the area and easily beats the keeper! 2-0 33': Both teams have 7 shots, they've tried to press a little but our defense is faster than theirs and we aren't allowing any openings. 44': Buildup down the right, McKerr pulls up 30 yards out and crosses into the area and by god this is working. Simon Hamilton gets above his man, wins a header and its in the net! 3-0 HALF: Vinny Burke got hurt at the very end of the half and his fitness is shot. We're putting Welsh in immediately. We shoot 9 times with 6 on target, 2 clear cut chances, and 60% of the possession. They shoot 7 times, 4 on target. We're winning 80% of our headers and limiting them to 37% in the air, that's what I want to see. 46': We get a free kick from 40 yards out, Gordon takes it and its a great shot that hits the crossbar, close! 64': They clear a ball out of our end, a header goes from the midfield to say 30 yards out... and Carlos Antonio decides to rush out for the ball. Its a race between him and striker Weghorn... and he loses. A horrid decision by our keeper. They recover the ball first, their man skips over our keeper and puts it into the empty net. That was just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too far out. 3-1 71': Hamilton ahead to Constantino, he's in the area.. and tackled hard, penalty! Constantino takes it and buries it. 4-1 79': They inexplicably get a long through ball by our defense and to a forward from way too far away, we've been intercepting these every time, Carlos Antonio comes out though and this time its a great decision, he blocks a clear cut chance. 85': We attack down the left side, Turgay Colak gets down near the end line, puts a cross into the area, it hits a defender and changes path a bit, falling in the penalty area. Steven Mills is the first one there and he puts it into the upper right corner of the net! His first Ipswich goal! 5-1 Great win, and maybe we're starting to get on a roll. Barnsley 1 : 5 Ipswich Man of the Match: Constantino (9.2) Goals: Constantino 2, Donnelly (8.4), Hamilton (8.3), Mills (8.1) Assists: McKerr (8.5), Turgay Colak (7.7), Constantino .. 2 of our goals are unassisted. Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.4), Kirkland (7.6), Henrigue (7.2) Good Stuff! Injury Update DC Vinny Burke is going to be out for 3 weeks.

09-08-2011, 09:29 AM	#790
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- I continue to play with fire. Sevilla offer me $3M for McDonald Mariga. I am very slowly resigning myself to the fact that he will be leaving, but I want to get paid (and drag it out). I tell them I want $8M. August 24th, 2019 Ipswich(2-0-1, 7th) @ Stoke(1-0-2, 15th) For the first time this year we're underdogs at Stoke on the road. They're 5:4 favorites, we're 7:4 dogs. We're 1-2-3 lifetime against them. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/McKerr M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino 17': Donnelly passes ahead to Constantino, he turns by his man, sprints into the area and has a clear cut chance... and the keeper is able to get to it and make the save. He would normally score there. 37': They have a little counter attack after winning a ball in the midfield. We close down hard on the first man to get the ball but he gets it ahead to their other striker and he's got a complete breakaway. Into the area, Carlos Antonio rushes out... and makes a good stop. HALF: Not a huge number of good looks here on either team. We actually have some pretty damn low ratings out there, 6.0 from Hamilton and 6.3 from Gordon, 6.2 McKerr, seems like we should be doing more. They actually take 8 shots to our 6, we don't see many of these at all. We do have a 56/44 possession edge, we're losing out in the air today. 63': They have a free kick and send it long towards the area, we've got a lot of men back but somehow let a ball through into the area for a striker... its a clear cut chance for Stoke and Carlos Antonio makes a really good save. 66': We build up on offense, Donnelly plays a pretty ball into the area for Hamilton, Hamilton has our second clear cut chance after making a great cut, but he can't finish. 84': Mariga in for Donnelly, Khan in for Hamilton, Jackson in for Gordon to try to get us a goal at the end. Its a tie on the road against a decent team. I played a counterattacking strat today and never felt comfortable enough to come out and attack harder than that. Stoke 0 : 0 Ipswich Man of the Match: Henrique (7.6) Notables: Kirkland (7.2), Colak (7.0), Constantino (7.1) I tend to ignore milestones for reasons I can't explain, I love counting stats: -- Gordon Donnelly played in his 225th league match -- Constantino plays in his 75th league match for Ipswich today. -- I turned down a $400,000 offer from Reading for backup DR Michael McKerr. He's unhappy that I don't let him leave.

09-08-2011, 10:07 AM	#791
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- I turn down yet another offer for Henrique and he's unhappy with me too. The transfer window is almost closed and we can get back to soccer for awhile and relieve the dramaz. -- We play Fulham at home two matches in a row, league cup and league. August 27th, 2019 League Cup 2nd Round Fulham(3rd, CH) @ Ipswich(9th, CH) We're an even money favorite at home vs Fulham today but they are off to a good start in the league. We're 5-2-5 lifetime against Fulham. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/McKerr M: Guarin/Mariga/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Khan Couple lineup changes today to keep guys fresh. Guarin, Mariga, Khan in. Turgay Colak, Mills, Constantino out. 8': We win a ball deep in the defensive end, Kirkland sends it long to Hamilton, he runs down the left and lays a ball off for Mariga. Mariga plays a brilliant pass through the defense to Donnelly at the edge of the penalty area. Donnelly fires, its a solid shot, but off the post, so close! 20': Donnelly with a yellow. 22': Quick counter for Ipswich, a ball ahead to Khan, a pass to Hamilton who is 20 yards out, a strike... keeper has to dive to turn it behind. First corner is headed back for a second corner. This one is cleared away. 32': They have it in our end, a throwin, the penalty area is really crowded but they sneak a through ball for ST Dan Taylor, he's hurt and slowed and probably scores if he wasn't. Its still a clear cut chance for him but brilliant save by Carlos Antonio. 39': We're up to 9 shots, just had a very nice attacking move lead to a strong shot from Hamilton but its saved, we're looking really really good on the attack but just not getting the finish. 43': Disaster strikes... Donnelly makes a tackle in the midfield... he's given his second yellow and he's out of the match. Constantino in for Khan, Mills in for Hamilton. We change to a 4-4-1 and we're going to want Constantino up front for that. HALF: We shoot 11 times, putting 6 on target, we do settle from long range a little much I think. They only have a 3 shots. The man down will be the big story of the second half. Can we hold them off? Can Constantino generate a goal to possibly win a man down? 71': They get a lob down the right side... a man forward, into the area but at a tough angle, Carlos Antonio covers the near post brilliantly and stops the shot. 75': After Mills and Gordon work the ball around a bit on the right a pass goes ahead to Constantino... he draws the defense and spots Guarin open in a dangerous position, a shot from 15 yards out... saved. Guarin needs to finish that. 76': We earn a throwin, Kirkland plays it up to Neil Gordon, he centers it to Steven Mills who is 20 yards out. Mills has a shot, its not struck too hard but its placed as perfectly as possible, into the upper left corner of the net, the keeper can't stop it!! 1-0 89': a strong attacking move as they are getting desperate and we exploit it well, Constantino receives a pass 30 yards out, sends it ahead to Gordon, the defense has come way high up and is converging on Gordon to try to take the ball away... Mariga cuts into the open space, Gordon finds him, Mariga shoots, on target!! We play a brilliant second half to get 2 goals a man down. 2-0 Ipswich 2 : 0 Fulham Man of the Match: McDonald Mariga (7.9) Goals: Mariga, Mills (7.6) Assists: Gordon 2 (7.7) Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.0), McKerr (7.3), Kirkland (7.5), Constantino (7.3) -- We're up to August 29th... we get a random $8.75M offer from a french team for Berthet. Sorta tempting since McKerr is playing well and Berthet shit the bed in the EPL last year, but I'm sticking to my guns. This team is promoting back up, the one I have right now. I don't need millions of dollars right now, I need wins, and even though I have some concerns about Berthet, I'm not confident enough that I could go out and buy better reliably to take the risk. Last edited by Radii : 09-08-2011 at 10:25 AM.

09-08-2011, 10:44 AM	#792
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	-- Looking just very briefly at Europe, Champions League groups are drawn today. Sunderland didn't make it through the playoffs to the group stage, losing to Juventus. Chelsea draws Cagliari, Porto and AaB in Denmark. Sheffield Utd draws Dinamo Kiev, Juventus, and AS Monaco from France. Arsenal draws Ajax and a Turkish and Russian squad, they seem to have the best draw of the lot. League Cup 3rd Round Draw Looks like we're down to 32 teams in the League Cup so we expect mostly EPL and Championship teams here. We end up with one of the worst possible draws, we'll be traveling to Sheffield Utd, a top 4 finisher in the EPL last season. August 31st, 2019 Fulham(3-1-0, 3rd) @ Ipswich(2-1-1, 9th) Having just beaten them short handed in cup play, we're even money favorites in league play today against Fulham again. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Burke/Welsh/Berthet M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Mariga/Jackson ST: Hamilton/Constantino Berthet is healthy and starting. Clive Jackson gets his first start as Neil Gordon gets his first break, and Constantino is back in. Donnelly serving his suspension for his red card. 11': Through ball for Fulham to ST Acosta, he's quickly onto it very deep in the area and easily beats Carlos Antonio. 0-1 15': Brilliant run by Constantino from within our own end, down the right side, he sets up Jackson perfectly with a pass, Jackson on the volley... keeper is able to make the save and turn it back for a corner, which they clear. 27': We build up on offense, getting it forward to Jackson near the penalty area, he lays it off nicely for Hamilton who shoots.. but its saved and cleared away. 30': Clive Jackson is everywhere today but needs a finish... Constantino hits him with a beautiful ball in the area, its a clear cut chance from 15 yards out... but right at the keeper. 40': We have a throwin in their end, a pass goes to Mills, ahead ot Jackson, he splits two defenders with a great pass for Simon Hamilton. Hamilton has it 8 yards out and he doesn't miss this time, easy finish! 1-1 HALF: It looks like Welsh took the blame for the goal we let in, I can see that, we were out of position to let a ball in as easily as the one that they scored off of. Clive Jackson has really been everywhere today, he's been a huge part of the offense. On the one hand I think if that were Neil Gordon instead we lead 3-1. But Jackson has handled himself well and made some nice passes, I like what I see out of the youngster. Despite the tie we appear to be in full control with 11 shots, 4 on target to their 3 total shots. We've got possession edge and we're winning every stat. 56': All the highlights remain ours early, but we've ended up with a lot of possession and only speculative shots. 63': We allow two corner kicks but easily clear the second one. Its cleared really well and Constantino runs onto it and has a breakaway.. he's well ahead of the defense, into the area, the keeper comes out... and Constantino should have shoot sooner. His shot is blocked. Doh! 65': Constantino with another really nice run down the middle, Hamilton is off to his left, he's got our 5th clear cut chance of the match here as he cut inside his man nicely... but shoots wide. 79': We counter after winning a ball in the defense. Mills plays a long pass ahead to Constantino, one of their defenders takes the blame for missing an interception, allowing Constantino a free run at the keeper and this time he finishes! 2-1 82': Wow, huge lapse... we let them march right down the field and get it back... a run down the right, cross to the 6 yard box, a header without our defender even rising up for it, and a goal. 2-2 86': Mills wins a 50/50 ball in midfield, a quick pass ahead to Hamilton, another quick pass to Constantion who has lost the defense, and its our 7th clear cut chance and 3rd goal, great play there! 3-2 92': Simon Hamilton goes down near midfield trying to win a ball to keep possession for us.. he's hurt. ugh, we'll check on him postmatch. play continues, Constantino receives a pass and sprints towards the area, he's fouled as he tries to beat the last defender, just outside the area. Berthet takes the free kick and shoots wide. That'll do it. Ipswich 3 : 2 Fulham Man of the Match: Constantino (9.0) Goals: Constantino 2, Hamilton (8.4) Assists: Hamilton, Mills (7.4) Notables: Jackson (7.7), Mariga (7.8) I'm absolutely thrilled with our young right midfielder Clive Jackson today. He wasn't perfect but it seemed like he was in the right place all the time and made really good decisions, just his finishing was slightly lacking.

09-08-2011, 08:26 PM	#793
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	September Update -- Euro Championship qualifying gives us some time off in early September. We play on the 14th, 17th, 21st, 24th and 28th. The match ont he 24th is the 4th round of the League cup. -- I receive a training update indicating that GK Chris Mason has trained well recently. Carlos Antonio is mentoring him and his Composure (13), Concentration (14) and Determination (6) have all gone up recently. It seems like our scouts view of Mason has dropped slightly, his potential is now presumed to be less than Carlos Antonio's level and he might be marginal as an EPL level keeper. I think I'll let him stay with me this year to train and be mentored and play every match with the reserves, hopefully make it back to the EPL next year, and then loan him to a championship squad that will start him next season. Then he'd be 20 y/o and I'll hopefully have a much better idea of whether he could ever start for me or not. -- Constantino is the Championship player of the month. He's got 4 goals and 3 assists in 5 league matches and 2 cup goals as well. He's developed so well, the numbers he is capable of putting up this year could dwarf what he's done in the past. I don't expect a 50 goal season or anything. His last Championship season was 34 goals/11 assists. I would not at all be surprised to see 35 goals/20 assists this year with a rating over 8.0. -- I win the manager of the month award. Right now there are 8 teams tied for 1st with a 3-1-1- record. We're one of them. Three managers in that group took 1st/2nd/3rd in the manager voting. -- The board is satisfied with my leadership. The highlight is that I am "getting the best out of Constantino". -- We lost $2.56M last month. Ouch. Our salary costs alone were higher than our revenue. If we lose $2.5M every month our early profits will be gone in February and we would end up losing about $12-$13M this season. That's worth it of course if we advance back up and as long as parachute payments work its actually ok if we don't b/c the parachute payment at the end of the season would cover it. I hate to keep harping on the salary drop that didn't happen but that's costing us about $80,000/wk right now. Basically not enough to make me want to stop playing or look into the game editor, but enough that I feel the need to continue bitching about it -- Huddersfield offer Rio Ferdinand a job. I don't want to lose him. He's my 4* Ball Control coach. He's also a 4* tactics and 4* defending coach. I offer him a raise, but I suspect he'll leave anyway. -- McDonald Mariga puts up an 8.1 rating and gets a goal in a 2:0 win for Kenya over Sao Tome in the African Cup of Nations Qualifiers. Morocco won their group unfortunately. -- Clive Jackson scores for the England U19 squad against Finland in a friendly, a 5:0 rout, he puts up an 8.1 rating. -- The England U21 squad beats Lithuania 7:0. Stuart Kirkland's performance is called "Magnificient" as he earns an 8.5 rating. -- Chris Mason starts for the England U20s in a 4:1 win over Finland. He earns a 6.9 rating and is subbed out in the 79th minute. -- In a coaches meeting I'm informed of more Chris Mason training goodness. In addition to the ratings mentioned at the start of the month (its Sept 12th now, good long break here) his Communication (8) and Handling (16) have also gone up. September 14th, 2019 Ipswich(3-1-1, 4th) @ Cardiff(3-1-1, 7th) Cardiff are 5:4 favorites today, making us 7:4 to win. We're 10-3-6 lifetime against them. Cardiff's worst finish in the Championship the last 5 years is 11th. They've only made the playoffs once though. A news report mentions that Rob Lewis is looking forward to playing against his old manager. He was our 3rd young ST behind Khan and Constantino that I decided to sell last year. He scored 4 goals in 6 matches for them to finish off last season, but has 5 games w/o a goal yet this year. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Henrique/Welsh/Berthet M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Donnelly/Gordon ST: Hamilton/Constantino Donnelly and Gordon are back in, Mariga out. Standard mindset on the road. 5': We lose the ball while charging forward to start up an attack, they get a long ball to Rob Lewis, he gets into the area but has a shot stopped by Carlos Antonio. 22': They build up quickly on offense, a ball from midfielder Ellis to Rob Lewis... seems like Berthet needed to be on Lewis and just lost sight of him there. Lewis gets into the area and its their first clear cut chance... and he finishes. 0-1 44': yellow for midfielder Ellis. HALF: We look like shit out there. They shoot 6 times, putting 4 on target. We have 5 shots, 4 from long range, just 1 on target and nothing remotely threatening. We're passing, tackling and winning headers better, but they are by far the more threatening of the two teams. 47': We have a throwin in their end, its taken to constantino, he's in the right side of a crowded penalty area, he runs up and around to the middle of the pitch, cuts right quickly, fires a bending shot around 2 defenders from 20 yards out and places it perfectly into the right side of the net! A spectacular individual effort. 1-1 60': Donnelly a yellow. 64': They have a corner, its taken to the far post, there's a ton of our guys there but they win the header, Carlos Antonio can't get to it, but Berthet heads it off the line! 66': Yellow for midfielder Ledley. 71': Yellow for Hamilton. 80': Mariga in for Donnelly, Hughes in for Turgay Colak. 94': They have a free kick 20 yards out, its taken well but sails just wide. With the pressure they put on us in the first half I'm happy to get out of here with a draw. I thikn they were the better team but we had the best player on the pitch and he single handedly got us a point today. Cardiff 1 : 1 Ipswich Man of the Match: Constantino (8.4) Goal: Constantino Assist: Gordon (6.8) Notable: Kirkland (7.0), Henrique (7.0)

09-09-2011, 01:04 AM	#796
Radii Head Coach Join Date: Jul 2001	September 17th, 2019 Swansea(3-1-2, 11th) @ Ipswich(3-2-1, 6th) We are very large 4:7 favorites at home today. Its a close series over the last decade, we're 6-5-5 against them, winning both matches the year we promoted up. GK: Carlos Antonio D: Kirkland/Henrique/Burke/Berthet M: Turgay Colak/Mills/Mariga/Jackson ST: Hamilton/Constantino We rotate some guys as we play again in 4 days. Mariga, Jackson start in the midfield, loaner Vinny Burke at DC. Attack attack. 11': Their striker scoots by Henrique to receive a through ball, he gets a clear cut chance but Carlos Antonio makes a good stop. 18': Fantastic quick attack, a ball goes forward, Hamilton wins a header in the midfield, flicking it over to Constantino. Constantino passes back to Mills, Mills with a ball into the area, Hamilton runs onto it and strikes it to the far post by the keeper! 1-0 25': Not so happy with the defense here. They get a throwin in our end, and its another through ball to a man who just ran right by Henrique... maybe we thought they were offsides... its another clear cut chance and this one is finished. 1-1 37': They have a goal kick, it comes down about 20 yards from our goal... Carlos Antonio ran out for the ball, a huge mistake... they win the header for it, heading it towards the net but its luckily just wide. 39': Another Swansea attack, and Henrique just looks bad, ST Spear receives it 20 yards out, Henrique flat out misses the tackle, he turns and is into the area, easy goal. 1-2 43': We have a corner, they clear it but we recover. Mills puts a ball perfectly into the area in between their two central defenders. Constantino is there to receive the ball and we're able to quickly equalize. 2-2 HALF: Henrique has been beaten badly 3 times so far today but somehow is rating is a 6.5. Lots of successful passes and 5/5 on headers. He's also made 6 interceptions. I'm going to drop back to a standard mindset here. Mariga and Mills are both way more offensive minded in the midfield, I wonder if leaving Donnelly out of the lineup allows these things to happen a little more often. Or just bad luck, who knows. We do shoot 7 times to their 5, each team has 3 on target. We've got an amazing amount of possession, 64%, they're just hitting us with a couple quick strikes. 56': Steven Mills is having an awesome game. A pass comes in from a defender as we set up on offense, Mills plays it forward with his first touch and its an inch perfect pass for Constantino, he's in the area, has a step on his man and is able to put it in the net! 3-2 80': More great passing for Ipswich, we build up after a throwin in the midfield. Mills with a pass to Constantino, a little ways out right, he passes ahead into the area, Hamilton runs onto it perfectly and hits it with his first touch... but its wide. I love Hamilton in the air but his finishing is not the best, he's going to miss some of those that Constantino almost never does. 87': We attack, a cross comes in from the right towards the far post, Turgay Colak is there, heads it, the keeper has to dive to push it away. A defender goes to make a clearance but mishits it and puts it into his own net! 4-2 94': We have a free kick in our own end. Carlos Antonio sends it down the left. Turgay Colak wins a header and sends it to Hamilton, he makes a run out wide to the left, passes to constantino who is 20 yards out, Constantino turns by his man and strikes and blows it by the keeper!! It was a slow start but we made it look like a huge blowout by the time the final whistle comes. 5-2 Ipswich 5 : 2 Swansea Man of the Match: Constantino (9.5) Goals: Constantino 3, Hamilton 1 (7.9), 1 own goal Assists: Mills 3 (9.0), Hamilton, Turgay Colak (7.8) Notables: Carlos Antonio (7.2), Berthet (7.0), Kirkland (7.1), Jackson (7.2), Mariga (7.3) Solid win! 7 matches in there are 7 teams tied for first with 14 points and 3 more teams have 13 points.