FM10 - From the Bottom Up

[Radii]

February 22nd, 2023

FA Cup Fifth Round Replay

Ipswich @ West Brom

After giving away a win at home we go to West Brom very small favorites, 6:4 to their 13:8. Since this is a replay if we're still tied after 90 we'll go to extra time. We play the League Cup finals in 4 days so we have to keep that in mind too.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Welsh/O'Brien/McKerr
M: Hughes/Donnelly/Clifford/Doran
F: Khan/Constantino

Welsh/O'Brien is my biggest concern here by far. Constantino is in. Mills and Aldrovandi are resting today though Aldrovandi could play a half. counter attack on the road today.

15': Khan is hurt.

19': quick highlight... Clifford has it in midfield, sends a ball 25 yards ahead into the area, Doran runs onto it, shoots far post... and beats the keeper!! Nice finish! 1-0

29': Another quick highlight, Clifford over to Donnelly, he runs left, turns, drops a pass to the penalty spot, Hughes breaks on it perfectly and there's no defenders around, clear cut chance, and he scores! 2-0

39': First highlight showing West Brom on offense, we head a cross behind for a corner... and we head the corner out. They recover and try another cross but we win that one too. West Brom still hasn't managed a shot yet.

46': We have a free kick in our end, Capitani takes it long, Constantino heads it down to Khan and breaks to the gaol from 25 yards out, Khan passes ahead to him, Constantino shoots, the keeper had come well off his line to stop the shot... its off the keeper, but the rebound falls to Khan who was trailing the play nicely, Khan puts it into the empty net! 3-0

HALF: that's more like it!!! They have 1 shot, we have 5, but 4 are on target and 3 are clear cut chances, all goals.

64': Heywood in for Kirkland, Mariga in for Constantino, Clifford back to DMC. Protecting two of our most important players for the Leauge Cup Final at this point.

West Brom 0 : 3 Ipswich

They shoot 7 times but only put 2 on target and never really threaten.

Man of the Match: Jack Hughes (8.0)
Goals: Hughes, Doran (8.0), Khan (7.5)
Assists: Clifford (8.0), Donnelly (7.6), Constantino (6.8)
Notables: McKerr (7.4), Kirkland (7.5), O'Brien (8.0)

I'm really happy to see O'Brien have a strong game from start to finish.


-- We receive $297,000 for winning this round.


Injury Update

-- Matthew Khan picked up a thigh strain in today's match and is going to miss the next 10-12 days. Bryan is hurt too so that kinda sucks. I was starting Khan today though b/c I want to play Bendtner/Constantino in the League Cup Finals, now I've basically got no forwards on the bench though.

-- The FA Cup Quarterfinals are now set, and they give us a huge opportunity, but also cause some concern. Three Championship teams made it through, with one guaranteed to make the semis (Reading/Hull, Reading just upset an EPL team to get here I think, I was only expecting to see two CH teams). But also, the EPL teams left are all lower rated teams except for Arsenal. We have a very good chance ot make the final... but if we don't, its a 100% certainty that a team not in the top 7 in the EPL will make it, limiting the Euro Cup to only the 5th and 6th place finishers.

-- If we beat Huddersfield in our next match none of the above matters, as we will qualify for Europe.

[Radii]

-- "A capacity crowd of 90,000 is expected for the Enligsh League Cup Final clash on Sunday"

-- "Ipswich Town will appear in their first League Cup Final in the club's 145 year history. Whatever the outcome, Ipswich fans will no doubt look to thank Constantino, the competition's top goalscorer ... Huddersfield Town will also be appearing in only their second League Cup final in the club's 115 year history."

February 26th, 2023

League Cup Final

Ipswich vs Huddersfield - Neutral Site - Wembley Stadium

Huddersfield are slim 5:4 favorites today to win the cup and the automatic spot in Euorpe. We are 7:4 to win. Huddersfield are having an incredible season, they currently sit in third place in the EPL. Coming into this season we'd gone 3-1-0 in our last 4 against Huddersfield, but they beat us soundly at Portman Road earlier in the season, 2:0. After a scoreless half, their star ST Ibai Platas scored in the 46th and 49th minutes. We ran a 4-4-2 with Bryan/Constantino, most of our starters except for Donnelly were in. They run a 3-5-2, their other starting ST is Guillermo Ghisleni, he's got 7 league goals and 3 cup goals this year. MC Ryan Tunnicliffe is the midfield name I most recognize, he has 9 assists between league and cup play this year.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
M: Crespo/Donnelly/Mills/Doran
F: Bendtner/Constantino

Neil Gordon resumed full training right before our last match, he probably can't go 90 minutes but is available and will play the second half unless we have huge issues ot address with subs elsewhere.

-- The prediction in the pregame analysis is that everyone will be nervous and we will play all the way to penalties. Standard mindset with a high defensive line, and extended highlights today.

13': Constantino puts the first shot on target here, but they save it and clear.

15': Mattle with a yellow competing for a ball in midfield. They end up with a long shot, they have 4 so far, nothing close yet.

19': We earn a throwin in their end, Donnely receives it, makes a run towards the area, shoots from 20 yards out with no passing to be done, its just over.

23': They build up down the left side, a pass goes ahead to ST Platas, he cuts out to the left side of the area, shoots from a very difficult angle, but its struck so powerfully, Capitani tries to push it away but can't, its in the left side of the net. 0-1

30': We build up on offense, Jackson ahead to donnelly, he passes into the left side of the area for Crespo, his defender is a step behind, Crespo shoots far post... by the keeper, it hits the right post and bounces in!!! 1-1

42': Donnelly with a yellow. Even with extended highlights on nothing at all for the last 10 minutes.

HALF: Into the locker room tied up at one. Huddersfield shoots 6 times, only putting one on target, it was a rather difficult shot really but a great goal from their star. We shoot 5 times, 3 are on target, and we get the one goal. We are dominating possession in a huge way, 61/39 in our favor. The team average ratings are exactly the same, 6.64. Both teams are playing ok at best but making some mistakes. We are passing better (72%/62%). Tackles are even at a slightly lower than expected 62%. They win 64% of their headers to just 48% for us.

Kirkland and Bendtner are struggling the most today, nerves for Kirkland? Surely not for the experienced Bendtner. 6.3 ratings for each. Our only player over 7 is Crespo with his 7.4 rating and goal. Neil Gordon comes in at MR for Aaron Doran.

46': We kick off but they steal the ball from Gordon pretty early on, they get it ahead to ST Ghiseli, Mattle clears it behind for a corner as he tries to get into the area. We clear the corner easily.

48': Aldrovandi with a yellow, that's our third one.

52': Gordon earns us a corner, he takes it, Aldrovandi wins a header but can't put it on target, goal kick for them.

55': They get a free kick about 23ish yards out, its taken off the wall and behind for a corner, we clear that easily.

59': Crespo is fouled and we get a free kick out well wide left, Gordon crosses it into the area, they head it behind for a corner. They clear the corner, we recover but Gordon loses it as he tries to set up another attack.

67': Mattle is injured and forced to come off immediately. O'Brien comes in. Clifford was already scheduled to come in for Mills as well.

75': Huddersfield are still outshooting us 9-7 but almost all the highlights this half are of our attacks, they have a couple poor free kicks and that's it.

83': They get their ST Platas out wide right, a cross into the area but they head it over the bar.

FULL TIME - Huddersfield 1 : 1 Ipswich - Extra Time

They now have 10 shots, to our 7. Only 1 on target for them, 3 for us. We still dominate possession and every other stat is basically the same as it was, we're tackling a little better now and they're not but that's about it.

30 more minutes and penalties if we're still level.

92': Defender zull a yellow.

94': They earn a corner, O'Brien wins the header to clear.

96': Highlight opens with them charging down the left side... another corner as we block a cross. Donnelly clears this one but they recover, a cross from out left is right to Capitani though.

108': A long shot by Platas is off a defender and out for another corner for them. Its taken to the near post... they win the header... Capitani jumps, and I can't tell if it hit the crossbar or if he stopped it. either way, WHEW!

HALFTIME of Extra Time

Play for Penalties (ie no change) or try to attack? I want to attack, we don't have a lot of highly rated penalty takers, though we probably have the better keeper.

117': Gordon with a cross into the area, they head it away, donnelly shoots on a half volley as the ball falls 20 yards out, blocked and its a corner. Corner goes nowhere.

118': Free kick in their end, after a couple passes Clifford takes a poor shot that's saved easily from 25 yards away.

Thats it. We're still tied after extra time.

Penalty Kicks

We shoot first.

I: Crespo shoots, right at the keeper who oesn't move... saved. 0-0
H: Williams... right side, impossible to stop, goal. 0-1

I: Gordon... right side, its a goal 1-1
H: Collins... left side, barely in, but in. 1-2

I: Clifford... upper right corner, good 2-2
H: Platas... yeah he isn't missing, right side easy. 2-3

I: Bendtner... left side and good. 3-3
H: Zuill... right side and good, we need a goal and a stop now 3-4

I: Constantino... whew... right post, but bounces in. 4-4
H: Hill, we need a save... its shot left, Capitani dives that way... SAVEDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-4

I: O'Brien ... whiffs, he shoots wide left. 4-4
H: Tunnicliffe ... right at Capitani, saved!! 4-4

I: Kirkland... right side, goal. 4-5
H: Marc... shoots left, Capitani goes that way, Capitani with the stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 4-5

We win!!!!!!!!

Huddersfield 1 : 1 Ipswich - Ipswich win 5:4 after 7 Penalty Kicks


It was an incredibly even match. Huddersfield outshot us 15-9 but only put 3 on target all match. The average ratings were 6.90 for Huddersfield and 6.93 for Ipswich. We missed our first PK, they hit their first four, on the fifth one they need to score to win and Capitani comes up with a huge save. After O'Brien just outright whiffs Capitani saves another, and then Kirkland scores for us and Capitani stops his 3rd straight penalty kick to win it.

Man of the Match: Juan Pablo Crespo (8.3)
Goal: Crespo
Assist: Donnelly (7.2)
Notables: Jackson (7.3), Kirkland (7.1), Aldrovandi (7.1)

Bendtner finished with a 6.3 rating, Constantino 6.6. The two of them only combined for one shot, though that was in large part due to our inability to get them the ball in reasonable positions at all.

Ipswich have won the English League Cup!!

-- We receive $165,000 for winning the league cup.

-- Ipswich Fans are absolutely delighted after Dixon and his team lifted the English League Cup

-- The Ipswich Board issue a statement declaring that a club of Ipswich's stature was always going to be capable of winning the cup, and they are happy with the win.

-- Gordon Donnelly is racking up the yellows, he picked up #15 today and is going to miss the next 3 matches (1 match suspension for 5 yellows, 2 for 10, 3 for 15, etc)


Injury Update

Otmar Mattle turns his ankle in the final vs Huddersfield and is going to be out for 3 weeks.


Ipswich have qualified for the 2023 Euro Cup by winning the League Cup

WOOHOO!!!

-- We pay out a $165,000 squad bonus to be shared among the players for winning the league cup. That isn't much hah.

-- Back to reality after all that, we just played 120 minutes in front of 90,000 fans (it was a sellout), and we have to play again in just 3 days.

[Radii]

March Update

March is usually when things really calm down, but we had multiple matches pushed back since we advanced all the way through the league cup and can't get by an FA Cup opponent without a replay. We play on the 1st, 4th, 12th, 15th, 18th, and 21st. 4th is the FA Cup Match. We have a very easy schedule in league play, we have to travel to Chelsea on the 21st but our other matches I believe are all against teams we should be heavily favored over if we were rested and at full strength.

-- MC Clifford and MC Smith train well last month. Clifford is 31 so his ratings are just bouncing around a bit. Smith's Dribbling (17), Decisions (11) and Positioning (11) have improved recently. Over the past 12 months about 75% of Smith's ratings have improved by 1 and Composure has risen from 11->13. I get the feeling Smith will be playing a lot for us next year.

-- DR Anthony Heywood was 2nd in young Player of the Month voting in February. He played 3 matches for us last month with ratings of 7.8, 6.9, and 6.7. The competition must have been light. Heywood has been solid this year, he was shaky last year when we first bought him, and he is only 21, I've been happy with his play this year though, 6.97 rating in 17 matches (10 starts).

-- The board is delighted with my leadership. Winning the league cup is a highlight, losing 1:0 to Nottingham Forest is the only thing they can think of to complain about.

-- We made a profit of $2.26M last month. We've now lost $7.3M on the season and have a cash balance of -1.3M. If we remained in 7th we'd take $23.8M in prize money, so things are looking good for us.

March 1st, 2023

Ipswich(14-6-7, 7th) @ Southampton(9-6-14, 14th)

They are even money favorites today. If that takes into account fatigue then that's pretty impressive. We should crush them at full strength but we are not even remotely close to full strength.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Welsh/O'Brien/Heywood
DM: Clifford
M: Adagsmar/Mariga/Smith/Jackson
F: Constantino

So basically today we start everyone that I think has the fitness to run around for awhile. 4-1-4-1 since Bryan and Khan are both hurt.

HALF: Heh started listening to a podcast and didn't right anything up. There were lots of highlights here but no clear cut chances for anyone. Southampton shoots 9 times, putting 3 on target. They hit the crossbar a couple times too. We've shot 5 times and not a single one on target. We're holding up fairly well considering the lineup we're putting out today.

47': Constantino with a yellow.

54': We have a throwin in their end, after a pass Clifford gets a pretty decent look from the edge of the box, but its put way over.

68': We attack on offense, they clear a cross but we recover, Mariga passes to Adagsmar... he's in the area... hahaha, hilarious stuff here, he's got two defenders right there on top of him, the first tries a slide tackle and misses, Adagsmar takes a step, the second tries a slide tackle and misses, Adagsmar walks past the two men on the ground and beats the keeper! 1-0

73': We give up a free kick 25 yards out, they have a rocket of a free kick, Capitani stops it but can't hold it, one of their men in the area gets to the rebound and pokes it into the net. 1-1

The match ends pretty fast after that.

Southampton 1 : 1 Ipswich

A fine result given the circumstances.

Man of the Match: Adagsmar (8.3)
Goal: Adagsmar
Assist: Mariga (7.4)
Notables: Smith (7.0)

Capitani had a 7.1 rating at the half and it crumbles down to a 5.7 by the end of the match. O'Brien ends with a 5.9.

We have 10 matches to go, some teams have as few as 8 to go. Current standings:

1. Chelsea - 67 pts (10 left)
2. Arsenal - 62 pts (8 left)
3. Man City - 56 pts (8 left)
4. Huddersfield - 54 pts (9 left)
5. Tottenham - 54 pts (9 left)
6. Man Utd - 53 pts - (8 left)
7. Ipswich - 49 pts (10 left)
8. West Brom - 45 pts (8 left)
9. Sheffield Utd - 42 pts (8 left)

We're 5 points behind Huddersfield for 4th place and a spot in the Champions League. We have 1 or 2 matches in hand over everyone between us and 4th. After our FA Cup match next we finally get another week off, and we need to take advantage and start winning more.

Since we've qualified for the Euro Cup we're basically playing to try to shoot for 4th and the Champions League, and failing that, just for place and cash.

[Izulde]

Congratulations on winning the League Cup! Hilarious that all your prize money went right to paying off the players, though.

[Radii]

March 4th, 2023

FA Cup Sixth Round

Birmingham @ Ipswich

Birmingham are struggling and are in 17th in the EPL. They are seriously at risk of relegation, only two points ahead of Blackburn and Blackburn has a match in hand. We are big 4:6 favorites today, they are 7:2 to win. We've got a week off here so we can afford to give it our all with our most healthy players today.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Crespo/Clifford/Mills/Gordon
F: Bendtner/Constantino

Standard mindset today, we're pretty strong.

3': They get an early clear cut chance with a nice through ball, Kirkland let his man get by, but Capitani rushes out and makes a great save.

24': Bendtner receives a pass, gets by his man but he's like moving in slow motion... shoots right at the keeper, commentary - "Awful Effort" ... yup.

29': Heywood wins a ball in our end, a long ball towards the penalty area, Constantino runs by the defense, controls the ball well coming off a high bounce, shoots near post and scores! 1-0

40': Welsh with a long ball after we win it on defense and its another break for Constantino, the keeper comes out better this time though and Constantino can't beat him, its tipped wide. They clear the corner.

42': We have a throwin in their end, a pass quickly goes in to Bendtner, he turns and shoots, the keeper has to dive to save it, not a bad shot at all there. We earn a corner, then a throwin, then another corner... and they clear finally.

HALF: We're outplaying them big time and should probably lead by more than 1 goal. 10 shots/5 on target/3 clear cut chances. They have 5 shots/2 on target/1 clear cut chance.

47': Welsh with a yellow.

48': They have a free kick outside the area, a rocket comes into the area and Capitani makes a diving save. We clear the corner.

58': We have a goal called back, Constantino with a nice ball to gordon for a goal but he was just offside.

62': Aldrovandi with a yellow, complaining after a corner that we deserved a penalty.

67': Gordon and Constantino pass back and forth, both have to fight against tackles, Constantino gets open in the right side of the area, he has a shot saved... its considered a clear cut chance but I don't buy it, that was a damn tough shot.

70': Crespo with a cross aimed for Constantino, he doesn't control it, it bounces by him and Gordon recovers, he puts a strong shot on target, but saved.

76': another through ball for Constantino, this is our 6th clear cut chance (gordon's last shot was #5)... and its saved...

85': Doran in for Gordon, Mariga in for Clifford.

87': Doran a ball into the area, Constantino runs onto it perfectly... its clear cut chance #7, and how does he screw this up??? he tries to push it by the keeper into the left side of the net and it just rolls out of play wide.

I just assumed we were giving up a last second goal here, 7 clear cut chances and just one goal, it seemed like we were destined for another replay, but we hang on and win, the defense really picked up.

Ipswich 1 : 0 Birmingham

Their keeper is a clear man of the match today.

Goal: Constantino (7.4)
Assist: Heywood (7.4)
Notables: Capitani (7.2), Kirkland (7.4), Aldrovandi (7.3), Welsh (7.4), Mills (7.0)

Very strong effort by the defense in the end for us.


-- We receive $594,000 for advancing to the semifinals! We've made the quarterfinals 3 years in a row now but this is our first trip to the semis.

-- Aldrovandi is up to 10 yellow cards, plus he has a red card, that adds up to a 3 match suspension.

-- The gate today was $2.1M, topping the record we set of $1.9M against Man Utd.

-- Khan resumes full training.

-- Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Championship side Reading are the other teams in the semis.

[Radii]

FA Cup Semifinal Draw

-- Come on reading, come on reading, no whammies no whammies stop! Awwwww. Arsenal. The semifinal is played April 8th in Wembley. Reading/Aston Villa is the other semifinal.

-- Chris Bryan resumes full training.

March 12th, 2023

Sheffield Utd (11-9-10, 9th) @ Ipswich(14-7-7, 7th)

We now have two fewer matches played than everyone in the top 10, and still sit in 7th, still 4 points over 8th. If we were able to win both of our extra matches we'd be 1 point out of 4th. Today we're 6:4 favorites at home over Sheffield Utd. We're 3-3-12 lifetime against them, but we got a strong 3:1 win at their place back in November.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Welsh/O'Brien/Heywood
M: Crespo/Clifford/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Donnelly and Aldrovandi suspended, Mattle injured, everyone else is healthy. Standard Mindset with a slightly high defensive line today.

24': We build up on offense, Clifford plays a ball into the area, Constantino gets a step on his man, he's charging the 6 yard box, the keeper tries to dive ont he ball but Constantino passes it by him and into the net. 1-0

28': Clifford with a solid shot from 20 yards out, a diving save prevents the goal, corner is cleared away but we control it and push back forward. They intercept a pass and clear for good.

30': Constantino with a couple poor passes to kill solid attacking moves.

33': They have a free kick out wide left, Welsh heads a cross behind and they get a corner. Corner taken into the 6 yard box, midfielder de Konig gets his head on the cross and puts it in as Capitani came out to try to catch the cross and failed. 1-1

41': Free kick out near midfield. Welsh kicks it into the penalty area, Constantino gets his head to it at the penalty spot and heads it by the keeper for his second goal! 2-1

HALF: Shocker, O'Brien has a 5.7 rating at the half, he usually recovers but damn if I can figure him out. We shoot 6 times, 3 on target, 1 clear cut chance. Sheffield Utd have 3 shots, just 1 on target. We're passing and tackling extremely well and have a 55/45 possession edge. We'll try to counter attack here, lets pull back a little more on defense.

64': Clifford with a long low pass ahead for Crespo, its our second clear cut chance, but the keeper makes a diving stop. We can't do anything on a corner.

66': Mariga in for Mills.

72': Jackson with a yellow.

73': Bendtner in for a tired Khan.

75': They're trying to push harder now, a shot from the edge of the box is saved by Capitani here.

91': They get a pass into the area for ST Kane, Welsh misses an interception and he's got a shot from the penalty spot... he should have scored but shoots it right at Capitani and he stops the shot. We clear the rebound.

We hold on to finish this one and get 3 points.

Ipswich 2 : 1 Sheffield Utd

Man of the Match: Consatntino (8.8)
Goals: Constantino 2
Assists: Clifford (7.8), Welsh (7.4)
Notables: Capitani (8.6), Jackson (7.0), Kirkland (7.4)

Capitani had to withstand some serious pressure there and did well, Welsh and O'Brien both got beaten too many times.


Current Standings:

1. Chelsea - 73 pts (8 left
2. Arsenal - 62 pts (8 left)
3. Huddersfield - 60 pts (7 left)
4. Man City - 56 pts (7 left)
5. Man Utd - 56 pts (7 left)
6. Tottenham - 55 pts (8 left)
7. Ipswich - 52 pts (9 left)
8. West Brom - 48 pts (7 left)
9. Sheffield Utd - 42 pts (7 left)

This win knocks Sheffield Utd way back. Finishing worse than 8th would be a disaster now, 8th pays $22M. We're still looking up at 4th though, we're making up one of our extra matches against Exter in 3 days... win there and we're just 1 point back!

[RPI-Fan]

Gogogo Radii! Champions League and onwards! Love that you've taken to spending the whole load of your transfer budget each year.

Always love updates on your youth teams, etc.! Any thoughts on setting aside a few million each year to buy 5-6 real promising youth products (like you did with Chris Bryan way back when - a decision paying quite clear dividends now)?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

Always love updates on your youth teams, etc.! Any thoughts on setting aside a few million each year to buy 5-6 real promising youth products (like you did with Chris Bryan way back when - a decision paying quite clear dividends now)?

The last youth guy I bought before this season was a ST Eoin Darcy that I paid Shamrock Rovers $100,000 for. I barely mentioned it as the dynasty went on, I bought him in January, made a real brief mention and then he just showed up in july last season. I've mentioned him a few times since then, last year he scored 11 goals in 12 matches for Shrewsbury in L1. This year he scored 14 goals in 16 matches for Shrewsbury and is a huge reason that they have stayed up in the Championship, but he broke his leg and picked up a 6 month injury. I recalled him so my physios can treat him. Anyway after buying him for $100,000 less than 2 years ago, he's now valued at $7 Million and will not be getting loaned out again.

MC Craig Smith is obviously the big youth name right now. He came up through my youth academy, is my highest rated youth guy now and has ~10 matches for the senior team this year. He'll probably play 15 or so next year. He's progressed so much that I doubt he'll ever get loaned out. He's valued at $2.2M

ML David Ros also got a couple mentions earlier this year, a guy I bought for $950k from a second level Spanish side. His potential might not have warranted that big a purchase, but I wasn't training anyone at all at that position. He's got 11 matches for the U18 squad with 5 goals and an assist. He's only 16 so if he does make it he's young enough for full home grown status.

GK Rob Lines came up via the youth academy this year, he's also still 16. 19 matches played for the U18 squad, 14 shutouts but only a 6.76 rating. My scouts feel he's got potential to be better than Capitani. Long way to go to find that out though.


Right now I have 4 guys out on loan and 5 or 6 with "decent" potential or better being trained in my U18 squad. As I've gotten more guys with potential I have spent more time caring about that, but haven't written much about it. I'll spend a little more time when I do end of season wrapups reviewing player values/progress/age and such of the youth team. If we get a lucky youth pull or two next year plus a purchase or two we're actually fairly close to having a fully formed starting lineup of players with legitimate potential. That's taken quite a bit of work hah.


Once I spend my big money in July any money left over has been fair game for youth players if I stumble upon them. Perhaps next year I will allocate a little money more seriously and make sure i spend it in an effort to keep youth players rolling through.

[Radii]

-- Capitani, Clifford and Constantino are named to the EPL team of the week.

-- Blackburn destroys Newcastle 5:2 and its the last straw, Newcastle fire their manager after stumbling awfully this season. They are currently 16th and only 1 point ahead of Nottingham Forest in 18th. I'm named as a potential candidate and again I say nothing in the media, entirely to see if I get an offer, just curious what kind of offer it might be.

-- holy shit. So this is what we're competing against and this is the level I'm trying to take Ipswich to. I'm offered the Newcastle job. It would pay me $87,000/wk (I currently make $23,000/wk). Their transfer budget is more than twice what I got from Ipswich this year, $65 Million. Their wage budget is almost 4 times Ipswich at $3.5M/wk. Ours is $900,000/wk. I turn it down of course, but I wanted to see the numbers.

March 15th, 2023

Exeter(10-8-12, 12th) @ Ipswich(15-7-7, 7th)

Exeter promoted up last year and are playing way above expectations, they are perfectly safe. We are 4:5 favorites today though, they're 3:1 to get a win at Portman road. After they upset us in embarrassing fashion in the FA Cup Quarterfinals last year(4-0) we beat them 3-1 in the EPL season opener. We need 3 more points here today to keep our push for 4th going strong.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Welsh/O'Brien/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Donnelly/Mariga/Doran
F: Bendtner/Bryan

We play twice more on 3 days rest in the next week, so we need to work some magic here with the rotation. We do that today by cycling out our entire midfield and front line. Khan and Bryan got healthy just in time to make this work. Standard mindset to start. Its raining pretty hard here.

4': Highlights for the entire first four minutes, we get one on target shot from Mariga from long range, earn a corner and that's about it, otherwise lots of passing.

6': We have a free kick near midfield, passed ahead and we build up on offense. Donnelly tries a cross to the 6 yard box, they head it away but we recover, a pass out left to Adagsmar, a cross to the far post, Bryan is there and heads it into the net!! 1-0

11': We win it in defense, a ball up to Donnelly, a long ball for Bryan, their keeper rushes way out for it (25 yards away at least from net) but Bryan gets to the ball first, dribbles around the keeper and passes it into the open net!! 2-0

27': Doran is hurt, and forced to leave the match immediately. Neil Gordon comes in. I'll put Gordon at MR now and let Clive Jackson start there next.

28': Corner kick comes in, a header from o'Brien, just barely over.

HALF: We fly to the half after that. We shoot 9 times, 4 on target, though 6 are from long range. They only have 2 shots, we dominate possession (59/41) and are passing and heading better than them. Our tackling is shit which is rare (42%!). Odd how that hasn't hurt us at all.

52': Mariga a yellow.

56': They clear a ball from our penalty area but Kirkland is there to pick it up, immediately forward to Donnelly, immediately into the area for Neil Gordon and he finishes beautifully, a strike into the upper far corner of the net! 3-0

61': We intercept a ball as they try to build up, a long ball from Donnelly to Bryan, bryan gets a step on the defense and scores! 4-0

commentary only now.

74': We have a free kick from 28ish yards out, Gordon takes it.. and its struck perfectly into the upper right corner of the net, that's one of those "no one in the world stops that shot" moments. 5-0

85': Bendtner to Bryan for a trivial finish! 6-0

Ipswich 6 : 0 Exeter

NOW I feel like we have appropriate revenge for what Exeter did to us in the FA Cup last year.

Man of the Match: Chris Bryan (9.8)
Goals: Bryan 4, Gordon 2 (8.8)
Assists: Donnelly 2 (9.2), Bendtner (8.4), Adagsmar (8.6), Kirkland (8.8), one was unassisted.
Notables: Capitani (7.0), Heywood (8.3), O'Brien (7.9), Welsh (7.9), Mariga (8.0)

Injury Update

Aaron Doran is out for 4 weeks.

Current Standings:

1. Chelsea - 73 pts (8 left)
2. Arsenal - 62 pts (8 left)
3. Huddersfield - 60 pts (7 left)
4. Man City - 56 pts (7 left)
5. Man Utd - 56 pts (7 left)
6. Ipswich - 55 pts (8 left)
7. Tottenham - 55 pts (8 left)
8. West Brom - 48 pts (7 left)
9. Sheffield Utd - 42 pts (7 left)

We had the worst goal differential amongst the top 7 before this win. Now we are +4 better than Tottenham and +1 better than Man Utd, tied w/ Huddersfield and 2 behind Man City.

[Radii]

I was patching the league of legends client and chatting with a buddy while finishing up that last match. Really didn't give enough credit to Chris Bryan for a ridiculous 4 goal effort, woohoo!!

[Radii]

-- Hooray for Chelsea's success! they have a Champions League match coming up and it causes our match on the 21st to be postponed until April. That would have been our 4th match in 10 days. Instead we get a break after our upcoming match vs Birmingham.

-- Arsenal is playing Man City in the Euro Cup when we were scheduled to play the FA Cup Semifinal, so our match has been moved by a few days. The second leg of Arsenal vs Man City conflicts with us playing Man City... so lots of stuff moving around for us. I haven't really looked into April yet to see how this impacts us.

March 18th, 2023

Ipswich(16-7-7, 7th) @ Birmingham (8-5-18, 15th)

We're even money favorites on the road here, on short rest but I think we'll be strong after rotating a good number of players last match. We won 1:0 at home the last two times we played them (FA Cup/EPL match) this season.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Welsh/O'Brien/Jackson
M: Hughes/Donnelly/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Donnelly's suspension is over and he's back into the lineup right away. Khan/Constantino up front.

18': A letdown by our defense sees their best ST Konrad wide open in the area 15 yards out, Capitani makes a good stop on a clear cut chance with no defender anywheer nearby. O'Brien went too far out to defend and left a huge hole open.

21': Donnelly with a yellow.

29': O'Brien again, misses a tackle and allows ST Esquivel into the area, another wide open clear cut chance, and another stop by Capitani! They aren't shooting that well but still, nice stop.

40': Holy christ, O'Brien misses a tackle, Esquivel into the area, clear cut chance #3... and for the 3rd time they shoot right at Capitani and its a stop.

HALF: I open my halftime speech by cussing out Mark O'Brien and subbing in McKerr. They shoot 10 times, putting 5 on target. We have 3 shots, just 1 on target. We are tackling poorly as a team, not winning headers, they are above 70% in all areas, not even close to them. I bring Heywood in for Jackson too, he isn't playing the best either.

46': Khan beats his man and gets into the area, our first clear cut chance, but saved.

53': A slow building counter attack, buildup down the left, a ball to Khan 30 yards out, he lays it off to a charging Donnelly, Donnelly has a half step on his man, into the area, shoots far post, goal!! 1-0

85': Gordon with a free kick from 25 yards out, a strong shot going around the wall, but its just high.

88': Two crosses into the area for them over the last couple minutes, two headers way high.

91': Welsh with a yellow.

95': We try to take possession a few times here but we are just heading it back and forth, they end up firing a shot from 30+ yards out, its on target and Capitani has to turn it over for a corner. After we clear the corner the whistle finally blows

Birmingham 0 : 1 Ipswich

A solid road win! Three one-nil victories over Birmingham this year.

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (7.7)
Goal: Donnelly (7.6)
Assist: Khan
Notables: Capitani (7.3), Kirkland (7.6), Welsh (7.0), Hughes (7.0), Mills (7.1)



Big Jump Today!!

1. Chelsea - 73 pts (7 left)
2. Huddersfield - 63 pts (6 left)
3. Arsenal - 62 pts (8 left)
4. Ipswich - 58 pts (7 left)
5. Tottenham - 58 pts (7 left)
6. Man City - 56 pts (7 left)
7. Man Utd - 56 pts (7 left)
8. West Brom - 48 pts (6 left)
9. Sheffield Utd - 42 pts (7 left)

We win, Tottenham win, Man City/Man Utd didn't play. With that all four of us have the same number of matches played and we come out on top for 4th place. Also noteworthy, holy crap Huddersfield. I know Arsenal will bump back up to 2nd when they catch up in matches played, but Huddersfield have kinda overshadowed us here!

[Radii]

-- Thanks to rescheduling fun we don't play again until April.

-- Man Utd is upset by Liverpool, Man City ties Everton. Both of them are now 1 match ahead of us again yet still behind in points! We play Aston Villa next with a chance to actually put more than 3 points distance between those two teams.


WHOA. My players are being noticed. There's a small International Window here, a Euro Championship match, some U19/U21 stuff, etc. Seventeen players called up for international duty. 17!!

Spain U19: David Ros (my new youth ML)
England U19: MC Craig Smith, GK Rob Lines
England U21: ST Chris Bryan, DR Anthony Heywood

Italy: DC Aldrovandi
Denmark: ST Bendtner
Kenya: MC Mariga
Scotland: MC Donnelly, DC Welsh
England: DL Kirkland, MC Mills, MR Gordon, GK Capitani
Ireland: DC O'Brien, MC Clifford
N. Ireland: DR McKerr

Gordon and Capitani have never been called up before. This doesn't mean they'll play but its pretty exciting to see!


Fairly Disastrous Injury Update

-- No, not from the international matches... GK Michele Capitani stains his back in weight training, he's going to miss a month. He'll miss the FA Cup Semifinal and probably all of a critical stretch where we play Chelsea, Tottenham and Man City in a week's time.


-- Steven Mills is the only one of our guys that get to play for England, but he starts and earns a 7.0 rating in a 2:0 win over Liechtenstein before being subbed out 74 minutes in.

-- Carlos Aldrovandi plays 90 minutes and has third highest rating in the match on either side, a 7.2 in a 1:0 Italy win over Russia.

-- Many of our other players got time for some of the smaller nations around Europe as well. Conor Clifford scored for Ireland in a 3:0 win over Luxembourg.

April Update

-- We play on the 2nd, 9th, 19th, 22nd, 26th, and 29th. The 9th is the FA Cup Semifinal. Capitani was hurt on March 24th. 19th/22nd/26th is @Chelsea, @Tottenham, vs Man City. We'll see when Capitani makes it back, hopefully a little early!

-- Gordon Donnelly is the EPL Player of the Month! Thanks to a yellow card suspension he only played twice, putting up ratings of 9.2 and 7.6, scoring a goal and making 2 assists.

-- Adagsmar has the goal of the month. I mentioned it in the Southampton match, he avoided two slide tackles in the area and scores from close range with two defenders on the ground in his wake.

-- We go 3-1-0 in league play in March, jumping into 4th place, that is enough to earn me Manager of the Month!

-- The board is absolutely delighted with my leadership. Our league cup win is the highlight, our 1:0 loss to Nottingham Forest the lowlight.

-- We made $487,000 last month. Another month of profits, we are going to be in really good shape this offseason. I'm considering requesting an upgrade to our youth facilities.

April 2nd, 2023

Aston Villa (11-6-15, 12th) @ Ipswich(16-7-7, 4th)

Aston Villa have struggled a lot this year but finally pulled them out of the relegation zone and are safe, no chance at Europe though. They beat us 2:1 back in December at their place. We're 1-4-6 lifetime against them, the win was 4 years ago when we relegated out of the EPL in our first trip up. Aston Villa crushed Arsenal 3:0 last week, so they are not to be underestimated. They're 6:4 favorites, we're slim 13:8 dogs.

GK: Mason
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
M: Crespo/Donnelly/Mills/Gordon
F: Khan/Constantino

Mattle/Aldrovandi are back from injury/suspension. Crespo starts at ML. Mason starts at GK for the first time in a long time with Capitani injured.

Standard mindset today.

2': We win a ball in their end as they try to get off to a fast start, we push on offense, Donnelly with a great pass to Khan in the area, Khan is a little wide left, he makes a brilliant move to cut to the right and get by his man and into position to shoot, shoots far post, the keeper can't sotp it and its a goal! 1-0

8': We have a corner, they clear and counter attack hard, a long ball and long run down the left... a cross through the area, they have 3 men in the 6 yard box, Mason is helpless here, their star MC Fabian Delph puts it in. 1-1

10': We build up down the left, Crespo with a cross in from the left corner, Constantino has it at nearly point blank range and somehow hits the post... it bounds away but we recover, Donnelly passes to Constantino, he finds Khan open on the other side of the goal, a great pass and Khan makes the shot! 2-1

25': Aldrovandi with a yellow.

36': They only have 1 shot... we have 8, 5 on target, we seem to be in solid control here but thre's a long way to go.

HALF: They end up with 4 shots, 2 on target by the end of the half. We're still sitting on 8 shots. They control 58% of the possession today but we are keeping it far away from Chris Mason so far.

51': Mills a yellow.

64': we win a ball in defense, Jackson plays it long for Constantino, he has it 35 yards away and ahead of the defense... but they have a very fast defender who closes down before a shot can be taken, its tackled behind for a corner. We earn a second... then a third.. and they clear that one away.

67': They have a quick attack here after a free kick, their ST Valpoor has it a ways from the area... Aldrovandi comes out to defend, a midfielder fills the open space and Mattle doesn't cover well, a pass to Coutinho and he has a clear cut chance and scores. 2-2

80': Adagsmar in for Crespo, we attack.

84': Mattle a yellow.

88': A throwin, quick pass to Adagsmar, lays it off to Constantion, a quick shot from 15 yards out... but its saved. Corner goes nowhere.

89': Free kick for Gordon 25 yards away, off the wall. We control the rebound, but they intercept a pass and take it the other way.

Ipswich 2 : 2 Aston Villa

We could have done better, but not a bad performance today by any stretch.

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (8.8)
Goals: Khan 2
Assists: Constantino (7.9), Donnelly (8.3)
Notable: Kirkland 7.0

Aldrovandi gave up one of those goals with some real bad play, he drops to a 6.3 rating as a result. MAttle 6.5, everyone else 6.8-6.9. Mason a 6.8 today.

No one around us won it seems and we still sit in 4th.

1. Chelsea - 76 pts (6 left)
2. Arsenal - 65 pts (6 left)
3. Huddersfield - 63 pts (5 left)
4. Ipswich - 59 pts (6 left)
5. Tottenham - 59 pts (6 left)
6. Man City - 57 pts (5 left)
7. Man Utd - 57 pts (5 left)

Our schedule is about to get crazy tough, but matches against Tottenham and Man City give us every opportunity to make a strong claim on 4th place.

[bbgunn]

As a real-life Villa fan, I'm happy with the 2-2 draw there. Where are the Villians in the standings... er... table?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bbgunn

As a real-life Villa fan, I'm happy with the 2-2 draw there. Where are the Villians in the standings... er... table?

This year they're in 12th and have no shot at any sort of Continental play based on their league finish. That's a first over the course of this dynasty. They haven't made European play every year, far from it, but they've finished 8th or better all but one year of this dynasty.


In the 13 seasons I've run (not counting this one) Astona Villa's best finish is 3rd in the EPL, but, they've finished 3rd or 4th 5 different times to make the Champions League. They've finished 7th twice, and 6th once. They had an agonizing run starting in 2016 where they finished 8th four years in a row, just missing out on everything.

FA Cup: Made the finals in 11/12, still alive this year actually in the other semifinal, so despite the disappointments they make get back into Europe after all

Euro Cup: 5 appearances, always advancing to the knockout rounds. 2009 they made the Quarterfinals, 2011 they made the Semifinals

Champions League: Twice they've made the Quarterfinals, never better than that. This year they lost in an early qualifying playoff an failed to make the group stage.


I've always perceived them to be on a similar level as Newcastle... they aren't Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal or Man City, but they're sure good enough to consistently compete with those guys and occasionally bump one of them out of the Champions League.

[Radii]

-- Khan and Donnelly are named in the EPL team of the week

-- Championship side Reading upset Aston Villa to make the finals of the FA Cup! Surely Reading is rooting hard for Arsenal (a lock for the Champions League while we are not) against us so they could make the Euro Cup even if they finish 2nd.

April 9th, 2023

FA Cup Semifinal

Arsenal vs Ipswich - Wembley Stadium

Arsenal are 5:4 favorites today and we're 7:4 dogs. That's actually the same rate Huddersfield was favored over us in the League Cup Final. We are 2-1-8 lifetime against them, but in my last 3 seasons up in the EPL (including this one) we're 2-0-4 against them. We won 2:1 at home and lost 0:2 on the road earlier this season against them.

GK: Mason
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Jackson
DM: Clifford
M: Donnelly/Mills
AM: Adagsmar/Gordon
F: Constantino

I feel like I need to run a defensive midfielder today to offer a little more defensive protection for Chris Mason. Clifford is our best DMC, Adagsmar/Gordon move up to AM and Constantino plays up front by himself.

So far this year when I've felt the need to do something different its worked almost every time. So i'm trusting my gut here.

Arsenal have stars everywhere, Nooij and Bugra Yildirim start up front together, Fabregas and Aaron Ramsey at MC.

6': Well then. Neil Gordon is hurt, he is forced out of the match immediately. Clive Jackson moves to MR, Heywood comes in to play DR. Jackson cannot play AMR at all and we drop back to a 4-1-4-1.

11': Aldrovandi with a yellow.

13': Fabregas heads a shot just over on a corner. They have 2 off target shots, nothing for us.

22': They build up on offense, Adagsmar makes a really good tackle to win the ball for us, a ball played across midfield to Constantino, he makes a run down the left... the defender closest to him pulls back to the center of the area to prevent a cross as we have two players trailing... Constantino cuts inside, he attacks from the left, near the 6 yard box, tough angle... he shoots and blasts it by the keeper! 1-0 Great tackle by Adagsmar to get our offense going and incredible run by Constantino.

23': They attack from the kickoff, Nooij with a ball to Yildirim, he burns Mattle, shoots from 18 yards out and scores. Instant answer. 1-1

28': Nooij burns Aldrovandi and earns Arsenal's 2nd clear cut chance, its not a bad shot, but Mason is able to dive and make the save.

43': First highlight in awhile, Jackson makes a long run down the right, avoiding a tackle nicely, a cross is cleared but we recover, Consatntino with a pass to Jackson in the area after we set back up, but Jackson can't beat the keeper. Really wish I had Neil gordon shooting there :/

47': Clive Jackson is hurt, he can stay in but he's hurt kinda bad it appears.

HALF: They have 8 shots, 3 on target and earn 2 clear cut chances. 4 shots for us, 3 on target, no clear cut chances, Constantino's shot was not easy at all heh. We're passing as well as they are, tackling much better (78%/57%) and are winning more than our share of headers (60% to their 55%). Aldrovandi is singled out by my assistant for keeping them from completing crosses by himself basically. No changes at the half

57': They lob a pass into the right side of the area, Kirkland misses a header to clear, one of their midfielders recovers the ball and drills a shot near post by Mason. Kirkland takes the blame for that. 1-2

65': Bryan in for Donnelly, 4-4-2 now.

70': We build up on offense, Bryan ahead ot Constantino, he's in the area, brought down from behind and its a penalty! Their DC Pavol Hazucha is given a straight red card for a foul where he had no chance at the ball and was just trying to prevent a clear cut chance!! Constantino for the PK... but he just whiffs left, oh no!!

70': Up a man and down a goal we attack.

Arsenal don't let us attack, they are good at shutting the game down with the lead here.

Arsenal 2 : 1 Ipswich

We've missed penalties before, but nothing like this. Constantino with a penalty to tie the match with 20 minutes left and he just doesn't put it on target. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Goal: Constantino (7.0)
Assist: Adagsmar (6.9)

No one is above 7.0. Donnelly 6.1, Kirkland 6.1, Arsenal wasn't really reat either. 7.5 was man of the match with just 3 others over 7.0.


Injury Update

-- Clive Jackson is out for 3 weeks with a twisted ankle

-- Neil gordon has a broken wrist and is out 5-6 weeks. Aaron Doran is still out for a week and we have issues.


-- Arsenal will play Reading in the FA Cup Final.

[SirFozzie]

you are hereby forbidden from playing the FM12 demo (or indeed FM12) till this dynasty is over.



Great stuff, keep up the good work!

[Radii]

-- DR Heywood is hurt in training and will miss about a week. That'll force McKerr to DR against Chelsea.

-- Hooray for determined players and good Physios!!! Michele Capitani has resumed full training. He may not play against Chelsea but he'll be ready for our other two very difficult matches coming up.

-- Aaron Doran resumes full training. He can't play against Chelsea either but hopefully can play vs Man City and Tottenham. We're going to end up with a crappy formation that we've not used this year against Chelsea i think. can we just forfeit?


April 18th, 2023

Ipswich(17-8-7, 5th) @ Chelsea(23-7-3, 1st)

Chelsea have allowed 11 goals in 33 league matches, just ridiculous. We've dropped to 5th but with 2 less matches played than Huddersfield and Man Utd in 3rd and 4th. With Gordon and Jackson hurt and Doran just back in training, Capitani back in training, its really hard to imagine us winning here. Chelsea seems to often get complacent against us though and we have frequently played very well against them.

GK: Mason
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Jackson
DM: Clifford
M: Donnelly/Smith/Mills
F: Bryan

Chelsea's Sergio Canales has 12 goals in league play and is a contender for all kinds of player of hte year awards with 7 assists and a 7.18 rating. There are a lot better out there but I've seen his name mentioned a couple times. I guess just b/c he plays for Chelsea.

We are improvising today big time. 5 defenders, a DMC, 3 MC's and Chris Bryan up front. Craig Smith is one of the MC's today. Doran and Capitani will be back for our next match, basically we're doing this to not risk Doran b/c we don't have anyone else we can throw at MR at all.

We'll counterattack.

17': We haven't seen them all but Chelsea have earned SEVEN corners in the first 17 minutes...

22': Clifford a yellow

23': defender Kashalnakov a yellow for Chelsea

27': Mills a yellow.

HALF: Chelsea dominates the match, they have 75% of the possession, 8 shots, 83% passing, 11 corners, 8 free kicks, 8 throwins. We've shot 1 time. I don't know if we can earn a point with 25% of the possession over the course of 90 minutes, but so far we are withstanding their pressure with relative ease.

54': After a lot of passing around our penalty area, they get a shot from 18 yards out, its blocked by a defender and deflects to the right... off the right post and cleared. Whew.

65': They get a goal but after a super super obvious offsides.

67': donnelly a yellow.

77': Bryan a yellow.

86': After 20 minutes with no highlight they have a long range shot go wide.

91': Here a run down the left, cross in, Mason comes out and catches it.

93': They get a free kick out right, a cross comes in, we head it out, another cross... Mattle puts it behind for a corner. Aldrovandi wins the header on the corner, out for a throw. They generate a shot after the throwin, struck well out near the left corner of the penalty area, but Mason easily blocks it.

That's it! I don't think I've ever turtled that hard in a match before, but it worked out and I feel it was completely the right thing to do today.

Chelsea 0 : 0 Ipswich

One of their defenders is somehow man of the match. How Id on't know, their defenders could have counted blades of grass for 90 minutes and not missed anything. They control 70% of the possession, shoot 18 times, but only put 4 on target. 9 shots are blocked. We shoot twice, one on target. I didn't see either of our shots in highlights I don't think.

Notables: Mason (7.2), McKerr (7.2), Kirkland (7.5), Aldrovandi (7.2), Mattle (7.3), Mills (7.0)


We're getting pretty close to the end here and we're right in the middle of everything:

1. Chelsea - 77 pts - 4 to go
2. Arsenal - 65 pts - 6 to go
3. Huddersfield - 64 pts - 4 to go
4. Man Utd - 60 pts - 4 to go
5. Ipswich - 60 pts - 5 to go
6. Tottenham - 59 pts - 5 to go
7. Man City - 57 pts - 5 to go

The bottom of the table is fascinating too with some big names:

15. Nottingham Forest - 33 pts
16. Blackburn - 33 pts
17. Newcastle - 33 pts
----------------------
18. birmingham - 32 pts
19. West Ham - 26 pts
20. Watford - 23 pts

All of the bottom teams have 4 matches left. Newcastle's goal differential is the worst out of all of those teams with 32/33 points, so they seriously could relegate if Birmingham can find a win. West Ham has been in the EPL since the 05/06 season and are going to fall. Birmingham have been in the EPL since the 09/10 season and finished 8th two years ago and 10th last year. Newcastle made the champions league once and the Euro Cup 8 times in the last 10 years. They finished 6th last year.


Ok, back to the top of the table. We have 5 matches left to play. @Tottenham, vs Man City, @ Liverpool, vs West Ham, @ Huddersfield.

On one hand, that's a bitch of a schedule to finish with. On the other hand, we get to play 3 of the teams in heavy competition for the Champions League so we completely control our own destiny. We travel to Tottenham in 3 days. No 5-1-3-1 formation there.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

you are hereby forbidden from playing the FM12 demo (or indeed FM12) till this dynasty is over.



Great stuff, keep up the good work!

Thanks! And no worries, I'm so attached to this career, I have to see it through to some logical conclusion, whether that conclusion is winning the EPL, winning the Champions League, Constantino's retirement (I can't imagine shutting this down as long as he's still productive).

I do want FM12 since I skipped last year, but I'm in no hurry

[Radii]

April 22md, 2023

Ipswich(17-9-7, 5th) @ Tottenham(16-11-6, 6th)

Tottenham are 5:4 favorites at home today, we're 7:4 to win. Tottenham is one of the few teams we've just found no success against. We tied them 0:0 at home earlier this year, but we're 0-2-7 lifetime against them, scoring 3 and allowing 15 in those 9 matches. Shit maybe we should turtle it up again for a point. But no, I put a normal lineup out there and insist stubbornly that we can get a breakthrough against them.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Donnelly/Mills
F: Bendtner/Constantino

ST Emmanual Mangan has 15 goals for Tottenham, Jan Molnar has 11. Molnar had been their unquestioned star the last few years, Mangan was a huge purchase from Benfica that has made a major impact. Bendtner/Constantino up front today. Constantino and Doran both start for the first time since their injuries.

7': They earn a shot that somehow isn't a clear cut chance, a pass into the left side of the area, leading to a shot that just hits the left post, i thought they were gonna score there, whew.

36': 30 minutes without a highlight, we attack but Crespo has it tackled away nearing the penalty area, they counter and a rocket of a shot from 20 yards out is saved after a quick set of passes.

41': Molnar gets by Mattle and they have their first clear cut chance of the match, and again, the post saves the day. He blasts it from a step or two inside the area but its off the right post and away to safety.

42': Kirkland a yellow.

HALF: scoreless but Tottenham clearly in control. Crespo has a 6.1 rating and seems to struggle a lot. I decide to bring Hughes in there, he's our best tackling/marking wide midfielder, maybe that will help slow their buildup and pressure in a few spots. They shoot 7 times and only put 1 on target. They hit the woodwork twice, both very scary moments. We shoot two times, once on target. I don't remember seeing either, maybe I did though.

55': defender Castillo a yellow. That's a foul near the box, Hughes with a free kick from 19 yards or so... but he sends it wide.

56': Its Donnelly's daily yellow card.

58': They earn a corner, its taken low into the 6 yard box and its another really scary moment, it seems like 5 or 6 of our guys and two of theirs are competing for a loose ball... we clear after just a second or two but it seems like hours.

60': A couple nice attacking moves for Ipswich finally, nice passing between Constantino and Bendtner but they tackle before Bendtner can shoot. Moments later Bendtner puts a nice through ball in but Constantino is offside.

.. another long stretch with no highlights.

93': We have a very late free kick out wide near midfield, a long cross into the area, headed back for a corner. Hughes takes the corner, they clear right away and time is called. Two straight 0:0 results against very tough opponents on the road. I'm ok with that.

Tottenham 0 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Stuart Kirkland (7.3)
Notables: Heywood (7.1), Aldrovandi (7.0), Hughes (7.0)

Hughes was a good halftime sub it would seem. a couple tackles, 3 key headers won, good stuff.


Man U and Huddersfield were off today and for at least a brief moment all the 3rd/4th place contenders are equal in matches played:

1. Chelsea - 78 pts - 3 to go
2. Arsenal - 65 pts - 6 to go
3. Huddersfield - 64 pts - 4 to go
4. Ipswich - 61 pts - 4 to go
5. Man City - 60 pts - 4 to go
6. Man Utd - 60 pts - 4 to go
7. Tottenham - 60 pts - 4 to go

If we assume that Arsenal wins their extra games, then there's 5 teams fighting for 2 spots in the Champions League. Two draws against these teams have served us very well. Next up, Man City in another crazy critical match.

Also, it doesn't impact us since we won the league cup, but since Arsenal will finish top 4, Reading in the Championship has locked up a Euro Cup spot. that means whichever team finishes 7th is screwed and won't make Europe based on league finish.

Bottm update:

15. Nottingham Forest - 33 pts - 3 to go
16. birmingham - 33 pts - 3 to go
17. Blackburn - 33 pts - 3 to go
----------------------
18. Newcastle - 33 pts - 4 to go

Newcastle has the day off while Birmingham gets a draw. 4 teams tied, the worst goal differential is Newcastle (-18, blackburn -17, Birmingham -15, Nottm Forest -13).

[Radii]

-- Man Utd and Huddersfield draw 1:1 a couple days before our Man City match.

Injury Update

-- Steven Mills is hurt in training. We have the option for a shot to help him get through the next match. Either way he's out for the season after that, so I choose to go ahead and give him the shot so he can play vs Man City. Except he doesn't want to risk injuring himself more and he refuses. that's fine.

April 26th, 2023

Man City(17-9-8, 6th) @ Ipswich(17-10-7, 5th)

We are actually big favorites for this one, even money to win at home today. They killed us 3:0 at their house earlier in the year and we're 2-3-8 lifetime against them. Their star ST Jeroen Mihci scored a hat trick against us in that one.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Crespo/Clifford/Smith/Doran
F: Khan/Bryan

Their man Mihci is one of the favorites for England Footballer of the Year (constantino is up there too, he hasn't been crazy dominant lately but don't forget his hot start that got us off on this run in the first place). Mihci is 21 y/o, he's got 19 goals in 30 league matches. 5 more in cup play in England, 7 more in Europe and oh yeah 3 for the Dutch in Euro Championship qualifiers.

We start Craig Smith in the midfield along with Clifford, this may be the most important match I've decided to use him in. Khan/Bryan up front.

Man City run a 4-1-3-2, very defensively formed but their two strikers are so so good up front.

Standard mindset with a high defensive line today.

4': We work it around on offense, Bryan receives a pass in the area but has to cut out wide, he passes in to Smith who blasts a shot on target, but its saved. corner goes nowhere.

14': We earn a corner and have all the advantage early, corner is cleared though. We have 4 early shots to their 0.

21': They attack, ST Lukaku has it at the edge of the box, steps by Aldrovandi, shoots.. Capitani dives and saves barely. We clear the corner.

34': A run down the right for Doran, cross to the far side of the area, Bryan wins his header... its off the post, close!

HALF: Another scoreless half. We shoot 7 times putting 4 on target. They end up with 5 shots but only 1 on target and 3 from long range. We controlled the first 20 minutes or so, it was back and forth a lot after that. Crespo is off to a slow start again today and I bring Adagsmar in instead of letting him try to play through it. Khan is struggling too, 5.7 for him. Everyone else is fine. I tell Khan to pick it up and leave him in though.

52': They open the highlight trying to attack, we win a ball but send it right back to them, a quick pass forward, long ball to ST Lukaku who is behind Mattle... Lukaku with a clear cut chance and he finishes well. 0-1

58': We'll attack.

74': Clifford makes a brilliant tackle in their half of the field, a quick pass to Bryan, he could try to advance on the keeper but instead pulls it out wide, passes back to Heywood, he crosses into the 6 yard box, Clifford is there all alone... a clear cut chance and he doesn't miss this header, goal! 1-1

74': I want a win, lets attack still.

82': Donnelly in for Smith, Constantino in for Khan.

88': We win a ball in our end and attack, a ball ahead from Clifford to Bryan, he has some room but they are going to close down quickly, Bryan pulls up to shoot from about 23ish yards out, he beats the keeper but his shot is high.

91': We build up down the right, a pass from Donnelly to Constantino and he's got some room, their keeper comes off his line very very aggressively and it works out, he cuts off any angle for constantino, a shot from 15 yards out is blocked and its a corner, there was no one to really pass to.

That's it.

Ipswich 1 : 1 Man City

Their keeper is man of the match. We should have won this I think.

Goal: Clifford (7.8)
Assist: Heywood (8.1)
Notables: Kirkland (7.2)

Its our 3rd straight draw against a top 7 opponent. Not bad, but coming away with a win would have put us in so much stronger a position.

Update after just a couple matches:

1. Chelsea - 78 pts - 3 to go
2. Arsenal - 68 pts - 5 to go
3. Huddersfield - 65 pts - 3 to go
4. Ipswich - 62 pts - 3 to go
5. Man City - 61 pts - 3 to go
6. Man Utd - 61 pts - 3 to go
7. Tottenham - 60 pts - 4 to go

The biggest thing to note here, tottenham now have a game in hand on all of us and are just 2 points behind. Their next two matches make our previous three look easy... they play Chelsea on the 30th and Arsenal on the 3rd of May. Go Chelsea!

Bottm update:


15. Newcastle - 34 pts - 3 to go
16. Nottingham Forest - 33 pts - 3 to go
17. birmingham - 33 pts - 3 to go
----------------------
18. Blackburn - 33 pts - 3 to go

Newcastle with a draw to get a point ahead, Blackburn now sits ready to relegate down.

[Radii]

April 29th, 2023

Ipswich(17-11-7, 4th) @ Liverpool(13-6-15, 11th)

Liverpool are where Ipswich was last year, nothing to play for but hoping to make the top 10. They are 5:4 favorites at their house today. We're 3-2-5 lifetime against them and destroyed them 4:1 back in December with 4 different players scoring for us.

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Welsh/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Clifford/Smith/Donnelly
F: Bendtner/Constantino

Too much short rest for Doran so we have to get creative again. Flat 5-3-2 today, Clifford/Donnelly/Mariga in the midfield and Bendtner/Constantino up front. We will try to counterattack.

4': Their first shot on target is a rocket from 25 yard, Capitani saves, Kirkland puts the rebound behind for a corner. We give up a second corner. Kirkland clears that one.

16': Our first shot of the match here, after struggling to keep possession in the midfield, a pass goes ahead to Bendtner, he beats a defender, gets into the area, at a slightly tough angle a little wide left, its a clear cut chance... but the keeper dives and saves it. A great individual effort by our aging striker! They clear it away.

27': Free kick 40 yards out, passed to Kirkland and he shoots from 25 yards, not usual for him, but its a decent look and just wide.

35': they take their 10th shot here but just 2 on target so far this match.

38': A run down the right for them, a cross, they go up for a header, Aldrovandi commits a foul, its a penalty for Liverpool. ST Bailey takes it and scores. 0-1

HALF: They are in complete control here, possession is even but they have generated 12 shots, just 3 on target so far but only 4 from long range, they're getting in close for these shots. We have 3 shots, 1 on target only. I decide to open the half attacking.

51': Slow buildup for us, a pass to Constantino, he does all the work himself, beating a man and getting into the area but as he tries to beat the keeper he shoots wide.

61': A counterattack after we win it in defense, a ball to the midfield for Constantino, he charges down the right side, plays a cross into the area, Bendtner wins the header... but right at the keeper and he holds it.

67': Smith in for a tired Mariga.

71': Bryan in for a tired Bendtner.

80': A run down the left for Bryan, their defense is set though, a cross in, Constantino wins a header about 10 yards out... it floats over the keeper... but hits the crossbar.

89': We counter after wining a ball in our half, Aldrovandi heads it up to Donnelly, Donnelly a pass to Bryan, back to Donnelly, back to Bryan, they've worked their way up the field this way, Bryan pulls up from 20+ yards out, 23ish probably, he shoots... its in!! Its shot high and to the right and its in the upper right corner of the net, a great goal!!! 1-1

That's it, we escape here with a point.

Liverpool 1 : 1 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Constantino (7.9)
Goal: Bryan (7.2)
Assist: Donnelly (6.9)
Notables: Kirkland (7.0)

Not a great performance for us, Constantino with 15 runs today and he won way more headers than he usually would, he played hard but just wasn't part of the score.

Aldrovandi with a 5.4 and giving up the penalty for their only goal, one of his worst performances in a very long time, he's so reliable.


Man Utd and Man City both have easier matches than Ipswich today, they both get wins and we drop a bit for the first time in awhile.

1. Chelsea - 78 pts - 3 to go
2. Arsenal - 68 pts - 5 to go
3. Huddersfield - 68 pts - 2 to go
4. Man Utd - 64 pts - 2 to go
5. Man City - 64 pts - 2 to go
6. Ipswich - 63 pts - 2 to go
7. Tottenham - 60 pts - 4 to go

Tottenham still have matches in hand and could shoot into 4th, but remember they're against Chelsea and Arsenal next. Man U and Man City both take a 1 point lead over me. Next up we play a West Ham team that needs 6 points in their final 2 matches not to relegate. We need 3 points against a bad team to give us a shot at 4th though. Man Utd play Exeter and Watford and Huddersfield have pulled ahead by a bit. Its very very possible that Man Utd close out the year with 2 wins and lock 4th down. We just have to beat West Ham and see where we stand.

[Alf]

Go get that 4th place !

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Alf

Go get that 4th place !

I hate getting 4 draws out of that last stretch, seems like we needed a win in one of them. But with all three MR's hurt at the start of that stretch and MR being one of the spots I don't even have a warm body for in my youth program I kinda feel like we did as good as possible. I should be able to wrap up the season tonight, maybe we'll beat West Ham and get some help still!

[Radii]

-- Chelsea beats Tottenham 1:0, hooray. Arsenal beats Tottenham 2:1 a few days later.

-- Chelsea have clinched the English Premier Division. It seemed a foregone conclusion at the midway point, Arsenal made them work for it but Chelsea come through in the end.

May Update

-- We host West Ham on the 6th and travel to Huddersfield on the 14th. Mathematically the worst we can finish now is 7th so we're guaranteed $23.8M prize money. Every spot up is worth about $1.7M more. Mathematically we could still finish 2nd but that seems ridiculously unlikely.

-- Three of our youngsters get good training reports. GK Rob Lines is the most promising of the 3, his Handling (16) and Concentration (13) have improved recently. ST Kyle McGlashan only has "decent potential" and is 17 already. His finishing (16) went up and that's great. He just has too many holes, I'd be stunned if he ever plays for me. DL Liam Ormerod improves his Heading (9), Passing (7), and Tackling (12) and Anticpation (7) recently. He's played well for the U18s and reserves. He has "useful" 2* potential and right now that's enough to earn a roster spot as a backup but hopefully by the time he's a bit older it won't be. Most likely he ends up a good player int he Chamipionship.

-- DR Anthony Heywood is #3 in young player of the month voting. 7.1, 8.1 and 6.8 in 3 league matches including an assist. He's really about on the same level as Clive Jackson back there I think.

-- The board is Absolutely Delighted with my leadership. Our League Cup win is the highlight and there are no complaints.

-- We made $615k in profit last month. That's outstanding, I thought March and April would see us bleeding money away again, instead we're sitting with only a $6.2M loss on the season and we're about to make $20M in prize money. We've done it entirely at the gate. Last year we made $17.8M in gate receipts. This year $32.5M. Bigger Stadium, two trips to Wembley, huge Cup Success, lots of FA Cup Replays, its all added up.

Injury Update

-- Bad news as Stuart Kirkland has a strained knee ligament and he's going to miss 6-7 weeks. He's done for the year, Jack Hughes takes over.

May 6th, 2023

West Ham(8-3-25, 20th) @ Ipswich(17-12-7, 6th)

West Ham have now clinched relegation. That's good, they no longer have anything to play for. We're 4:7 favorites at home today, they're 4:1 to get a win. We're 2-4-5 lifetime against them, we beat them 3:0 in a league cup match and tied them 2:2 in league play so far this year. Scoring goals against them has not been an issue.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Donnelly/Doran
F: Khan/Constantino

Hughes takes over at DL. Doran is ready today so back to a normal 4-4-2 and will attack them today.

11': Early attacks by both teams, they have a guy get behind the defense but Capitani makes a good save. We have a shot from doran hit the underside of the crossbar and bounce just back into play.

16': Doran a yellow.

18': Donnelly with a pass to Khan just behind the defense, but they don't react well to it and Khan gets to it and strikes it with his first touch into the left side of the net! 1-0

41': We have a donnelly->constantino goal called back due to an offsides, it was damn close though, shocked Donnelly didn't pick up his daily yellow bitching about it.

HALF: That went quickly after we scored. We have a couple ugly clearances that give me a couple scary moments but its all good so far. We have 6 shots, 4 on target. They have 4 shots, just 2 on target. Both teams are passing and tackling well, we are not winning our headers on the offensive end.

51': We have a throwin in their end, passed to Clifford, ahead to Adagsmar, he turns and shoots from 18+ yards out and blasts it by the keeper and in!! That was quick and a nice surprise goal for him. 2-0

60': A counter attack for us, Donnelly ahead to Constantino, he's got a clear cut chance as the DC tries to close down but he split their defenders and neither covered... keeper rushes out, he shoots... off the left post.

71': Donnelly to Khan for a trivially easy goal, they were a bit out of position after trying a clearance and having it go bad. 3-0

77': Buildup down the right, we quickly reverse field, a pass to Clifford, ahead to Adagsmar, a great finish for him with a defender nearby!! [b]4-0[b]

Easy enough!

Ipswich 4 : 0 West Ham

We never let up in case goal differential matters, as all the teams crowded together are relatively close.

Man of the Match: Matthew Khan (9.2)
Goals: Khan 2, Adagsmar 2 (8.8)
Assists: Donnelly 2 (9.0), Clifford 2 (8.2)
Notables: Capitani (7.3), Heywood (7.8), Hughes (7.6), Mattle (7.6), Aldrovandi (7.8), Doran (7.0), Constantino (7.3)

That's the entire lineup.


Birmingham beat Man City today and give us the edge over them. Man Utd beats Exeter and Huddersfield draws with Everton. The Huddersfield draw gives us our opening, if they'd won we would not control our own destiny, but now we do.

1. Chelsea - 84 pts
2. Arsenal - 74 pts
3. Huddersfield - 69 pts
4. Man Utd - 67 pts
5. Ipswich - 66 pts
6. Man City - 64 pts
7. Tottenham - 61 pts

Huddersfield 69, Man Utd 67, Ipswich 66.
Huddersfield +25, Man Utd +31, Ipswich +30

We travel to Huddersfield for our final match. Man Utd travels to #19 Watford for their final match.

Two out of us three will make the Champions League along with Chelsea and Arsenal, and most awesomely, since Ipswich plays Huddersfield, a win clinches the Champions league for any of the 3 of us.

If we beat Huddersfield we will tie them in points and win on goal differential.
If Man U wins their match they don't care what happens between Huddersfield/Ipswich.

If we draw with Huddersfield we could advance if Watford were to beat Man Utd.

Most simply, win and we make the Champions League. Dont win and almost certainly we won't make it.

[Tellistto]

Come on Ipswich!

Tell

[Radii]

-- Had to take a break to listen to Bryan Cranston on Mark Maron's podcast. If there's one thing I'm more addicted to than this, its Breaking Bad. WHY ISNT IT SUNDAY YET, gah. Anyway!

May 13th, 2023

Ipswich(18-12-7, 5th) @ Huddersfield(20-9-8, 3rd)

Win and we make the champions league. Man Utd plays at the same time as us so we can monitor their match in case a draw could benefit us, but we go into this expecting that we have to win on the road today.

Huddersfield are 5:4 favorites today, we're 7:4 to win. We're 9-5-8 lifetime against them. Going into this year we'd done really well against Huddersfield recently. We started this year losing at home to them 2:0, that's a big concern of course. And then in February we played an epic 1:1 draw over 120 minutes and beat them in penalties to win the league cup. With that backdrop, we meet again where the winner qualifies for the Champions League and the loser watches Man U to see their fate. Huddersfield have the advantage of being able to play for a draw too.

GK: Capitani
D: Hughes/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Adagsmar/Clifford/Donnelly/Doran
F: Khan/Constantino

I actually agonize quite a bit over who to start, especially at striker. Bryan had a very explosive period but he's cooled slightly. Could I actually consider benching Constantino for Bryan? That idea disappears quickly, no, no benching Constantino. Could I run Bryan/Constantino? I think no again. I've had my most success by playing Bendtner/Khan in my advanced forward role and Bryan/Constantino in the poacher role, which is why I haven't played Bryan/Constantino together often since December or so. So then, khan or Bendtner? A case can be made for Bendtner for his experience in stressful matches, but he's aging and fading and Khan is better right now. And tipping the scales past that, Khan had a spectacular match against West Ham, and I can motivate him to go out and repeat that with a chance that it'll give him a boost. All of that to end up not making any changes from what I ran last match.

Clive Jackson is healthy but Heywood has played great lately so I leave him in. Jackson or Doran in the midfield? Doran's morale is slightly better right now, Doran. Adagsmar was too good last match, he starts over Crespo. Ok, literally same full lineup as our last match, gogogo.

We start counterattacking with a higher defensive line. Extended highlights too. It's absolutely pouring today. The field looks a little messy too especially the penalty areas.

4': they have a free kick and earn a corner off it early. We clear the corner and counter but they win the ball before Khan can cross it into the area.

14': This is their 3rd highlight taking a free kick from 30 yards or closer. A corner here, Capitani comes out and catches the cross.

20': We've got 9 fouls already, I change our tactics to be a little more cautious going for tackles at the recommenation of my assistant.

22': We pass it around the midfield forever, finally slowly moving ahead, Clifford shoots from 25 yards, its the first on target shot all match but saved. We get a corner, Mattle commits a foul on the corner, their ball.

24': Man Utd take a 1-0 lead on Watford.

27': Their ST Platas shoots from 25 yards out, Capitani stops it but there's a rebound, their other striker Ghiselini (spelled wrong maybe) gets to the rebound first, its the first clear cut chance of the match... but right at Capitani and he stops it.

34': We attack. We have to win and it might be hard to score here, we need to start pressuring more, counter attacking likely leads to a draw if we do it all match.

HALF: They shoot 10 times, putting 2 on target, settling for 6 from long range so that's good. We only find 4 shots and all 4 are from long range. Its another day where the weather seems to be slowing everyone down just a little. Khan, Doran and Hughes all not doing the best, I try to get them motivated but am prepared to pull any/all of them if needed.

48': Heywood near midfield, lobs a ball down the right side, Constantino is first to it, he's into the area but they are crowded in there too, he tries a shot from a near 90 degree angle, the keeper can't hold it, but they have two defenders back to head it away before Khan can get to it.

53': they have a throwin, a centering pass and then a ball ahead to Platas, he's by Aldrovandi and has a clear cut chance, Capitani comes out to try to cut off the angle, and he gets a hand to the shot and turns it away. We clear the corner.

61': Bryan in for Khan. Bendtner not available and Khan isn't picking it up at all.

69': Aldrovandi with a yellow.

69': Watford has tied Man Utd.

77': Jackson in for Doran.

86': We get desparate as time ticks off quickly, overload and stuff.

89': 3 minutes of added time.

90': Throwin deep in their end. After a couple headers thoug Constantino is stuck offside on a cross.

93': Heywood with a long ball ahead to Constantino, if it wasn't raining so damn hard I think he'd take off into the area and score here, but everything is moving in slow motion today. He ends up having to cut out wide to the right, tries a cross into the area, but they head it out.

That's it, we just don't have a goal in us here.

Huddersfield 0 : 0 Ipswich

Man of the Match: Michele Capitani (7.5)
Notables: Heywood (7.1), Hughes (7.3), Aldrovandi (7.2)

Khan left with a 5.8 rating today. All of the midfield/offense otherwise 6.8s-6.9.


Man Utd tie Watford and we finish with our best finish ever, agonizingly close to the Champions League but with the opportunity to do something great in the Euro Cup still next year.


Looking at Relegation, tottenham played Birmingham and West Ham played nottingham Forest on the last day of the season. birmingham and Nottingham Forest went into the final day with the same number of points. Birmingham had 36 goals for, 50 against. Nottingham Forest had 36 goals for, 50 against. On the final day of the season West Ham beat Nottingham forest 2:1, but tottenham beat Birmingham 5:1. Birmingham is relegated to the Championship on goal differential.


We end up tied for 5th with Man City but have a better goal differential.

Ipswich have been given $27,234,000 for their final position in the English Premier Division

Ipswich have qualified for the 2023 Euro Cup -- already knew that, but an additional mention for qualifying via a second method, 5th place finish.

-- We pay out $1.4M to be shared amongst the squad for our 5th place finish.

[Radii]

[Radii]

[Radii]

Those stats are "Overall", so they include league matches and cup matches. The most striking thing to me is how ridiculously high on the list Craig Smith is. He's the only player I coddled any, and he deserved it, he just turned 18 last year, but still, even against some easier competition he was brilliant.


Using the screenshot I'm not going to do the tables so I don't have to type in all those stats again, but I will review the squad position by position looking at age/salary to get a feel for where we stand.

[Radii]

Ok so lets do a table but instead look at some stuff I rarely get out there in a coherant fashion, player values, contract durations and things like that.

Expiry is 6/30 on the year mentioned. Its currently May 2023, so anyone listed 2023 is expiring this year.

Instead of being sorted by rating this is sorted by my opinion of them in senior team depth chart.

Goalkeepers

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Michele Capitani	28	$26500	$5.25M	2024	7.1
Chris Mason	21	$12000	$2.3M	2025	6.92
Michael Rogers	20	$10000	$2.3M	2025	----
Rob Lines	16	$90	$375K	2024	----
Jamie Schulz	16	$90	$14K	2024	----

Capitani is the man indefinitely. Mason has never been unhappy being a backup. Rogers was on loan at Shrewsbury last year and I need to figure out what I want to do with him. Lines is extremely promising, his potential is still rated as highly as Capitani's, higher by some of my coaches. Schulz will be sold or loaned out to a lower league team.

Left Defender

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Stuart Kirkland	23	$46000	$9.5M	2026	7.26
Jack Hughes	22	$20500	$6.25M	2025	6.92
Anthony Heywood	21	$26500	$6.25M	2024	7.07
Liam Omerod	17	$150	$130K	2025	----

Kirkland remains one of the best and most reliable players on the team. Hughes is going to settle in as his backup more than anything else. Heywood is the primary backup at DR but can also play here. Omerod has 2* potential, he put up a 6.97 rating in the U18 league. My expectations for him are low but without a better prospect at DL there is no reason to stop training him.

Central Defender

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Carlos Aldrovandi	27	$88000	$10.75M	2026	6.99
Otmar Mattle	26	$53000	$7.25M	2025	6.89
James Welsh	27	$31500	$5M	2026	6.86
Mark O'Brien	30	$65000	$3.6M	2024	6.72
Sam Barnett	18	$160	$450K	2024	----

Aldrovandi was very reliable, I'm actually surprised his rating is under 7 this year. He had a couple poor matches but he reliably put up better ratings than the other three. Similarly, O'Brien was noticibly worse than the other three. I'm surprised his average rating is as close to the otheres. I would have guessed Aldrovandi 7.15 and O'Brien 6.5. I'm happy with this though in general, its a huge step up from previous seasons. Mattle is unhappy so we'll see how that plays out in the offseason.

Barnett is on loan at Brighton, he has a 6.73 rating in 29 matches in league 1. He's similar to Omerod at DL, he's.. ok... i guess.


Right Defender

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Clive Jackson	23	$26500	$5.5M	2026	6.91
Anthony Heywood	21	$26500	$6.25M	2024	7.07
Michael McKerr	33	$10000	$975K	2024	6.98

Heywood has actually out-developed Jackson now. Heywood will go into next year as my starter. McKerr is almost done, and there is no youth outlook at all here. Early in the year I was looking to potentially upgrade this position, but Heywood is turning into something solid, if I find a world class player to put here I of course will, but Heywood is becoming a really solid option.

[Radii]

Left Midfielder

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Juan Pablo Crespo	22	$22000	$4.1M	2026	6.73
Adagsmar	28	$35000	$6.25M	2025	7.11
Jack Hughes	22	$20500	$6.25M	2025	6.92
David Ros	17	$5500	$950K	2026	0

I have Hughes listed at DL and here, clearly the #3 option here though. Crespo ended up the starter by default here after a hot start, he and Adagsmar may well rotation pretty evenly next year.

David Ros scored 10 goals in 19 matches after he came to us in January for the U18's. I bought Ros with my scouts telling me he had 2* or 2 1/2* potential. But right now he's been upgraded by everyone, he's viewed as a very solid 3* to 3 1/2* player, a guy who could definitely play in the EPL if he fills out.

Central Midfielder

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Gordon Donnelly	28	$52000	$8.25M	2025	7.36
Steven Mills	25	$97000	$8.75M	2024	7.03
Conor Clifford	31	$31500	$3.3M	2024	6.96
McDonald Mariga	36	$15250	$95K	2023	6.92
Craig Smith	18	$1800	$2.4M	2025	7.32

Donnelly wants out, Mariga is not coming back, and Mills has occasionally been shaky when teams go after him. I love these guys but there is uncertainty. Craig Smith is a major up and comer and will be my #4 MC next year most likely, higher if he keeps playing as well as he did this year! I dont want to stress him and risk him at a young age though, I'll use him to make sure Mills is rested for Europe or the top teams, etc.

Right Midfielder

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Neil Gordon	27	$47500	$10M	2025	7.03
Aaron Doran	32	$24500	$475K	2023	6.97

Doran was ok this year but he'll be gone

Forwards

Name	Age	$/Wk	Value	Contract Expiry	Rating
Constantino	28	$47500	$10.25M	2024	7.46
Matthew Khan	28	$47500	$10M	2025	7.17
Chris Bryan	20	$8250	$6M	2024	7.18
Nicklas Bendtner	35	$33000	$160K	2023	7.17
Eoin Darcy	19	$1800	$5.75M	2024	0
Rob Kershaw	20	$400.00	$5.5M	2024	0
Kyle McGlashen	17	$150	$110K	2026	0

Bendtner was really good for me this year but he's falling apart, its time for him to retire. Constantino and Khan are both solid and Constantino is obviously unbelievably explosive at times. Bryan is proving he can do it at this level and I'm hopeful that Darcy will prove the same thing next year. Kershaw scored 20 goals for Shrewsbury in the Championship this year, we need to give him a shot too. McGlashen has 1 1/2* potential and isn't going anywhere most likely, but we have so much exciting happening here.

[Radii]

Ipswich 2022/23 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
2019/20 - Championship - 1st - 32 W - 7 D - 7 L - 121 for - 54 ag - 103 pts
2020/21 - Premier League - 6th - 18 W - 11 D - 9 L - 71 for - 53 ag - 65 pts
2021/22 - Premier League - 12th - 12 W - 11 D - 15 L - 36 for - 48 ag - 47 pts
2022/23 - Premier League - 5th - 18 W - 13 D - 7 L - 66 for - 36 ag - 67 pts

This year:

Top Goalscorer - Constantino - 34 goals
Top League Goalscorer - Constantino - 23 goals
Most Assists - Gordon Donnelly - 16 assists
Highest Average Rating - Constantino - 7.46
Most Man of the Match - Constantino - 11

2 years ago we exploded back into the EPL with a wild attacking approach and a weak defense, scoring 71 goals but allowing 53, lots of 3:2 wins, etc. Last year we score 36 and allow 48. The offense just never got it. This year we really put it together with an offense capable of lots of goals scoring 66 goals, and the defense finally got there, allowing 36. A much, much stronger year.

[Radii]

2022-23 Premier Division Stats

Goals

1. Constantino - Ipswich - 23
2. Hans Nooij - Arsenal - 21
3. Jeroen Mihci - Man City - 19
4. Ibai Platas - Huddersfield - 18
5. Emmanuel Mangan - Tottenham - 18

Bendtner and Bryan both scored 9 league goals and were tied for 26th.

Assists

1. Gordon Donnelly - Ipswich - 12
1. Hans Nooij - Arsenal - 12
3. Toni Kroos - Man City - 11

7 players tie for 4th with 10 assists.

Steven Mills has 7 assists and is tied for 22nd.


Average Rating

1. Hans Nooij - Arsenal - 7.64
2. Davide Santon - Chelsea - 7.53
3. Constantino - Ipswich - 7.52
4. Gordon Donnelly - Ipswich - 7.44
5. Ronan O'Brien - Huddersfield - 7.43
...
13. Stuart Kirkland - 7.28
19. Nicklas Bendtner - 7.23
45. Chris Bryan - 7.05
45. Steven Mills - 7.05
49. Michele Capitani - 7.04
65. Neil Gordon - 7.00
65. Conor Clifford - 7.00

[Radii]

English Footballer of the Year

Arsenal's Hans Nooij is the English Footballer of the year. Constantino won this award two years ago and this year he is the runner up. Tottenham's Emmanuel Mangan is 3rd.

English Young Player of the Year

Chris Bryan is the #1 young player of the year in England!!

EPL Manager of the Year

Chelsea's Carlo Ancelotti wins this award, but I'm second!


EPL Players Team of the Year

GK: Alphonse Areola - Man Utd - 7.18
DL: Davide Santon - Chelsea - 7.53
DC: Ronan O'Brien - Huddersfield - 7.43
DC: Dmitry Kalashnikov - Chelsea - 7.28
DR: Dean O'Reilly - Chelsea - 7.30
ML: Rob Smart - Tottnenham - 7.05
MC: Peter Wynter - Man Utd - 7.36
MC: Gordon Donnelly - Ipswich - 7.44
MR: Fabian Delph - Aston Villa - 7.15
FC: Hans Nooij - Arsenal - 7.64
FC: Constantino - Ipswich - 7.52

[Radii]

Injury Update

The team hasn't gone home for vacation yet and Adagsmar has a torn hamstring. He's going to miss the next 2-3 months with injury. It's May 19th, so he'll return in mid-july at the earliest, if his injury lingers on into August he'll struggle to get fit while everyone else is match fit and going strong.


-- Arsenal beats Reading 3:2 to win the FA Cup.

Champions League

I didn't mention it at all during the year b/c I was so into what was happening at Portman Road, so lets review.

Aston Villa: Had to play Benfica in a playoff to make the group stage. Did not win.
Arsenal: Cagliari and Porto advance, Arsenal finished 1 point behind Porto and lost in the group stage.
Tottenham: Won their group.
Chelsea: Dominated their group

Chelsea beat Spartak Moscow in the first knockout round
Tottenham beat FC Twente in the first knockout round

Tottenham beat Roma in the quarterfinals
Cagliari beat Chelsea in the quarterfinals, down to 1 english team.

Barcelona beat Inter 2:1 in one semifinal
Tottenham beat Cagliari 5:4 in the other semifinal

Tottenham beat Barcelona 2:1 and Tottenham won the Champions Cup! Holy crap go England.


EURO Cup

Man City: Wins their Group
Newcastle: Second in their group, advances
Aston Villa: Wins their Group
Man Utd: Wins their Group

-- First knockout Round

Newcastle: loses to Genoa
Man Utd: loses to AS Saint-Etienne
Aston Villa: beats Westerlo (belgium)
Man City: beats Dinamo Moscow
Arsenal: beats Rubin (Russia)

-- Second Knockout Round

Arsenal: beats Sporting CP (Portugal)
Aston Villa: loses to Juventus
Man City: beats Genoa

-- Quarterfinal

Arsenal beats Man City

-- Semifinals

Arsenal beats Juventus
Dortmund (GER) beats AS Monaco (FRA)

-- Finals

Dortmund beats Arsenal 2:1 to win the Euro Cup.

[Radii]

Stadium Expansion

Wow! The board announces a plan to spend $8.5 Million to expand the stadium by 3689. With that improvement we'll have a 40,000 seat stadium, 30% bigger than it was 3 years ago when we went back up to the EPL (was 30,311 before two expansions). This expansion will only take 2 months and will be completed July 23rd.



-- I go ahead and request both training facility improvements and youth facility improvements. The board tells me that they are investing in expanding the club's training facilities, but that they do not believe the club's youth facilities require improvement at this time

Our training and youth facilities are both "good" right now.


June Update

-- One of the contract expiry pickups that I made in January joins us soon.

-- Euro Championship Qualifying continues and some of our players will be fairly fit from that.

-- The board is absolutely delighted with my leadership Our EPL performance is a highlight.

-- We made a profit of $14.44M last month, that's after dropping $8.5M for a stadium expansion. Great stuff!

New Signing

We signed 24 y/o DC/MC Neil Bartlett from Rangers back in January and he joins us now. We're paying him $40,500/wk. He comes in valued at $7 Million. Damn.

Physical: Pace 17/Accel 10, Jumping 17, Str 16, other rating 13-15
Mental: Determination 16/Positioning 16/Work Rate 17/Decision 14/Concentration 15. Composure 9, all other ratings between 11-13.
Technical: Heading 15/Marking 13/Passing 13/Tackling 11/First touch 13.

Bartlett has been playing DC primarily but he's nearly equally adept at MC. I picked him up hoping that he'll fit in as a MC and with his speed and passing I still hope that's the case, but we may need to consider that he may be stronger as a defender.


Coaching Change

My assistant coach of 4 1/2 years has taken a job with Newcastle. He was pretty damn good given that he stayed with me through my 20th place EPL finish and championship rise back in the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons.

What I'm losing:

tactical knowledge 9, motivation 14, judging ability 16, judging potential 16, man management 14, determination 12, level of discipline 16

I sign Assistant John Carver away from West Brom. What I'm getting:

tactical knowledge 12, motivation 14, judging ability 16, judging potential 16, man management 11, determination 17, level of discipline 17

Always happy to see determination. Carver isn't quite as good at training any one skill as my last assistant was, which may spur us to hire another coach, haven't looked at that yet.

[rlmayer32]

Great season! Won't be long now until you start winning the league and then some.

[Alf]

Huddersfield had your number in the league, but at least, you got a title !

[Barkeep49]

Congrats. I was really hoping to see you get into the Champions League. Still I think you're in a better place for Euro Cup than last time, which is great.

[Radii]

Thanks all! That was a super fun season, I'm really looking forward to lasting longer in the Euro Cup this time around!

[Radii]

Financial Update

Last year:

Income: $125.3MM
Expenses: $102.8M
Player Transfers: $23.1M (that's players bought - players sold. Last year we spent $33M on players but sold $10M worth).

Loss of $686k

This Year:

Income: $151.1M
Expenses: $122.7M
Player Transfers: $22.7M

Profit of $5.6M


We actually didn't spend a ton more on salaries this year, though we paid out more in bonuses (appearance fees, etc) by about $1.8M. The stadium expansion is the biggest cause for the increase in expenses.

For Income we made $16M more in gate receipts and $12M more in prize money. That basically entirely accounts for the improvement.

[Radii]

European Club Rankings

1. Inter - 164.401 (no change)
2. Barcelona - 159.700 (no change)
3. Chelsea - 149.111 (+1)
4. Arsenal - 145.113 (+3)
5. At. Madrid - 144.701 (+3)
6. Real Madrid - 141.700 (no change)
7. Olympique Lyonnais - 138.845 (-4)
8. Man Utd - 134.111 (-3)
9. Benfica - 133.830 (no change)
10. Roma - 128.401 (no change)

nobody dropped out of the top 10. Arsenal and Chelsea bump back up some, Inter/Barcelona are still #1 and #2 in the world. Inter has their best season dropping off next year (this the last 5 years of play added together) and Chelsea have their worst season dropping off next year so if Chelsea does well next season I bet they take over #1.

Ipswich fall 1 spot to 108th in Europe. We are 12th in England, just barely thanks to our brief Europe run last season. We have a chance to move way up with better play in the Euro Cup.

Home Grown Status

We have tons of players trained in England.

We now have 8 players on the roster trained at the club:

DL Stuart Kirkland
DR Clive Jackson
DL Jack Hughes
MR Neil Gordon
ST Chris Bryan
GK Chris Mason
ST Rob Kershaw
DC Sam Barnett


MC Craig Smith gains home grown status in 4 days actually. We only need 4 for the Euro Cup to be registered so we're in spectacular shape.

New Sponsorships

-- We get a new main shirt sponsor. The old one was worth $2.7M/yr, the new one is worth $4.8M/yr.

-- New Stadium Sponsorship, old one $27k, new one $55k. Whee?

-- Second stadium sponsorship, old one $82k, new one $95k.


Fans Player of the Year

Kirkland won this last year, but its back to normal, the fans shower their affection onto Constantino this season.

Ipswich Best Eleven

GK: Capitani
D: Kirkland/Mattle/Aldrovandi/Heywood
M: Crespo/Smith/Donnelly/Gordon
F: Constantino/Bryan

Smith was really good but only played 13 matches. Mills deserved that MC spot instead.

Ipswich All Time Best Eleven

GK: Michele Capitani (135 apps/7.01 rating)
DL: Stuart Kirkland (246 apps/7.17 rating)
DC: Alex Bruce (234 apps/4 goals/6.73 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 (342 apps/38 goals/7.03 rating)
MC: Steven Mills (141 apps/9 goals/7.12 rating)
MR: Neil Gordon (222 apps/52 goals/6.95 rating)
ST: Constantino (255 apps/188 goals/7.51 rating)
ST: Matthew Khan (227 apps/120 goals/7.11 rating)

Capitani and Mills both earn spots in the all time first team this year, both take over from players who played many many more matches but Capitani/Mills have significantly higher ratings. 7 of the all time best 11 currently play for me now.


EPL Schedule Announced

We open the season August 19th against Man Utd. After that we'll travel to Sunderland who promoted back up this year.


TV Rights

Same as always, $48,510,000 for TV, whee!


Season Expectations

Once again we can set a top half finish for our expectations. If we do that we'll get a transfer budget of $37 Million and a payroll of $950k/wk. If I bump it up to a top 7 finish and Euro Qualification we'd get $43.5M and a $1M/wk budget. I'm once again hesitant to do that.

Our expecations are set to finish in the top half of the EPL and for that we have a transfer budget of $37 Million and payroll budget of $950,000/wk

We're currently spending $926,887/wk but have 3 players salaries falling off soon. We're also acquiring a new player July 1st and have a few raise clauses out there. Its likely that we'll drop the transfer budget down a notch to allow for more salary.

Youth Intake

We bring in 11 players this year, lets see what we've got:

DRC Felix Gabriel - 1 1/2* potential, but we're not training anyone at DR and physically he is strong. 16 pace/16 accel/16 agi. 12 Determination/14 teamwork. 8 heading/7 marking/8 tackling. Not too exciting but worth a llittle look.

AM RL/ST Steve Woods - Another 1 1/2 * guy. 19 Determination, not a strong physically as Gabriel (8-12 ratings), but much stronger mentally. dribbling/crossing/technique/first touch all in the 8-10 range. With that determination we hope he'll work his ass off.

ST Paul Stow - opinions vary, 1 1/2* - 2 1/2*. Jumping 14/Heading 12 with much lower ratings for speed/accel and such, so he is a target man type, not a constantino style poacher type. 8 of his mental ratings are 10+, Determination only 11 for now though. Finishing 13/Heading 12 is a decent start.

AM LC Ernie Foster - Another 1 1/2* guy. But 19 Determination is exciting again. 15 pace/11 accel/18 natural fitness. 8 mental ratings 10+, 17 Bravery at random, 13 flair/14 influence. Technique 11 but other technical ratings are 7-8. Lots of projects this year so far.

ML Ben Regan - 2* - 2 1/2* - Can't say I see much exciting off the bat, determination 12. technique 11, crossing 9, most physical stuff under 10.

D RL Peter Flores - 1 1/2* - 6 mental ratings above 10, Determination 12. Ok physically but pace starts at 8. tackling 14 which is nice.

DR Ian Reeve 1 1/2* - 2 * - 7 mental ratings 10+, Determination 12, bravery 17, teamwork 16. Marking 13.

ST Matt Mitchell 1 1/2* - 14 pace/15 accel, determination 13, heading 12 (but jumping only 5). Finishing 3... he has a long way to go.


A few players are cut outright (not listed). Because we had so few quality players we'll use these guys to fill out the U18 squad so we don't have temp players playing most of the time. A pretty boring group though, we'll revisit them at the end of the year to see if any progressed to the point that there is any reason to hope for any of them.


New Attendance Record

Last year our stadium capacity was 36,311 and we averaged 33,764. This year by the time league play starts our stadium will hold 40,000 people. Hopefully we break that record again next year!


EPL Title Odds

Chelsea and Man City are favorites at 3:1 each. Arsenal 6:1, Man Utd 16:1, Tottenham 25:1, Huddersfield 33:1.

We are 40:1 and actually picked to finish 7th this season!!

After our miracle run to 6th in my first EPL season back up, we were 200:1 to win and picked like 12th or something I think, so we are definitely getting noticed for real here.



That takes us up to July 1st and its time to stop to review all my scout's work over recent months, find unhappy players, transfer targets and the like.

We have $37M in transer money and $950k/wk budget, but I'm going to be running close to that budget right away. I can drop the transfer budget to $32M and get $1M/wk in payroll allowed and will either have to do that or look to trim payroll (hint: Mark O'Brien makes $65,000/wk and consistently gives me halves of 5.8)

[Radii]

-- I look ahead at the Euro Cup, Reading out of the Championship has to play in the first qualifying round starting any day now. For whatever reason (we finished higher than Man city, maybe b/c of league cup win, I don't know really), Man City is forced to come in during the Third Qualifying Round while Ipswich and Man Utd don't have to play until the Fourth Qualifying Round. That means we'll get a preferred draw where we can only play opponents that had to come through earlier rounds, and not against another team that opened up in the Fourth Round. In theory that should give us a *much* better draw than we had last time around.

Mainly, it means that we won't start Euro Cup Play until August 24th and I need to plan my Friendlies accordingly (I've already accepted a few).

-- I advance a day to get some dead salary off the club.

Ipswich Players Released

-- ST Nicklas Bendtner played 2 seasons for Ipswich, appearing in 29 league matches, scoring 9 goals and 6 assists. He had a very solid 7.23 rating last season for me, but he's 35 y/o and we make room for up and coming strikers.

-- MC McDonald Mariga is now 36 years old He came over in a free transfer in 2018/19 and played 5 full seasons for Ipwich despite being thought of as a 1 year rental at the time. He just took forever to show any decline. Mariga played 120 league matches for Ipswich, scoring 7 goals and making 13 assists. His "worst" season was rated 6.83.

-- MR Aaron Doran came to Ipswich for $2.3M from Blackburn and played two years. He played 27 matches, notching 1 assist but never scoring in leauge play. He just never really worked out as an intended backup for Neil Gordon at MR.


New Signing

This is the second player we signed last January for free, just arriving now:

29 y/o MRC Daryl Hutchinson - $46,500/wk, valued $3.9M, signed away from Grenoble Foot 38 in France Ligue 1.

Hutchinson is expected to take over for Aaron Doran and rotate with Neil Gordon. Hutchinson has played in 4 EURO Cup's for the french side in the last 7 years and has consistantly put up 6.9-7.0 ratings in France.

Physical: pace 14/accel 15/sta 16/str 17.
Mental: Determination 14, Teamwork 15, Work Rate 16, Creativity 16, Anticipation 14. All ratings 9+ and only influence/positioning/bravery are 9.
Technical: First Touch 14, Dribbling 15, Passing 15, Marking 12, Tackling 12, Crossing 11.

Seems like a perfectly solid option behind Gordon, can pass well, can defend well for a midfielder, solid but not spectacular. All of my coaches agree, viewing him as a 2 1/2 - 3 * type of guy at MR. He's not nearly as good at MC but can fill in in a pinch.


Now that all the moves have been completed, we sit with a payroll of $942,232. Our allowed payroll is $950,000/wk. That won't do, we either need to lower our transfer budget or cut payroll.

I adjust the slider down twice, dropping our transfer budget to $27 Million, increasing our wage budget to $1.1M/wk. That gives us room to sign people. If I decide to sell Mark O'Brien to make more room in the budget, I could bump the transfer budget back up to $32M.

[Radii]

quick general question: What do ya'll experienced players think about signing players that don't speak english? I have a number of developing central midfielders that look like they could be really strong signings out of eastern Europe if I can pry them away from their teams, guys that speak like 3-6 languages already but its all Serbian/Russian/Bosnian, etc etc.

[SirFozzie]

If you can put up with the miscommunications for the first year or two while they learn the language...

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by Radii

quick general question: What do ya'll experienced players think about signing players that don't speak english? I have a number of developing central midfielders that look like they could be really strong signings out of eastern Europe if I can pry them away from their teams, guys that speak like 3-6 languages already but its all Serbian/Russian/Bosnian, etc etc.

dont worry too much about it unless thier scout reports make mention of them being poor at adapting to new countries. ive rarely had a player fail to adapt so much i need to dump them.

[bulletsponge]

ps can you take screen shots? was hoping i can see a pick of that young stud Smith

[Radii]

-- I sign a 3 year contract extension to stay with Ipswich, I'll make $39,000/wk. I was apparently entering the last year of my deal.

-- I make a number of initial offers/enquiries, etc, in some cases based on transfer rumors just to get in the mix while my scouts go about their business. For the first time ever I see another player brought up in a deal. I ask about MC Jonathan Clark at Huddersfield and offer what he's valued at, $7.25M. They respond asking not only for $16.5 Million but also young goalkeeper Michael Rogers. I've tried to offer players in the past but its the first time ive seen someone else want a trade. I'm not initially interested in paying that, we'll see how things shake out.

-- Heh my next click it happens again. I ask about a DC from Aston Villa who has put up solid ratings for them in the EPL, and they want more money + Clive Jackson.

-- We've sold 10,680 season tickets so far. The exciting news here is that we're expected to sell more than 26,000 this year.

-- I have a number of offers accepted, one of them is really exciting, a very strong MC from Man Utd who has been unhappy there for a long time. Last year he wasn't willing to even talk contract with me. This year he is. Unfortunately Arsenal make a bid too so we'll see how that works out.

-- Huddersfield offer me $19.5M for DC Aldrovandi. He's a key player for me and I say no, lets see how he reacts!


-- I actually get myself in a bit of a tough spot here as I have a couple secondary offers accepted really quickly with primary targets that I may legitimately have a shot at still outstanding. The last couple years my hit rate on getting some of these better players to come to Ipswich has been very very slim, but with my success now it looks like I need to be more patient going after my top of the line targets. I have three different guys on a contract delay now that I would be happy to have join the team and that normally would have been solid additions but I have to wait on them.

-- One of my big offers is out the door quickly, Man Utd MC Roberto Stabile rejected Ipswich and Arsenal and chose to sign with Juventus.


Transfer Out

-- ST Kyle McGlashan is going to Motherwell in the Scottish premier league. He didn't improve much his first year in the youth squad and had only 1 1/2* potential at best. A few Scottish teams were interested and we have a couple strikers that came in this year, none of them any more exciting, but a year younger, so why not. We make $130,000 and the main reason I took the deal was a 20% of additional profit clause. If he does make it we could make some cash in the future.


-- Eventually we get down to where we are waiting on a work permit for what appears to be a very high level MC from Dinamo Kiev.


New Signing

29 y/o MC Mourad Bejaoui - Free, out of contract with French Ligue 1 Stade Rennais - $45,000/wk - I had made a very early offer to Bejaoui and I delay it based on a couple other offers I had going on, it comes up again though and I accept here. He's put up 7.0 ratings for a number of years in the French League. I went after him early when he scouted as a decent rotation type player and I was worried about Donnelly & Mills attracting transfer attention, losing Mariga, and not having other offers accepted.

If I end up overloaded with players Bejaoui is valued at $4.5M and hey I got him for free so if I could get $1M for him, whee!

Physical: Pace 14/Accel 14/Sta 16/Str 17/Agi 17
Mental: Determination 12/Teamwork 15/Work RAte 16/Off the Ball 13/Composure 15/Creativity 15
Technical: Technique 17/Passing 14/Tackling 14/Dribbling 13/Marking 13/First Touch 12

Bejaoui is a good athlete, pretty strong mentally and seems equally equipped to defend or attack in the midfield, I like that an awful lot. Seems like a solid rotation guy.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

dont worry too much about it unless thier scout reports make mention of them being poor at adapting to new countries. ive rarely had a player fail to adapt so much i need to dump them.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

If you can put up with the miscommunications for the first year or two while they learn the language...

Ok thanks!

Originally Posted by bulletsponge

ps can you take screen shots? was hoping i can see a pick of that young stud Smith

I find it odd that he is listed as "Defensive Midfielder/Attacking Midfielder" when he is a Natural at MC and only Accomplished at DMC/AMC.

[Radii]

Here's the other guy that we'll begin to trial with the senior team this year:



We bought Darcy for $100,000 from Shamrock Rovers in Ireland. He's spent the last two years loaned out to Shrewsbury.