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05-16-2005, 11:44 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 10, 2011
League Match #17: we play Middlesbrough at Loftus Road. They're currently 17th teethering on the edge of the drop zone. We're 6-4 favourites and frankly, I'm shocked!!! Good shocked, but shocked nonetheless  Our next game is in Sweden, against Malmö FF, on December 14. While looking at his player profile, I see that Marcus Kelly has upped his wage demands to $75k from previously about $69k. Bruno Conti now recommends a wage of $54k for him, saying he thinks he's an essential member of our first team. Now could be a good time to make him an offer. He wants $75k per week with a signing fee of $900k, and a minimum fee release clause set at $19.5M, for a 3 year deal. I don't mind a minimum fee set that high, so I leave it in. I offer him $55k per week with a signing fee of $1M. That would represent some good savings compared to the $68k I had him budgeted at. He is earning only $6,600 at the moment so that will be a big increase for him and a big increase in our total wages, possibly pushing me over budget. Speaking of Kelly, he is now back from his injury, at a 90% condition, same as Tom Howell. Both are match fit and both will see time in this game, with Kelly starting and Howell coming in from the bench. Clemens Fritz is also on the bench. Igor Nadal Lázaro and Keigan Parker are ineligible for our Euro Cup game, so they will see plenty of playing time in this game while I rest some of my other strikers. They show a 5-3-2 formation with up arrows on the wingbacks. They played on December 4th, while we played on December 7. The first half ends scoreless but dang! we are outshooting them 9(3) to 1(1). We're winning possession with 65% split 6-19-40, but we just couldn't convert one... I sub out both wingers. We come out clawing in the second half and only 37 seconds into it, a Clemens Fritz throw in falls to the feet of Igor Nadal Lázaro who centers it perfectly to Tom Howell who scores his first ever goal as a Ranger! Wow, never realized he had never scored a competitive goal for us. Up 1-0! Youssouf Hersi adds to our lead in the 68th minute, converting a nice center from Tom Howell. Up 2-0! In the 82nd minute, after a center from Keigan Parker had been headed clear of the 6 yards box, Anthony Vanden Borre picks the loose ball and blasts a bending, curling, twisting banana shot from 30 yards out. The keeper is hypnotized by the beauty of that shot and it goes in for the 3-0 goal. That's VB's 5th of the season. Final Score: 3-0 We outshot them 24(11) to 4(1) on the game  Anthony Vanden Borre is selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He got hot around the time he scored his goal, but before that, he was rated at 6 for a long time on that game... Craig Crane, César Augusto Fawcett, Igor Nadal Lázaro, Clemens Fritz and Tom Howell all got rated at 8. We move up to 6th place, only 2 points away from 3rd place!
Our chairman Bill Power just couldn't hide his delight over this win. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 11:46 AM
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#152 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 11, 2011
Jason Wilson agrees to terms with us. He made it known to the media that he is happy to come work with me as his new boss. As with Peter Young, the move will go through on January 1st, at which point we will pay Everton a compensation of $1.9M. The good news is Wilson will be 17yo when he comes to Loftus Road. (note: I now only realize I forgot to save a player profile for him. I'll grab one the next time I'll play and will post it out of sequence. Sorry about that.) December 12, 2011 Anthony Vanden Borre is selected on the English Premier Division Team of the Week. That's a first for him since getting with us. December 13, 2011 Our latest bid for Clive Greenwood has been rejected. I decide to let it go, seeing how he is now valued at $4M. I guess he would have been a nice steal if I had been able to sign him when his contracted was unprotected, but now, I'm not gonna pay $4M for a "project" player... Dang! Bolton have offered Bruno Conti their Manager position. We will be due $800k if the deal goes ahead. That would also mean I'd have to go get a new assistant... December 14, 2011 Marcus Kelly agrees to terms on a lucrative 3 year deal worth $7.2M. GRRRRREAT!!! I like him and he plays well for us, maybe over his head, if you only look at the numbers next to his skills, but he fits well into our team. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 02:22 PM
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#153 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 14, 2011
Euro Cup Group B, Match #4: we're in Sweden to play Malmö FF. They are currenlty tied with Athletic Club with both teams at 3 points in Group B. We are 6-4 favourites to win this game. We are catching a break in the upcoming schedule since our December 16 match against Liverpool has been pushed back to January with Liverpool playing in the Club World Championship. Because of that, our next game is only on Dcember 21. I rest some players anyway, playing some that don't often see the field with the first-team squad, given that this is a meaningless game for us. We've been blasting away at their goal for the first 34 minute when they get a free kick just outside our penalty area. Their kick taker kicks it through our and the ball is deflected, giving them the lead, 0-1, on their first shot of the game. Only 3 minutes have passed after that goal when Marcus Kelly swings a sweet looking pass to Quincy Owusu Abeyie. He fakes the keeper out of his short first, then out of his underwear, before burying the ball in an empty net. The half ends in a 1-1 tie. We're outshooting them 7(3) to 2(0). See how far from the goal that first shot for them was, it didn't register as being on target, yet they got a goal out of it. We take the lead in the 50th minute when Abeyie scores his second of the game, converting a nice pass from Andrew Johnson who was deep on the right wing. In the 55th minute, they do it again! Another free kick, again just outside our penalty area, and again, it's deflected by the wall (a wall of two), causing Kasper Schmeichel to jump on one side while the ball got in on the other side. In the 73rd minute, Craig Crane plays a sweeeeeeet long pass over the head of Andrew Johnson. AJ runs under it and takes it in strides. He attempts a shot with absolutely no angle, yet the ball goes in off the post for the go ahead goal. Up 3-2! Craig Crane receives his second yellow of the game in the 79th minute. With no subs left, I drop Li Tie to the right fullback spot and we got to a 4-1-3-1 formation. We hang on for the win!!! Final Score: 3-2 We outshot them 17(7) to 7(4). Quincy Owusu Abeyie is selected as Man of the Match with his 2 goals, 5 shots on target out of 7 and a form rating of 10. Six other players got rated at 8: Schmeichel, Howell, Biscan, Kelly, Pearson, and AJ. CSKA won 2-1 over Athletic Club and with that win, combined to the loss we inflicted to Malmö, they move ahead of both club and capture the final qualification spot in our group. We've been awarded $160k for that last win. We end the Group Stage with 4 wins in 4 games, sweeet!!!
Here are the group tables for the other English teams:
As you can see, other than Fulham, who are in an incredible funk right now and fighting for survival in the EPL too, all the teams from England that qualified for Group Stage have made it through to the 1st Knockout Round. Craig Crane has been banned for one European Match for his sending off in the game. Marcus Kelly suffered a thigh strain and will miss 5 days. He's been nicked a bit more lately and feared asking my physios about their opinion on him. Yeah, what I thought too. They recommend I send him see a specialist. Said specialist says it will be 3 weeks of physiotherapy before he's back to normal. Dang! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 02:27 PM
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#154 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 15, 2011
Well, what had to happen is happening as I get the news that Bruno Conti took the Bolton hot seat. We receive $809k as compensation and the seearch for a new assistant starts now. Before I go on to find his replacement, I decide to go publicly and praise my friend Bruno Conti. I really felt like the Italian was a friend. He was the first assistant I ever hired that had some sort of reputation and some sort of skills with people. I'm sure in some way, he helped the team get to where it is now. Maybe it's all sentimental and it might not be all that important, but I like to think otherwise Once that media appearance over, I decide to place an advert for an assistant manager. I also start looking for dudes with very high skill in judging talent, and potential in players and also good at man management, somewhat disciplined, and good at motivating the team. A bit like Conti was. I find a scout on Arsenal's staff, Julian Hudson, who fits the bill pretty well. The guy may be only a scout, but I'm sure he could be a manager somewhere someday. He has gained a world class reputation from working on Arsenal's staff and with it, could help me bring higher profile players into the fold, and with the skills I see in him, I'm pretty sure he'd be good at helping me whenever I approach a player to sign with us. One thing though. When I approach him to sign on with us, he says it would take a very large offer for him to even consider agreeing terms on a contract with us. Hrm, he is currently earning $3,400 as a scout with Arsenal and my board allows me to offer him up to $15,000 as my assistant. Seeing how Bruno Conti was paid $10,000 per week, I offer Hudson $15,000 with a signing fee of $20k. We'll have to pay a compensation of $260k to Arsenal if the deal goes ahead. Considering we received $809k from Bolton for Conti, that'd be a sweet deal. December 16, 2011 Bruno Conti sends back the prais to me, referring to me as his friend. And guess what? That friendship will be put to a test, as we will be playing Bolton in the Euro Cup 1st Konockout round. The first leg is set to be played on February 16 at Loftus Road and the second leg to be played on February 23rd on their pitch. The 2nd Knockout round draw happens already, which is kind of weird. Anyway, the winner of our series will play the winner of Wisla/Betis. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 02:43 PM
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#155 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 17, 2011
Julian Hudson has agreed a deal with us. I guess he thought it was better to be an assistant at this up and coming club, aka Q.P.R., than simply a scout on a big staff like Arsenal's. You can take a peek at his profile by clicking the thumbnail below.  If you want, you can compare him with Bruno Conti. Here's his profile:  We pay Arsenal $260k in compensation, leaving us with almost a net gain of $550k from the change. Not bad I decide that now may be a good time to offer contracts to players I'd like to keep beyond June 2012. First off, Fábio Rochemback. He's wants $64k per week with a signing feee of $800k for a 2 years deal. Julian Hudson, in his first bit of work for us, recommends only up to $34k, saying he's a useful member of the squad. Roch is currently earning $26.5k per week and I decide to offer him $36.5k per week with a signing fee of $800k and a 10% yearly wage raise clause, but for a 3 year deal. Kind of a fishing trip... Craig Crane wants $26.5k per week, with a signing fee of $340k and 15% yearly wage raise for a 3 year deal. Hudson recommends a deal around $16k per week. He is currently earning only $3,400 per week. I offer him $17.5k per week, with no change to any other clauses. Chris Chapman want $24.5k per week with a signing fee of $90k and 15% yearly wage raise for a 3 year deal as a first team player. Hudson recommends only $11.5k per week. I offer him $17.5k per week with a signing fee of $130k and 15% yearly wage raise, but as a player on squad rotations. I can't promise him a spot in the first team. I also see that Keigan Parker's demands are down to about $34k per week from his initial demands of $64k. He could be a good signing for depth if I could get him to sign for the same as his current wage of $25k. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 05:56 PM
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#156 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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It's interesting that lately you sometimes seem to have problems converting shots to goals. In your match with Malmo FF and with Portsmouth, it seemed like you had a crazy number of shots (especially compared to your opponent), yet the score reflects a close game. Is there any reason (other than luck) that the goal conversion happens like that sometimes yet other times comes out huge (6-0!)?
Love it as always, looking forward to more. /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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05-16-2005, 06:42 PM
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#157 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
grrr, had a long reply posted but internet ate it, bah... Was saying that sometimes not getting the goals is because we get to face a keeper that gets hot at the right time, very often leading to him getting the MoM. If an opposing keeper doesn't play well in a game where we're the ones getting hot, they often get beaten badly Some other times, as with the Malmo game, we didn't have as many of our star starters as usual and even though we get the shots, they're maybe more a product of our system than the pure abilities of the players in place, or so I feel... thanks also for the good words. There's still a tiny bit of unreported stuff and I'm getting ready to fire up the game to play some, and in a renovated stadium, no less!!! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-16-2005, 07:28 PM
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#158 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Here and There
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There's something fishy about the match engine, since every human team goes through phases where they are getting ridiculous amounts of shots on target and are not scoring. It sometimes happens in real life, look at Man U this season, but it seems to happen too regularly in FM. I don't know if it was coded intentionally, I somehow doubt, but it certainly seems to happen with enough regularity to note.
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05-17-2005, 06:57 AM
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#159 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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I agree that you sometimes get into dry spells with the scoring. I remember talking about it and we sort of concluded it was in part due to being in January-February with worse weather...
Another thing I'm seeing is injury rashes. You can be all right for a couple months, then you'll get a six month's worth of injury in 2 weeks. Then you'll be all right for 2, 3 months, then boom again. It makes it really tough if you don't have very good depth, but then, with that good depth, you can't keep everybody happy during the "healty" months... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 07:25 AM
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#160 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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The SUPERKEEPER FROM HELL period. Oh, yeah. How I loath it. I usually get frustrated enough to stop playing CM/FM for awhile and boot up other games when I get this. I understand their reasoning for doing it but I don't agree with the method and I think it's ridiculous.
Still the best damn game there is so I suppose I should stop bitching since Marc ignores my posts anyhow. |
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05-17-2005, 07:29 AM
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#161 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
I don't understand any reasoning for doing it, not in a streak of games. I mean, I can see it happening that you play one team and their keeper gets hot, and I mean red hot and he's stopping everything. But not the keeper of 3 or 4 opponents IN A ROW, against whom you put 10+ shots on target and can only score one or not at all... It is indeed the best game there is, imho anyway, so when I get through these phases (superkeeper or stoopid injury rash) I rationalize that they do it because I just too good for the machine  Or I start looking through my players and I spread out my game simming a little. I can only take so many 0-0 draws or 0-1 losses in a row in one evening of playing...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 09:06 AM
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#162 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Here is the player profile for promising striker Jason Wilson who will join us on January 1st. He just turned 17 a few days ago so yeah he will need some work. I'd call him a project player...  FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 09:07 AM
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#163 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 18, 2011
Wow, some EPL games have been played today and even with a game on hand, we're sitting in 6th place, only 2 points off 3rd place.
December 19, 2011 We receive three contract rejections, but all three are willing to negotiate some more. Fábio Rochemback's contract offer is upped to $38.5k for 2 years, the rest is unchanged. Craig Crane's contract offer is upped to 19k per week, the rest is unchanged. Chris Chapman is a funny guy though as he doesn't believe that Q.P.R. have the resources to meet his demands now. Kid, you are 20 years old and you're not going anywhere without me getting some sort of compensation and you're valued at $2.4M. I break off talks for now... December 21, 2011 Craig Crane has put pen to paper on a lucrative 3 year deal worth $2.6M. That's good. The kid has played pretty well on the right full back spot, freeing Anthony Vanden Borre to be used in the DMC spot... Fábio Rochemback rejects our latest offer but is still willing to negotiate. He still wants $64k per week and Hudson still recommends $34k per week. I drop my offer, but I make it a one year deal, at $37k per week, with a signing fee of $400k. I also drop the $10% relegation wage drop clause. I don't think it will matter, but it could be a negative component of the deal. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 09:09 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 21, 2011
League Match #18: we play Sunderland at Loftus Road. They are currently in 14th place and we're 6-4 favourites to win this game. This is supposed to be our last match before the end of the renovations on our stadium. They are supposed to be done on December 23. Our next game is at home on December 26, against Birmingham. David Marek Rozehnal suffered a chest injury on December 17 and still has one day left before being completely healthy. Birmingham have 5 injuries on their senior squad roster... They played on Decmeber 17 while we last played on December 14. Stephen Pearson has to leave the game in the 35th minute, injured. Clemens Fritz takes his place. The half ends scoreless. We are outshooting them 5(3) to 2(0). We're spending tons of time on their end but are not getting the quality shots. Final Score: 0-0 AAAARRRRRGGGG!!!! We turned it on in the second half and end the game outshooting them 13(8) to 5(3). We controlled the ball 65% of that second half, split 4-25-36. Their keeper is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. I HATE WONDERKEEPERS!!! Kasper Schmeichel played well for us too, getting the only 8 of the team. We drop toe 7th still with a game on hand, but now 4 points out of 3rd place.
Stephen Pearson suffered a damaged elbow and will miss a week. Looks like we're going through a double smash of bad streaks: wonderkeepers & terpkristinitis...  Interesting fact: Liverpool won 2-0 over Chicago in the Club World Championship. I had never heard of the Championship before... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 09:10 AM
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#165 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 23, 2011
Worksop want Joe Marshall on loan for 3 months. The usual, they would pay 100% of his wage and I could recall him, not sure why I'd need to, but heh. I accept their offer. Fábio Rochemback rejects our latest offer. I'm not offering him anything better for now, simply reoffering him the same I just did. For now, Anthony Vanden Borre has played much better than Roch in the DMC spot, but I'll have to find a replacement/upgrade for the position eventually... December 24, 2011 Remember Stuart Cross? The guy with the hat trick on the video? Well, my scouts reported back on him and they are split. One says he would add depth to the squad and the other thinks he has no future in football. I think I'll pass... Fábio Rochemback resumes full training following his groin injury. He missed one month and is now non-officially nicknamed "ticking bomb" because I decided to have him skip surgery... AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Our renovated stadium is ready!!! The stadium expansion which added 7002 seats is now officially done. We're up to 26,150 seats at Loftus Road now. This is not all that big, but it's at least bigger that the 19,148 it was before, and even better than the smallish 18,000 seats we had during renovations... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 11:38 AM
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#166 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 26, 2011
League Match #19: we play Birmingham at Loftus Road. They are currently in 3rd place and are 5-4 favourites to win this game. As I said before, we got a case of terpkristinitis going, look at this: Stephen Pearson is still out because of the injury suffered in our last game. Craig Crane suffered a damaged shoulder in training on 12/24, 3 days from fully healthy. Ben Watson suffered a strained neck in training on 12/25, 4 days from fully healthy Fábio Rochemback still not really healthy enough to play following his groing injury. Our next game is in 2 days, on December 28. Ouch, I really hate that crazy late December/early January stretch. We're going in this game with a very defensive setting, hoping to catch a break somehow. Both teams last played on December 21. Igor Nadal Lázaro hits the post in the 10th minute, DANG! They playe a long pass in the 13th minute. Danny Shittu was overeager to get to the passer who simply flicked the ball passed him and they score to make it 0-1. It's their first shot of the game, on target or not, while we have 3 already, 2 of them on target. We are controlling the ball well damnit! AAAARRRRGGGG! Ross McCormack hits the post in the 23rd minute. Come on guys, we gotta convert these shots!!! The half ends with us down 0-1. We are outshooting them 5(3) to 4(2) and we're very much in contention in this game. Youssouf Hersi got knicked late in the half. No green cross, but his condition has dropped to 71%. I put Matt Cross in his place and put Clemens Fritz in the game on the right wing. A great long pass from César Augusto Fawcett ahead of Tom Howell is the start a great sequence that leads to our equalizer. Howell ran to the ball and crossed it amazingly well, to the far post, where Clemens Fritz was waiting, unmarked. He scores the 1-1 goal with a precise strike. Fritz has the winning goal at his feet in the 84th minute, following a corner kick, but he misses the goal! Final Score: 1-1 We worked them hard, an amazing game! Final shots tally came to 12(9) for us, 13(7) for them. I think we proved that we belong with the top 5 teams in the EPL. Clemens Fritz is named Man of the Match with a rating of 10. He scored a goal and had 10 runs past opponents in the 45 minutes he played. César Augusto Fawcett, Danny Shittu, and Tom Howell all got rated at 8 while Kasper Schmeichel only got rated at 5, grrrr. Their keeper got rated at 9, wonderkeeper anyone? We move up to 6th with the win and wow, I see that Arsenal are now up to 5th place.
26,066 spectators we're in at Loftus Road tonight to celebrate the opening of the renovated stadium! This is a new Q.P.R. record! The terpkristinitis continues as Igor Biscan suffered a calf strain in the game. Initial diagnosis was two weeks but my physios recommended to send him to a specialist, which I did. Diagnosis remained unchanged. It'll be 2 weeks of physiotherapy for Biscan the old geezer... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 11:39 AM
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#167 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 27, 2011
The 3 month loan of Justin Wall at Kidderminster ends and he comes back to Q.P.R. He indicates that he found that loan to be a complete waste of time. He believes that playing with a team at that level taught him very little and believes he would have learnt more during the time if he had remained at Q.P.R during the period. I may try to give him a bit more playing time with the senior squad, sometimes as a bench player. After all, he is still a 19yo promising striker... December 28, 2011 Again, frigging injury on match day. AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGG!!!!!  This time, it's Igor Nadal Lázaro who will be out 3 weeks with a back strain. sheesh! Keigan Parker goes to the media declaring that he is far from happy at not being part of my first eleven. According to The Guardian, the 29 year old striker believes he merits a place in my plans but realises that he might be forced to leave if the situation doesn't change. His contract is about to become unprotected, as it runs out on June 30, 2012. I'm still unsure if I want to offer him a new contract, if so, it would have to be for a kind of cheap wage and I'm not sure he'll want that. With that statement today, I'm pretty sure he won't be happy with less playing time either... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 11:58 AM
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#168 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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Great job with Birmingham!!!
Did MV ever reply about your match day training problems? /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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05-17-2005, 12:02 PM
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#169 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 28, 2011
League Match #20: we play Tottenham on their pitch. They are currently in 8th place and are evens favourites to win this game. Looking at their roster, I see a whole lot of players with low morale. Turns out they just got pummeled by Portsmouth, 0-5, only 2 days ago. They have two players suspended for today's game. One is for having been sent off in their last game, the other is for having collected 5 yellows. Our next match is again Wolves on January 1st. Many unusual starters in this game: Li Tie in the DMC spot, Chris Chapman on the left wing, James Collins at centreback, and Keigan Parker at striker. Overall, our condition is low, but looks a tad better than theirs. They take the lead in the 31st minute, as we let them come to the goal from the right. The halftime score is 0-1 and while shots are fairly even at 6(1) for us and 6(3) for them, we just were not in the game toward the end of the half. The second half doesn't start well, as Anthony Vanden Borre is a bit too agressive and is calle for bodychek in our penalty area, the ref needs to look at his assistant, what a bullshit call, PENALTY!!! The player takes his run, but he kicks it straight to Kasper Schmeichel wo holds on to it, no rebound!!! Ross McCormack takes a free kick from just outside their penalty area in the 63rd minute. The kick is perfect, going just over their wall, but IT HITS THE POST!!! Chris Chapman is possibly a bit to anxious to look good in a rare starting performance and he keeps getting called for fouls after fouls and eventually, in the 67th minute, he receives his second yellow. He's sent off. Both yellows came after he grabbed an opponent's jersey. I won't warn him like I did for Fábio Rochemback, since I can live better with a kid who is overeager than with an old Brazilian who only wants to whine to the ref.. Down one man with a bit over 20 minutes to go, I have no choice but to push the team forward a bit more, asking them to attack even more, at the risk of conceding a late goal, or two. Final Score: 0-1 DAMNIT!!! We fought with all we had, with the players we had on the field, but we just couldn't convert that one goal we needed. They outshot us 15(6) to 10(4), but that had to be expected with one less man on the field and with everybody trying to pump long balls to the strikers. We had a few great chances, coming close, but we kept being denied entry into their penalty area... César Augusto Fawcett is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. Danny Shittu received a rating of 8, while Andrew Johnson, not unfit Keigan Parker, had a bad game as a stiker, with a 6. We drop to 10th with the loss. Chris Chapman will be banned one match for his sending off. That late December/early January is a tough stretch to go through without injuries, imagine when you're missing guys left and right... sigh... And now, at least for the last two games, we're not only dealing with wonderkeepers, but also with wondergoalposts, sigh... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 12:04 PM
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#170 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Thanks, not so great job with Tottenham, as you can read now, but oh well... Nope, he never got back to me. Can only assume he saw the thread and took note of it. If anybody else is experiencing it, feel free to add your own experience here and maybe PM Marc... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 02:17 PM
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#171 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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December 29, 2011
BOOOOO! Arsčne Wenger is going public, saying he may try to bring defender, and tackling machine, Joeren Broost from Feyenoord to his Manchester City side. They say it would take a bid of $14M to bring pry him away from Feyenoord. If you remember, we had him, on a $16M bid, but his wage requests were too rich for my blood and I was never able to get him to sign with us. Again, I think I remember saying that the 26yo centreback was averaging something like 14 tackles per game with pretty good positioning and pace, allowing him to be around the ball almost at will... December 31, 2011 It's the waltz of email notices regarding players on my shortlist that are entering the 6 months period prior to their contracts running out. Computing wage numbers for where we are now and where we should be in June, I come up with the following. Our current total wages are a bit higher than the budget allowed of $700k, at $720k right now. Not taking into account any wage adjustment based on a specific deals with percent yearly wage raise, I come up with a total wage for the team of about $615k if I resign Chris Chapman to a $20k deal, but without resigning Rochemback. This gives us a tiny bit of room. If I resign Rochemback to a $50k deal, this figure goes up to $665k and I just don't know if our wage budget will go up or not. I'm thinking that it may not go up by much this season, since it has gone up considerably in the last two season. Maybe it still could, considering we should be able to generate a better income with a stadium that is 36.5% bigger now than it was a season ago. I'll get back to two possible signees in a moment, but first, here are the current members of our squad that I don't plan to offer contract to in the next six months: Jeppe Lund Curth, Marc Bircham, Keigan Parker, Nathan Jameson, Matthew Bates, Scott Donnelly. I may offer a contract to David Marek Rozehnal, depending on if I decide to sign a younger centreback or not, and I will definitely make a push to sign Chris Chapman before his contract runs out. Two players catch my eye among the ones on my shortlist. The first is Kim Kallstrom, a 29yo AM C currently playing with Wes Brom. The dude is valued at $21M, with continental reputation and is a frigging form machine. He wants $50k per week and a hefty signing fee of $1.95M for a 2 year deal. I offer him $45k and a signing fee of $1M for a 3 year deal. That's a lowball offer, but we're very early in the "free agency" period. (I know it's not a free agency period per se, but I liken to one because I find it very similar to it) The other player is Gianni Zeinerloon (I probably botched his name right here, I can't even decipher my own writing on that one ), a 25yo D RC who's described as a centreback. He's got 20's in numerous important skills for a centreback. He is currently considering an offer from Leverkusen, so this could all be in vain but I try my luck anyway. He want $59k per week with a signing fee of $1.35M for a 3 year deal. I offer him $57k per week and a signing fee of $1.25M for a 3 year deal. He is valued at $11.5M and at only 25 years of age, he could present a good balance between youth and experience for the centreback position.These two signings, if they happen which is somewhat doubtful, would put us at $717k or about of wages if I don't resign Rochemback, but at close to $770k if I resign him. We'll see how this works out... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 02:18 PM
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#172 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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This is where I stand now, no unreported stuff. If you have comment, feel free to post them.
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 02:55 PM
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#173 | |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Quote:
I understand the whole promotion/demotion thing, but all the different types of matches confuse me (friendlys?)--as does the loan system for players and, well alot of things. Is there a nice primer you could reference me to so I can understand what is going on in these football threads? |
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05-17-2005, 03:09 PM
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#174 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Friendlies are basically preseason games that don't count for anything other than getting your players in shape to play the regular season when it starts. Teams are responsible to book their own friendlies, and other than trying to make a few bucks, it doesn't really matter who you play against in these games. Loans are pretty straightforward. When you loan a player, he simply plays on your team for a period of time but will eventually go back to his team when his loan is over. Depending on how the loan deal was negotiated, you could pay nothing of his salary, or part of it, or even his whole salary, for the time he's with you... I have sort of a primer in Marc Vaughan's hints & tips guide for CM4. It's not specifically for FM2005, but it could probably help you out, or at least help you understand some little things you're having a hard time with. Send me your email address by PM and I will email you the document. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-17-2005, 07:16 PM
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#175 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Here and There
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The World Club Championship will replace the Intercontinental Cup, starting next season.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Cl...d_Championship |
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05-18-2005, 06:55 AM
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#176 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Ahh, cool to know. Very nice information link btw, very good for people who want to know what is what in international club (i.e. team, like Arsenal, Liverpool, Q.P.R, as opposed to country) play... Thanks! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 09:13 AM
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#177 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 1st, 2012
It's the beginning of a new year and lots of interesting stuff is happening. First off, the Team Board is still delighted with my work as manager. Always good to hear Craig Crane is selected the English Premier Division Young Player of the Month, making it the second month in a row that a Ranger has won that award, after Tom Howell won it in November. Crane had league games rated at 8, 8, and 7 in December. Speaking of Tom Howell, he comes in second for this same award, giving him a first place finish and a second place finish in back to back month, sweeeeet! He had games rated at 7, 8, 7, and 8.Anthony Vanden Borre's long range curling shot goal against Middlesbrough on December 10 is selected as Goal of the Month. Also today is the day that the transfer windo opens, especially important for the teams in the Premiership. With only $4.6M left in our transfer budget, I'm not too sure I'll be making a big splash on the market at this point. That, and I'm pretty happy with how the team has played so far this season, even with the little rough stretch we're going through at the moment. Speaking of rough stretch (I'm getting pretty good at linking between stories, don't you think?  ) I hear that Ben Watson suffered a calf strain in training today. Initially thought to be missing 2 weeks, that period of inactivity is pushed to 4 weeks the minute he steps into the physiotherapist's office. That a blow...The day goes on as we welcome the two new youngsters, winger Peter Young, coming from Bristol C, and striker Jason Wilson, coming from Everton. Young seems to be very ecstatic with the move and he says he can't wait to break into the first-team setup at Loftus Road. The $1.85M signing from Bristol C told journalists that he didn't expect to play straight away but hoped that if he gets his head down and works hard I will reward him with a first-team soon enough. The kid has got some skills, but we'll have to see about regular first team play... Wilson has got the fans and the media all excited. Despite him being relatively unknown, the fans of Q.P.R. have been bombarding radio phone-ins to prais me for my vision on signing the hotly-tipped youngster. The 17yo striker has described himself as being pleased but daunted by the fans reaction and hopes to repay their faith in him by becoming an integral part of Q.P.R. first team in the future. (this is mostly word-for-word what was written in the email I received, how can you not become attached to your players with stuff like that? this game is amazing )And as I said, not only the fans are excited, but the media are somewhat curious about the young phenom who just turned 17. A journalist fro the Daily Star approaches me with this question: "The signing of Jason Wilson has really fired the imagination of the club's fans. To you think this anticipation is completely justified?" Hrm, I don't really like the options I have to reply to him (he will undoubtedly play a major role for us//he will definitely bring more quality to the side//no comment//he will need time to settle in first//he needs to prove to me that he deserves a major role in my team) and I go with a somehow safe answer, saying something along the line of "Let's not get too carried away. He will need time to settle in first". Honestly, I would have wanted some way of saying something like "the kid is a project, but he'll be very good someday" but I felt like all the responses dealt with how he could play with the team *right now* and my view is that, well, he won't. My response translates as a suggestion that Jason will have some work to do before he makes the first team. Well, that's pretty close to what I wanted to say, but the kid didn't like it. His "General Happiness" says he is "unhappy with my recent comments and is starting to wonder if he has a future at the club". Wow, not even half a day spent at the Loftus Road and he's already unhappy, that is nice... I also see that his contract is unprotected and only runs through June 30, 2012, probably since he was signed as a 16yo. He wants $3,200 per week and a $190k signing fee to sign his first professional contract. Dang, all that media attention got to his head... Back to the fans, in the confidence screen, it says that they believe he will develop into a quality player in the future. With the Bosman hunt going full blast, I spot a player with a unprotected contract that could be an interetsted signing, but not as a Bosman signing. Giovanni Dos Santes is a 22yo AM C with very sound skills. He's currently fearing for his job at Barcelona and is on a month-to-month unprotected part-time contract. Compensation if signed without the approval of the Barcelona would come to $5.4M, but he has a minimum release fee clause at $2.4M. He wants a $68k wage per week on direct signing though. I offer them the minimum fee and we'll see what happens. I expect everybody else to follow suit, as Chelsea, Manchester United, Lazio, and Deportivo are all interested in the kid. We are the first to make a bid though. All of this happened on January 1st, before we played our game agains Wolves, phew... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 11:20 AM
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#178 | |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Here and There
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Quote:
I think what he's referring to is that it's their solution to stopping Diablo-type tactics that found holes in the match engine and exploited them. Restricting scores to be more realistic, to avoid the seven goals a game you were able to average in CM 03/04. During the natural course of this type of match calculation, you're going to encounter stretches where the match results are 0-0, or 0-1, despite continually having superior firepower. Pure speculation, but, like I said before, something does smell fishy. Last edited by Desnudo : 05-18-2005 at 11:21 AM. |
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05-18-2005, 11:53 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 1, 2012
League Match #21: we play Wolves at Loftus Road. They are currently struggling and sitting at the bottom spot in the league, 20th with only 1 win, 2 draws, and 18 losses. We're 5-4 favourites to win this game, but that has me worried. They have many players (almost everyone) at "very poor" morale, but with the way we've been hitting posts, facing wonderkeepers, getting injured, I take nothing for granted. They have a starting middie who is suspended and a starting striker who just got injured. On top of that, they also have many other injuries, 6 in all, including former Ranger and Hatter, Keith Keane, who broke his shoulder a few weeks ago. For us now... Chris Chapman is suspended for this game. Craig Crane is back in the starting lineup, leaving Anthony Vanden Borre on the bench to possibly spell Fábio Rochemback who gets the start at DMC today. I start Clemens Fritz on the right wing but I will sub him early if we take a good lead early on. With our next game being in only three days against Liverpool, I decide to sit out Stephen Pearson and give the backup left winger spot to newly arrived Peter Young. Marcus Kelly is only 2 days from resuming full training following his physiotherapy sessions. We've spent most of the first 25 minutes inside their penalty area, but it takes a kick from the edge of the area by Fábio Rochemback to take the lead 1-0. The half ends with us "only" leading by 1, despite dominating in scoring chances with 11(6) shots to nothing. Clemens Fritz's condition is at 65%, he has to come out if I want him to have a shot at playing against Liverpool. Peter Young is called to make his debut. Young plays it safe in his first few minutes on the field, not running too wildly with the ball, but he makes a nice center in the 56th minute. Youssouf Hersi puts his head to it and it deflected through a crowd of defenders before going in for the 2-0 goal. The kid gets an assist on his debut! Rochemback plays a short corner to Tom Howell in the 79th minute. Howell centers it to Hersi on the edge of the penalty area. He kicks hard but the crowd is dense and his kick is deflected again before going in. Final Score: 3-0 We outshot them 19(12) to 1(0). Ouch, no wonderkeepers to keep them in the game this time around... Tom Howell is selected as Man of the Match with a rating of 9. Fábio Rochemback celebrated his return to first-team play with a rating of 9 too. Craig Crane, César Augusto Fawcett, Clemens Fritz, and Youssouf Hersi all got rated at 8. Just what the doctor ordered, a great morale boosting game. We move up to 8th place with the win, still with a game on hand.
The team chairman just can't hide his delight over this win. Following the game, both my scouts report back on a kid I had asked them to check out, David West, a 19yo centreback currently with Sunderland. His personality is described as professional already. Both of my scouts say they've been mightily impressed by the young central defender and both believe I would be signing a star of the future. Hmmm, interesting. Thing is, he is valued at $4.8M and I have only $4.6M left in transfer budget. Also, since he's almost a full time starter for Sunderland in the EPL, with 16 starts in league play so far this season, they will probably want more than his value... I'll keep him in my shortlist should we pull a sale before the deadline is over. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 02:20 PM
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#180 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 2, 2012
The Broeren soap opera is going on full blast. First, the manager of Feyenoor is saying he won't sell Broerer at any price. Err, can I remind you, kind sir, that you agreed to a fee of $16M in August? Then later in the day, Joost Broeren added some fuel to the fire, saying he found it hard to dismis the rumours. The 26yo revealed that he would be torn between his loyalty to his current employer and the attraction of playing for a team like Man City should they come in for him. Me thinks it's almost a done deal... to be continued... Fábio Rochemback celebrated his return to first-team football with a great game and today, he gets selected to the English Premier Division Team of the Week. Coventry offers a contract to Jeppe Lund Curth. COVENTRY!!! THE ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP COVENTRY??? You bastage, if you agree to a deal with them, I promise to book a friendly with Coventry at Loftus Road and to make you suffer the same thing that happened to Golden Leg!!! (bonus points to anybody who knows what happened to Golden Leg and where the reference comes from )January 3, 2012 Marcus Kelly resumes training after his physiotherap treatment. The specialist who treated him is optimistic that he's recovered fully from his injury. Liverpool manager Rafa Benítez spoke highly of me in the media. In the build-up to our Premier Divison clash on Wednesday the 4th, he said that he truly hopes the best team win. He commented that I was a good manager and that I deserved every success with The Rs. Danny Shittu, as always I should say, is happy I'm getting the praise I deserve, while Clemens Fritz, Ross McCormack and Anthony Vanden Borre all believe the team cannot fail to perform whilst under my guidance. I decide to prais my friend Rafa Benítez. While looking at Clemens Fritz's profile, it catches my eye that he is being scouted by Newcastle... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 02:21 PM
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#181 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 4, 2012
Oh, interesting twist of events as my chairman Bill Power tells me he would like to rais the club's profile by bringing in a high-profile player. Woah. Power added that a top signing could really put Q.P.R. on the map and creat a sense of excitement around Loftus Road. He also added that should I find the right player, the board is willing to allow me to exceed the current transfer budget, providing the amount concerned doesn't put the club's overall finances into the red. Woah, I'm kind of shocked here, taken by surprise. Immediately, I go look what's left in the team's bank account and the tally comes to $17M, give or take a hundre thousand. Hmmm, interesting... I feel all gigly for a tiny moment, until I remember our wage budget stretched to its limit. Oh what the heck, and with that, I head to the transfer market... Before I get to the market, I see that the ungrateful bastage, aka Jeppe Lund Curth, has agreed to terms with Coventry, the Coventry currently in 14th place in the Championship, the Coventry who has been in the Championship since 2001/02. Wow, so much for being ambitious and wanting to win trophies and all that crap... The move is set to happen on July 1st and I'm very curious to see what kind of contract he has agreed to... Remember what happen to Golden Leg, Jeppe, remember, and beware... MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! The media are back, asking about Jason Wilson and the excitement he is causing among our fans. I tell them I don't anything more to add. Looking through players I have shortlisted, I spot one, a 24yo DM RC who would be perfect to take over Fábio Rochemback's spot at the DMC spot. He is a Frenchman named Ahmed Yahiaoui and he currently plays for Marseilles. He's got all the skills I'd like in a DMC, including good heading (see Desnudo, I listen to my readers, sometimes... ). He is valued at $11.5M, I offer them $10M and Keigan Parker as part exchange as a first offer. The total of the offer comes to $13.8M and I sort of expect it to be rejected, but I'll keep plowing. Manchester City also seem interested in him and that has me worried a bit, since they seem to have more money than us, based on some of the signings they did this season so far...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 02:50 PM
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#182 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 4, 2012
League Match #22: we play Liverpool on their pitch. They are currently in 9th place but they have two games on hand over most every other teams, thanks to them being part of the World Club Championship earlier in the season. By winning these two games, they could still only get up to a tie in 5th place and I guess this is why I see many unhappy players on their squad. They are 1-2 favourites to win this game. I forgot to save the roster prior to the game and that's why you only get the stripped down, post-game version of it, sorry about that. I start Anthony Vanden Borre at DMC for Fábio Rochemback. Stephen Pearson is back in on the right wing, keeping Clemens Fritz on the bench to come in the second half. Chris Chapman is back on the bench as Marcus Kelly is not ready to take the field yet. We get to the field and I realize I forgot that they play that dang 4-2-3-1 formation. Had I scouted them properly, I would have seen that and probably would have changed our formation to a 4-2-2-2 with 2 DMC's. I drop Youssouf Hersi back and we go to a 4-2-2-2 formation anyway. And the game starts with a bah. After only 4 minutes, they center a ball in, it's kicked in. Kasper Schmeichel barely flinched. Down 0-1. We hit right back on a long break, a nice pass from Ross McCormack to Stephen Pearson who moves in on the keeper. He hits the post and I go "oh no!" but Tom Howell has just enough acceleration to get to the ball first, he scores the 1-1 goal. The take back the lead in the 24th minute, on a very hard shot from 30 yards out. Schmeichel couldn't do a thing, but is confidence is shot, he's rating at 5 for now. Down 1-2. They had to their lead in the 38th minute on a nice center headed in. The halftime score is 1-3 but we're fighting our way in. Shots are 5(1) for us, 5(4) for them. Only 3 minutes into the second half, it's Tom Howell over Ross McCormack's head, into space. He runs to the keeper and his shot his blocked but the keeper can't hold it and allows a long rebound which Andrew Johnson kicks in to give us a way back in the game. Still down, 2-3 now. We're still fighting. There's a bit of confusion between Danny Shittu and Craig Crane in the 61st minute and the ball bounces between them to the feet of one of their strikers, Djibril Cissé to be exact. He gets it and we let him run, big mistake as he scores the 2-4 goal. Final Score: 2-4 Shots stayed very close with 10(4) for us, 10(5) for them. It's a frustrating, yet somehow realistic loss. We go some injured players and Liverpool is still a very strong team. In fact, it's the team that has allowed the less goals in the league and we succeeded to score two on them. Our back 4 and Schmeichel all got rated at 6, but it's probably because I asked the whole team to push forward quite a bit around the end of the game. Anthony Vanden Borre finished the game with a rating of 8. We drop to 9th place with the loss.
Following the game, I see that Ipswich have offered a contract to a player I have on my radar screen. Dude is Mark Wilson, a 27yo DM RC who's described as an attacking fullback but is currently playing mostly MC with his current team (sorry didn't write down who it was). Interesting thing with him is that, while I think he's got pretty decent skills for a DM, he's only asking for $25k per week on a 4 year deal. I decide to bite and I offer him what he wants... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 02:51 PM
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#183 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The State of Insanity
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Now that would be funny, Shaolin Football Manager
Would that make the Blue Rent Boys (Chelski) Team Evil?.
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Check out Foz's New Video Game Site, An 8-bit Mind in an 8GB world! http://an8bitmind.com |
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05-18-2005, 02:53 PM
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#184 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
ding ding ding, we have a winner!!! And oh yeah, they would have to be Team Evil Anybody else has seen it? Just got to see it last weekend and thought it was pretty funny FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-18-2005, 03:53 PM
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#185 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The State of Insanity
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Have the DVD with both versions of it.
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Check out Foz's New Video Game Site, An 8-bit Mind in an 8GB world! http://an8bitmind.com |
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05-18-2005, 05:38 PM
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#186 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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you mean Cantonese and English?
Mine is one better it has French too FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 09:08 AM
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#187 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 5, 2012
Woah, good news everywhere!!! Both Gianni Zuiverloon (that is the right spelling) and Kim Källström have agreed to terms with Q.P.R. and will join the club on July 1st!!! Zuiverloon, a 25yo centreback with continental reputation who is also capable of doubling as a right fullback, commented to the media that playing in European competition had a large bearing on his decision. As you can see in his player profile, the dude has great (world class-like I'd even say) skills in heading, marking, passing, tackling, and positioning. In short, about everything I look for in a centreback, even though he's a bit laking in aggressiveness. At only 25, he could be with us for many seasons, eventually taking over for Danny Shittu as the rock in the middle of our defensive line. He rejected an offer from his current club, Leverkusen to come play for us, and above all, he already speaks English, and hopefully it'll help him settling in.  Källström, a 29yo attacking midfielder who plays in the center of the field and is described as a cultured midfielder thanks to his great ball control and vision on the field, also gave the same reason for signing a contract that will bring him to Loftus Road. Looks like our presence in the 1st Knockout round of the Euro Cup is paying of more than with mere money, but also in reputation, that is great! As you'll see by looking at his player profile, Källström has a (severe) lack of pace, but is an amazing playmaker and could feed the strikers in amazing fashion from the AMC spot. He rejected an offer from West Brom, where he's been playing since the 2006/07 season, to come play for us. After player in England for the last several seasons, one would hope his settling down time won't bee too long.  Our $2.4M bid for Giovanni Dos Santos is accepted, well it had to be, since it met with the minimum fee release clause. Hrm, looking to offer him a contract, I see he's saying that he is not interested in a move to Q.P.R. He's a 22 yo AMC and with the signing of Källström, other than to bring in a young kid to the fold, we don't need him as much. I decide to not even offer him a contract and I withdraw our transfer bid. This leaves Ahmed Yahiaoui as the one possible future transfer in. We've still to hear from Marseilles about our lates offer but I now see that Man City have dropped out of the chase and Deportivo are now scouting him. hrm... January 7, 2012 We get the news that our offer for Yahiaoui is rejected. I offer them $14M and Keigan Parker for a total offer of $17.8M. I also decide to go public and I declare my interest in him. The pundits automatically start speculating and a fee of $16M is mentionned as the possible price it could cost to pris Yahiaoui away from Stade Vélodrome. That's an insight... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 11:18 AM
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#188 | |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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05-19-2005, 11:33 AM
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#189 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
keep reading, you'll get to it eventually. That or look one post above your reply FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 11:38 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 7, 2012
FA Cup, 3rd Round: we play Birmingham on their pitch. They are currently in 4th place of the EPL and are evens favourites to win this game. It's a pretty good feeling to see "Holders - Q.P.R." atop the fixtures page We drew 1-1 with Birmingham in league play earlier this season. Our next match is on January 11, when we'll take on Man Utd for the 1st Leg of the League Cup Semi Final. It's not an easy stretch of our schedule. I could decide to let it go of the Cups, but they could be my entry into the Euro Cup again this season, so we won't back down... They last played on January 1, while we last played on January 4. They show a 4-4-2 formation with long arrows on the wingers to start the game. Quincy Owusu Abeyie passes the opening kickoff back to César Augusto Fawcett and takes off like a rocket. Fawcett sees his run and launches a 45 yard long pass that lands to Abeyie's feet, on the edge of their penalty area. Abeyie kicks it hard and it's deflected before going in for his 5th goal of the season. Just like that, 13 seconds into the game, we're leading 1-0 We play a bit sloppily after that though and Tom Howell gets dispossessed near our penalty area and they score on an amazingly precise strike. The half ends in a 1-1 tie. We're outshooting them 5(2) to 1(1) and we're winning possession in about all tiers of the field. In the 48th minute, Tom Howell's corner sails to Danny Shittu's head inside the 6 yard box. Shittu outjumps everyone and heads it in for the go ahead goal. We go to a 4-2-2-2 formation in the 60th minute, trying to protect our lead by controlling the ball in our defensive midfield section. Li Tie comes in for Stephen Pearson. They go to a 4-2-4 formation in the 75th minute and I try to counter it by putting down arrows on my two wingers, giving us as many as 8 outfielders inside our defensive zone. Final Score: 2-1 An awesome game!!! We outshot them 11(6) to 1(1), effectively shutting them down completely in the second half. Fábio Rochemback is named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. He attempted 19 tackles and won 13 of them. Tom Howell also got rated at 9 while César Augusto Fawcett and James Collins both got rated at 8. On the other hand, Kasper Schmeichel got rated at 5. Hard to understand, other than think he got bored out of his mind not getting one shot in the second half... We've been awarded $90k for the win and we're through to round 4. I decided to try something I've not done a lot of recently and I offer Nathan Jameson a mutual termination of his contract. The dude is useless on our squad and is paid $9,000 per week. He immediately tells me that he would agree to a termination of his contract in exchange of a one payment of $123k. I quickly estimated that we were about 24 weeks from June 30 (real number is 25 weeks from Jan. 7 to Jun. 30) and I estimated the wage cost for Jameson with a $10k weekly wage, giving me about $240k in wage cost. Hmm, $123k is a pretty good deal, I accept and we release Jameson on a free transfer. I may try to do that kind of thing for a few unused players on the squad... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 11:44 AM
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#191 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 8, 2012
Peter Young fractured some ribs in training and will miss 3 weeks. I ask my physios for reports on him and huhoh, they believe he is somewhat prone to injury. Not the kind of thing you want to hear about your latest youth project... Mark Wilson agrees to terms with Ipswich. Hrm, maybe I just dreamed I offered him a contract as we're not even acknowledged. Oh well, he probably would have only been a fringe player anyway... Our latest bid for Ahmed Yahiaoui is rejected. I will wait a couple days before making another offer. January 9, 2012 Woah, at first, I'm impressed that we put 5 on the English Premier Division Team of the Week, until I realize that our match with Liverpool was the only EPL game this week. EPL filled the remaining spots Anthony Vanden Borre, Tom Howell, Danny Shittu, Youssouf Hersi, and Quincy Owusu Abeyie got selected for us.The draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup happens today, boy are we in for a tough road if we're to repeat. Not only do we draw the current first place team in the EPL, Chelsea, but we get to play them on their pitch. The game will be played on January 21 and it's been picked up for live television coverage. José Anigo, the Marseille manager, accused me of attempting to unsettle Ahmed Yahiaoui as they strenghened their resolve to keep the cultured midfielder. The media report that Q.P.R. are understood to have expressed their interest in signing the player, but Anigo is telling us to look eslewhere as he will not be 'bullied' into selling the 24 year old midfielder....hehe, this remains to be seen... In other news around England, Kevin Joyce signs a new deal with Brighton. Seven years after graduated from the Luton youth ranks, the dude is now 22yo and while his skills have not improved a lot, he's still getting good form ratings after good form ratings. January 10, 2012 Everton offered a contract to Ricardo, the starting goalkeeper for the Portugal National Team and currently playing with Sporting CP. He 35yo and would probably be a good signing for us, especially that he "only" wants $33.5k per week. I offer him that. I offer $16M to Marseille for Yahiaoui. I see that Werder Bremen is scouting Anthony Vanden Borre and that freaks me out a little. He's got a minimum release fee clause that goes active at $9.4M, yet he's already valued at $9.8M. This is a similar situation to what Happened with Youssouf Hersi last January when Man City enquired on how much I wanted for him... January 11, 2012 Igor Biscan resume full training after his physiotherapy treatment. Our latest bid for Yahiaoui is rejected, again. I offer them $15M and Ben Watson as part exchange, for a total offer valued at $21.4M.The waltz for Joost Broeren has started as Man City offer $18.5M for him. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 02:15 PM
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#192 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Here and There
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Man that Loon guy is slow.
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05-19-2005, 02:21 PM
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#193 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Correction, they are both slow But it doesn't matter. Loon, with if perfect positioning will always be in the right spot to make the play, and Käll will feed the ball to others all over the field Or at least I want to think so FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 02:23 PM
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#194 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 11, 2012
League Cup Semi Final, Leg 1: we play Manchester United at Loftus Road. They're currently tied in points with Chelsea in 1st place of the EPL, officially listed in second place on the goal differential tiebreaker, and they are 1-2 favourites to win this game. This game starts a crazy stretch of five games for us, a stretch that will see us play Man U three times in five. Look at this:  Add in Chelsea to that mix and that is a bit rough... Marcus Kelly is back in as the starting left winger and Tom Howell will back him up. We catch a break as Shaun Wright-Phillips is suspended. Says "suspended 1 game for sending off" but I have to go back three games to find when he was sent off, so this is the 3rd game of a 3 games suspension, harsh, but I like it Both teams last played on January 7. They show a 4-5-1 formation to start the game. In the 19th minute, even though he has no angle, Ross McCormack tries a shot. He is precise enough and the ball goes in off the post to Tim Howard's right. McCormack received the ball on a crazy 45 yards long pass from Anthony Vanden Borre. That's his 10th goal of the season and we're up 1-0. At that point, we had 4 shots, all on target, to none for Man U. The half ends with us ahead 1-0. We're outshooting them 10(6) to 2(0). Tim Howard is a darn wonderkeeper, rating at 9. Keep the pressure on him guys, he will crack! And pressuring him they do. In the 48th minute, Ross McCormack plays a free kick in a way nobody thought he would. As he lined up for the kick just outside their penalty area, it looked almost certain that he'd try to go for the goal. Instead of that, Andrew Johnson got in motion and positioned himself just behind their wall, where McCormack passed him the sweetest touch ball I've seen. AJ's sweet moves are just too much, even for a wonderkeeper, and he fakes Howard out of his shorts to find himself in front of an empty net. He scores the 2-0 goal, his 10th goal of the season. We'll keep deyning them any good chances at our goal for the rest of the game. Final Score: 2-0 WOW!!! We outshot them 17(7) to 7(0). JUST WOW!!! Yeah, it's a Cup match, Wright-Phillips wasn't there, maybe some others were sitting out, WHO CARES!!! WE KICKED SOME MAN YOO BUTT!!! Anthony Vanden Borre is named Man of the Match with a great performance out of the right fullback spot. He received a 9 for form, completing 11 runs past opponents and intercepting 6 balls. Ross McCormack got rated at 8. All in all, an awesome win! Yep, it's only one half of the way to the Final, but one big half. Now we gotta hang on in Leg 2. Interesting result in the other Semi Final, as Everton stole the game 2-0 on Sunderland's pitch. Youssouf Hersi has been banned for a match after collecting 5 yellow cards. The attendance of 26,129 for today's match is a new Q.P.R. record high attendance. We're still 21 short of a sellout, come on guys! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 02:24 PM
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#195 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 12, 2012
Marseille's Ahmed Yahiaoui had told Soccernet.com that he would be keen on joining Q.P.R., but is concerned that the media speculation surrounding such a move might have a detrimental impact on his football. The 25 year olf midfielder commented that the sooner the situation was resolved, the better it would be for all parties concerned. Well, a tad later in the day, we get the news that our latest bid has been rejected. Anybody would think that that latest rejection would just about settles it, well it's not knowing me well to thinks so. I go with one last crazy bid at $17M, with a deadline for their response of today. We have about $17.1M in the bank... January 14, 2012 Macclesfield want Justin Wall on loan. They would pay his full wage and I would be able to recall him, but I decide to reject their proposal. The kid's last loan experience was not good and his learning has stagnated while away from the perfect training facilities we have at Loftus Road. Even more, he's showing up as one of the players who's having the best training sessions since coming back to the club. I plan on giving him some first-team play soon as it can only help his development. And huhoh, it took them a couple of days, and many counteroffers, but Marseille have accepted our latest bid for Ahmed Yahiaoui and we're allowed to offer him a contract. He wants $68k per week with a modest $650k signing fee for a 3 year deal. He's currently earning $45k per week with Marseille. Julian Hudson recommends we offer him $65k per week and he believes he would become an essential member of our squad. I decide t offer him $65k per week, but I cut the signing fee to $300k, in an effort not to put the team in the red, since I will still need the approval of Bill Power, our chairman, for that deal to go through... Ricardo agrees to terms with Everton. He will join them on July 1st. This time, we're acknowledged as having offered him a contract, he simply rejected it. Gotta say I didn't go overboard to sign him. January 15, 2012 Igor Nadal Lázaro resumes full training following his physiotherapy treatment. The specialist who treated him is optimistic that he's recovered fully from his injury. I really want to see him play more with the first team. I like Igor. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 02:26 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 15, 2012
League Match #23: we play Fulham on their pitch. They're currently in 19th place and are evens favourites to win this game. They've really struggled in the first half of the season and while they are sitting in 19th place out of 20 teams, they just can't be taken for granted. They always play hard against us. Youssouf Hersi is suspended for this game. This game is on TV and key men are presented as Steward Downing for them and Stephen Pearson for us. The Football365.com prediction goes as follows: Fulham are strugglin at home at the moment. I fancy Q.P.R. to just about win this one. Woah... They last played on the 7th while we last played on the 11th. With only 84 second played in the first half, Matt Cross sends a long throw in to Quincy Owusu Abeyie. He gets tackled just inside their penalty area. Commentators say it was a harsh decision, but who cares, the ref points the spot... PENALTY!!! James Collins lines up for the kick, I go "JAMES COLLINS???" as he kicks it hard, almost through the keeper's body, for the 1-0 goal. Turns out Collins is a very good penalty kick taker (17)... I had simply forgotten about that fact Dang! In the 22nd minute, Matt Cross tried to wildly clear the ball of our penalty area to the back, but he kicks it past Kasper Schmeichel for an own goal! Tied 1-1. SHIT, not again!!! Craig Crane is pressured and forced into a backpass. His pass to Schmeichel is a bit wild and it goes into our goal, just off the post. TWO OWN GOALS, not in a game, IN 11 MINUTES!!! Down 1-2. The half ends with us down 1-2. They are outshooting us 11(5) to 4(2). ouch... They are kicking the crap out of us, controlling the ball 60% of the time, an astonishing 29% inside our defensive zone. To counter that, we got to a 4-2-2-2 formation, with Chris Chapman coming in to the second DMC spot, taking Stephen Pearson's place. We play like a bunch of 8 year old little girls and they take advantage of it in the 73rd minute. Down 1-3. We've not shot once in nealry 30 minutes of play in the second half. Craig Crane gets his second yellow of the game in teh 84th minute and is sent off. We got to a 3-2-2-2 formation but with crazy long arrows on wingers and DMC's. Clemens Fritz gets us one back in the 88th minute, as he chips it over their keeper's head. But it's too little, too late. Final Score: 2-3 They outshot us 17(9) to 6(4). A frigging awful game, despite the relatively close score. One that, based on relative position and toughness of the opponent, we should have won, that we had to win. Fábio Rochemback and Clemens Fritz both got rated at 8, while Craig Crane received a 5 for form. An own goal and two yellows is not what I'd call a good game... He will also automatically be banned for having been sent off in the game. We remain in 9th place after the loss but we don't have any games on hand anymore. We're now 4 points away from 7th and barely 4 points ahead of 12th place. With Manchester United coming as our next league match, it may get worse before it gets better...
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-19-2005, 02:27 PM
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#197 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 17, 2012
OOOMPH! Danny Shittu is called up by Nigeria for their African Cup of Nations squad. This cup starts on January 23 and could run up to February 12, if they make it to the Final. Oh boy, that's a whole lot of James Collins to go through... January 18, 2012 Werder Bremen puts in a bid valued at $15.5M plus incentives for Joost Broeren. This one is not over yet... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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05-20-2005, 09:09 AM
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#198 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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January 18, 2012
League Match #24: we play Manchester United on their pitch. They're currently in 1st, 2 points ahead of Chelsea and they're 1-2 favourites to win this game. Their top scorer, Arouna Koné, is in the same situation as our Danny Shittu, on international duty for the African Cup of Nations. He's on the Ivory Coast squad. Our next game is our FA Cup 4th round match against Chelsea on January 21. Craig Crane is suspended for this game. Man U show a similar 4-5-1 formation as the last time we played them, in Leg 1 of the League Cup Semi Final. The first half ends in a scoreless tie. We're outshooting them 5(2) to 4(0). It was an exciting half, even without a goal. We're hanging in there, controlling the ball well, even though a bit much within our own half to my taste. Ross McCormack plays another great short free kick to Youssouf Hersi in the 61st minute. Hersi, who was standing on the edge of their penalty area, turns around and launches a precise strike to give us a 1-0 lead. WOOT! In the 83rd minute, Tom Howell plays the ball ahead of Ross McCormack. For a moment, I feared it would be called back for offside, not that McCormack was offside, but we had two player ahead of him running backward, trying to put themselves in an inside position. No call is made as McCormack picks up the ball and runs all alone up to the keeper and scores the 2-0 goal!!! Final Score: 2-0 WOW! just WOW!!! Two clean sheets in a row against the mighty Man Yoo, woah! Final shot tally came to 10(6) for us, 11(4) for them. Anthony Vanden Borre had another great game from the right fullback spot, rating at 9 and getting the Man of the Match. Schmeichel, Fawcett, Howell, Hersi, and McCormack all got rated at 8. Tom Howell needed the physio toward the end of the game and his postgame condition is only at 57%. This may prevent him from playing our next game... We move up to 8th place with the win, 3 points from 6th place. I always like to see what's the best we could go within one win.
Bill Power just could hide his delight over this win. I think I saw him dance, then drink 4 scotches straight The crowd of 26130 is a new Q.P.R. crowd record, beating our previous best, also set in a match against Man Utd just a few days ago. I'll say it again though, it's 20 short of a sellout. COME ON GUYS! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 05-20-2005 at 09:10 AM. |
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05-20-2005, 09:13 AM
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#199 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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HOLY MOLY!
GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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05-20-2005, 09:13 AM
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#200 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
out of all my readers, I knew you'd be one to really enjoy them two wins against Man U FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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