Ashridge Park Royals, Or, Izulde In FM 14

[Izulde]

Gorgeous logo, no? Ashridge Park Royals is a great team name, too. And yeah, with the end of the semester, it's me back in FM 14, where you'll have swearing, cursing, and failure galore. I've installed Steaton's Total Annihilation V. 3 tactic, or as much of it as I possibly can since I can't figure out how to install the damn tactic, so just went on screenshots.

ANYWAY!

Goalkeeper
Aaron Omand (22) - 2.5/2.5

DL
Shaun Roscoe (26) - 4/5/4.5

DC
Paul Cousins (31) - 5/5
Shaun Roscoe (26) - 5/5
Shane Blackmore (20) - 5/5
Ashton Butcher (19) - 5/5
Ray Hackett (26) - 4.5/4.5

DR
Ashton Butcher - 1.5/5
Ray Hackett - 1/1

MC
Will Peers (18) - 4.5/5
Calvin Dinsley (22) - 4.5/5
Connor Millington (21) - 4.5/5

AML
Shaun Roscoe (26) - 5/5
Tony Jacobs (19) - 4.5/5

AMC
James Stokoe (27) - 4/4

AMR
Connor Millington (21) - 5/5
Tony Jacobs (19) - 3.5/5

ST
James Stokoe (27) - 2/2
Tony Jacobs (19) - 1.5/5
Gary Banks (29) - 0.5/0.5

I'm training up an 18 year old kid name Joel Davies to be an AML/AMR guy, but it's going to take time. We need improvement in goal and at striker. Depth would help, too. As we just have Davies and a DC depth.

vs Woodley Reserves
GK: Aaron Ormand
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/James Stokoe/Connor Millington
ST: Gary Banks

3 - We're starting this fluke goal shit already. 0-1

7 - Banks recovers a cleared corner and kicks it up to kicker Millington, who just barely manages to keep the ball in play as he sends it to Blackmore's leaping head for the score! 1-1

26 - Green cross for Stokoe, but he'll play on.

Lot of knocks so far, but we're doing okay-ish. We'll keep going.

54 - Heh. Blackmore fucked up the height of the ball and they score easily as a result 1-2

56 - Peers gets it in the middle of the penalty box and wings it out to Roscoe, who taps it back in to Jacobs for the pretty, left-footed shot in 2-2

69 - Jacobs pounces on the ball deep on our baseline after their corner fizzles and longballs it to Banks, who drills it in front of Stokoe. Our injured, lone AMC, skips past the defense and booms in the tight angled shot! 3-2

71 - Huge assist from one of their guys, getting the double yellow.

83 - Millington's indirect free kick is a cross to Stokoe, who short-heads it to Blackmore next to him, and the screamer goes in!!! 4-2 Double subs: Hackett for Cousins and Davies out of position for Dinsley.

86 - Fucking terrible pass by Hackett. Shit shit shit. 4-3

I've never seen a defender score 2 goals in a game, but Shane Blackmore and his double for 9.1 and PotM did it. 8.3 for James Stokoe and 7.7 for Connor Millington round out our 7.5+ ratings.

We lose James Stokoe for 4 weeks, so we're going to have to play someone out of position.

But at least we open the season with a win, and are tentatively in 2nd place, which is an auto-promotion spot. The bad news? We play the team in 1st in a week, so we really need to try and rush in a signing quickly, because with just 10 teams in the division, every one of those 18 games matters.

[Brian Swartz]

In before the eighteen profanity-laced, 'nothing ever works in this game', 'I quit and am never playing FM again' tirades.

[Izulde]

Transfer In - Rob Spencer (27) - From Gresley
A key reserve if nothing else. Consider his following positions:
MC: 0.5/0.5
AML: 1.5/1.5
AMC: 2.5/2.5
AMR: 2/2
ST: 3.5/3.5

The striker is a red herring, however, as our setup calls for a strong striker with great teamwork, and Spencer doesn't have that.

Transfer In - Lee Allen (34) - From Enfield Town
MC: 2/2
AMC: 4.5/4.5
ST: 2/2

Like with Spencer, a red herring at ST. Despite the higher rating, I don't see him replacing James Stokoe for longer than the 4 weeks, but it's still good coverage for depth.

@Sandhurst Devels Reserves
GK: Aaron Omand
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Gary Banks

3 - Our defense completely fell asleep 0-1

13 - We build up an attack down the left flank after Omand's second terrible goal kick of the game. It ends with Dinsley finding Allen in open space outside the box, and our new AMC's feed inside sees Banks split the defenders to slice it in amid stupid whining about offsides. 1-1

17 - Millington was totally onside, fuckers. Another great pass by Allen to set him up, however.

39 - We just can't keep our AMCs healthy. Allen is forced out, so on comes Spencer

65 - It's been an awful game for Cousins, so in comes Hackett.

76 - Shitty keeping by Omand. He's gone after this game. 1-2

87 - Just to ensure there's no comeback, Hackett commits a PK foul. 1-3

To be honest, most of the team played like shit, but the post-match report said they also struck lucky, so yeah.

Connor Millington is appointed captain, Gary Banks vice-captain.

Transfer In - James Fossdyke (20)
He looks like a world-class keeper to me (for this level). Huge, huge upgrade over the steaming sack of shit we had before, who is now a backup, and might be on his way out if our other target signs.

Transfer In - Grant Beckwith (22) - From Barton Rovers
And there's the other keeper. 2/5, so he's a project, but it's goodbye to the other fucker.

Transfer In - DLR Ben Manning (23)
4.5/5 on DR, 3.5/5 on DL. More to the point, he's far more suited to the pacey, crossing, attacking scheme we ask out of our wide defenders than the other kid, though he's working on crossing. Very, very pleased with this get.

That also completely eliminates all our gray players, yay!

We lose Calvin Dinsley, only our best performing center midfielder, for 6-7 weeks. And of course it's just before the game.

5th vs Hurst (9th)
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Ben Manning
M: Will Peers/Lee Allen
AM: Tony Jacobs/Rob Spencer/Connor Millington
ST: Gary Banks

6 - So in the first six minutes, Manning has a yellow card and Banks is hurt so bad he's done. Jacobs moves to ST and Davies slides in at AML.

31 - Jacobs with a green cross. Keep on keeping on.

Ugly game so far. 3 players have been carted off with injuries. But so far, despite some great chances on both sides, all things are scoreless. We need to break through with a win here.

Great work by our backline. Our offense, particularly Tony Jacobs? Fucking awful.

Both players are out for a bit, and will miss our next match. More injuries pile up, as Connor Millington goes down for 5-6 weeks. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!

Transfer In - Demi Kyriacou (28)
2/2 striker, but he'll have to play due to our injuries rash.

5th @ Westwood United (6th)
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Ben Manning/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Lee Allen
AM: Shaun Roscoe/James Stokoe/Rob Spencer
ST: Demi Kyriacou

1 - Heh. Manning is 2 for 2 in games with a foul awarded in the first minute.

26 - HERE'S A FREE PENALTY GUYZ! 0-1

45 - HERE'S A FUCKING JUST BEFORE HALF FUCKING GOAL!!! 0-2

52 - IT'S LIKE YOU ASSCLOWNS HAVE GIVEN UP 0-3

56 - HAVE ANOTHER ONE! 0-4

85 - AND ANOTHER! 0-5

I FUCKING HAIRDRYER THE MOTHERFUCKING SHIT OUT OF THE TEAM!

Now Shaun Roscoe will probably miss our next game with the flu. Awesome.

My phone buzzes. Cute Korean girl texting me? Of course not. It's a fucking British banker trying to get me to re-join NLL after I quit earlier this week.

6th vs Cookham Dean Reserves
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Ben Manning/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Lee Allen
AM: Tony Jacobs/James Stokoe/Rob Spencer
ST: Gary Banks

23 - I told the banker no. 0-1

28 - Oh look, another penalty given up. 0-2

33 - Spencer fetches his own deflected pass in the right corner of the box, weeble-wobbles around the defense, and snips it to Stokoe for our first score in forever. We're still losing. 1-2

I got the same exact score on Level 173 of Pig and Dragon as my mom. They give her the tiebreaker. Then I think about how sad my life is that I'm writing on an Internet message board about this.

46 - Some things will always be true. Me = friendzoned. Me = sucking ass at FM. 1-3

69 - Who are these sheepfuckers who keep getting tons of wins off these ZOMGSOAMAZINGTACTICS? I want to slice their dicks open with a rusty chainsaw and feed the parts to pigs who sleep with dragon cockroaches. 1-4

92 - Cool. Stokoe is hurt again.

Everyone is disenchanted. I'm going to play this level of Pig and Dragon, and think about going to 7-11 for wine. So then I can whine on wine.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

In before the eighteen profanity-laced, 'nothing ever works in this game', 'I quit and am never playing FM again' tirades.

It didn't take long. :P

[Izulde]

Okay, so fuck the super tactic. Let's work with what we have.

Goalkeeper
James Fossdyke
GK: 5
SK: 4

DL
Shaun Roscoe
LFB - 4
CWB - 4
FB - 3

Ben Manning
LFB - 3

DC
Paul Cousins
LD - 5
CD - 3.5

Shane Blackmore
LD - 5
CD - 1

Aston Butcher
LD - 4.5
CD - 1

Ray Hackett
LD - 4
CD - 1

DR
Ben Manning
LWB - 4.5
FB - 3
WB - 3
CWB - 2.5

Aston Butcher
LWB - 1.5

ML
Shaun Roscoe
DW - 2.5
WM - 2.5
W - 2

Joel Davies
WM - 4.5 silver
W - 4 silver
DW - 4 silver

MC
Will Peers
B2B - 4
DLP - 2.5
AP - 2.5
BWM - 2

Calvin Dinsley
BWM - 4
B2B - 2.5
CM - 2

Connor Millington
B2B - 3.5
BWM - 2
AP - 2

MR
Connor Millington
WM - 4
W - 4
DW - 3.5

Joel Davies
WM - 4 silver
W - 4 silver
DW - 4 silver

AML
Shaun Roscoe
DW - 4.5
W - 4
WTM - 2.5
AP - 2

Tony Jacobs
IF - 4
W - 5 silver
AP - 5 silver
DW - 5 silver

AMC
Lee Allen
Trequartista - 3.5
AM - 3
Eganche - 3
AP - 2

James Stokoe
SS - 2.5
Trequartista - 2
AM - 2
Enganche - 2

Rob Spencer
Enganche - 2
Trequartista - 2

AMR
Connor Millington
IF - 4.5
W - 4
AP - 4
DW - 4
WTM - 3

Tony Jacobs
W - 2
IF - 1.5

Rob Spencer
W - 1.5
IF - 1.5

ST
Rob Spencer
F9 - 2.5
Tre - 2

Demi Kyriacou
DF - 2
TM - 2

Everyone else is scrubby for their positions.

Just goes to show how devastating Millington's injury has been. He's the key to really making us work.

I'm changing to an Attacking, Direct style of play, with Deep Defensive Line and High Tempo, Rigid and Sticking To Positions. Also Exploiting The Left Flank

I've also changed up roles to best suited for players whenever possible, while still keeping in mind the partnerships.

8th @ AFC Corinthians
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Paul Cousins/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Lee Allen
AM: Tony Jacobs/James Stokoe/Rob Spencer
ST: Demi Kryiacou

1 - Heh. 0-1

12 - Peers hits a drive to Jacobs, who seamlessly puts it in the box for Kyriacou's first goal for us 1-1

Hackett and Manning go on for Cousins and Butcher respectively at the half.

70 - Knocks for Allen and Manning one right after the other, and of course they fucking score. 1-2

Lee Allen is out 3-4 weeks, but Ben Manning should be back next match. These fucking injuries.

Transfer In - Louis Bridges (21) - From Stourport
3.5 Target Man, 2.5 Advanced Forward. He'll be our new starter, and a fresh breath of youth there.

HE SUFFERS A FUCKING SPORTS HERNIA AND IS OUT 6-7 WEEKS HIS FIRST FUCKING PRACTICE

9th vs Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers Arborfield (2nd)
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Ben Manning
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/James Stokoe/Connor Millington
ST: Demi Kryiacou

36 - :T 0-1

63 - We score on a Hackett header off a Millington corner, but Roscoe is knocked, so we'll have another fucking punkslut injury to deal with 1-1

76 - FUCKING CLEAR THE FUCKING BALL YOU FUCKKNOBS! 1-2

If there's relegation to Level 13, I'm fucked.

And we lose Shaun Roscoe for 3-4 weeks, which doubly fucks our tactic.

[Izulde]

Dropping to just 3 instructions - More Direct Passing, Higher Tempo, and Stick To Position, with Counter, Rigid. Also, the entire backline is now on defense.

Connor Millington is out 6 to 8 days with food poisoning. We just can't catch a fucking break.

9th @Unity (6th)
GK: James Fossdyke
D: Ben Manning/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Rob Spencer
ST: Demi Kryiacou

1 - Green cross for Blackmore on an open header. FFS.

54 - Are you shitting me?! Spencer's out. Davies will go in for him.

I'll take the point at this point.

Transfer In - Callum Horton (24) - From Ware
I actually like his Handling and Throwing better than Fossdyke's, so despite his 1.5/4.5, I think I'm going to give the kid a start and see how he does, since I'm planning on putting in a counter-attacking style.

9th @ Woodley Reserves (10th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

I read somewhere that a Trequartista is a poor match for counter attacking, so I changed Allen to an AM. This is obstensibly our full-strength lineup, so we'll see how it goes.

20 - Millington with a gorgeous long ball dropping in front of Bridges for the dribble in and fire home! 1-0

22 - Great header by Roscoe on the opposing goal kick, and a series of midfield passes later, Dinsley is arcing the long ball to Allen, who gets past everyone for the quickfire lead double! 2-0

31 - Peers is triple-teamed and loses the ball, but Butcher recovers. On to Dinsley, who passes to Millington. A give and go with Allen sees Millington all alone on the right side of the box, and a center to Bridges is the bridge for another goal! 3-0

44 - Dinsley - Peers - Allen - Bridges, but the defender tackles away the ball. Millington's right there on the corner of the box though, and his breathtaking diagonal shot *just* finds the corner of the net! 4-0

47 - Nothing doing about that one 4-1

61 - .... 4-2

68 - Cousins on for Hackett

88 - YOU HAVE GOT TO FUCKING BE KIDDING ME! 4-3

That was a real shitter of a performance in the second half by our defense, but we scrape out the win. 9 for PotM Millington, 8.2 for Allen and 8.8 for Bridges.

Halfway through the season, and we've only beaten the worst team in the league, both times by 4-3 scorelines. Merg.

Louis Bridges had a great training. Lee Allen and Demi Kyriacou declined, however, and I need to start thinking about a new AM, as James Stokoe isn't suited for the role. At 28, Stokoe isn't one for the future.

Transfer In - Malachi Bulley (24)
Promising young prospect (1.5/5) who might be able to step in as our AMC as soon as next season.

9th vs Barton Rovers (8th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

27 - Great long ball by Millington to Bridges, and the resulting hoof drop into the penalty box is won by Allen, who rifles it in 1-0

36 - Millington gets the ball in the middle of the pitch, dribbles down the field and crosses to Allen for the beautiful forward pass into space for Bridges, the kid completing the dribble forth and shot for the goal. 2-0

37 - I didn't think they were offsides, but I'll take it!

53 - Millington recovers his own cleared indirect kick and hangs a ball to Hackett's head for another tally! Connor's clearly demonstrated that he's our best player, and I suspect the long losing streak we had was not only due to tactics, but to his absence with injury. 3-0

Our best game of the entire season! Hackett with 8.2, Millington with 7.8, PotM Allen with 8.4, and Bridges with 8.3. While promotion seems completely out of reach, perhaps we can make a second half storm up the standings.

Transfer In - Scott Weight (26)
A natural, 4* DLP, he can't play for us this season, but he'll take over for Calvin Dinsley next season in that role.

7th vs Sandhurst Devels Reserves (1st)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Shaun Roscoe/Paul Cousins/Ray Hackett/Aston Butcher
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

Shane Blackmore picked up an automatic ban due to yellows accumulation, so Cousins is in his place.

6 - Ha! Horton hears the who of a yellow card. First time I've seen a goalie get a yellow (due to handling).

25 - Bridges chases down a clearance and sits on the left boundary line of the box until Allen's in front of the goal. A cross and chip-in later, we've the lead 1-0

44 - Wow! PRETTIEST GOAL EVER! Dinsley passes to Millington, who runs past EVERYONE for the shot and score!!! I'm getting errors trying to log in to YouTube to upload it, but I'll try after the match if we win. 2-0

63 - Allen moves back to MC for Dinsley, who is looking tired and has made poor plays this half. Bulley will get his first look at the AMC slot.

71 - HE WAS OFFSIDES!!! 2-1

75 - Fucking horrible pass by Jacobs allows a fucking counter move 2-2
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2-3

Lee Allen got hurt late in the game.

THERE IS NO FUCKING EXCUSE FOR US TO HAVE LOST THAT MOTHERFUCKING GAME!

[Izulde]

We'll be without Lee Allen for our next game due to broken ribs.

Good training by Will Peers, who the fans are bitching about despite a solid average rating. Poor from Paul Cousins, James Stokoe, and weirdly Callum Horton.

9th @ Hurst (4th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Shaun Roscoe/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Ben Manning
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Tony Jacobs/Malachi Bulley/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

I get slammed with red when everyone is confused when I tell them they were just unlucky. Lots of chances for us but we couldn't convert.

Transfer In - Elliot Ledwards (22) - From Market Drayton
Instantly one of our top players, and it will allow us to move Shane Roscoe to AML, displaying the disappointing Tony Jacobs.

8th @ Cookham Dean Reserves (6th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Ben Manning
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Shaun Roscoe/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

12 - Awful goal kick by Horton. 0-1

17 - Sigh. 0-2

46 - Look, we're gonna lose, okay? 0-3

0-4 loss. Whatever.

[Izulde]

More Counter Attacking reading, I've changed my instructions to Drill Crosses, Play Narrower, Much Deeper Line, Stick To Positions, Stand Off Opponents, Lower Tempo

Gary Banks goes on the injury list. No one notices or cares.

9th vs Westwood United (5th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/Ray Hackett/Ben Manning
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Shaun Roscoe/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Louis Bridges

22 - We were very, very lucky. Post saved us and I'm not sure how that didn't go in.

48 - Davies in for Roscoe, who has been just lousy today.

63 - Kyriacou on for Bridges, who has flamed out lately.

We actually played quite well overall, despite the fact that they kept taking shot after shot after shot, and we couldn't get anything going ourselves.

With 4 games left, I'm just hoping we get out of the red line, even though the league rules don't say there's demotion.

Youth Intake
AML/ML Matt Byrne (16)
DCR/SW River Booth (16)
DRC Alaistair Birmingham (15)
ST/AML/DM/MR Jon Amoo (15)

All of these kids look like immediate starters, so they're signed.

9th vs AFC Corinthians (2nd)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Matt Byrne/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Jon Amoo

Wouldn't you know it? Byrne is green crossed right before the half, so Roscoe comes back in.

Frankly, we should have won. Like 5-6 times in the second half, it was opposing keeper making great save after great save after great save.

3 games left and the highest we can get is 7th.

I'm re-thinking using the Counter mentality, as a lot of people say it simply doesn't work in FM 14.

9th @ Royal Electrical (3rd)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Matt Byrne/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST: Jon Amoo

10 - Dinsley kicks a PK and converts for our first goal in a while! 1-0

22 - Down goes Peers, so I shift Dinsley to BBM, Allen to DLP, and insert Bulley at AMC.

3 straight clean sheets, though we still can't find the net. I've noticed Jon Amoo hangs on to the ball too much. Also, Millington will miss our next game. Rob Spencer is on his way out in June, by the by. Got a team to pay him $5.75k next year.

9th vs Barton Rovers (7th)
GK: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
M: Will Peers/Calvin Dinsley
AM: Matt Byrne/Lee Allen/Tony Jacobs
ST: Jon Amoo

20 - Fucked over by Birmingham's awful throw-in 0-1

We're locked into 9th place, so who even cares about the final game?

1-1 draw in our finale, with our goal coming on a corner. Clearly, this tactic is doing pretty damn well defensively, but goal scoring is a huge issue.

[Izulde]

The end of season team meeting is a disaster. I select a mid-table finish for next year, which is the lowest possible, and everyone is like, that's too high! Whatever.

Good Yearly Trains
Will Peers
River Booth
Matt Byrne
Jon Amoo
Alaistair Birmingham

Bad Yearly Trains
Paul Cousins
Rob Spencer (on way out)
Demi Kyriacou
James Stokoe
Lee Allen

The council blocks moving a stadium, but our youth category rating moves to Category 3 from Category 4.

After searching to find out what this means...

Category 3
• Clubs in this category will not be permitted to coach youngsters until they are 11
• Will require an estimated budget of £315k

Category 4
• Clubs in this category will be used to pick up youngsters that are late developers or have been released from other Academies or Centres of
Excellence. Players will be 16 years of age or above

It increases the quality of the players that come to the club... it depends on your training facilities level IIRC. The higher the training facilities, the better your category, and with a better category, better young players come.

So... awesome!

$90k profit. I love being an amateur side when it comes to banking money.



Still not sure who to keep and who to jettison of this crew. We'll have to see what the offseason raids bring, of course. Nor am I sure who/what to add, if anything. May roll with the current roster to see if they improve just by being together.

OTOH, I see a 4-2-3-1 formation on Steam that looks very interesting, so I may switch to that. I do make one adjustment to a role, however, to suit Matt Byrne. I also, since I now have the players capable of it, make my two fullbacks complete wingbacks in Attack, to add punch to our attack.

One thing we desperately need is a new AMC. Neither one we have is working.

Transfer Out
Connor Millington - $12.5k/year - Didcot
Matt Byrne - $400/year - Chipstead
Tony Jacobs - $3.8k/year - Fareham
Will Peers - $4.5k/year - Didcot
Calvin Dinsley - $3.4k/year - Cray Valley
Lee Allen - $3.1k/year - Alresford
Joe Davies - $3.8k/year - Hamworthy
Ben Manning - $3.2k/year - Squires Gate
Paul Cousins - Amateur - Bootle
James Stokoe - $3.2k/year - Bracknell
Aston Butcher - $4.4k/year - Nostell Miners Welfare

No one will sign with us Guess I'll wait until after the feeding frenzy is over, then pick up guys off the scrap heap.

Player of the Year - Lee Allen
Uh... okay? Not what I expected, but hey, whatever.

Best 11
GK Allen Horton
D Shaun Roscoe/Ray Hackett/Shane Blackmore/Aston Butcher
M Calvin Dinsley/Will Peers
AM Tony Jacobs/Lee Allen/Connor Millington
ST Louis Bridges

Preseason
4-4-1-1, 4-4-2 Diamond, and 4-2-3-1 are considered the best formations for the team. Let's see what the 4-4-2 Diamond looks like, since we lost all our AM players.

It looks interesting at first glance, but we'll see how it goes.

Tranfer In - Andrew Hall (16) - From Long Buckby
I'm going to make him a Trequartista, since that's his best role. Either way, he's our new AMC.

Holy shit. We're joint 1-5 favorites to win promotion. Umm... guys? GUYS?! HELLO, WE FINISHED 9TH LAST YEAR AND LOST ALL OUR TOP PLAYERS!!!!

@Unity
G: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Shane Blackmore/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Scott Weight
M: Shaun Roscoe/Jon Amoo
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: Demi Kyriacou/Louis Bridges

26 - SSDS 0-1

80 - WTF do I even play this fucking game? 0-2

Even better? We lose Shane Blackmore, who signs a $5.75k/year deal with Seven Acre & Sidcup.

Want more good news? There's only 6 teams in the league this season, so we play all of 10 fucking games.

[Izulde]

Shaun Roscoe gets $6.25k from Billingham Syn, and the bleeding continues. Louis Bridges wins $12.75k from Fleet. NOBODY WILL SIGN WITH US!

5th vs Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineering (4th)
G: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Ray Hackett/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Scott Weight
M: Grey Player/Jon Amoo
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: Demi Kyriacou/Gary Banks

Yeah, we're forced to use a gray player. FUCK ALL OF YOU PUNKS WHO WON'T FUCKING SIGN WITH US. I pick Control and Balance, out of sheer desperation.

22 - Oh look, Birmingham is knocked out, and Ledwards is a green cross. Hello, second gray player.

31 - Ledwards passes it to Weight, who kicks a beautiful ball up for Hall to stride through and score. Won't last, but cool anyway 1-0

40 - Yep. 1-1

Stupid fucking game. Stupid fucking players who go LOLOLOL NOPE I'M NOT GUNNA SIGN WITH YOU EVEN THOUGH I'M VERY INTERESTED LOLOLOL!

Fuck.this.bullshit.fucking.punk.fucking.game.

[Izulde]

I kind of want to make a Glissa the Traitor Commander deck, but this fucking dipass game keeps summoning me back. Or maybe I'm secretly a masochist. IDFK.

Since I can't convince anyone on a damned team to leave, I'm just gonna search for unattached people.

Transfer In - MLC/AML Ben Blackwood - 18
Our new starting ML. Raw, but we'll work him.

Transfer In - AML/ST George Eustance - 17
One of the biggest problems we've had is with our strikers being any good. George not only has a real player photo, he's instantly a great target man. Then again, so is Jon Amoo, but Amoo is being forced into MR duty.

Transfer In - ST Eifion Williams - 38
Old as hell, but you know how hard it is to find decent Advanced Forwards who will dare to play for us? One of the best players on the team right off the bat.

I transfer in another MR but he's a scrub, so fuck him.

5th @Westwood United (6th)
G: Callum Horton
D: Elliott Ledwards/Ray Hackett/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Scott Weight
M: Ben Blackwood/Jon Amoo
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: George Eustance/Eifion Williams

32 - GG Horton. Come out and literally let them WALK THE FUCKING BALL IN 0-1

34 - HE WAS ON ONSIDES!!! FUCK YOU, REFS!!!!!

37 - Cool. A guy is sent off on a double yellow.

79 - Fuck this cocksucking bullshit. 0-2

I quit. I will never fucking be any good at this fucking bullshit game.

[Izulde]

Both our keepers are signed away, and not even the unattached guys will sign with us.

Oh yeah, we keep losing, too.

[Brian Swartz]

That doesn't matter anywhere though, does it? You quit. :P

[Izulde]

Our DM got signed away too and a DC got hurt, so we have 3 grey guys and two red out of position players and somehow draw 3-3 away the next game. This game is so fucking stupid.

[Izulde]

We get a couple really old DM to sign with us, and then another DC gets poached on a contract that actually pays. We're also now playing a short passing, possession-based, low tempo, narrow game with a deep defensive line. Losing has still continued, though.

Good Trains
Jon Amoo
Eifion Williams

Team is still making bank, but I'm officially downgraded to Insecure status. I fully expect to be fired by the end of the season, particularly since we're far, far back of even 5th place, who we play next.

b]6th vs Unity (5th)[/b]
G: Gray
D: Elliott Ledwards/Gray/River Booth/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Junior Kadi
M: Ben Blackwood/Jon Amoo
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: George Eustance/Eifion Williams

70 - Long free kick goal for them. We've had our chances. 0-1

80 - Just to make sure we can't come back, the refs give them a PK 0-2

Funny thing is, we had two beautiful moves today, and couldn't do anything with any of them.

The board has a meeting with me after that one, and don't buy my blaming the refs. Long story short, either we win the next game, or my ass is fired. I'm warned by the FA, too. Oh, and Malachi Bulley leaves for another team on an amateur contract. Granted, he was a reserve at this point, but it still stings.

We lose our second straight DC starter, as River Booth signs an amateur contract elsewhere. We bring in 17 year old Steve Richards, who is one of the best players at the club, to replace him. And yeah, we're only signing unattached guys again. We also sign 33 year old GK Craig Morris, just to have a non-gray guy.

Our backline continues to be raided, Elliott Ledward getting a $7.5k deal from Wivenhoe.We snap up an 18 year old former trialist, Darren Hunter, to give us two starting non-gray DCs again. 21 year old Tom Clarke, able to play all three defender positions as well as DM and MC, joins a day later to fully flesh out our starting lineup.

6th @ Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (2nd)
G: Craig Morris
D: Tom Clarke/Steve Richards/Darren Hunter/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Junior Kadi
M: Ben Blackwood/Jon Amoo
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: George Eustance/Eifion Williams

17 - Kadi kicks it back to Blackwood for the far wing pass to Clarke. Our new DL first touch crosses to the far post, where Williams waits to head it in for our first lead in a while. 1-0

58 - Amoo moved up to striker for Eustance, Edward Wileman at MR for his first action.

65 - Wileman wins back his own intercepted pass and sends it to Williams, who also gets the ball back after losing it. Our ancient Welsh striker strides all the way down the right wing before turning in and near-posting it to Amoo for the double! 2-0

71 - And there's one giveback 2-1

73 - Clarke moves to the right side for Birmingham, whose game has been shit, and a gray guy at DL.

77 - Header won by Amoo is knocked down to Blackwood. A pass into space for the gray guy, who centers to Amoo for the walk-in goal!!!! 3-1

87 - Smacked on the counter 3-2

91 - They should've tied it up there.

That's our first win of the season, in our 7th game!!! I've bought myself some more time. Jon Amoo's 8.8 as a striker carried us, though Eifion Williams netted a 7.8. And this gray guy, Danny Daley? DUDE WAS MAKING PLAYS *EVERYWHERE* and finished with a 6.9. The 19 year old kid just earned himself a contract. He was tackling, he was intercepting, he was passing... he was doing every damn thing.

6th @ Alcester Town (4th)
G: Craig Morris
D: Tom Clarke/Steve Richards/Darren Hunter/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Junior Kadi
M: Ben Blackwood/Edward Wileman
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: Jon Amoo/Eifion Williams

16 - The post screwed Amoo there.

18 - Thanks for the own goal! 1-0

25 - Williams passes it to Amoo, who holds up until he can send a scorching longball to Hall for the wide open score! 2-0

35 - Their key offensive player strikes a longball that nothing can be done about. I'm going to close down and mark him heavily from now on, because he's been a threat repeatedly so far 2-1

70 - Turley in for Kadi; Daley for Richards.

80 - Birmingham is on the wing and he centers it, where Hall beats the defense and slots it in! It appears I've *finally* found a strategy that works, and I came up with it on my own. Famous last words, though. 3-1

Nobody had lower than a 6.7. Andrew Hall grabs 8.8 and PotM, Darren Hunter with 7.4, Alastair Birmingham with 7.2 to round out the guys who had higher than a 7 rating. Suddenly we've gone from 0 wins to winning 2 straight away games, and while we're still in last place, with two games to go, we can maybe sneak up out of the basement, as we're two points back of 4th, and 3 of third.

Good Train
Jon Amoo

Bad Train
Eifion Williams
Craig Morris

My job status is still Insecure, but at least the immediate talk of firing is over.

I'm getting annoyed by all the shortlist notifications, so I clear out the list. No sense in constantly reading about players who have no interest in coming here. Gary Banks signs an amateur contract elsewhere. No problem. He never really fit in here anyway.



What's that you say? We have a 16 year old captain? Yep. Nobody bitched about it, either. Love this youth pull kid. He played MR, never complaining about it, and when he got back in at ST, he's never looked like losing his place.

6th vs Westwood United (1st)
G: Craig Morris
D: Tom Clarke/Steve Richards/Darren Hunter/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Junior Kadi
M: Ben Blackwood/Edward Wileman
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: Jon Amoo/Eifion Williams

So in the run-up to this, the manager basically says I deserve to be fired. Fuck him. A journalist also lets me know about one of their dangerous strikers, who I resolve to put on lock-down from the get-go.

8 - Kadi intercepts and passes to Hall for the immediate first touch pass to Amoo in the box. Our young captain has to turn around completely, but when he does, his shot goes in! 1-0

15 - And Kadi's green-cross knocked, so Turley goes on for him.

32 - Richards is first to the ball on an opposing throw-in, and from there it's a straight line Amoo to Williams to Hall for the lead double. 2-0

50 - My assman is telling me we need to close down on the other striker, who amusingly enough, is named Snape. Nope, dude keeps blowing his shots, so he can be left alone.

53 - Turley to Hall to Williams to Amoo, and we have our third straight game scoring three goals! Snape is replaced. 3-0

60 - One of our DCs forgot to mark that danger striker I've got tagged to constantly be monitored. And so Nicky Giles scores, though I think he was offsides. 3-1

66 - Williams is knocked out with injury. Eustance goes in for him, as does Daley for Hunter, who made the mistake on the just given up goal, and who has made a lot of errors today.

8.8 and PotM for Jon Amoo, but let's also give plaudits to Andrew Hall for his 8.6 and Eifion Williams with 7.4. Yep, we just knocked out the #1 team in the league. Makes me wish I would have unveiled this combination earlier.

We're still 6th. 14 points is 2nd place and auto-promotion, but that would require us to have a lot of luck and goal differential go our way. We've 11 points.

A ridiculous 126 days to go before our final match, which is against the 2nd place team, incidentally.

Transfer In - DLC Joey Burton (16) - From Ardsley
A massive coup. The question is, which of our three great defenders does he supplant? I'm leaning towards Steve Richards so that we can utilize Richards as a backup DR. Although Burton could also replace Tom Clarke on the DL spot. That will probably be the option I go with, to be perfectly honest - as awesome as Clarke has been, I'm happy with our young DCs, and Burton has better upside. Plus, that gives me four teenagers on the backline who can grow and develop together (until the inevitable poaching occurs this summer).

I go on holiday until our final match. If we lose Amoo or Birmingham, who have been sniffed around all year, so be it.

Youth Candidate Signings
ST Harvey Parker (15) - 2/5 - best as Target Man, but will be trained as Advanced Forward
GK Michael Weale (15) - 4.5/5 and our new starter
MC/DM Samson Yakubu (15) - 3.5/5 as DM and promoted to senior team
MC/DM/ML Paul Woolner (15) - 3/5 as DM and promoted to senior team and one of our subs, as he's more ready than Yakubu to be Junior Kadi's top backup
DRC/DM Kevin Worsfold (16) - 4/5 but needs more training as a complete wingback, like everyone bar Alaistair Birmingham. He'll be a DR.
MC/DC/DM DeAngelo Sangster (16) - Will be trained as a DC Limited Back
DL Paul Brown (16) - 1/5
DCR Chris Entwhistle (16) - 5/5 and promoted to the senior squad, where he'll be one of our subs to start, and a possible starter.

Given all the raiding that's taken place this season, I'm signing a lot more of our youth candidates than I otherwise would, so I don't have to go through all the transfer hassles again. I'm fairly disappointed we had no MR candidate worth signing, nor a ST genuinely worth bringing on to be an Advanced Forward. But at least we have a couple young DMs to groom to into Deep Lying Playmakers, as well as a studly young keeper.

It's so fun to finally have a system that's working. By the way, Junior Kadi, the 35 year old starting DM? He's from Sierra Leone, and is our first non-English or Welsh player.

Of course, the big question is going to be just how many of these players will be stolen in the summer. Remember last year? Most of our topflight talent got picked up. Only Alaistair Birmingham and Jon Amoo have stuck around from last year's youth crop, and it's certainly not due to lack of offers! But Amoo loves me, and Birmingham loves the club.

Then there's the whole still needing to survive this season. I'm going to be a little pissed if I get fired, now that I finally have something that's working. I think we'll participate in the U21 league next season, now that we have 3 prospects I'd like to groom. Then again, we might have to promote them, depending on what happens in the offseason.

A stadium move is again blocked by the zoning board, and again a player voices support for me - Ben Blackwood this time. It's amazing how many of these kids have me as a favored manager. Hopefully that's my saving grace.

6th vs Burton Rovers (2nd)
G: Michael Weale
D: Joey Burton/Steve Richards/Darren Hunter/Alaistair Birmingham
DM: Junior Kadi
M: Ben Blackwood/Edward Wileman
AM: Andrew Hall
ST: Jon Amoo/Eifion Williams

It's as simple as this. Win, and we probably save my job. Lose, and I'm gone most likely. Draw, and I probably still lose. Nerve-wracking. Burton Rovers, OTOH, needs to win to guarantee promotion. They're debuting an old striker, so I'm going to go in on the one who's been here and has a 6.82 rating in his last five games.

16 - They should've scored there.

36 - FUCK YOU! THAT WAS NOT A PENALTY!!!! 0-1

At the half, Hunter is benched for Entwhistle, Burton for Daley.

64 - The guy we marked? Yeah, our DC forgot to do it again, and yeah. 0-2

70 - Amoo sends it in space to Williams to give us a fighting chance 1-2

86 - Hall is knocked out, so Woolner comes in to be an attacking central midfielder.

93 - Last gasp chance by Amoo can't find its target.

Our midfield lost the game for us. Every one of them played lousy, and I need to look at finding new talent on the right side for sure, and maybe the left. If I'm still here. We would've moved up to 4th with a win, and 5th if we'd gotten even so much as a point.

And sure enough, I'm fired.

[Izulde]

Nobody will hire me. I keep getting laughed off even by Level 12 teams. Time to restart.

[Young Drachma]

Way to find teams I've never heard of to get me interested. Uncanny. Good luck on the restart lol