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07-17-2003, 03:33 PM
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#1 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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CM4 - QuikSand returns to Lincoln City, 2002-03
Championship Manager – QuikSand’s Return to Lincoln City
After much hemming and hawing, I have finally succumbed to Championship Manager 4, and am going to play. As I have detailed here before, writing a dynasty thread adds a lot of immersion for me – so I’ll be detailing the club’s goings on here. (I'm doing so under constant protest, as the newest version of CM has excluded the previous versions' ability to do printouts -- making the task of writing these reports infinitely more tedious) I’ll be taking over the Lincoln City Red Imps, a third division club in England. This is where I started in my (only) previous CM career – a CM 2000/01 stint that lasted some 25 seasons, and saw the Red Imps finally rise to British and European glory, after several years mucking my way around in the lower ranks (learning the ropes of the game). Eventually, things went sour, and I parachuted to Wolves in advance of an imminent sacking…but we won’t dwell on the grisly details there. Basically I play according to the so-called “lower league manager” restrictions that are used in the international CM community – start with a lowly team, use fictional players, and don’t use any super-tactics. It’s supposed to be about personnel management and to some degree team strategy (though I’m very limited in the latter). We’re back to Sincil Bank, to revisit the lower divisions with the Red Imps. |
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07-17-2003, 03:33 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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July 2002 – starting out
Working with the only utility that seems to exist that does anything close to a printout (grrrrr), here’s a list of our starting roster. My plan is not to get all that wedded to these guys, as the usual routine for a lower league manager is to end up churning most any players of any value to get some cash to work with. Code:
I put together my starting squad for the first time. It’s not much to look at – there just isn’t a whole lot of talent here. Here’s a quick snapshot of who gets inserted into the starting lineup as we get our feet wet: Code:
Geez, that’s a very, very white-sounding team, isn’t it? Over time, I have to expect that will change – but we might as well rename ourselves the fighting WASPS. I guess it’s a fair time to check out the “confidence” page and review our various expectations for the coming season. The Lincoln Directors are hoping for a long and successful era under your management. They are satisfied with the club’s current financial status. The team is expected to fight bravely against relegation from the Third Division this season. That doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. I don’t yet have a strong feel for how “well off” this team is with £261,00 in its pocket – but that’s neither here nor there. The Lincoln supporters are cautiously optimistic about the way you are managing the club. the supporters expect the team to fight bravely against relegation from the Third Division this season. Fair enough on all counts. What we do know is that we are not allowed any transfer funds to work with – as the finances are considered “precarious.” So that implicitly answers my first question. Our staff includes an assistant manager, Karl Booth, who is presumably from Hong Kong. Go figure. We also have one coach in Alan Atkinson. Neither jumps out at me as being particularly gifted. We have two good physios, and a mediocre scout. I decide to hire another scout – as adding talent will be a big part of what we need to so right away. My assistant manager doesn’t like my intentions to sign 30 year old player Andy Dyer as a scout – Dyer wants nearly £500/wk to come aboard, and that is pretty steep for a coach who is totally unproven. Instead, I find a decent enough unemployed scout in Darren Smith, and make him a much more prudent offer of £20 per week. I decide against any big personnel moves right away – I think we’ll be better served by seeing what we have, and then doing our best to target improvements. There are a number of players available for a free transfer, but I don’t think committing over £1,000/wk right away is the best way to start off. Once we start paring down the wage bill, I’ll feel better. And that will be happening pretty soon, I expect. Darren Smith agrees to our terms, and joins our scouting staff. That’s good – and cheap. We get to our first friendly – against Crewe. I’ve got my default lineup in place, and will hope to get my guys some much needed playing time. They are al woefully out of shape to be playing, of course. [out of character]Oh, good heavens… this 2d stuff is fabulous… I am pro-dot…[/out of character] In our first friendly, Lee Williamson scores the equalizer in the late first half, and then puts us ahead in the 89th minute on a throw-in, and we get a 2-1 win. Nice effort… and now the first of our players has stepped forward to distinguish himself. However, now he is hurt – and will sit out for a couple of weeks with a twisted ankle. Figures. In our next friendly against Huddersfield, I go with the same starting lineup – but will again make liberal substitutions. My man Chris Morgan – filling in for Williamson – scores a beautiful goal off a long pass to put us ahead. After we put in our many subs, we yield two goals, but 18 y/o Kevin Clarke scores on a penalty to get us level. It ends with a 2-2 score draw. Against Stoke, they get one early goal, and that stands up for a 1-0 win over our lads. I’m not too disappointed – we are just getting into shape, and giving lots os players a chance to get onto the pitch. Jason Wilson gets called up to play for the New Zealand U21 squad. That’s good, I suppose – he must be at least passable if he’s getting that honor. At only 19, he looks like a potential team leader for us, and a pretty strong and determined defender. One of our more promising players, from my initial look. We host Ipswich for another friendly, and they look to be a far superior squad than ours. They peel off a 3-0 win, and make us look foolish – their defense only allowed us to get off two shots for the entire match – ouch. That gets us through July . . . a couple injuries and some mixed friendly results, and we’re starting to get some basic feel for the squad. |
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07-17-2003, 03:35 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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August 2002
The Lincoln City Directors are still sure that they made the right choice in appointing you as Manager. And that means a lot to me, fellas. Thanks. We have a slew of players who are in their final contract year – 13 on the senior squad, and six more under 19s. That’s probably good – they’ll only stick around if I agree to it on my own terms. Fine. We’ll wait until we see some match results before we wade into that soup. We have two more friendlies before our league matches begin – so we continue getting loosened up. We host Watford, and they trounce us 3-0. I’m not quite sure what’s going poorly for us, but our form seems to be declining – at least relative to our opposition. Of course, Watford is a first division side, so that could help explain their relative dominance over our fellows. We lose to Colchester, a second division team, by a narrow 1-0. Our would-be goal was disallowed by a slight offsides, and they scored on a set piece late in the second half. I decide to put in one offer to an unclaimed player, 27 y/o Ecuadoran defenseman Dario Tenorio. I suspect he will not be interested in playing at this level, but I give him a shout anyway – offering him £900/wk. He would immediately become our best player by far, were he to deign to sign. I send my scouts out – one will search for youth players, the other will scout out England. We’ll work outwards from here. I see that Dario Tenorio has been offered a contract by Club Brugge – who are needless to say way out of our league. I expect to be rebuffed here, of course. It’s August 10, and we are ready for our first league match. We have forward Lee Williamson back in, and we will hope that he can again be our ignitor, as we travel to take on Darlington. My captain, Ian Wilson earns a yellow card in our third minute – that’s not a great omen, I’d have to think. We play to a scoreless draw at the half, with neither side even getting off a single shot. Oh, the fans are loving this. In the 66th minute, Ian Williamson scores on a great follow-up opportunity, and we lead 1-0. Matt Dixon messes up an easy chance, but Williamson feeds him another and he comes through, and we go up 2-0. We yield a late consolation goal, but that seals out first match – and our first victory. Lincoln 2, Darlington 1. Defender Martin Gibbons is honored as our man of the match, and he did make some awfully splendid plays. Dario Tenorio has signed with Espanyol, and we probably need to set our sights slightly lower if we want to actually obtain any players we pursue. He was simply out of our league to begin with. We head home to Sincil Bank, and will take on Southend. My midfielder Richard Lewis makes a beautiful play to get the first goal, and we look very sharp holding a 1-0 lead through the first half of play. Williamson sets up Dixon for another easy shot, and again, Dixon can’t get it done. I sub out Dixon, and send in 14 y/o rising striker Matthew Jackson, who promptly makes a nice crossing feed in to Lee Williamson, who puts in the dazzling goal. Jackson later gets a nice cut-in steal, and translates it quickly to a goal for our side, up 3-0. Williamson feeds Jackson again for another score, and we roll on with a fabulous late showing. Jackson gets a shot to try for the hat trick, but fails to get it past the keeper – but what a great debut! Lincoln 4, Southend 0. Our chairman Martin Knowles declares himself “extremely pleased” with the win over the Shrimpers. Swansea are interested in my 15 y/o defender Ryan Hughes. My assistant says to keep Hughes, as he has the promise to be a great player for the club. I like what I see in him – so I respond to Swansea that we’d be looking for an awful lot to lose him. I set the bar at £250,000 – enough to completely turn around our team’s finances, and probably enough to scare away their potential interest. We are back on the road, to face Rochdale. With two wins and a +5 goal differential, we currently sit atop the Third Division standings. Midfielder Adam Newman is hurt right off the bat, but we settle in, and my striker Alan Jones gets the first score 24 minutes in, as he gets loose behind their defense with open field moves. Rochdale evens it just before the half on a corner kick, and it holds that way throughout – ending in a draw. Lincoln 1, Rochdale 1. Our scouts are busily churning out all sorts of reports for me to read – largely about players that I cannot afford, since we have no transfer funds available. We hear back from Swansea, who will not be pursuing our defenseman Ryan Hughes. That’s for the best – we’d rather keep our young players around as best we can. I make an offer for a 27 year old defender, who is playing for the amateur team in Bath. I’m offering them nothing at first, but then try to offer a £3,000 deal to land him. They want £10,000. I don’t even know if my board would allow the £3,000, honestly. They come back with a counteroffer of £4,000 – and I accept – with a delay in the payments. We play host to Bristol Rovers in our next league match. Gibbons, a defender, get our first goal off a corner, and we assume a pretty firm control of the match through the first half. We retain control, though we don’t extend the score – we win handily even by the slight margin. Lincoln 1, Bristol 0. Team Bath is pushing me on their defender, Georgi Mumladze. It’s only a £1,000 difference, which doesn’t really amount to much. I go up to £5,000 – but I still want the delay, which I think might get this past our Board. Stoke approach us about our best defender, Martin Gibbons. Gibbons is exactly what’s most difficult about starting like this – he’s a player that I could enjoy keeping around, but in all practicality, he’ll probably have to be sold off. He’s 22, and our most highly-valued player at £85,000 – I set a tag of £200,000 on him, hoping that this doesn’t spiral into a backstabbing event. Team Bath agrees to transfer Mumladze, but I doubt that I can meet his contract demands. I offer £650/wk, but I suspect he’s looking for twice that much. We wrap up August with another match, on the road at Leyton Orient. It’s scoreless at the half, but we are being outplayed. We are lucky to hold on to a scoreless draw in this one, by our player ratings. Lincoln 0, Leyton 0. Georgi Mumladze laughs off my contract offer, and I think that probably ends our “talks.” |
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07-17-2003, 03:45 PM
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#4 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Troy, NY
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Woot.
Go Imps! (Too bad you didn't get a player named Larry David - would have been a perfect midfield fit for Richard Lewis). ~rpi-fan
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Quis custodiets ipsos custodes? |
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07-17-2003, 03:48 PM
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#5 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Moorhead
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I play with Lincoln with real rosters. The board are hard asses, I am now in season 3, in DII and they told me I needed to upgrade my players and gave me a budget of 5K. That is after my second season of earning 1 million in profit. I think I got the best hotdog vendor available though...
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I had something. |
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07-17-2003, 04:13 PM
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#6 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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September 2002
I don’t have any elegant way to print out the league table (grrrr), so I’ll have to just summarize where we are. We stand in 3rd on the league table, a point behind Bury and Bournemouth. We are the stingiest defense in the league, allowing only two goals in five matches. So far, so good. Here is my hand-assembled review of the roster so far – this was much, much easier in the previous versions, which included the ability to print out (grrr): Code:
We have a match at home against Macclesfield, and will get back underway. I am trying a positional switch – moving Lee Williamson back to play as our left midfielder, and pulling in Kevin Clarke to start at forward. We’ll see how this works – our midfield has been our weakness, and Williamson seems to be our most electric player so far. Williamson sends a very long pass to Jones, who puts it in off the one-on-one for the early lead. Jones scores again on a breakaway to put us ahead 2-0 after 30 minutes. I bring in young Matthew Jackson as a late sub, and he scores yet again, as a follow-up after a penalty kick. We go on to cruise to a nice, powerful win. Lincoln 3, Macclesfield 0. The bad news is that Lee Williamson has hurt his shoulder, and will be sidelined for a few weeks. I’m almost within six months of ending the contract for Jason Wilson, our young Kiwi middie – and I’d like to keep him with us. He’s 19 and shows some real promise, I think. I make him an offer of £800/wk, which would make him among our best-paid players. We are some £2,700/wk below our wage limit – so this is affordable. This is our opening match in the League Cup, and we are unlucky to draw Nottingham Forest. We yield a stunning three penalty goals, and they run right through us in easy fashion. Nottm Forest 4, Lincoln 0. In addition, we lose midfielder Richard Lewis to a groin injury. I get an inquiry for one of my younger players, Martin Hill. He’s a central defender, and I don’t see all that much in him – I’m willing to let him go, I think. I ask for £40,000 – but don’t have any idea whether that figure is too high, or even too low. I know I wouldn’t pay £40K for this guy. We are back in league play, and we have a big early season match against Bury, who are atop the table. Matthew Jackson, getting his first start for us as a striker, delivers yet again with the first goal. They manage to even it up at 55, and that holds up to the last minutes. But at minute 88, Jackson strikes again, and puts away the clincher. Lincoln 2, Bury 1. This youngster Jackson certainly seems to be a sparkplug – I don’t want to burn him out at age 14, but it’s getting hard to keep him out of the regular lineup. I notice that a few upper-level clubs have also taken an interest in our youngster. Will he be the first of our nice young players to be plucked away without our consent? Stay tuned. A twist arises in the pursuit of a new contract with young Jason Wilson – he has been denied a work permit for an extended contract. Might be tough luck for us… perhaps we ought to transfer list him? My scout Knight is done with his search for youth players – he turned up all sort of nice-looking players that I cannot afford. Great. I dispatch him to Hungary – enjoy the paprikash! Ian Wilson has announced that he is planning to retire at the end of the season. I expected this, but it’s now official. Mostly affects our wage planning process, really – he doesn’t seem to be a standout player. We head to York for our next league match. I’ve got young Matthew Jackson back on the reserve list, but he’ll be ready to come in as a super sub if we want to use him again. I go with Darren Baines at keeper – his first start for us. It’s scoreless until Fox gets up ahead on a penalty kick, and that turns out to be all we need. Lincoln 1, York 0. Baines gets a clean sheet for his debut effort, as the defense played very nicely. Again on the road – now we travel to Scunthorpe. They are near the bottom of the league table, but we will take this seriously and hope to get a win. I have Jason Wilson in as captain, and hoe that he can help us out with our lackluster midfield, too. Scunthorpe are fired up, and on their first scoring chance they get one in off a centering pass to lead 1-0. Fox misses on a penalty kick which could have evened it up – ouch. Down 2-0 with 15 minutes to play after a long goal, we bring in Jackson – but I suspect it’s just too late. Jackson does get a chance behind the defense, but is foiled by a wonderful save, and we end up a tired, beaten, and shut out club. Scunthorpe 2, Lincoln 0. We play host to Wrexham, and now feel like we need to get back on the winning side. The first half is a series of near misses for us, but no scores overall, despite getting 7 shots. After 58 minutes, we yield a goal on their first shot, and are in real jeopardy of losing one we should be winning easily. We are very tired after a short period between matches, and I didn’t adjust the lineup enough – we get wrung out in the late stages, and lose a disappointing one. Wrexham 1, Lincoln 0. |
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07-17-2003, 04:37 PM
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#7 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Woo Hoo! Welcome back Imps!
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07-17-2003, 05:55 PM
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#8 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Jul 2001
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WOOHOO! Looking very much forward to reading this one
 I'm looking forward to seeing how you present everything, with the lack of printing and all... |
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07-17-2003, 07:34 PM
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#9 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Calgary
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I really enjoyed your FOF4 dynasty, so now that it's CM4, all the better.
A few questions... 1) What formation are you using at home and on the road? 2) Do you play your games out in full, extended or just key plays? 3) Are you experiencing the morale bug in EP4? |
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07-17-2003, 07:40 PM
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#10 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
1) Right now, I'm employing a simple 4-4-2, right out of the box. Eventually, I will probbaly drift to my not-very-original 4-3-1-2 setup, which is essentially just a 4-4-2 with the two central midfielders placed front-back instead of side-side. In my previous career, I used a setup like that for about 2/3 of my time... I like the notion of having onne forward-minded central midfielder, and another defensive-minded one. Once I get familiar with my personnel (and presumably locate a decent playmaker to take the forward midfield spot) I'll probbaly move to something like that. 2) Just key plays. That's giving me all the flavor I need, for now. Maybe later in the season, in a key game, I might watch the match in full. 3) Egad. Maybe I need to read up on the morale bug - I 'm not having any problems yet, but that doesn't sound good. |
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07-17-2003, 07:45 PM
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#11 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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I've been waiting for this one! I'm so glad to see you writing a CM dynasty Quik.
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07-17-2003, 08:19 PM
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#12 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
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Allow me to add a "woohoo" of my own.
And I'll add my voice to the choir of those who want a print-to-file option. Silly that it's not in there. Just silly. |
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07-17-2003, 09:32 PM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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October 2002
The Board remain upbeat – good. Maybe someday they will loosen the purse strings a bit. We’re at Rushden, looking to get back on track. We yield an early goal – not a good sign, there. Barnes and Jones team up for the leveling goal, and we get back into it. However, Rushden strike in minute 86, and put it away. Rushden 2, Lincoln 1. We are skidding in a pretty bad way – and need to get back on track soon. We’re still in 5th place – but after feeling like we were in very good stead, I don’t like the way the arrow’s pointing now. I send my scout Darren Smith to go look over Hereford, who are amidst a financial crisis. If there are bones to pick, I want to be there. We host 18th place Carlisle, and are frankly getting desperate for a win. I have shaken up the starting squad a bit again, with Jason Wilson and Richard Lewis in as our starters in the inner midfield. We need some production from inside – and I think this might be my best pair of players there. We look sharp early, with middie Richard Lewis playing very well. It’s Lewis to Jones to Dixon for our first goal, a beauty. Wallace sends in our next two, to be finished by our forwards, as usual. But it’s a crushing victory – just what we really needed. Lincoln 3, Carlisle 0. I make my first offer for a player whose contract is expiring. Michael Kelly seems to be a very solid right-side defender, and his contracts runs out in March. I offer him £950/wk and a “key” role on the club to come join Lincoln. While our defense is already pretty good – this guy looks like he might be even a cut above. He promptly accepts our offer – and we have our first signing of this new career. He’ll even join before next season starts up, so that might be in time to help us with a late season push (hopefully). Kelly is currently playing with Bristol Rovers, on loan from Oldham Athletic. I see in him a very technical player, who has solid overall skills. I’m pleased. My 15 year old midfielder Lee Harris has been getting raves for his performance with the U19 squad, so I decide to give him a look with the senior squad. He doesn’t look ready to me, but his play really merits the chance. We’re in the Vans Cup now – playing at home against second division Barnsley. This is the Cup competition that we ought to be focusing on, and we have a near first-team squad in place. Lee Williamson is back form is injury, and this is his re-debut. We get ahead early, but they even it up in the early second half. We sub in Matthew Jackson, hoping for a spark – and in extra time, he finally gets the payoff for lots of time we spend around the Barnsley goal. Lincoln 2, Barnsley 1. Young Lee Harris gets his debut in our next match at Oxford, back in league play. Unfortunately, he gets injured early on, and his stint is short-lived. The match is scoreless through 72 minutes, and we double-sub to try to get a boost. However, it’s Oxford who strike with the goal, and take the 1-0 lead. But Alan Jones strikes a long shot into the corner to even it up, and get us drawn with a few minutes left. That’s how it ends. Lincoln 1, Oxford 1. On the road against a top league club like Oxford – that’s not so bad. I talk to Hereford about one of their players – a right-side midfielder who I thoink might be a good fit for us. But, they are asking for £14,000 in transfer fees, and my board has me capped at. . . well, zero. So, that’s that. I decide to go to the media, in praise of my defenseman David Francis – who has posted three 8 ratings in a row. The Lincolnshire Echo run my comments breathlessly praising his form, despite our recent bad run. |
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07-18-2003, 12:37 AM
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#14 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
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Wow, Jackson has me very impressed!
Just out of curiosity, what have you been doing training-wise? Have you fiddled around with the standard regimens? Or tried any of the homemade recipes posted on the CM4 forums? I find training to be by far the most nebulous and frustratingly unintuitive part of the game, and am curious as to your impressions. Go Imps! |
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07-18-2003, 12:55 AM
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#15 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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QS: Good luck with this! Looking forward to it! At some point, when you get a little more time with the game, I'd be interested in hearing how the game plays differently from 01/02.
Bummer on the print-outs. I think I remember Marc saying that he was going to put them in at some point, but apparently that point hasn't come yet. |
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07-18-2003, 05:46 AM
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#16 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Glad to see another cm dynasty from you Quiksand (your last one was a great read)
Ian Wilson retiring, I am guessing he is your team captin do any other players look able to step into that role or do you need to add that to your shortlist of transfer needs? |
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07-18-2003, 06:04 AM
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#17 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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On training - I have yet to fiddle with it. I recall back when I was playing CM 00/01, I eventually got into training, and after spending some time with it I wished I never had done anything but stuck with the default system. What a pain in the neck. I have read (and maybe even logged) something I read about training in this game - it just sounds like more work than I want to put into this. (I'm already working hard typing up all this data that shoudl be easily printed out)
On captain - I'm not sure where I'll go with this. I have a couple of guys who are possible team leaders - Jason Wilson (my kiwi) and striker Alan Jones most notably. In time, I'd like to have a veteran player who can give me lots of starts and also serve as captain. In py previous career, I often tried to get keepers with good leadership, which served me well. We'll see here. |
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07-18-2003, 10:00 AM
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#18 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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November 2002
Lincoln City’s Alan Jones has won the Third Division Player of the Month award. A good run for him – he has been the steadiest among our fairly flashy forward group. Lee Williamson is trying to make an impact as a winger midfielder now, and Jones has become our leader in the front. Young striker Matthew Jackson completes this exciting trio of scorers. With a couple more months passed, here’s the state of the squad: Code:
From where I sit, it certainly seems to be our midfield that needs work. Richard Lewis seems to be our most effective middle man overall. Lee Williamson – electric when playing as a forward, seems pretty quiet when playing as a winger, which is a shame. We simply don’t have a lot of latitude to bring in a great deal of new talent – but I do know where we’d like to add some. As of the beginning of November, we stand in 6th place in the league table. Here’s a synopsis of the top of the standings: Code:
So, we start off the month with a match against Cambridge, one of the top teams in the league. They jump ahead on a nice counter attack goal, and have another called back for a push. Barnes gets us even with a nice strike, but in the second half, they outclass us badly. Cambridge seems like the best side we have faced – and they romp to a good win. Cambridge 5, Lincoln 1. The less said the better. I call up Andy Allen from out U19 squad – he has been pretty effective there playing on the left side. He can play midfield or defense, I’ll slot him as our left winger, and push Lee Williamson back up front to play forward while Alan Jones is out injured. We go to Hartlepool to play our next league match. They loft one past Alan Ryan for an early goal, but we strike back as Richard Lewis sets up the red-hot Jamie Barnes. Lee Williamson scores just before the half, and we are ahead 2-1. Barnes and Williamson each make nice plays to score again, and we put this one away pretty comfortably, despite yielding a penalty kick goal late in the game. Lincoln 4, Hartlepool 2. Striker Jamie Barnes, however, is hurt in the match – and will miss a few weeks. Shame, since he was really cranking them for us. I decide to send my scout Darren Smith off to Ireland, to do some scouting there. I’m hoping that we can eventually find some players who will make suitable targets for future free transfers. I get a scouting report on a decent midfielder from Hereford, and I decide to pursue him. I offer veteran midfielder Jimmy Hamilton, who is making £900/wk in exchange for 23 y/o middie Gary Webb, who can play the middle or right side. My scouts are split on Webb’s value – but I’m hopeful that he might be of use to us. He has posted solid results for Hereford thus far this season. Now, we head home to face Torquay United, they of the bright yellows. They sit near the bottom of the league table. Most of the first half is played on their side of the pitch, but we cannot get one in until Jason Wilson puts one in on a free kick, to notch his first goal for us. They draw level, despite our efforts to drop back defensively. But Williamson feeds Clarke for the go-ahead goal in the 80th minute, and then Newman gets on in for Matthew Jackson for the sealer. Lincoln 3, Torquay 1. Hereford rejects our offer of Jimmy Hamilton for Gary Webb, and at about the same time, Hamilton announces that he plans to retire. I put Hamilton up for a free transfer – I’d be happy to unload his remaining wage bill, as he’s making plenty of money and isn’t playing much at all. We have our second match in the Vans Cup, again facing Hartlepool, but this time at home. They jump out ahead in the 5th minute, as we get caught napping early. Richard Lewis, playing aggressively as usual, gets us even with a nice long distance shot. Lewis scores a second time in minute 27, and we lead 2-1 in a flurry of early action. Hartlepool ties it up at minute 32 on a breakaway run, and we head into the break tied at 2 apiece. But in the second half, there are a few chances – but things slow down a lot. I try to encourage an attacking mode at the 83rd minute, and we get a couple good chances, but no goal. In extra time, we finally get the win, as Williamson strikes from 20 yards out. Lincoln 3, Hartlepool 2 – Lincoln advances. Lee Williamson is certainly proving to be a valuable player for our side, as he is okay playing midfield, but a real dynamo when inserted as our left-center forward. We are heavy with talent at the forward position, so I will continue to try to use him in the midfield rotation sometimes – hoping to get some contribution from that group other than Richard Lewis. Our defense will be patchwork for a while, as David Francis and Martin Gibbons will both miss time with injuries. They have been our two most reliable defenders – and our defense had (up until recently) been the heart of this team’s success. In the FA Cup, we start off at Scunthorpe, getting to play a third division team at least. I have Jones and Williamson starting at forward – we’ll be looking for some punch up front here. Jones draws a penalty in the first minute, and scores on the ensuing kick. Scunthorpe gets even after several chances, and we get to the half even up. Richard Wallace scores on a free kick, and we take a lead, 2-1 in the 57th minute. At the 80th minute, they manage to even things up, and we are reeling a bit. In injury time, they get the winner, and kick us out. Scunthorpe 3, Lincoln 2 – Lincoln eliminated. So, I take a look for players out there with expiring contracts. I go to the “well-known” list, and see dozens of them. I ask my assistant to filter out all the “unrealistic” players – and he narrows the list to. . . uh, zero. So much for that tool. I decide to try an unrealistic offer – and pursue a solid 33 y/o Venezuelan defender, Carlos Contreras. I understand that he’s not likely to want to come here to play – but his contract with Internacional is up in January, and he doesn’t have a place to play after that. Who knows? (Well, I do, in all likelihood) Contreras’s agent gets back to us quickly: “there is no way his client will consider joining Lincoln for that kind of deal.” I guess it was the fact that he wants £7,000/wk in salary, and we offered £1.500. Maybe that was the issue. Lee Williamson is hurt again – out for two weeks after a training booboo. This seems to be his routine, I fear. Carl Knight returns from Hungary empty handed, and I send him to Italy. Ciao! Midfielder Jason Wilson is on an expiring contract, and I feel that he has shown us enough to merit an extension. I offer him £1,000/wk with a little up front, and hope that we can lock him up. Right now, I judge him as our second best middie, behind Richard Lewis. However, I am reminded – he has a work permit problem. He has played in 9 matches – we’ll keep him in the mix, though. We travel to Gay Meadow to take on Shrewsbury, and yield a cheap goal in the very first minute – ouch. We look awful, as they go up 2-0 in the 15th minute – what’s happening? In the second half, I bring in Matthew Jackson, hoping he can ignite something with this loagy bunch – but to no avail. Richard Lewis hits on from 40 yards out, but we are dreadfully flat, and suffer a beating. Shrewsbury 4, Lincoln 1. Lewis gets MoM honors, but nobody on our side really played too well. Alan Jones is now to the point where he needs a rest between every played match – I am starting to worry about his constitution. Alan Ryan is in a bad way in net – so I summon Baines to take over for a while. We head to Boston Utd for our next match, and in 6th place we are getting worried about our table position. Peter Gould is getting his first start at striker – we hope that perhaps he can get something going on our attack. Boston scores on a questionable penalty call, and they lead 1-0 at the break. Matt Dixon gets sent off, and we are short a man, and trying to catch up – bad combo. We try a substitution, but the tactic backfires, and we are short on defense and yield the sealing goal. Boston Utd 2, Lincoln 0. And now Andy Hughes, our top right-side defender, is out for a month with ribs. We’re getting awfully thin on defense. Midfielder Jamie Mason is also out with cracked ribs. We are not in full health yet as our next match arrives – I end up using a mostly B-squad. We play Swansea at home, and will be looking to squeak one out here without many of our best players. However, we look awful, and eventually let it get away from us completely. Swansea 2, Lincoln 0. We are in danger of slipping from the upper ranks of the division, that’s certain. |
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07-18-2003, 10:12 AM
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#19 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Raleigh, NC
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QuikSand -
You've got mail...  Glad to see a new CM4 Diary... |
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07-18-2003, 10:23 AM
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#20 |
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Resident Curmudgeon
Join Date: Oct 2002
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I am enjoying this as well, and that's saying a lot.
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07-18-2003, 11:04 AM
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#21 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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This "may" hold my interest and make me forget about Lake Erie and the improbable comeback of Edgar Beyer....
Just kidding... Welcome back to the CM world! Regards, Chas
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07-18-2003, 01:12 PM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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December 2002
We stand in 8th position on the league table, after a shaky run. the Lincoln board are delighted with your performance as manager. Well, considering they were expecting us to “battle bravely” this is a bit better, I suppose. I decide to shake things up a little bit, and try out a new formation. I go to my customary 4-3-1-2 formation, employing a “playmaker” attacking midfielder placed just ahead of a more defensive-minded midfielder in the center line. We’ve gotten a few guys back healthy, and now seems like a good time for a little adjustment. I put Lee Williamson in as the left side midfielder, but give him some much more aggressive instructions – and will try to see him into the offense more effectively. Jason Wilson will be captain and defensive midfielder, and he’ll be key for this whole thing working. Richard Lewis gets the attacking midfield job – and he’s already an offensive-minded player. I’m hoping that this spurs some offense, and that our defensive players can maintain the good play (now that they are back and healthy). My big fear is that this formation is just too midfield-intensive, and that’s where I have the least faith in my players. We’ll see if those fears are justified. In the Vans Trophy competition, we are at Blackpool, a second division club. They are getting pressure on us early, and get in for their first score after 18 minutes. We pull even shortly thereafter on a long shot by defenseman David Francis – his first for us. Down 2-1, Lewis finds Jones for a nice crossover goal – playing it just like I want to see. Jamie Barnes follows up a missed penalty with a rebound goal, and we suddenly lead 3-2. Baines makes a huge save to keep the lead in the 84th minute, stopping a streaking forward straight away. We hold on for a nice victory, and advance. Lincoln 3, Blackpool 2 – Lincoln advances. Man of the match is our centerpiece, Jason Wilson. (We need to get his work permit squared away soon, and get him re-signed… almost at al costs). We will face Notts County in the Vans Trophy semifinal, playing at Meadow Lane, their stadium. We play host to Kidderminster, and get up early as my strikers Chris Morgan and Matthew Jackson get three straight shots on goal, finally Morgan gets one by. Jackson feeds Morgan again for the second goal in the 22nd minute, and we look to be in good shape. Richard Lewis scores also, and we take a 3-0 lead into the half. We take the air out of the ball in the second half, and shut down for a very nice shutout win. Lincoln 3, Kidderminster 0. We next square off against Hull, who are 9th on the league table right now. Barnes scores early, and then he and Jones pull off a nice give-and-go routine for our second strike. Lewis adds one in the second half, and it could have been worse – another solid win. Lincoln 3, Hull 0. Lee Williamson is MoM, and even flirted with a rating of 10 for a while. We’re in the month of December, and that frequently means it’s time to look for players who are on contracts expiring in June – six months away. With our budget restrictions, our main avenue for acquiring talent will be by free transfers, and the Bosman method is probably best for us – looking to make additions for next season. I put in a couple of longshot bids to players who probably wouldn’t have any interest in coming to play in the Third Division – but there’s little harm in asking, I suppose. But I really don’t find any players who are god fits for our squad – nobody on the list who’s just looking for a £500 wage and a chance to play. (I think I may not be doing my scouting properly… my foreign searches are coming up completely empty – do I have to have a foreign country running in my background to be able to find any players there?) I get three sound refusals to my approaches – and we come up empty in the open transfer market. Lincoln’s Ben Fox ha agreed terms with Bournemouth. The first of my players to declare his departure for bigger money elsewhere. He was demanding a new salary of £1,800 – I can’t come anywhere near affording that, especially as he’s not even one of our most productive players. He will leave 3 June. At Exeter, we hope to keep out hot hand alive in league play. We get a couple of breakaway goals, and gain a nice advantage here. Not much playmaking going on, just quickness from Morgan and Jackson. Lincoln 2, Exeter 0. Martin Gibbons, leading the defensive effort, gains the MoM recognition. It is contract time, though, and I put in a pretty nice offer to midfielder Richard Lewis, hoping to lock him up before he gets onto the six month clock. He’ll become our highest-paid player if he accepts our new deal. He does accept, and we have retained perhaps our most irreplaceable player – good show! Gary Webb, a player on my shortlist, has also been re-signed by his club, Hereford. I was preparing to make a run at him, but they retained him with a handsome extension. We are back at Sincil Bank, taking on Bournemouth. We get in a couple in the first half, and are able to clamp down from there. Lincoln 3, Bournemouth 0. We get a rating of 9 for defenseman martin Gibbons – our most valuable player this game and perhaps in general. (We know what happened to our stingy defense when he missed some time with an injury) Following Lincoln City’s 3-0 win over AFC Bournemouth, Lincoln’s chairman Martin Knowles declared himself extremely pleased with the result. A top half finish for a team who were considered relegation candidates would be a fine result. But there’s a long way to go and this season is bound to hold many more surprises. If the Red Imps continue to perform as they are at the moment, say the critics, there is nothing to prevent them from finishing in the top half. Pretty encouraging stuff from outsiders looking in. Glad to have a happy chairman, too. I make an approach to sign midfielder Richard Humphreys – who is probably well out of our league, but is very interesting to me. My scout has only a partial feel for him, but he’s been effective this year for Nottingham Forest, and I really, really need a right side midfielder. He’d be a great addition – I dangle a £60,000 signing fee as incentive. We host Darlington on 29 December, our last effort of the calendar year. Lee Williamson scores from the outside – he’s starting to get a batter feel for play on the wing, I think—he’s becoming a bit like a “slashing” guard in basketball, with lots of forward runs and penetration against the inside. Williamson notches his second goal in the 11th minute – we’re looking sharp. Matthew Jackson strikes twice in the first half, to extend our lead to 4-nil at the break. Seemingly all that remains is to see if we get our club’s first hat trick. On 69, Matthew Jackson answers that – with his third goal of the match on a throw-in. Lincoln turn on the style, and capture a beautiful and dominating victory. Lincoln 6, Darlington 0. Matthew Jackson gains the elusive 10 rating for MOM for his fabulous effort. Jackson, however, leaves late in the game with a broken arm – and will miss several weeks. We’re deep at striker, but this loss hurts. We’ll take the weeks ahead to try to work out a new deal with him – he’s seeking to become our top-paid player, and this is putting real pressure on our wage budget, which is under heavy strain already. |
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07-18-2003, 01:29 PM
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#23 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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quiksand-if your using the large database there will be plenty of players although not sure how many will want to leave their home to play for your club at this point, i would keep searching england and check out the top players in the conferance? there are a few nice midfielders in there to be had
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07-18-2003, 02:13 PM
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#24 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
I'm not quite sure what "the large database" is - but if it helps to clarify, I use fictional players only. Even though I don't really know too many real football players in real life, I detest the idea of reading somebody else talk about "ooh, I picked up that guy in my game - he turned out really goo, you shoudl go get him, too." But I am turning inward again, and just focusing on England. Did I make a terrible mistake by only running the English leagues in my game universe? (Is that whay I can't seem to scout other countries?) Is this something I can adjust mid-game? Last edited by QuikSand : 07-18-2003 at 02:24 PM. |
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07-18-2003, 02:50 PM
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#25 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Moorhead
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You can set the game to small, medium or large databases. I can't remember how and don't have the game in front of me. It isn't something you can adjust midgame, but I think it defaults to medium so you should get a decent mix of other countries players.
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I had something. |
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07-18-2003, 03:03 PM
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#26 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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But right now, if send my scout to any country but England, I am not getting a single result from my search. (I get scores in England) Am I doing something wrong? Or are these searches self-limitng to players who'd be willing to come to England to play at my level? (I could undertand that... though hearing that from Ireland seems a little silly)
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07-18-2003, 03:12 PM
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#27 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Calgary
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Unfortunately, you can't adjust the database mid-game. If you're only running the English leagues, I'm afraid you're really limiting yourself to the amount of players available, especially with a normal or small databse.
I don't think you can scout non-active leagues but I'm not 100%... About the morale bug in EP4. Many have got it and it boosts your advantage substantially because every team you face has a squad of very poor morale (excluding injured players). Just check your opposition's morale and you'll know if you have it or not. Last edited by Karim : 07-18-2003 at 03:13 PM. |
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07-18-2003, 03:24 PM
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#28 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Hmmm... I really didn't want to start to get immersed into this game and then find out that I should have waited for the next patch, next version, or some other adjustment.
Wonder if I blew it... |
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07-18-2003, 04:17 PM
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#29 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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January 2003
Lincoln City’s Matthew Jackson has won the English Third Division Player of the Month award. Great – that will certainly help the contract talks move smoothly. Lincoln City’s QuikSand has won the English Third Division Manager of the Month award. At least there’s some hardware on my side of the table, too. Defenseman Carlos Contreras, still on my watchlist from an earlier approach, has been released by Internacional. He’d be an optimistic signing, but I approach anyway. The most I can offer is about £1,000/wk, and he’ll probably get offers for five or ten times as much – but what’s the worst that can happen? We are at Southend for our first match of the new year. We fail to get our now-traditional quick jump, and struggle through to a scoreless halftime. We slip behind on a lame goal, and despite several chances, cannot get it back. Southend 1, Lincoln 0. On the contract front, mixed news. Bigshot Carlos Contreras has rejected our offer – no surprise. But we have reached terms with young Matthew Jackson on a new deal. That helps to solidify our planning at striker, where he ought to be right in the mix for the years ahead. The deal will pay him £1,100/wk – and probably sets the bar for my other top players. We’re going to have trouble pretty soon, I can see it already. With Richard Lewis resting, I try out Alan Jones in the forward midfield spot. (In my previous career, I found that some of my well-balanced strikers were capable of playing the distributor role here) We face Rochdale, playing at home at Sincil Bank. We finally get on the board at the 69th minute, and look to take it from there. Jones scores on a penalty at 85 to put it away, Lee Williamson tacks on another, and we’re back on the winning side. Lincoln 3, Rochdale 0. Alan Jones gains MOM recognition – and probably earns the reserve AM slot for us. Carlos Contreras, my sought-after defender, settles in on a contract with Espanyol. So it goes. We head to play Bristol Rovers, and want to keep our good form up. Darren Baines has all but locked up the starting keeper job, performing quite well as Alan Ryan’s attitude bottomed out. I want to get ward the end of our next lopsided game. Jamie Barnes scores on an early penalty kick, and we hold that until stretching out to 2-0 on a late counter-attack. We give up a late goal, but still notch the win. Lincoln 2, Bristol Rovers 1. We have inched our way up to 3rd on the league table, and now host Leyton Orient – another contending club. Alan Jones is in at the attacking middie, and we’ll need another good effort from him there. Chris Morgan gets our first goal from outside the box, and follows up with a nice feed to Barnes for another and a 2-0 lead. We hold on, as the defense plays very well in a key league match. Lincoln 2, Leyton Orient 0. Andy Allen has been playing pretty well, rotating in along with my frustrated kiwi Jason Wilson at the defensive midfield spot since we called him (Allen) up from our U19 squad. Wilson still cannot get a work permit, and now he’s outwardly unhappy playing for his current contract. I have offered enough money, but the permit problem makes it look like I’m trying to screw him out of his deserved raise. Allen is in the starting lineup as we take on Macclesfield. This one is scoreless through the first half, despite a few chances each way. Richard Lewis finally breaks the tie by getting us ahead singlehandedly. Lee Williamson sets up Lewis for the second goal, and we have it cinched up from there. Lincoln 2, Macclesfield 0. Following Lincoln City’s 2-0 win over Macclesfield Town, Lincoln’s Chairman Martin Knowles declared himself extremely pleased with the result. Many expected the Red Imps to be battling relegation this season, but that has not proved to be the case, indeed the club now find themselves in a title race. However, it would be a major surprise if they were still to be there come the end of the season. While their recent form has been fantastic, a team with their limited resources will surely not be able to keep it up until the end of the campaign. Well – good and bad feelings about all that, honestly. I have tried to work out a new deal with midfielder Barry Wood, but he is seeking a raise from £450/wk to around £1,500 – and he’s not even a star player. I can’t get him to take a modest increase, and so I drop out of talks – and expect to see him go after this season. I’m also talking to David Francis, my solid left side defender – who I believe has pretty good potential. If we could lock him up, my defense would be looking pretty solid from here on out. We are in the Vans Trophy North Semifinal, where we visit Notts County, who are dong pretty well in the second division. A win gets us a bigger spotlight than we’ve seen – so this might be worthwhile to play all out. I have to use Lee Williamson in the forward-mid slot, as both Jones and Lewis are tired out. Chris Howell gets the red car with only 8 minutes gone – and we will have to play short the whole way. We drop back to play defensively, and will look for chances on the counter attack – which seems like our best chance to score here. On 25, we lose the even score as they get past us for the 1-0 lead, and I don’t feel good about this. Down 2-0 in the early second half, Morgan gets us on the board – and even though we’re being soundly outplayed, all hope is not yet lost. Down 3-2 later, we push hard to even it up, and Jamie Barnes notches an impossible goal at 82 to get us level at 3-3. We wind down at 3-3, and head into extra time. We exchange decent but missed chances, but they manage the winner after 100 minutes, and we are eliminated. Notts Co 4, Lincoln 3 – Lincoln eliminated. Good fight, though. David Francis is looking for more money to re-sign. I would like to get him locked up, and I note that he has some other pursuers. Elsewhere, we have young striker Matthew Jackson back in training, and he should be ready to play soon. His recovery from a broken arm is nearly complete. We host Scunthorpe, and need to get our lineup shuffled to get some better-rested players. I don’t think this lineup will be too potent. Richard Wallace notches our first goal with a brilliant long strike into the corner of the net. We ease ahead, not needing our full first squad to handle measly Scunthorpe, it seems. Lincoln 2, Scunthorpe 0. I’m still trying with David Francis – but I’m concerned now that he has rejected three offers. At some point, one of us walks away, and we just lose him. Leigh RMI are after a young defender of ours, Gary Lewis. I’m willing to part with him, but want some compensation. I ask for £40,000. They withdraw their interest. With our finances – I need to keep and use all the low-dollar players I can get my hands onto. Lewis will probably be in our rotation next season, if he’s still around. We are home for York, who are near the bottom of the table. I have my best trio of regular offensive players-- Richard Lewis, Alan Jones, and Lee Williamson—in the front threesome. And, we have Matthew Jackson ready to come off the bench as needed. But even with all these players in the lineup, we are sluggish, and unable to get moving well on offense. It’s scoreless at the half, and it stays that way throughout. We have perhaps our best assembled offensive talent all together here, and we can’t even punch in a single goal. Lincoln 0, York 0. That wraps up January – I fear that I’m losing the battle with player moves, and we might end up with an untenably thinned-out roster come next season. Regardless, we remain in strong position, to most everyone’s surprise. |
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07-18-2003, 06:41 PM
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#30 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Calgary
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Have you tried an incentive-laden and clause-ridden contract? I've managed to get guys wanting a $50k/yr. raise to remain at the same wage by doing so. You suffer expenditures in dishing out bonuses but your wage bill isn't affected.
Ok. It's not my dynasty... I'll shut up now. |
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07-18-2003, 08:08 PM
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#31 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
I have started doing so - but probably haven't pushed it hard enough. I've been offering things like 800/wk plus 200 for an appearance, 200 for an assist, and 200 for a goal. Maybe I should boost the incentives even more, you're suggesting? 1,000 each? More? Obviously the biggest problem I have now is the wage bill per se, not the overall cash flow... which is good. And don't back off... I appreciate the suggestion. |
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07-19-2003, 08:50 AM
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#32 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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February 2003
Okay, here’s where we stand: Code:
So, in a solid second position – but with a full 15 matches remaining in the regular season. Plenty of time left for things to get sorted out. The Board are delighted with your performance as manager. Splendind. Lincoln City’s Alan Jones has won the English Third Division Young Player of the Month award. Gee – he plays so much, I don’t even think of him as a young player at all. But he is only 18 years old. Here’s the rundown of our roster – the numbers are starting to take on a bit more shape now, with a lot more matches in the bag: Code:
So, we have had a few new faces emerge on the squad since the last summary—guys like Chris Morgan, Jamie Barnes, Jason Wilson and Ian Hutchinson have become real contributors, at the expense of some of the players we originally thought were the real starters. Interesting how that works out. Our schedule is tough down the stretch – so we’ll have to keep our focus if we want to remain contenders for a good final league position. At Wrexham, we get ahead when Richard Lewis does it all with pace, as is his forte. We look to be well in command late up 2-0, but they score at 80, and then at 84, and suddenly we are tied up. We try to push it in the final moments, but to no avail. Lincoln 2, Wrexham 2. Next, we are at Bury, and wanting a win. However, we are unable to score in the first half, and are basically being outplayed. Bury finally gets on the scoreboard at 82 with a deflected goal that gets past Baines, but Williamson sets up Matthew Jackson with the equaliser. Lincoln 1, Bury 1. We’re lucky to get away with the draw, as we were roundly outplayed. I finally get to my limit – and I max out what I can offer to defenseman David Francis. I desperately want to keep him aboard, but he is demanding £1,400 a week, and I can’t come up with it. I’m offering £1,100 with maximum incentives – and am hoping. Finally, after about seven rejections, he accepts our offer – and is locked up through 2007. We are at home for Rushden & Diamonds, seeking a win already. Matthew Jackson strikes to get us ahead in the first half, and we drop back and play defense. Jackson finishes off a nice counter attack later, and we have a solid 2-0 lead in the second half again. This time, we don’t yield cheap stuff at the end, and get our win. Lincoln 2, Rushden 0. At Carlisle, we face another league foe. They gain an early edge, and take a 2-0 lead before the half. We struggle just to keep in the game, as they are running circles around us – our group just looks fatigued beyond words. I’m surprised it didn’t get worse than it was. Carlisle 3, Lincoln 0. I have had my eye on midfielder Robert Roberts for some time now – but the required compensation to his club (Carlisle, who just crushed us) has been my obstacle. He looks like an ideal fit for our right side – but I plan to wait until the summer to see if we can land him without an offset. We host Oxford, and are definitely looking to put the loss to Carlisle behind us. In the early second half, we get ahead on a Barnes-to-Jackson goal. We almost tack on another, but still manage to hold on for the solid win. Lincoln 1, Oxford 0. A win over the 2nd ranked team on the league table is a good one for us, even after such a tough loss just before. I make one more approach to the very solid midfielder Richard Humphries, offering the fattest deal I can muster to lure him to us on a Bosman deal. It’s still a longshot, but if we got him, he’d certainly pay off in spades. I also make another run at Georgian defender Georgi Mumladze. Both players shrug off my gestures, as expected. |
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07-19-2003, 09:29 AM
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#33 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Not too far away
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It seems like it would actually be better for you NOT to be promoted. After all you look like you are going to lose some talent between this year and next and so the move up to second division, especially considering your financial situation, seems like it would just set you up for relegation.
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07-19-2003, 02:54 PM
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#34 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Calgary
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I really like how you've managed to get playing time for everyone, something I struggle with mightily.
I've noticed your keepers have played about the same number of games but it looks like Gaines is clearly the better of the two (at least in terms of goals conceeded). Is he playing most of the big games down the stretch? I'm really enjoying this dynasty as I have a parallel career going on with Telford in the Conference. |
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07-19-2003, 03:49 PM
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#35 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Right now, I am basically playing the hot hand, mostly defined by their morale. Ryan looks to be the better guy by the ratings (in my imperfect view), but when he declined in spirits and performance, I put in Baines and he tore it up. Now, Baines is in a funk and I'm using Ryan primarily again - and he seems to be playing pretty well overall. I'm not sure that I have yet separated the two in terms of skill- maybe have not played enough games to see that. But all else equal, I'll be inclined to use Baines in a big match - yes. |
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07-19-2003, 04:19 PM
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#36 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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March 2003
I haven’t spent much time detailing financials, so maybe the start of this month is good for that. So far this season, we have been in the black by £261,500 – so I have doubled the cash reserves for the squad. I am now only slightly under the official wage budget, so they must be setting a fairly conservative limit on player spending. We have a total weekly wage bill of £15,263 – and I am told that I’m £325 below the limit. After this year, our sponsorships are up for renewal, and we can hope that we improve there due to our league performance – perhaps that could yield some extra cash. Our first March match is at Campbridge, who sit atop the league table. We’ve got our engines revved up for this, and have our offensive players in place to try and take them down. Near halftime, still scoreless, our midfielder Ben Fox comes off injured. We get the lead just before halftime after some nice teamwork, and nearly make it 2-0 at the break. We’re playing very, very well through the opening stanza. Cambridge gets behind our keeper Ryan for the even-up goal at 64, and then takes the lead at 68 – suddenly, we are behind, after playing so well. But, the second goal is disallowed due to an offsides – and we get reprieved back to even. This one stays even all the way, and we take a point for the draw. Lincoln 1, Campridge 1. Richard Lewis is tired again – and this seems to be a regular problem for him. He played this match after sitting out for two, and still is listed as “needing a rest.” I’ll handle him with care, but we need him to stay in contention. Shrewsbury have made an offer of £10,000 for Barry Wood. I knew they were interested, and even though we aren’t that deep in our midfield, I think this is a good move for us. The money is okay, but this clears out his £600/wk salary, also. I accept their proposal, and we bid adieu to Mr Wood. I declare that Wood is “not in our first team plans.” The move clears, and he leaves us – our first player sale. With Wood gone, we recall Lee Harris, a center midfielder from our U19 squad. This is his second, and likely permanent, call to the senior squad. We’ll get him some time as a reserve, and then possibly see if he can play in the defensive midfield slot. (Andy Allen is currently injured, so the timing is good) At home for Hartlepool, we face another solid league rival. We have a couple of chances, but fail to break the scoreless tie that holds through the first half. Matthew Jackson gets a great steal and quickly converts it for the first goal. Barnes and Jackson both have near-misses in the second half, but the one goal turns out to be enough. Lincoln 1, Hartlepool 0. I am pleased to see that suddenly we have a transfer budget! It seems that the board has seen fit to dedicate most of the receipts from selling Barry Wood to future transfers. Such a nice gesture from them. It’s only £9,000, but it’s something. We play host to mid-table Boston United. We get several chances in the first half, and after a couple near-misses, Barnes finally connects to give us the lead. They draw even in the early second half, and we need to score to get the win that we want. We go “gung ho” for the last several minutes, and late sub Matthew Jackson nails the apparent game winner during injury time. . . but this is called back on an offsides, and we settle for the draw. Lincoln 1, Boston Utd 1. A pretty intriguing defender, Neil Barnes, was just let go by West Ham – I decide to give him a look. I offer him a contract as a rotation player for us – but expect him to look for greener pastures. At Swansea, we have yet another solid opponent, and will probably need to play particularly well to get a win. They score early, with a shot trickling through Ryan’s hands for the tally. It stays at 1-0 for a long time, despite our switches and swaps to try to get even, Swansea shuts it down and takes the big league win. Swansea 1, Lincoln 0. Defenseman Martin Gibbons gains a 9 rating and earns MOM honors. – he has been extraordinarily good for us recently. Neil Barnes is over the moon after agreeing terms with Lincoln. He mentioned that he is looking forward to playing regular football again. We hope that this comes to pass – we will get him into shape, and perhaps rotate him in a bit. His contract is very affordable, and if he turns out to be useful, this was a great signing. Jason Wilson’s contract with us has expired. I have been trying to play him in every match to build up his credentials for a work permit, but no luck yet. I’d very much like to re-sign him, but for now he’ll remain only month-to-month. That probably won’t last that long. At Torquay, we really are itching for a win, as our top position has grown increasingly unstable. They lead at the half 1-0, and we look like we’re in for a repeat of our last loss to Swansea. Jamie Barnes, though, gets us even, and that’s how this one ends. Lincoln 1, Torquay 1. I use new defender Neil Barnes as a sub, and he acquits himself just fine with a solid 7 rating. Alan Jones, though, is hurt and will miss a few weeks. Could be trouble up front for us, as we’ve had real trouble keeping the AM slot filled, as both Jones and Richard Lewis seem to be sissies. Our midfield is getting thinned out step by step, and I really don’t have any answers for how to resolve it. Next season, I don’t know what we will do. The transfer deadline for English clubs has passed. Georgi Mumladze, the defender from Team bath I have pursued for weeks and weeks, has finally re-signed with his club, and is locked up there. So much for my hopes of getting him for our defensive midfield spot. |
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07-19-2003, 06:02 PM
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#37 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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April 2003
We welcome Michael Kelly, a solid right-side defender, to our ranks. He joins us from Oldham but was recently loaned to Bristol Rovers, where he was used frequently as both a starter and reserve. I plan to give him every chance to gain the starting spot for our left-side defender job. If that works out, it perhaps frees up players like Andy Hughes and Mark Oakes (who have been rotating that spot for some time) to play more in the midfield (where we are starved for capable bodies). We are home to host Shrewsbury, in what ought to be a mismatch. They are near the bottom of the league table, and we—while struggling of late—remain in strong position (5th at the moment). Jamie Barnes takes a feed from Lee Williamson, and sends it in for a very early lead. We hold that edge until very late, when Lee Williamson gets on the scorecard with a nice finish, and we secure the needed win. Lincoln 2, Shrewsbury 0. We travel to Kidderminster, a team that has been through a lot of upheaval this season. They are down in the ranks, and we’ll try to keep them there by grabbing a win at their place. Martin Gibbons is playing very well, but gets two yellows and is sent off in the first half. They get a goal to squeak past Baines for the lead, and that’s all it takes – they shut down, as our offense is just not potent enough to break through. Kidderminster 1, Lincoln 0. Hull is in 4th place, just ahead of us – and we travel there for our next matchup. My defensive stalwart and captain Martin gibbons is out for this match due to his red carding, but we have depth on defense to handle it. Hull gets ahead in the second minute – not a good sign. By 31 minutes, it’s 3-1 Hull, and we are flatlined. It never gets better, except that the pace slows down some. Hull 4, Lincoln 0. Probably our worst lashing of the season, and not a good time to look so weak against quality foes. We have slipped to 6th position, and now must take on Exeter, who are in 16th. This home match is a spot where we simply must get three points – otherwise we just keep losing ground. We control possession, get more shots, and have the whole match wrapped up – except we cannot score. Lincoln 0, Exeter 0. Settling for a draw here is a loss on the table. |
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07-19-2003, 07:40 PM
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#38 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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May 2003
Well, the league table is all but set – with our recent tumble, we will settle in at either 6th or 7th place – good enough for a play-in entry, but no longer an autopromotion candidate. Our final match is just settling the seedings for us along with Hartlepool (currently 5th) and Swansea (currently 7th). The Lincoln board are delighted with your performance as manager. Glad to hear it – we did vastly exceed expectations, that much is true. At Bournemouth we finish up our season – they are going to land somewhere mid-table. I have Ian Wilson in for a final start before he retires. Literally seconds before halftime, Bournemouth goes up with their first score, and gets the lead. Morgan gets us even early in the second half, and the Jackson strikes to give us the lead. While we lead 2-1, they kick one into our goal area, and it bumps of Andrew Cross and in for an own goal – disaster! Of course, they continue their rally, get the winning goal, and prepare to send us off in shame. However, we get an equalizer from Richard Lewis during injury time to save the draw. Bournemouth 3, Lincoln 3. The league standings are finalized – here’s where we finally end up: Code:
My pick for the playoffs is Hull—they have been super-hot, and crushed us when we played them just a few weeks ago. I expect the same treatment this time around, if we are able to advance past Hartlepool. Hull looked as good as anyone we played all year. However, with the way we are playing, I have trouble imagining us winning a home-home series against a credible team, so I fear we won’t even get to see Hull. We head into the first leg of our matchup with Hartlepool, at Sincil Bank. We decide to come out in a defensive posture – our attack has been awfully weak of late, and I’d rather drop back and try to avoid getting behind early. That doesn’t work – Hartlepool immediately gets a good chance, and a 40-yards shot finds home for the 1-0 lead after only 3 minutes. Lee Williamson scores off a free kick to get us even at 33 minutes. At the half, we have already collected four yellows – it’s been a rough match thus far. After 70 minutes, it’s still 1-1, and we try to light a fire with a puch to offense. We cannot break through, and it’s only a great save by Alan Ryan in add-on time that keeps this one even. Lincoln 1, Hartlepool 1. Hull crushed Swansea 3-0 in the first leg of theirs. Ouch. In the second leg of our matchup, we are the ones who get the very early lead, as Williamson strikes from the wing after a beautiful crossing pass from Mark Oakes. We drop to toughen up the defense, as we hold the 2-1 aggregate lead now. Richard Lewis gets us ahead 2-0 after 31 minutes, and suddenly we are looking sharp again. Hartlepool get on the board after 70 minutes, and are within one goal of knotting it all up. A long shot just a couple minutes later, and it’s even at 2-2. We tie it down, and manage to ride it out to get the draw, and to move on due to the away goal advantage. Lincoln 2, Hartlepool 2 – Lincoln advances. We’ll get our first trip to the Millennium Stadium, as we face Hull in the playoff finals. That’s wonderful exposure, and of course a chance to advance to the Second Division is very exciting. As it turns out, our two goalies have played in exactly the same number of matches to date. With exactly one left – this will settle that. I decide to go with Darren Baines for the playoff final – he has earned the right to get first call. I start Alan Jones and Jamie Barnes at forward – we will almost certainly go to young Matthew Jackson for a sub, which has been his specialty this season. We’re all set for the biggest match of the season, against red-hot Hull, with everything on the line. After 10 minutes, we get a chance, as Cross sends up a nice kick for Jamie Barnes, but Barnes’ shot is just wide left, and we come away begging. At 21 minutes, Hull’s Paul Stevens bends one right into the corner of our net – I don’t see how it got back on line for the mark, honestly. Striker Paul Morrow find another for them after 31 minutes, and they are comfortably in command. We bring on Matthew Jackson for the second half, and try to get going. But they withstand our pressure, and then Morrow adds another goal for Hull to put them ahead 3-0. We try to push down the stretch, but we cannot even muster any good chances, and end up watching our chance to promote slip away. Hull 3, Lincoln 0 – Lincoln eliminated. Lincoln have been given £210,000 for their final position in the Third Division. Very much needed – hopefully, the finances will continue to improve, and we’ll be able to loosen the pursestrings a touch, eh? Here’s the rundown on our roster for the 2002-03 season: Code:
The Players Team of the Year is announced, and we are a little surprised to see that not a single Lincoln player was selected. Martin Gibbons has the second-highest average match rating in the entire league, playing central defense – and has won MOM seven times, yet he isn’t selected? What the hell happened there? That wraps up the month of May, and practically speaking, the season. The board remain delighted, and we are pleased overall with our effort. Now, we need to go about the difficult business of acquiring some fill-in talent for what may soon be a bare-cupboard midfield. Last edited by QuikSand : 07-19-2003 at 07:41 PM. |
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07-19-2003, 08:19 PM
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#39 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Nice opening year! Enjoying it!
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07-19-2003, 09:56 PM
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#40 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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June 2003
Just wrapping up – and starting to manage player transactions for the coming season. Thee transfer ban is lifted, so we can move players as need be. We have a few who are expected to depart – and we will be looking to fill in some holes, too. I do some digging through the files of players available on a free transfer – and there’s just not a lot to work with out there. I come back to Robert Roberts, the 16 y/o phenom midfielder from Carlisle, and wonder if he’s worth the £95,000 in compensation we have to pay them to sign him. I decide that it’s worth the risk – and try to offer him a generous youth contract (not what he wants). If he accepts the deal, I will be okay with paying up front. (We’ll save a good share of that in salary anyway) I make an approach to Karl Walker, a 34 y/o midfielder whose contract with Scottish side Livingston is about to expire. If he’d be willing to take a pay cut to about £1,000/wk, I thin he’d be a great fit for our defensive midfield spot – perfect, in fact. He spent many years playing for Barcelona, and is now just rounding out his career. Getting him for a season or two would be a real boost to our squad – I’m crossing my fingers. Robert Roberts of Carlisle has agreed to a new deal, which will keep him at Carlisle. I was willing to put up pretty big money (for us) to bring him aboard, but no such luck. We are ending the season with some £850,000 on hand – so our financial status has certainly picked up since I took over less than one season ago. We have stuck to our wage budget, and have been frugal with our financial moves. I feel like I could afford to spend some of that cash – perhaps to lure over a good young midfielder (like Roberts, feh). Craig Stephens played for Woking in the Conference last season, and was outstanding. He’s a 16yo midfielder, but plays on the left side (where we currently use Lee Williamson, my best current middie). He got 17 assists last season, and averaged a 7.43 rating – not too shabby. If he played on the right side, I’d snap him up in a second, and pay Woking their £65,000 compensation. As it stands, I’m reluctant to fill the position I need the least. Hartlepool’s Mark Martin is a 16 y/o dynamo, who gave them a lot of quality play last season in their midfield. He’s playing in a youth contract, but I could probably offer him a better one. Hartlepool would be compensated by £110,000 – but this guy could probably play at either our attacking midfield spot or in the defensive, which would be very valuable. I decide to take the plunge, and put in a bid for him. I also put in a bid for Craig Stephens – what good is all this cash if we can’t use some of it? I also put in a transfer offer for Huddersfield’s midfielder Paul Holmes. Huddersfield is in financial chaos, and if they will settle for only £5-9K in transfer fees, we might get a 20 y/o player who can really help us out. Mark Martin has decided to stay with Hartlepool, but Craig Stephens is up for signing with us. However – despite having the cash on hand, it seems we need to have the funds available in the transfer budget per se to make this move. SO, we’ll ask for a delay, but in practice this deal is dead. * sigh * Huddersfield is willing to give up Paul Holmes, and we go to the table to talk about a contract. I offer him a deal to become a rotation player for us – it doesn’t look like he’s too keen on joining our club anyway, so this might not work either. My fears are confirmed – he says he’s not prepared to play in a lower division. Alas. My contracts with defenseman Ian Hutchinson and midfielder Richard Wallace have both expired. I will keep them around for now, but don’t expect either to remain for the season. Hutchinson is pretty decent (though central defense is already a deep area for us) but Wallace was pretty lousy last season, and won’t be back. So, my search continues for a midfielder who can play. John Smyth is my next target – I try to get him on a free transfer from Ipswich. But, we are outbid and outclassed when Rangers pursue him also. We reach the “fresh start” point – where we officially break into the new season. Part of this is the doling out of various awards and honors. Lee Williamson has been voted Lincoln’s Player of the Year by supporters. Defenders always get a bad rap (Martin Gibbons, anyone?) but I’m pleased with this selection – he dropped back to play midfield, and led the team in assists by a wide margin. We get a new sponsorship deal, but it’s just another £75K/yr for the next two seasons. I had hoped we’d rack up some big cash with our improved season. Alas. The Lincoln board have indicated that your transfer budget for this year will be in the region of £45K. You will be allowed to retain the vast majority of any transfer income to supplement this budget. Sounds better – I don’t know what I’ll get for £45K, but it’s better than nothing. The Board are very pleased with your performance as manager this season. The team is expected to achieve a respectable league position within the Third Division in the coming season. Heightened expectations, of course. I finally have a potential breakthrough. Midfielder Gary Webb, a guy I pursued long ago, is available for a reasonable transfer price – I offer £15,000. Hereford (from the Conference) accepts, and I’m talking contract with Webb, who most importantly plays on the right side. I offer him £750/wk with good incentives, plus £10K up front. I’m pretty desperate for a right side middie, and if he will accept, he at least gives me a guy with some promise. It takes two more iterations, but I finally get Gary Webb to accept a contract. It’s for £1,000/wk, but I think it gives us a guy we can move into the starting lineup as right-side midfielder. The 24 y/o Webb notched an average match rating of 7.83 – while the competition ought to be tougher, we’ll take a guy with that proven degree of success. And that wraps up June – it’s time to shift gears, and start off the new season. And a new thread, of course. |
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07-19-2003, 10:05 PM
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#41 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
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I remember someone here at FOFC was saying that it was much harder to wheel and deal players in CM4 as compared to CM01/02. Any sense of how that is working out for you? I don't remember off hand how often you dealt players in your previous dynasty, but it doesn't seem like you're having an easy time of it in this game.
My general thought is that, if true, this might be for the better, at least as far as making the game more challenging. |
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07-20-2003, 05:55 AM
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#42 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Tough to say how much is due to changes in the game itself, and how much might be due to unfortunate decisions I made in setting up my own game here. I'm finding a much narrower field of players to bring aboard than in CM 00/01-- but I'm only looking in England. I do think it will provide a greater challenge, though. When Ilast played, it was faily easy to snap up all sorts of "optimistic" talent and improve that way, especially if you were a bit patient. Will certainly be tougher in this game. |
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