Zilla Blitz Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 On 16/01/2020 at 16:39, Nobby_McDonald said: You're nailing it Zilla. Thanks! I've probably played 50 seasons total so far across version, I think this has been the best FM season I've ever had so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 18, 2020 Author Share Posted January 18, 2020 (edited) Club Season 3: September 2022 Still Smoldering Manager Notes The football gods are still shining on us, as we complete consecutive months with nothing but wins. Our lead stretches to 9 points at the top of the table, and the victories lead to another Manager of the Month award. Despite all the good news, I feel a bit nervous about what lies ahead. We struggled in our final two matches of the month, squeaking by Wrexham more on luck than skill, needing two late goals to beat Swindon Town, and miraculously coming from behind with 10-men against Halifax Town. In short, we’re no longer brushing aside opponents, and things appear to be tightening up. With second-place York City on form as well, a bad run from us could see our lead vanish fairly quickly. But it’d be silly not to enjoy the moment. The football world is full of difficult stretches, and you’ve got to enjoy the good runs while they last! Onward! Season 3 Episode 3 is up on YouTube. Edited January 18, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 20, 2020 Share Posted January 20, 2020 The Liverpool of non league? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 4 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: The Liverpool of non league? Ha! It's still so early, but yeah, I'm pretty sure I've never gone this far in a season without losing. It's definitely my best FM start I've ever had. Fingers crossed we can keep it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 Club Season 3: October 2022 Shaken but Not Stirred Manager Notes We start out the month with a draw, then pick up 2 league wins and a FA Cup win to set us back on track. But the back half of the month is a series of stumbles as we pile up three successive draws. We end the month with 2 wins and 4 draws, a big drop from our earlier form. On a good note, York City stumbles even more than us. Despite our weak performance, we add 3 points to our lead, and end the month in first place by 11 points. It’s a solid lead, but with two thirds of the season left, we’ll need to figure out how to regain our winning form or this won’t last. And on one other positive note, we still haven’t lost! 18 matches in, we’re still undefeated. Season 3 Episode 4 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 Club Season 3: November 2022 Invincibility Lost Manager Notes We lose our unbeaten streak at 21 matches, as we fall to a strong Billericay team 2-1 in the middle of the month. So much for that Invincibles achievement! The rest is all good, though, as we pick up 2 FA Cup wins and 3 league wins. The good month sees just shy of the halfway mark in the season with a 9-point lead and a match in hand on 2nd-place Billericay Town. Interestingly, we’ve made it to the 3rd round of the FA Cup, and now the big boys join the fray. We’ve drawn the Wolves, who sit 10th in the Premier League, for an away match next month. They are three and a half leagues above us, and we will have little chance. But it’ll be great fun to travel there and see how things shake out! We are so going to get killed! Financially, we’ve picked up a good chunk of change from the FA Cup run. We now have over £300k in the bank. I approached our board to request a number of club improvements, but Chairman Jimmy isn’t having any of it. He simply tells me that we don’t have enough money and that’s that. Cheap bastard. Going forward, I’m hopeful we can keep up our current pace. It’s starting to more and more look like we’ll be contending for the title. Season 3 Episode 5, Nuneaton vs. Wolves, up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 24, 2020 Author Share Posted January 24, 2020 Club Season 3: December 2022We are Meh Manager Notes Our December form in league is decidedly bland. We win one and draw two, and it starts to look like our magic is gone. Fortunately, the teams around us in the standings struggle as well, with the exception of the latest contender to rise to second place: Aldershot Town. They win consistently, and by the end of the month only sit 5 points back of us, although we have a match in hand. In cup play, we make it out of the FA Trophy Cup 1st Round with relative ease, but get demolished 5-0 against the Wolves in FA Cup play. Still, the match against a Premier League club nets us £150k, which pushes our bank balance to nearly a half million pounds. Chairman Jimmy still won’t spend any of it, but it’s nice to know that we’re heading in the right direction. Looking ahead, we head into 2023 in first place, but we’ll need to sharpen up our play if we’re going to hang on to our lead! Season 3 Episode 6, Nuneaton vs. Chester, up on YouTube Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 26, 2020 Author Share Posted January 26, 2020 Club Season 3: January 2023 Shots Taken 21W-7D-3L (1st in Vanarama National) Manager Notes We play well at the beginning and end of the month, but Maidenhead United whips us badly 4-1 mid-month, and we follow that with a 3-2 loss to Fylde where we give up a lead in the last 7 minutes of the match. At that point, a red-hot Aldershot Town closes to within 4 points of us, but they stumble with successive draws at the end of the month to see us end the month with an 8-point lead over them in the standings. The turn of form mid-month is concerning, as neither Fylde nor Maidenhead are playing well, and we have the hard part of the second half of the schedule coming up. Aldershot Town continues to bring the heat, as they have not lost in the league since October 9. I fear there is little room for us to stumble with them so determined to overtake us. Season 3 Episode 7, Nuneaton vs. 4th-Place York City, up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 27, 2020 Share Posted January 27, 2020 Billericay I had two epic saves with them in versions years gone by. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted January 30, 2020 Author Share Posted January 30, 2020 Club Season 3: February 2023 Cautiously Optimistic Manager Notes We start out the month by embarrassing ourselves twice against mid-table National North Altrincham in the FA Trophy Cup. We draw away against them, then lost 2-1 in a home rematch, even though they lost a man to a red card in the 39th minute. We did outshoot them 60-20 over the two matches, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Fortunately, our results in the league were much better, as we collected wins in all five of our matches, many of them against top of the table clubs. Second-place Aldershot Town keeps winning for the most part as well, so we’re only able to gain 2 points in the table over that span. With 10 matches to go, we’re up by 10 points. If we can keep up our form, we might be going up! Season 3 Episode 8, Nuneaton vs. 3rd-Place Barrow, up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 3, 2020 Author Share Posted February 3, 2020 (edited) Club Season 3: March 2023 On the Doorstep... Manager Notes We find our form as the season draws short. We win five of six matches, with only a 0-0 draw against Billericay Town to tarnish our month. Aldershot Town stumbles just a bit, and with 4 matches left we have a 15-point lead, although they have a match in hand. All we need is a single point to clinch. It’s all but mathematically over at this point, as we have a significant goal differential in our favor as well. Getting promoted would be a huge step forward for the club. We’d turn pro to play in League 2, and that would bring with it full-time training, more time to develop youth, and a host of other fun challenges. One more point to go! Season 3 Episode 9, Nuneaton vs.Macclesfield Town, up on YouTube. Edited February 3, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 3, 2020 Share Posted February 3, 2020 Nailed it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 Club Season 3: April 2023 Woot! Manager Notes We draw against Macclesfield Town 1-1 in our first match of the month, and that’s enough to clinch the title! We’re going up, going pro, and welcome to the football league! Our form on the month sees us win 2, draw 1, and lose our last match. We end up setting a league record for goals, but miss out on the league record for points and wins by losing our last match to Aldershot Town. A touch of a bitter ending, but it’d be hard to tarnish the glow from the season. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do as a professional club. But this summer will have lots of work. Contracts to be redone, more players to bring in, and tough decisions on our roster. And we are still well short of our final goal: the Premier League! Much work to be done. Season 3 Wrap Up Episode Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 4 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: Nailed it. Yes, that was a fun season, thanks! I'm not sure I've ever had consecutive first-place promotions before, and I think I've only done consecutive promotions once before, but both of those seasons may have been via playoffs. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vara Posted February 4, 2020 Share Posted February 4, 2020 great back to back promotions there, mate. well done. how's the finances on the back of the trip to Wolves in the cup? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 4, 2020 Author Share Posted February 4, 2020 16 hours ago, vara said: great back to back promotions there, mate. well done. how's the finances on the back of the trip to Wolves in the cup? Thanks! It’s definitely been the best consecutive seasons I’ve had since playing FM, fun to show up at a match and figure you’ve got a good chance to win. Be interesting to see how it goes next year, though. Could be tough... Finances are pretty good. Wolves gave us about £150k, and I think we were about £500k in the clear at that point. Looks like we’ll have to upgrade our stadium now, and that’s costing £2m. I think it’s half paid for by grant and half by loan, so we still have a good cash balance, but a £1m debt on our rolls too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 10, 2020 Author Share Posted February 10, 2020 (edited) Club Season 3 Summary 2022-23Table | Manager Profile Season Notes Consecutive championships, woot! Although our Cup success was off from the previous year, we can only be thrilled with gaining promotion to League 2 and to be going professional. We picked up a number of awards in the post-season. I received the National League Manager of the Year award, which added a bit of gold to my reputation stars. Yassine En-Nayeh picked up National League Player of the Year. Jack Bearne also go National League Goal of the Season (for a goal that really didn’t strike me as being all that exceptional). But there is hardly a day of rest of us, as the day after our clinching match against Macclesfield Town, the board approached me about going professional, which will officially take place on June 12. We’ll have a lot of work to do in the off season. We’ll need to switch everyone over to full-time contracts, find new and improved players for League 2, expand our stadium seating, and hopefully pry some money out of Chairman Jimmy’s hands for an increased wage budget. Initial projections for a wage budget would put us second to last in wages in the National League, which would be a huge challenge in trying to stay up. It promises to be a busy summer! Career Overview Season Club Division Position Champions League Notes 2020-21 Nuneaton Town National North 7th - Lost in 1st Round of Playoffs 2021-22 Nuneaton Town National North 1st - Promoted, Won FA Trophy Cup 2022-23 Nuneaton Town National 1st - Promoted Season Wrap Episode Edited February 10, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 Club Season 4: Summer Preseason 2023 Turning Pro Manager Notes Chaotic progress defines our off-season, which starts with no rest the day after our National League season ends. We officially turn pro on June 12, but League 2 rules demand that our stadium hold more people, so work on a £2million expansion starts immediately. It won’t be done until the middle of October. Roster-wise, we’ll approach things with the same general strategy we took with last summer’s promotion: bring back the top half of our team and replace the bottom half with better players. Our greatest challenge, however, will be fielding a competitive team on a wage budget that ranks second-to-last in League 2. Chairman Jimmy is holding on to his cash, and even after shifting over almost all of our transfer budget into wages, only Bolton lies below us in wages paid. It’s a tall order to go pro, and an even taller one to go pro on a shoestring budget. Nevertheless, we get busy, looking to renegotiate our semi-professional contracts, find good value in low-cost players, and walking away from players who simply demand too much. Generally speaking, we’re successful at renegotiating contracts with the majority of the players we want to keep, but it does take more money than before. It’s only until the latter days of summer before we manage to bring on some promising new faces at midfield, center back, and striker. As the season starts, we could still use reinforcements at a number of positions, and we seem weak on the outsides, in particular at wing. Expectations are mid-table from the owner, and that might be a tall order on this wage budget... Season 4 Opening Episode is Up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Club Season 4: August 2023 Better than Expected Manager Notes Chesterfield welcomes us to professional football with a 4-1 drubbing. We follow that with a dreary 0-0 draw against a weak Grimsby Town. League 1 Peterborough then knocks us out of the EFL Cup via a penalty shootout, and after 3 matches we’re winless and floundering. But we snap into form after that, ripping off three wins in the back half of the month. The 10 points is enough to get us a respectable 7th place in the table. All in all, I’m thrilled with how we’ve turned it around to start things out, but it’s clear we’ve got weaknesses and that the better teams are going to be an uphill battle. Still, for a first taste of professional football, this has gone better than I expected. Season 4 Episode 1 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4: September 2023 A Big Bag of Ugly Table: 3W-4D-4L, 13 points (15th place) Manager Notes Bloody Nora, we are bad. We manage zero league wins over month. We draw 3 matches and lose 3 matches and only end up with 3 points out of six matches. The final ignominy is when last place Barrow beats us 1-0 at the end of the month. Although our defense isn’t horrible, our offense is anemic. We manage only 3 goals in our 6 matches. We plummet in the standings, dropping from 5th place after our solid start to 15th place. We’ll need to sort things out in a hurry, or this will be a short stay in League 2! Season 4 Episode 2 & Season 4 Episode 3 are up on YouTube. Edited February 20, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 22, 2020 Author Share Posted February 22, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4: October 2023 Bleeding Stopped Manager Notes We manage to stop our freefall down the table by starting out the month with a couple of big league wins. We end up picking up three wins, a draw, and one loss over the month, which sees us inch back up the table, to 11th place. Our scoring and defense both seem to have settled down, and some of our new players seem to be getting things sorted out position-wise. Whew! Interestingly, there are a blob of teams in the middle of the table, all separated by the slimmest of margins. Despite our mediocre results, we sit only 2 points out of a playoff spot. If we can continue to play like we have in October, we might be able to actually move into playoff contention. If we play like we played in September, we’ll drop quickly out of this pack into a relegation battle. Must. Stay. Focused. Season 4 Episode 4 is up on YouTube. Edited February 22, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Doing well for your first season in the Football League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4: November 2023 Ups & Downs Manager Notes The month is an odd mix of highs and lows. We drop two of our three League 2 matches. One of the losses is an embarrassing 4-1 defeat at home to lowly Leyton Orient; the other is a respectable 2-0 loss to top of the table Gillingham. We also pick up a wild 4-3 FA Cup win over Ebbsfleet, and a penalty-shootout win in EFL Trophy group play. At the end of the month we switch into a new 4-1-2-3 formation and pick up a convincing 2-0 win, so we may have stumbled onto something good for December. As we near the halfway point in the season, we’re definitely a mixed bag of good and bad. Still, for a first season in League 2, to be sitting mid-table feels like a passing grade. Season 4 Episodes 5 is up on YouTube. Edited February 26, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 On 24/02/2020 at 15:42, Nobby_McDonald said: Doing well for your first season in the Football League. Thanks, Nobby! It's a bit of an adjustment from the previous two seasons, but I have to tell myself that, like you say, this is okay for a first season in League 2. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 Club Season 4: December 2023 The Part Where We Find a Nice Bus Manager Notes Our awful September seems a thing of the past, as our new 4-1-2-3 formation transforms our defense. We go the entire month without conceding a goal. Our offense is marginal, and we do manage to lose a cup match in a penalty shoot-out, but still, the solid defensive work gets us two wins and two draws in league play, and a huge 2-0 win over League 1 Doncaster in the FA Cup Second Round. We end the month in 12th place, but we’re only 4 points away from a playoff spot now and we have a match in hand to most clubs in front of us. If we could keep up this pace, we could conceivably reach the playoff zone in another month. Lots of work to do, but it appears as if our season has taken a solid turn for the better. Season 4 Episodes 6 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted March 2, 2020 Author Share Posted March 2, 2020 Club Season 4: January 2024 Rising Rising Rising... Manager Notes Our good form from December holds true for much of the month, and we crawl slowly up the table. We win 4 of 6 matches, only lose one, and get a draw in the other. The 13 points are good enough for us for rise just into the playoff zone, at 7th place. Our 4-1-2-3 and 4-3-3 formations have been strong, with the 4-1-2-3 thriving on the road and against top teams, and the 4-3-3 thriving at home and against teams down the table. Our defense is particular has been stellar: we manage a run of 10 games without conceding before our 2-0 loss to Tranmere. We also have some good fortune in the FA Cup. We get a super easy draw against Swindon Town in the 3rd round, which we cleared 1-0. Then we drew Newcastle at home. Stunningly, we hold them 0-0 until the 85th minute, when they bang home a winner to beat us 1-0. The financial haul from the run helps push our finances to over 700k, but still our Chairman won’t open up to spring for better training facilities. The cheap bastard. Going forward, it’d be awesome to sneak into the playoffs, but we’ve got to keep up our good form to do so. With a third of a season to go, it’s anyone’s guess how this will turn out! Season 4 Episodes 7 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 Going very well now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 On 02/03/2020 at 15:22, Nobby_McDonald said: Going very well now. Thanks Nobby! I've been really surprised with how the season has turned around. The formation shift has worked wonders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4: February 2024 Still Rising... Manager Notes We have a generally strong month, rolling to four league wins against one loss and one draw. The 13 points see us rise to fourth place in League 2, only two points outside of an automatic promotion spot. As with January, our new 4-1-2-3 formation has made a ton of difference, as we aren’t allowing teams to score with any consistency. We only gave up two goals the whole month, which makes it easy to keep tacking on the points. We’ve got some tough matches coming up in March, but it’s exciting to be so close to an automatic promotion spot. With 11 games left in the season, there is still plenty of time to move up if we can keep up this form! Season 4 Episode 8 is up on YouTube. Edited April 14, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 19, 2020 Author Share Posted April 19, 2020 Club Season 4: March 2024 Slipping Away Manager Notes Our run of good form grinds to an end, as we only pick up 8 points over six matches in March. Injuries are a factor, but it just seems as if opponents are adjusting to our tactics and we’ll need to come up with something different. Our offense in particular is struggling, as we only get two goals in our most recent five matches. The slip in form sees us drop from 4th to 6th, five points away from automatic promotion. With 5 matches left in the season, automatic promotion is looking like a stretch, and we suddenly find ourselves looking at clubs in our rear view mirror. We’re seven points safe for a playoff spot, but unless we sort things out we may find ourselves in a battle just to hold our current position. The fact that most of our recent and remaining schedule is made of top-third teams doesn’t help. Hoping we can hang on for this last stretch of the season! Season 4 Episodes 9 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 A safe bet for the playoffs and still a shot at promotion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 On 20/04/2020 at 15:43, Nobby_McDonald said: A safe bet for the playoffs and still a shot at promotion. Turns out it wasn't so safe after all, but we just barely made the playoffs! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 22, 2020 Author Share Posted April 22, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4: April 2024 Whew! We Made that Hard! Manager Notes By the slimmest of margins, we made it to the playoffs! We actually did pretty much everything we could to blow it. After winning our first match of the month, we only picked up one point in our last four matches. We took things to the final day of the season, where although we lost, we got help from teams around us losing as well to just barely qualify for the playoffs! Whew! The omens look fairly dire for us heading into the playoffs, but we’ll give it our best shot! We’ll need to win two matches to get promoted to League 1, and we’re coming into the playoffs having only won one of our last six matches. Fortunately, we’ll get a bit of rest before we jump in and play, and maybe that slight break will help us get our heads screwed on right again. Season 4 Episode 10 is up on YouTube. Edited April 22, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 24, 2020 Author Share Posted April 24, 2020 Club Season 4: May 2024 Onward to League 1! Manager Notes In dramatic fashion, we claw our way through the League 2 Playoffs and win promotion to League 1! We faced off against Tranmere in a home-away two-leg Semi-Final. After two legs and 180 minutes of football, we were dead even at 2-2. But in extra time on the road, Jake Scrimshaw scores a stunning goal to give us a lead that we’re able to nurse home. In the Final against Walsall, Andrew Robinson scored the sole goal of the game 24 minutes in, and that’s enough to see us squeak by Walsall at Wembley to win promotion. Woot! As glad as I am to be moving up, I’m also equally nervous about the idea. We’re not even close to ready for League 1, not in terms of players, finances, or facilities. This will be a bear of a jump, and I’m almost wishing we had another year to solidify the club’s situation. But no looking back now! Playoff Episodes on YouTubeSeason 4 Episode 11 (Semi-Finals)Season 4 Episode 12 (Final) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 Well done winning the playoffs. I'm surprised you put in a couple of friendlies before though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) On 27/04/2020 at 15:50, Nobby_McDonald said: Well done winning the playoffs. I'm surprised you put in a couple of friendlies before though. Thanks! You're the second person to mention the friendlies to me. I had trouble keeping players match fit the last time we were in the playoffs (first season), and think we lost partly because of it. Also, our morale was horrible after we lost our last three matches of the year. I figured some easy friendlies would help me keep players ready and boost morale. I guess that's not normally something that's done in football? Risk of injury? Edited April 30, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted April 30, 2020 Author Share Posted April 30, 2020 (edited) Club Season 4 Summary 2023-24Table | Manager Profile Season Notes This is the first time I can remember that I’ve ever gotten three consecutive promotions in Football Manager. And as happy as I am with the promotion, my overall feeling is that it would have been better for us to stay in League 2 for another season. It’s looking like we’ll have the lowest wage budget in League 1 by about 10k. Our youth and training facilities are poor. We have one player who our scouts say is ready for League 1. Everyone else is League 2 or lower. We have lots of work to do, and with the playoffs running until the end of May, and a considerably short window to get stuff done. Unlike last year, we get no notable Year End Awards. Nya Kirby, our outstanding CM on loan, gets our Player of the Year. Other than that exception, we were more of a team of good players than were of stars. We’ll have a lot of work to do in the off-season, but it does start out with some great news. I’ve asked Chairman Jimmy dozens of times to improve our training facilities, and every time he’s refused, but this time, with our account flush with cash from the playoffs and a deep FA Cup run, he relents. We’ll be building new facilities in the fall. That should help a ton! Going forward, we’ll attack this off-season with much the same approach as we have in the past. Selling on or releasing the bottom half of the team who would struggle at League 1, and trying to replace them with players who can handle that level of play. Let’s get busy! Season Wrap Video Edited April 30, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 On 30/04/2020 at 05:59, Zilla Blitz said: I guess that's not normally something that's done in football? Risk of injury? I don't know of one team that has done it since the playoffs were reintroduced in the 1980s. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 On 04/05/2020 at 16:04, Nobby_McDonald said: I don't know of one team that has done it since the playoffs were reintroduced in the 1980s. Ha! I feel special. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 Club Season 5: Summer Preseason 2024 Onward to League 1! Manager Notes This season promises to be a bear, as we are completely unprepared for promotion to League 1. We’ll have the lowest budget in the league by about £10k, and as we enter our off-season, we have only one player who grades out as a good fit for League 1 competition. Somewhat repeating the blueprint we’ve used in previous seasons, we dive into the offseason with the intent of keeping the better half of our team and replacing the lower half with players better suited to the league we’re heading into. But without a doubt, I spend the most time I’ve ever spent in a Football Manager offseason micromanaging sales and player acquisitions. We earn about £300k for selling players, which allows us to increase our wage budget so that we’re only £5k lower than the next lowest team. I haggle for every pound of salary as we look for replacement players, and refuse to consider only what looks like the best value. We go through every Championship and Premier club looking for loans. By the time we head into the season opener, we’ve added a good dozen new players to our team. A key moment comes when Leicester City allows us to take two quality outside wingers on loan for free, then Aston Villa lends us a brilliant-looking right back for free as well. We end up leaning way too much on loans for my liking, we’ll likely be starting the limit of 5 loanees in every match, but we simply don’t have the funds to compete without doing so. As we head into our 5th season, we brace for a bear of a relegation battle! Season 5 Opener on YouTube Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 (edited) Club Season 5: August 2024 A Bumpy Start Manager Notes We start the season with a rough stretch, as we pick up only two points in our first four matches. I’m starting to get nervous, but then we rebound in the bottom half of the month, as we win three of four and pick up some momentum. Of particular note is a 5-0 rout over Blackpool to get our first win. We end the month in the top half of a yet tightly packed table. We might be okay. Our loaned players look as good as advertised. It’s nice to have strength on the outsides. Last year we were weak on the outside, but our loaned fullbacks and wingers look like the real deal. I’m cautiously optimistic that we might have enough about us to avoid getting embroiled in a relegation battle. I do feel like we were quite lucky in some of our wins, however, so I’m not sure we’ll have much more about us than avoiding relegation. It’s really tricky to call, as we’ve looked both awful and brilliant at times in this first month. Season 5 Episodes 2 is up on YouTube. Edited May 13, 2020 by Zilla Blitz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zilla Blitz Posted May 13, 2020 Author Share Posted May 13, 2020 Club Season 5: September 2024 Clicking Manager Notes Our bumpy start settles down and we go on a good run in September. Our loanees are a powerful help, and have made us immediately competitive on the outsides. In particular, our LB and RB are so strong, and having attacking support from these positions really helps our offense click. We stumble a bit at the end of the month with some losses, but overall our performance is good enough to lift us to 3rd place. I’m starting to wonder if we might actually be a decent club this year. I wish we weren’t relying on loaned players so much, as we’re not developing our own players to the degree that I’d like, but given our circumstances I think this is the only way. Season 5 Episodes 3 is up on YouTube. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 You do play some friendlies at odd times. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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