[SELBY TOWN] Home Town Hero Save

[XtraTimeFM]

SELBY TOWN - HOME TOW HERO

Good day to you all! This is my first time posting on the FM forums and i wanted to share with you a little project i am currently working on in my save! 

Just to introduce my self, i have played football all my life but have recently stepped away from playing and have moved into coaching. i hold a level 1 coaching badge and begin my level 2 course in February. 

I have not played FM probably since FM15 so there is a lot of new stuff to get my head around but i am enjoying learning the game again and decided to start streaming on Twitch and making a YouTube series with my progress, anyway onto the save! 

 

 

 

I am currently at the end of season one, we have started in level 10 of English football with my home town team Selby Town. We start in the Northern Counties East League Division One, the media have expected us to finish 15th and the board have asked us to be competitive in the league. We have £2000 in the bank and a very small team to work with and all we have is an assistant manager by our side and a player with poor ability getting payed £200 a week, safe to say he was the first to go. 

A huge number of players left the squad early doors to move to better clubs but this did not worry us as we were building a suitable back room team to help the club grow a core backbone. we were snapping up players at the end of there careers with good coaching attributes for wages in the region of £50 a week to be come coaches, hiring part time physios and building a strong youth development team. Before we knew it the club were blocking transfers due to the £210 wage budget and now it was time to build our team. 

We set expectations early with a team meeting telling them we wanted to finish top half. we also got to work on training the team on our attacking tactics which we had created. 

We started off by bringing in a good keeper. We snapped up a young chap called  Callum James, 18 years old and a rock to stop goals leaking in at the back, for just a £30 appearance fee he was a steal!

The maximum we were able to offer players was £40 for an appearance so it was tough to bring in great players at this level so we had to go deep into the market to find the best we could. We wont post pictures of every signing but here is some of the top guys we had early on! 

The four players above played pivital roles in the team at the beginning of the season.

Carter-Thompson the leader from the back keeping the back line in tack, Halliday the #1 striker who was soon moved and trained as a AML as Craig Ellison signed his contract and Olukanmi who became the Captain of the team after cementing his spot in the heart of the midfield. 

 

The Season started fantastic, the Flaxley Road Ground was rocking after seeing their team win 4 on the bounce through August with the biggest attendance of 44. This also inclued a FA Vase 1st Qual. Rnd against Wendron United.

September was soon upon us and our first game was against the media favorites North Ferriby, a win here would cement us as the dominant team in the league. Unfortunately we suffered a 0-1 defeat at home, a close game but we missed out on a big 3 points.

 At this point we realized we needed to strengthen and quick if we were to have any chance in keeping up with the top team, so we went sent the scouts back into the market for stronger players. we had Craig Ellison leading the line but not converting goals as we would have wished and with Halliday training on the left wing we had to make a decision on weather to stick or twist in the striker department. 

We decided to keep our faith in Ellison and god dam was this a good decision. Here is a few players we did recruit.

We brought in two young defenders in Appiah and Coveney. Appiah a full back to give us the overload down the right and Coveney to cement the back 4. 

After the Ferriby game things started to look up as we went on a 6 game win streak claiming 5 clean sheets and scoring 15 goals there was also the benefit of the cup run bringing in the extra cash to the club. Ellison started to find form netting a couple of hat-tricks and ourselves and North Ferriby had broken away at the top of the table. 

October came and we were on a real high, our first game was to near bottom side Campion at home and it was pumping, 47 people crammed into the 5000 seater stadium, the second highest attendance of the season. we expected to be giving another team another drumming, another 3 goals from Ellison would have been gold and come full time, the now league favorites had just lost 0-2. the week before Ferriby had dropped points with a draw at home and we had reached the summit of the league, this week we handed it aback after a dominant but poor performance at home. 19 shots to Campions 6, 56% possession. but we could not convert.

The team were pulled in for a meeting. The manager was not happy and didn't want to let standards slip. We went on to win 4 of the next 5 games scoring 20 goals, a 0-0 draw at home with the bottom of the league was not ideal though.  The guys were fired up but so were North Ferriby and were not dropping points. the league was soon a two horse race and we were only two months in. 

November started with the 2nd round of the FA Vase, we were going away to better opposition in Newark Flowserve. We were optimistic and the bookies had us as favorites to progress. There were 63 fans in attendance and our 1 away fan was there to cheer the boys on. Dave the life long Selby Town fan had not missed a game, and he wasn't missing this one, the only man to have been to an away game this season apart from when his wife Sue got off early from work at Pocklington Carpets.

Newark took an early lead in the 18th minute but on the 21st minute Halliday struck the equalizer from the left wing. As any every coach does, in the 45 minute mention that they would be happy going in at 1-1 and that was is. (45+2) and we are 2-1 down. at half time we didn't know weather to hit the lads hard or be passionate as they had played well against the better opposition. We sent them back out to the field and 10 minutes the opposition saw a red, this was it, the 3rd round was in sight and we decided to go for it. All out attack, the CDM had moved to CAM, shot after shot after shot and before we knew it the final whistle had gone. The cup run was over, after sheer dominance from Selby. 27 shots, 13 on target and a massive 7 clear cut chances. 

It was now time for full focus on the league, with the 7 point gap between us and 3rd place the focus had become on building this and securing promotion. If you have noticed at this point Selby had lost 3 games this season and it had come as the first game of every month. we set out to get as many points from the next group of games and we did not disappoint. between the 9/11/19 and the 25/01/20 we had dropped 4 points, a 2-2 draw with 3rd place Brigg in November at home and a 0-2 loss to Skegness away at the end of January.

Craig Ellison had not stopped scoring and at this point was around the 30 goals mark for the season. Every week the crowds were cheering his name. Dave the long time fan was given his new Selby Town Shirt with Ellisons Name on the back for Christmas and was spotted every day in the local weatherpersons with it on. There was a buzz around the town and a record number of 7 away fans were sharing a 8 seater minibus from Station taxis to get to every away game. North Ferriby were not giving up the top spot still unbeaten but we didn't care as promotion was enough. There was a 7 point gap between us and first place but the 17 point gap at the end of January between us and 3rd was the big talking point. 

We entered February still as favorites to win the league 7 points behind the leaders but they were not giving anything away. Every game we won they won, every game we drew they drew we could not close the gap. February was near perfect but a mid month game to Armthorpe at home with a record 67 fans in attendance was the only sticking point. After 26 minutes we were 3-0 up, it looked to be a landslide and and we got complacent after half time. a first red card for Halliday on the left wing in the 65th minute was the beginning of the comeback. Armthrope scored 3 in the last 10 minutes and walked away with a draw.

North Ferriby drew the last game of the month and the deficit was reduced to 5 points. 

In March we started with a game against East Hull, a local rival. A win here and other results to go our way would see us promoted and our mission completed. North Ferriby could not stop winning and we still sat 5 points behind as our eyes came off the title and onto promotion the game kicked off. it was a tight affair and two quick fire goals in the 65th and 68th minute game us a 2-0 lead and promotion was ours until... Hull fired back with there own quick fire double in the 69th and 70th minute promotion was now off and there was a tense atmosphere in the Flaxley Road Ground. the final whistle was approaching, it was the 90th minute and Selby broke from a corner. speed down the wing from Blair and a beautiful cross was latched onto my no other than Craig Ellison. SELBY HAD DONE IT! PROMOTION!!! 6 GAMES REMAINING!

Selby Could have stopped there and gave some of the youngsters a run out for the remainder ofthe season but we knew that we had to play North Ferriby the week before the end of the season. if we matched there results and could some how beat them away it would at least take the title to the final game of the season. 

We matched them all the way through march winning every game in convincing style, but they ended up having a game postponed due to playing in the cup still so the gap was closed to two with a game in had for them. 

As We came into April, both teams yet to play each other and them to play an extra game. Our assistant manager had just left us to go and be the manager at Retford and with promotion secure we were not going to rush into signing another till pre season. Unfortunately for Retford they had us next in the league and we thrashed them 4-0 at home. it was not 2 games left for us and 3 for Ferriby with the top of the table clash coming up next. a win would at least see us top of the table for a week before they played there game in hand. Our idea was if we can give them the first defeat of the season there confidence may be knocked and possibly they drop points over the last two games. 

Away we traveled, only 3 of our fans made the trip so we squeezed them onto the coach with us as there was space. As you can probably guess, Dave was one and he had made wife Sue book the day off work so he wasn't alone. unbeknown Dave's son had made the trip to Selby to come along to the clash so it became a family outing. There was scenes before kick off as Dave was Called names from the Ferriby elite and Daves son was arrested for fighting with the home supporters. We knew we had to do this for Dave and the family. 

 

The game started and in the first 10 minutes Craig Ellison had struck his 45th goal of the season, 20 minutes later he struck again giving Selby a 2-0 advantage. after 33 minutes on the clock Selby scored again and Sue and Dave were chanting were top of the league! Ferriby struck back in the 50th minute  but Selby were two much and scored again to cement a 4-1 away victory. How far we had come from the beginning of the season.

 

We had done what we had set out to do but it was still out of our hands as Ferriby had the game in had which they traveled midweek to Parkgate currently sitting 8th in the league. We were hoping for them to slip up after suffering their first league defeat of the season and WOW our plan had worked. Ferriby suffered a 2-1 defeat to a late 85th minute goal and Selby were now top by one point, a win and it would see us take home the title. 

Parkgate were coming to the Flaxley Road Ground on the final day while North Ferriby Were away to Armthorpe, as long as we matched their result the title was ours. unfortunately we had a lot of key players leave over the past week and the squad was running thin, a makeshift team was put together to go out and fight for their lives consisting of 16 year old McCarron his league debut. 

We kicked off at 15:00, everybody at the same time. it was a cagey affair, fans with the radios on listening out to see if Ferriby scored. Half time was approaching and we were pegged back to 0-1 the stadium full of 105 fans the highest of the season were silent. at half time we went in at 0-1 and the players were screamed at, this was the chance for Selby to win their first ever trophy. The second half kicked of and McCarron hit the post with a header at the back post, there were still no goals for Ferriby and before we knew it we were 0-2 down in the 66th minute. the game went on as we pushed to give our selves a chance, if we lost and Ferriby drew we won the title on goal difference. 

 

The final whiste went at the Flaxley Road Ground, a 0-2 defeat at home had left everybody in limbo. there was no news on if Ferriby had scored and as the match officials grouped together on the sidelines there was a sudden roar from the crowd. WE HAD DONE IT! the final whistle had gone and Ferriby Drew 0-0. the title was decided by goal difference. 

It had been a whirlwind of a season and Selby lifted their first bit of silverware in their 100th year. North Ferriby went on to win the FA Vase final so both teams that were neck and neck all season long waled away with something. 

 

After nearly bringing in a new striker near the beginning of the season Craig Ellison bagged 46 goals and became a Selby legend. 

After a great season a lot of the players have lft the club and we now head to season two to rebuild and hope to push for top 3. With the current squad of 8 players though that wont be easy. Im looking forward to renewing the rivalry with North Ferriby next year and i hope you have enjoyed the read. 

Feel free to pop over to the YouTube Channel XtraTimeFM to see how we progress but i will be sure to drop you some more updates as the season progresses.  Its been great fun writing this and i look forward to reading some of your story's. 

 

Dont be two harsh it! Its my first time. 

 

Thanks again

XtraTime/John