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Dont Believe The Hype - Kettering Town


Hypanimz

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Cup competitisions have come and gone already 1st round exits in the JPT and FA Cup however we caused a shock beating League 1 Millwall in the first round of the Capital One Cup before a Andre Villas Boas Ipswich side destroyed us 5-0 in round 2.

I can dream :D

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Well hopefully you will get in a good new manager who can turn things around. I've never rated Paul Jewell and I think you will do alot better without him. The manager of the boys football team I use to play for supported Ipswich so I always look out for how they are doing. He loved Ipswich so much in our last season as under 17's he got us a full blue kit like Ipswich instead of our usual black and white stripes.

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Kettering Town - npower League 2- 2017/18

Automatic promotion!! We had a geat second half of the season and we managed to move up into the automatic promotion places. We slipped out with 6 games to go but we regained 3rd place with 3 matches to go and we managed to hold on by goal difference. Amazing achievement as it wasnt expected at all. Bring on League 1.

League Table

Past Positions

We looked good in the early stages of the season until we went on a 8 game winless run and we dropped all the way down to 17th position. After this we went on a great tun and on week 24 we hit the automatic promotion places and we stayed in contention for the remainder of the season. Fortunately results went our way on the penultimate game of the season where we won 3-0 and our nearest challengers lost so we had a 3 point advantage going until the final game as well as a much better goal difference so as long as there wasnt a 10 goal swing we were up. We lost our final game but went up by 6 goals.

Cups - 2nd round defeat in the Capital One Cup. JPT and FA Cup was 1st round exits... again.

Squad - Good squad for this level. Hopefully it will stand up in League 1.

Transfers - Bytyqi was the stand out new signing. My other signings played well but none of them could hold down a regular position in my team.

Finances - Lost money this term and back in the red. Should increase soon as will receive parachute payments.

Key Player Profiles:

Paul Moran - Possibly his last season for the club. Scored 48 in 46. Will be missed if sold.

Ben Fisk - 27 goals in 45 games with 14 assists. Fantastic return for my second striker.

Olegs Semjonovs - 20 assists and 8 goals from left midfield. Wasnt fantastic last season but this season was a revelation.

Really pleased to get promoted and I'm looking forward to seeing how we get on in League 1.

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14         Blue Square North     12th               
2014/15         Blue Square North     2nd               Promoted Playoffs
2015/16         Blue Square Prem      1st               League Winners
2016/17         League 2              12th              Survived
2017/18         League 2              3rd               Automatic Promotion

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I suspect you will have to sell Moran, but you should have a bugger budget (hopefully) going up another level, so if you get lucky the higher football and slightly higher offfer you can make might be enough. Very unlikely though.

Quite quick prgress so far, to be heading into league one already is impressive.

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Well done on winning promotion!Hopefully a miracle will occur and Moran will sign a new contract (very doubtful!).

Thanks buddy. He wont be signing a new deal anytime soon. Here are his Demands.... I can only offer £4,100 p/w.

I suspect you will have to sell Moran, but you should have a bugger budget (hopefully) going up another level, so if you get lucky the higher football and slightly higher offfer you can make might be enough. Very unlikely though.

Quite quick prgress so far, to be heading into league one already is impressive.

Thanks alot mate, progress will slow down next week as I'll be back to work but I still think 2 seasons a week is achieveable. Unfortunately I cant find any buyers for him at the moment. Even at a really reduced price. Looks like I will be keeping him for the final season of his contract.

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Well, it was fun while it lasted, Moran! Have fun probably keeping the bench warm for a Championship/Premier League team! Who knows though, since he is sticking around for that final season, how it will play out :)

Great job winning that automatic promotion!

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Pre-Season 2018/19

Not much on the transfer front this season. I've brought in a versatile defender from Basel alongside a Kenyan central midfielder who was previously on the books of Leeds United. My final signing is a Winger on loan from Everton who will challenge Bell-Baggie for a starting role. Four players left on free transfers as they were not of sufficient quality to play in League 1. Also leaving with youngster Mick Flowers on loan to Stalybridge for the season.

An unbeaten pre season which included a 1-1 draw with Championship side Barnsley and comfortbale wins over lower league opposition.

In other news we have just moved into the 9957 capacity Kettering Stadium and we sold a staggering 1988 season tickets.

Aims

Survival

Get past round 1 of the FA Cup

Sell out the stadium.

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Well, it was fun while it lasted, Moran! Have fun probably keeping the bench warm for a Championship/Premier League team! Who knows though, since he is sticking around for that final season, how it will play out :)

Great job winning that automatic promotion!

Thanks alot mate. Hopefully he will still score goals in League 1 and keep us in the division so my rep will increase and they I can replace him next summer. Personally I dont think he is good enough for the Premier League and he would probably only succeed at a lower level Championship team. They dont have wage budgets that would allow him to sign so I'm extremely intrested to see where he ends up.

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Excellently quick rise.

Thanks buddy. Its going alot better than expected to tell the truth.

A real shame about Moran and a sh*tter you will be missing out on a few million for him but you never know, he might love L1 and want to sign again. You've still got a few months to get his rep up and drum up some interest too.

His reputation has been at Continental for some time now which makes it more surprising there has been no interest. I'm almost 100% certain I will be unable to persuade him to stay as he just requests far to much money. Shame really as he is leading the scoring charts again.

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Mid - Season Update 2018/19

League Table

Squad

We seem to be enjoying life in League 1. We are currently sitting in our lowest position but this is due to having up to 4 games in hand on other teams. We have been sitting in and around the play-offs. If we were to win all 4 of our games in hand we would jump straight to the top of the league! We need to capitalise on this as future seasons will be alot tougher when Paul Moran leaves at the end of the season.

We finally got past round 1 of the FA Cup and face Millwall in round 2. We have also reached the quarters of the JPT and will be playing Plymouth. We exited the Capital One Cup in round one losing in extra time to Yeovil.

No more new signings as my players have been performing very well. Lets hope we kick on for the second half to the season.

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BadgeKettering_Town.png

Kettering Town - npower League 1- 2018/19

Wow. Almost a unreal ending. After I made a comment above about making sure we stay in the league we decided to go unbeaten from then until the end of the season winning 7 and drawing 2. Amazingly we snuck into the play-offs. We then knocked out Huddersfield with relative ease and next thing you know where up against Crewe at Wembley. We went on to lose 3-2 after extra time. In truth we never deserved to go up and we would of come straight back down so I'm happy to stay put for the time being.

League Table

Past Positions

Such a up and down season. We started very well and we were in the play-offs. We then dropped down the league but had 4 games in hand that could put us back up in the promotion hunt. Unfortunately we then decided to play very badly. At one point we looked in real danger of going down until I tweaked our tactics and after that we went unbeaten. Shame it ended how it did but it would not of been deserved if we went up.

Cups - FA Cup we finally made the 3rd round where we lost 2-0 at West Ham. JPT we were knocked out by Oxford in the Semi's. Capital one cup was our standard 1st round defeat.

Squad - Did surprisingly well. Will need to be strengthened in the summer.

Transfers - Mayer had a sold first season playing at left back. Lenighan played well as my holding midfielder and Robinson was the stand out signing. Joining in January he scored 13 in 14.

Finances - Big profit this season. Just under £3m in the bank. This was mainly due to selling out our brand new stadium most weeks.

Key Player Profiles:

Paul Moran - Amazing final season for the club. 49 in 56 will be sorely missed.

Abdulai Bell-Baggie - Speedy winger scoring 10 and setting up 18.

Callum Robinson - January signing who helped propel us up the league in the final 10 games.

Very pleased with our final position. Next season will be a struggle as I have to replace Paul Moran

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14         Blue Square North     12th               
2014/15         Blue Square North     2nd               Promoted Playoffs
2015/16         Blue Square Prem      1st               League Winners
2016/17         League 2              12th              Survived
2017/18         League 2              3rd               Automatic Promotion
2018/19         League 1              6th               Lost in playoff final

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Through very very gritted teeth i say 'Well Done'

Nothing beats a fast rise through the leagues although i cling to the hope you fail...

Being an AFC Rushden and Diamonds fan i cannot wish you luck but i will be reading and looking forward to your next update.

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Through very very gritted teeth i say 'Well Done'

Nothing beats a fast rise through the leagues although i cling to the hope you fail...

Being an AFC Rushden and Diamonds fan i cannot wish you luck but i will be reading and looking forward to your next update.

Thank you very much. I'm aware of the rivalry between the two clubs and also that Kettering play at Nene Park which was the ground of Rushden and Diamonds before their dissolution.

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Hard luck on the play-off final loss, however staying down this season may enable you to progress quicker in the long term.

Still no movement by Moran on his contract I take it? Have you got a suitable replacement lined up yet?

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Ladies and Gentlemen an Announcement regarding the future of Kettering legend Paul Moran.....

HE STAYS!!!!!!!!!

I couldnt believe my luck. I got the message his contract was due in a months time and I thought I may as well have one final try to keep him. He wanted £10.5k p/w which was significantly less than the 32k p/w it was months earlier. I locked in £5.5k p/w which was the most I could offer and they gave me an offer including various bonuses with him staying for 2 more seasons. I managed to set a one year extension clause so he is essentially tied down for another 3 years. However if he continues to bang the goals in it could become expensive as I had to agree to £2k per goal.

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Hard luck on the play-off final loss, however staying down this season may enable you to progress quicker in the long term.

Still no movement by Moran on his contract I take it? Have you got a suitable replacement lined up yet?

I think staying in this league gives me more time to prepare for the Championship. I'm almost positive we would of came straight back down.

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Good performance in your first season in League 1,great news to see that Moran will be staying at your club for another couple of seasons!

Thanks alot. It was a strange season as we looked good for the play-offs early on. Then we looked dead certs for relegation only to turn it around again.

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I'll be following this as I had a go with Kettering in FM11, lasted very little time as I attempted to make them play a tactic based on Barcelona. Failed horribly of course. :lol:

Quite a spectacular climb through the leagues so far, and a gem found in Paul Moran, we all get attached irrationally to very good players on FM. :thup:

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I have to admit looking at the mid-season table I thought you were definitely safe and could make a run for top half but that was about it. A playoff final is a superb result.

That's huge news with Moran. 2k a goal could get expensive, but if promotion comes as a result of him banging in another 50 it could bring in more than it costs.

Is it already time to expand the new stadium?

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Don't know which to congratulate you on more, GREAT NEWS in keeping Moran after the monster final season.

Best of luck in the up-coming season, all about building for the Championship surely!!!!

Quick question: What is happening in the EPL? Has there been much changeat the top or any shock relegations?

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Thank you all very much.

deltablue - I couldnt believe how much his wage demands dropped. I'm very fortunate nobody came in for him.

noikeee - Moran is possibly one of my favourite players i've ever managed. His goal return is just ridiculous.

BadManager - The Play-Off final was a amazing achievement considering with 9 games to go we were about 4 points off the relegation zone. We didnt sell out the stadium every week so probably no expansion yet but will be in the near future.

thomasmanefield - I've been improving my squad over the summer with the aim of a big push for promotion this season. The only real shocks in the Premier League are that Everton got relegated in 2017 but have been promoted back since and last season Newcastle went down. At the top the Manchester clubs have won the league 3 times each and in the seaosn just gone Arsenal won it by 17 points.

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Pre-Season 2019/20

I think I've bought very well this summer. I've let players go who were earning too much and didnt have the quality to play in the division and I've replaced them with players who are substantially better and on lesser wages. Six players came in. I brought in an Australian International centre back who will hopefully partner Swann in the heart of my defence. Also coming in was a defensive minded midfielder from Norway who will challenge for my DLP role. My other signings where youngsters to add some depth to positions I didnt have any cover for. For the first time in a long time I feel I have a squad which has plenty of cover and quality in all areas.

Friendlies were successful as we won all five comfortably including smashing Shamrock Rovers 4-0. We scored 23 in our five friendlies and only conceded 2.

For the first time the board gave me a nice transfer budget of £422k. I havent spent any of it as I improved my squad with free transfers and I've still got over £2.5k p/w wage budget available.

Aims

Board want mid-table. I want Play-Offs.

Keep finances strong.

Cause a upset in the FA Cup.

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Great progress and great news on Moran

Thanks alot fella. Not a great first competitive game. Capital One Cup 1st round we beat Crawley 2-1 but my starting midfielder Sinan Bytyqi tore his hamstring so Is ruled out for 4 months. However for round 2 we've just drawn Premier League Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.

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You could even do the Danny Roberts challenge whilst doing this challenge with your man Moran!

I would love to try it however the only chance of it ever happening is if we stay in the lower leagues. I just dont think he is cut out for Premier League football.

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The wages are still quite a lot for a lower league player.

I agree its alot but I'm well within my budget. He gets roughly 10% of my budget and I think he's worth that. My next highest paid player is £3,500 p/w so it is balanced out nicely.

I'm rethinking my decision to want the Play-Offs this season as after 10 games we are in 16th winning 4 and losing 6. Not a good start. A nice mid-table finish would be good and allow me to push on for next season hopefully.

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I agree its alot but I'm well within my budget. He gets roughly 10% of my budget and I think he's worth that. My next highest paid player is £3,500 p/w so it is balanced out nicely.

I'm rethinking my decision to want the Play-Offs this season as after 10 games we are in 16th winning 4 and losing 6. Not a good start. A nice mid-table finish would be good and allow me to push on for next season hopefully.

]

What is your scouting range like? I'm in league 1 with Workington and I can still only scout uk & Ireland, so I employed french, spanish and italian scouts because they come with already pre-populated scouting reports (which only show players of their nation). Then I sign the 5 star frees off those lists. The wages are so much cheaper than the British players. Got a 'decent prem player' in league 2 for 500 quid a week. French Algerian u20 winger. May help you get out of league 1 :)

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]

What is your scouting range like? I'm in league 1 with Workington and I can still only scout uk & Ireland, so I employed french, spanish and italian scouts because they come with already pre-populated scouting reports (which only show players of their nation). Then I sign the 5 star frees off those lists. The wages are so much cheaper than the British players. Got a 'decent prem player' in league 2 for 500 quid a week. French Algerian u20 winger. May help you get out of league 1 :)

Thats a pretty good idea actually. Unfortunately I have 7 scouts roaming the UK at the moment and the board wont increase the number of scouts I can have. The board will only allow me to scout the UK which is to be expected at this level. How did you find the foreign scouts?

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Thats a pretty good idea actually. Unfortunately I have 7 scouts roaming the UK at the moment and the board wont increase the number of scouts I can have. The board will only allow me to scout the UK which is to be expected at this level. How did you find the foreign scouts?

I had 7 out of 7 too and i mutually terminated a few of them (chose the cheapest wage ones). I'd go for the french scout first. There are loads of free african country u20 internationals with french dual nationality so no work permit. Working a treat for me. I got 99 points in blue sq prem first season after promotion and 100 pts in league 2 after being promoted. Got some work to do to build a league 1 team though for the new season.

I searched for scouts on staff search based in France or nationality French (or whatever country), asked my assistant to filter those that weren't interested. And picked the best of what was there. I have 5/6 u20 african country internationals, all with at least good/leading championship potential with no wp problems now and they are all on 300-600 quid a week so it's a bargain really.

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I had 7 out of 7 too and i mutually terminated a few of them (chose the cheapest wage ones). I'd go for the french scout first. There are loads of free african country u20 internationals with french dual nationality so no work permit. Working a treat for me. I got 99 points in blue sq prem first season after promotion and 100 pts in league 2 after being promoted. Got some work to do to build a league 1 team though for the new season.

I searched for scouts on staff search based in France or nationality French (or whatever country), asked my assistant to filter those that weren't interested. And picked the best of what was there. I have 5/6 u20 african country internationals, all with at least good/leading championship potential with no wp problems now and they are all on 300-600 quid a week so it's a bargain really.

I may have a look into this. It wont be this season as my scouts are tied down to long term contracts and it would cost a lot of money to get rid of them. Thank you for the idea as it may come in handy in the future.

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Mid - Season Update 2019/20

League Table

Squad

The season started badly by losing our first 3 games but after a quick rethink of my players roles we have jumped up the table into a decent position. Our best performances of the season to date was the 3-1 victory over Sunderland who have fallen on hard times and a 8-1 demolition of Hartlepool. We have struggled slightly with injuries as Bytyqi and Bell-Baggie have spent time on the sidelines as well as my new centre back who broke his leg and I'm told would miss 7 months of the season. Our main problem has been finishing off matches.

In the Capital One Cup we were knocked out 2-1 at Swansea. The JPT I wasnt interested in so I wasnt upset when we lost to Stevenage. The FA Cup we have reached round 3 again and this season we face League 2 Morecambe so we have a nice chance to make round 4.

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BadgeKettering_Town.png

Kettering Town - npower League 1- 2019/20

Next season we will be playing Championship football. What an amazing season. Started poorly and I decided to rethink my aim of the Play-Offs. After a quick tactical rethink we moved swiftly up the table and stayed in the hunt for the remainder of the season. The Play-Offs were a nervy affair as we bray Preston 3-0 over the two legs. We had to face Ipswich in the final. We took the lead late on and then in the final minute with Ipswich attacking we countered and scored again to win 2-0. What an amazing season.

League Table

Past Positions

Started with 3 defeats in a row and I thought we would have a tough season. Soon started to win games and score penty of goals. We sat in the Play-Offs for the entire second half of the season and I believe we definately deserved promotion. We had the best goal difference in the league and we also scored jointly the highest amount of goals.

Cups - We had some fun in the cups this year. Capital One Cup saw a 2nd round defeat by Premier League Swansea 2-1. The JPT I wasnt interested in and we were knocked out at the quarters. In the FA Cup we made our way to the 5th round where we played Premier League Cardiff City who we managed a 1-1 draw away from home. In the replay we lost 3-0 but we were so close to beating them in the first leg where we would of set up a away tie at Chelsea.

Squad - I thought I had improved massively and I was right. We had a very good squad full of talent all over the pitch. Every player was fantastic when called upon.

Transfers - Corcoran on loan was fantastic and Hayes played well once he recovered from his broken leg. The others all played very well when called upon. Looking forward to seeing what talent is available for next season. Most of the outgoing transfers were youth players I released to free up some wages.

Finances - £1.72m profit this season. We currently have just under £4.5m in the bank. Brilliant.

Key Player Profiles:

Paul Moran - Started slowly but eventually found his scoring boots. Got 39 in 52.

Olegs Semjonovs - 17 assists and 9 goals in a injury hit season was just fantastic.

Callum Robinson - Outscored Paul Moran. 42 goals in 60 games. Top drawer.

James Corcoran - Loanee came in when Bell-Baggie got injured and never lost his place. 20 assists and 6 goals.

Probably my most enjoyable season at the club. Really looking forward to the Championship next season. I imagien it will be a struggle but I hope we are up for the fight.

Career Overview

Season          League                League Finish     Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14         Blue Square North     12th               
2014/15         Blue Square North     2nd               Promoted Playoffs
2015/16         Blue Square Prem      1st               League Winners
2016/17         League 2              12th              Survived
2017/18         League 2              3rd               Automatic Promotion
2018/19         League 1              6th               Lost in playoff final
2019/20         League 1              3rd               Promoted Playoffs

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