[FM20] It was Cambrogi in Wales, but now it's all about aggression in Wales, in England. Bellicosity, pugnacity and belligerence are all excellent words. But Welsh belligerence, in England now.

[Jimbokav1971]

New GK needed. Dec 2036. 

Our 1st choice GK Harley (IRL) has been injured recently and has missed the last 5 games. Before his injury he has scored 4 goals, (all penalties) in 24 games, missing 3 more penalties during that time. 

While he was injured I have had 2 GK's play. 

Ricketts (ENG) played in Europe because Chandler (IRL) wasn't registered, and he scored in that game from the spot. 

Chandler (IRL) has played the domestic games and has scored 2 penalties from 2 attempts and a free-kick in his 3 appearances. 

I think Harley (IRL) has to go. I gave him the benefit of the doubt last season but it's just not happening. New GK for next season I think. At the moment, Chandler (IRL) is first in line. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2036. 

Is this the Welsh striker that the National side have been waiting for? 

Probably not. No. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Covid36. Dec 2036. 

My 2nd choice GK has come in and scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 5 games. He's on #Lockdown with a virus and is unavailable. 

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Covid36. Dec 2036. 

My 2nd choice GK has come in and scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 5 games. He's on #Lockdown with a virus and is unavailable. 

Is this a joke? 

[Jimbokav1971]

21 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Covid36. Dec 2036. 

My 2nd choice GK has come in and scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 5 games. He's on #Lockdown with a virus and is unavailable. 

The 2nd game he misses and the 1st choice GK is back in and misses his 4th penalty from 8 attempts this season. Harley (IRL) won't play again after this season. 

[Edit]

In fact, the Jan window is about to open. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2036.

Domestic games. We're still grinding out wins, but we're not great. I'm not sure quite what is missing.

European games. A really good point. 

Our 2nd choice GK Chandler (IRL) came in when Harley (IRL) was injured and scored 4 goals and 1 assist in 5 games so I think he deserves to be highlighted this month. 

[Jimbokav1971]

New license. Jan 2037. 

I keep forgetting to take my new licence and when the season ends and the players go on holiday that would seem the perfect time to take the course. The board don't agree however and keep declining it, so...... I'm going on the course during the season. 

While I'm here can we have a parent club, (ideally Cardiff or Swansea). 

Idiots! I told you! Either Cardiff or Swansea.

And I'm on a roll so I you might as well give me some more coaches for the Senior Squad while we are at it. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Exceptional work by the DoF. Jan 2037.

I asked the DoF to find me ant striker who's contract was coming to an end and he gave me 3 options. This bloke is 1 of them. He is playing for Portsmouth in the Championship and already has 3 senior caps for Belgium despite the fact that he's only 19. He will be joining us in the Summer. He's phenomenal and the only bad news is that the DoF has given him a min fee release clause of £250,000. He's worth £5M now ffs! 

[rodesire]

5mil striker with 250k release clause? You better reneg in 3 months time 🙈🙈

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2037. 

We're still not firing as I would like, and some of these games were really frustrating. We absolutely battered Gresford for example, but the 2nd goal just wouldn't come despite 16 shots on target. Part of me thinks, "if it aint broke don't fix it", but another part of me thinks that if Gresford can defend like this then we need a plan B, or more accurately, a player with something different who can change/influence things within the same tactic. The obvious option to me is for one of the wide options to be "inverted". (Apologies for swearing). I think that a player attacking from out to in rather than delivering from out to in. I think our new Belgian teenage striker will help with putting the ball in the net, and I think that our options in the middle of the pitch will improve over time. The key at least is that we don't concede while we are struggling to score ourselves. The big thing is probably that while everyone is pretty decent at their particular roles, we are lacking a little in flair players who can do something unusual and win a close game. Moving forward I suppose the answer is to replace 2 of the twin AF's with a more deeper lying role with more creative freedom. 

[Jimbokav1971]

15 hours ago, rodesire said:

5mil striker with 250k release clause? You better reneg in 3 months time 🙈🙈

I know right!

I can't really complain because he found him and all I did was say yes, but even the min fee contracts I'm signing are all at £500,000. Where no Earth did he get £250k from? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Strange. Feb 2037. 

My 1st choice GK who is pants at penalties, Harley (IRL), has been sold, (to Leeds for £500,000), so my 2nd choice GK Chandler (IRL), is now 1st choice. 

Chandler (IRL) is injured after scoring 7 goals and 1 assist in 11 games, 

I wonder what his injury is? 

That's not too bad. I wonder how the player feels about it? 

1. Why is the fact that the player is contemplating retirement due to injury a positive? 

2. The injury isn't that bad. Is he really injury prone?

No he's not injury prone at all. This seems very strange. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2037. 

Domestic games. We're 16 points ahead of TNS in the league and it would appear that we're smashing it, but we're really not. 2x 1-0 wins and a 3-1 where we scored 2 goals in the last few minutes put a very different slant on what might have been. It's obviously good that we are winning these games and I suppose I should be happy, but I want to  be smashing the likes of Carmarthen and Bangor. 

European games. A story of what might have been I'm afraid. We conceded 2 goals in the last 3 minutes of the 1st leg, while we hit the post twice in the 2nd leg. We should be beating Brondby if I'm honest, but when you only have 18 players to pick and you have a couple of players injured and another couple suspended, it really restricts you. Until I can solve the depth problem in Europe, we are never really going to challenge at the business end of the competitions, (and I think we are getting close to being able to have a right good go at winning the Conference Cup Or Euro Cup II or whatever it is. (The smallest of the 3 anyway). The only problem is that it's not easy for us even to qualify for that right now because we are too good. 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

On 24/04/2020 at 13:05, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2036. 

Is this the Welsh striker that the National side have been waiting for? 

Probably not. No. 

Youth Intake day. Mar 2037.

I was hopeful of a decent intake this year. If we weren't going to get a Golden Generation, I was at least hopeful of getting a striker. 

(37a) McGoona (IRL) is the striker from Caerphilly in question and he looks.... reasonable. 

Squad by PPA. 3 players at >100 PA is decent. It's better than decent when you consider that Alex hall HG should also have been part of this intake. 

Squad by PA. It's of no surprise that the (ENG) player moves from 5th on the list to 1st. Hopefully it's significant that 2 of the 3 players with >100 PA have Res & F.Pro personalities.

Squad by CA. What is definitely significant though is that 2 of the 3 players with >100 PA, also have decent CA, (74 & 62). It wasn't so long ago that 74 was a reasonable PA rating for a player coming through the intake. For us to get a player with a CA of 74 is significant progress. The gap between 74 and 110 for example is realistically achievable. 

(37a) McGoona (IRL).

His strengths are his heading and fitness, and he looks ok when you consider that he has been generated at a club in Wales. When you also think that we have had no less than 11 players poached who haven't come through the poaching clubs intake until recently, it's a reasonable intake. 

(37e) Eric Baker (ENG).

Alex Hall HG.

He has come through the intake at Spurs and looks decent. Not a decent centre-half, but still decent. I will keep an eye on him and hope to get him if and when he becomes available. 

This is interesting. I didn't realise we were shown as his previous club. 

There are still 10 poached players who have not come through an Intake yet. So that's 10 players due through in the next 2 intakes. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Team v Youth Intake game. Mar 2037.

I don't usually pay too much attention to this game, (who cares what the score is right?), but I was surprised that the Youth Team had won, (they don't usually), and even more surprised when I saw that the Youth Team had a full midfield of Senior players, as well as 2 defenders and 2 of the best youth products we have produced so far. The reason I am commenting is because of the significance of this result as an indication of how much improved this intake is. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Mar 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2037. 

We had 2 players sent off against Barry Town and 1 player sent off as early as 16th minute against TNS and came from 2-0 down to rescue a late draw with a GK penalty. We have won the league with 4 games still left to play. 

With the league already won, I started 3 youth players against Bangor with 2 more on the bench and we still ran out 4-0 winners. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Apr 2037. 

[Fudal]

5 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Poached. Mar 2037.

Such a shame because that is one of the best names I have ever seen!

[rodesire]

@Jimbokav1971 is it just me or from your spreadsheet the PA of a player is roughly 10pts per half star + 100 PA if it's golden stars we're talking about?

Then Brian williams will have a PA of 50-59, Alan Ingram 40-49 and George Griffiths of 120-129

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Fudal said:

Such a shame because that is one of the best names I have ever seen!

I've got to admit, I do like a Rhydian! 

By best youth product so far is another Rhydian. 

(34b) Rhydian Hall (IRL) *.

He's the bloke that got nicked by TNS but then we managed to nick him back. 

[Jimbokav1971]

16 minutes ago, rodesire said:

@Jimbokav1971 is it just me or from your spreadsheet the PA of a player is roughly 10pts per half star + 100 PA if it's golden stars we're talking about?

Then Brian williams will have a PA of 50-59, Alan Ingram 40-49 and George Griffiths of 120-129

I'm not sure it's quite 10 points per half star, but let's have a look at it now. 

We know PA limit is 200. 
we know that there are 5 silver stars and 5 gold stars and they can be broken down into half stars so that gives us 20 levels. (5 stars x2 for half stars x2 for different types of star = 20). 

Lowest PA level seen on poached list = 1.5.

Value of 1.5 = 34. 

In fact, lets try this. 

Silver.

0.5

1.0

1.5

32
34
34

2.0

47

2.5

3.0

63
65
67

3.5

72
73
73
77
77
78

4.0

4.5

5.0

105

Gold.

0.5

1.0

1.5

133

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

So yes, I think you are spot-on with your observation. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2037. 

Records.

[Jimbokav1971]

Staff update. May 2037. 

The board have upped the number of scouts that we can have at the club from 5 to 7, but we actually only had 2 so it would seem that the DoF is not pulling his weight here. I've placed an advert for a scout and if he doesn't sign some then I will. 

[Jimbokav1971]

JD Cymru Premier Player of the Year voting. May 2037. 

We've just won the league by 19 points and not a single one of our players have made the 10-strong list of nominations. 

I think the problem is that I rotated the squad a fair bit so they have been excluded as a result. 

[Edit]

We get 1 player into the team of the season, despite the fact that he didn't make the Player of the Year shortlist.

We did win the league by 19 points right? 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Welsh clubs in Europe. Jun 2037. 

I've just realised that I didn't show you how the other Welsh clubs got on in Europe last season. 

TNS continue to do well and again got out of the Group Stage. 

Afan Lido got a tough draw, but we need Harry Kane's boys to start doing better than this. 

Barry Town did really well and although they lost to Ajax on aggregate, they did win the home leg. Barry Town beating Ajax under any circumstances is a big deal. 

European Competition rankings. 

European club rankings. 

Nations club coefficients. 

Qualification places. This is significant progress. The big thing for me is that we have gone from 4 European places to 5. I think this means that 2 teams in the bottom half of the table are going to be involved in the Playoffs and if we continue like this we are basically going to break the JD Cymru Premier League structure. 

I have been considering seeing if we are capable of winning the Euro Conference or Euro Cup II, (or whatever you want to call it), but it's going to physically be hard for us to get into it moving forward. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Jun 2037. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 23/04/2020 at 16:18, Jimbokav1971 said:

TV Rights. Jun 2036.

2032. £83,020
2033. £100,000 (+ £17k)
2034. £120,000 (+ £20k)
2035. £143,000 (+ £23k)
2036. £168,000 (+ £25k)

I was hoping that the size of increase each year might jump, but it appears as if it is increasing at a pretty stable rate. If you look at how the league has developed, this seems quite a paltry increase. 

TV Rights. Jun 2037.

2032. £83,020
2033. £100,000 (+ £17k)
2034. £120,000 (+ £20k)
2035. £143,000 (+ £23k)
2036. £168,000 (+ £25k)
2037. £196,000 (+ £28k)

[Jimbokav1971]

Season Summary. May 2037.

Overall Best XI. I look at these numbers and they are tiny in comparison with other saves, but I'm afraid that's simply the nature of the save. We only play 32 league games anyway, but by far the most important fixtures are those in Europe where we played 16 games for the previous 2 seasons and 14 games this season. 

Awards and stats. 

Finances. 

Facilities. 

 

[Nobby_McDonald]

On 21/04/2020 at 12:50, Jimbokav1971 said:

I did know the rules. I just..... errr...... forgot them! 

That's a Homer Simpson sized DOH!

And well done winning the league.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Nobby_McDonald

[Jimbokav1971]

Player poached. Jun 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Aug 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Poached. Aug 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2037.

Pre-season. Quite a few loanees on the score-sheet here.

Domestic games. By beating TNS we have already created a 3 point gap. 

European games. Sticking 5 on Linfield twice was a great morale boost so early in the season, but we conceded 2 late goals at home to FC Vitorul and it almost cost us when we struggled in the away leg. Sticking 7 (SEVEN) past Olympiakos away from home was a thing of beauty. and it allowed me to play a much weakened job in the home leg, safe in the knowledge that we had a 3 goal cushion, (effectively 4 with our 7 away goals). 

This is what the save is all about at the moment. Just developing the facilities, building squad depth and importantly bringing through HG products, (either at club or Nation), who are good enough to play in the team in their own right. 

Porto and PSG are going to be tough opponents, but I think we should be capable of beating what is an ageing Zenit squad. 

I would have more fun playing in the Europa League, but the Champions League is where the money is at. I would like to think that we might have a chance of winning the Euro Conference

Euro Conference (Euro Cup II) past winners. I think the winning teams are probably a little strong for us at the moment, but we beat Spurs at home in 2034 and have really progressed in the last few years. We might not win this competition, but I think we would go far in the competition. I think that the 1st time we fail to make the Champions league Group Stages and drop into the Europa League Group Stage instead, I will try and manufacture a 3rd place finish to then drop down into the Euro Conference Knockout rounds. I really think we are getting close to that level now, (but still a mile off competing with the big boys in the Champions League). 

Finances. £26M is a lot of money, but because our attendances are so low and we got such little sponsorship income, all our money really comes from European competition. If we ever had a stinker in Europe and crashed out early, (remember Aluminij), then there would be a hell of a financial price to pay. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Sep 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Sept 2037. 

Domestic games. No goals against from 6 domestic games is decent, but I still don't feel we are playing well. The Newport goals for example came from a direct free-kick and a penalty, (both scored by our GK Chandler (IRL), and 2 goals from long throws. I should be happy that what I have designed the tactic to do is working and working well, but I actually still want us to be better than the opposition within normal play. 

European games. I hoped/expected to get something out of the Zenit game, but despite dominating, they scored and we didn't. In Portugal I didn't think we had much of a chance of a result, but after an hour we were level at 2-2 and things were looking good until we had a player sent off and then they scored 2 late goals. 

Goal-scoring GK Chandler (IRL) scored 2 goals against Newtown and 1 against Swansea Uni to bring him to 5 for the season.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2037. 

Domestic games. We've been awful this month. The Barry Town goal might have been a 93rd minute penalty, and the draw against Cardiff Uni might have come after we had yet another player sent off, but we should be hammering teams and we aren't. Just before the transfer window closed I had the option to sign this English U19 striker on a loan for almost nothing, and while he would have improved us, (he was brilliant), I thought In would stick with my striker. Big mistake. HUGE mistake. I can't even remember his name because the DoF was doing the deal so I can't even remember who he played for. Liverpool maybe, or Arsenal, or maybe Man Utd. I'm sure his profile page was red. I might have to go back and see if I can sign him, (or someone else), in January because this is awful at the moment. I'm seriously considering going #strikerless in away games and playing a Libero and..... something.... further forward. 

TNS are scoring at almost a rate of a goal a game more than us so far this season. 

European games. We were 2-0 up at HT against the mighty PSG, but a red card and 45 mins later all we had to show for our efforts was 1 point.  I flipping hate PSG too. 

GK Chandler (IRL) is up to 6 goals for the season. 

[Jimbokav1971]

International call-ups. Nov 2037. 

I was hoping and hoping that we would get a player called up to the Senior Welsh side, but it doesn't seem to matter how many times Aitor Karanka, (Welsh Manager) comes to watch us, he never selects any of our players in his squad. 

Here is who have just been called up. 

Bateman (JAM) is not exactly prolific for his Country. 

(34d) Ryan Clarke (NIR) * has become a regular in the (NIR) U21 side. I'm hopeful that he might also gain senior recognition. 

(34b) Rhydian Hall (IRL) * is the best product of the Academy at the club. 

Ben Walsh (WAL) 6'5" * is an important part of our side who I'm sure will represent Wales at some point. 

Hartley (BEL) * should be smashing Welsh teams apart in the league. He's doing well in Europe, but not in domestic games. 

Fegan (NIR) 6'2" is always in the (NIR) squad, but has made just 1 appearance in the last 13 games for them despite being an ever-present in the squad. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2037.

Domestic games. I've been frustrated with our league form so I decided to change things up a little and revert to type as it were. I have been selecting players based largely on CA star rating, and instead what I did this month was rank the position by PA stars, (rather than CA stars), and select based largely on PA, (and fitness/condition obviously). It seemed to work out well, especially with (38a) McGoona (IRL) scoring 4 goals this month.

European games. We were battered by PSG but unlucky not to get the win against Zenit that would have seen us progress to the Euro Cup Knockout stages. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Facilities. Dec 2037.

[Edit]

Edited April 29, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[rodesire]

Any chance of stadium expansion/new stadium? Corporate facilities at 1 is painful to see

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Any chance of stadium expansion/new stadium? Corporate facilities at 1 is painful to see

I keep thinking about it, but the truth is I haven't bothered asking because of this. 

Until we start selling out, what's the point? 

We've had a few fan days in the last few seasons so hopefully attendances will continue to increase. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake Preview. Dec 2037.

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2037. 

Domestic games. We might have beaten TNS, but they actually had a better month than us as they dropped just those 3 points. We dropped 2 points to Bala at the beginning of the month, (as their GK somehow made 15 saves), and then not 1 but 2 red cards, (the 1st as early as the 6th minute), made it all but impossible to get anything out of the Barry Town game. We're level on points with TNS now but behind on....... goal difference. 

 

European games. We drew with Porto meaning that we ended just 1 point behind Zenit, but it still means the end of European football as far as this season is concerned. 

[Jimbokav1971]

DoF pulls off another steal. Jan 2038.

I couldn't find the striker that the DoF had lined up for a loan deal at the start of the season, (and I looked hard), but he has surpassed himself by getting this deal done by in the Jan transfer window. 

I'm not particularly keen on him dropping deep, but to be honest, this bloke is just so good that he can do whatever he wants. His physicals are ridiculous for this league. 

The valuation looks ridiculously low, (linked to wage and contract expiry), so I have asked the DoF to try and sign him permanently. 

[Edit]

The DoF went big on the offer, £5.25M rising to £7.25M, but Norwich wouldn't sell. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Interesting transfer developments. Jan 2038.

First of all, this is the biggest offer we have received in the save, (by far I think). £550k is the record so far. 

The 1st thing that surprises me is that £1M is a lot of money for a League 1 side to be spending on a centre-half, (there are much better options around), but also surprising is that he isn't interested in speaking to them. 

I was wondering about this in terms of the players being poached from us. 7 out of the last 9 players poached from us have been poached by Premier League sides, (Aston Villa League 1 & Burton League 2 the other 2 clubs), and I'm wondering as our reputation increases, does this reduce the chance of a player going elsewhere? I'm hoping that we are nearing the stage now whereby only premier League clubs will be able to poach our players, and then hopefully we can move on to only Premier clubs in Europe. This is decent progress. 

He has a min fee release clause of £1.3M and to be honest I don't have an issue in him leaving if they pay that, (I would have been happy with £1M), so I might see if I can play with the figures a little. I don't care if the board will only give us £250k to spend because our existing budget is £13.7M. 

This will be a right sickener for TNS though..... Actually, I have just checked and they get 40% of the profit which is £400,000 so he is going nowhere!!!!! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2038.

Hill (ENG) * scored on his debut from the bench in the Cup Final, and then on his league debut the following week before getting injured for a few months. 

The loss against TNS in the Cup Final was our 1st loss to them in 11 games. We have really had the sign over them in recent years with 6 of our 9 wins won by a margin of just a single goal. 

We have almost become dominant in our overall head-to-head against them. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The end of an era? Feb 2038. 

I'm not sure he will ever recover to play for us again. 

His physical prowess is on the wane and he is no longer the force he once was. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2038. 

After beating TNS, (again), we are now back level on points but trailing then by 6 goal difference. We play them at home in the 2nd last game of the season, but assuming we draw that and we both win the other games then we need to outscore them by 7 goals in the other 5 league games. That's doable, but I think one of us will probably slip up elsewhere or the decider won't end in a draw. 

Any goal against TNS is a good goal, but this was extra special from Chandler (IRL) as he made it 10 for the season.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake Preview. Dec 2037.

Youth Intake Day. Mar 2038.

You know what I've just noticed.......

The DoF is bringing the Youth Intake through rather than the HoYD.  Not any more. 

Squad by PPA. 

Squad by PA. 

Squad by CA.