FM21: Back to the Roots

[Rikulec]

Edited April 5, 2021 by Rikulec

[Rikulec]

This is our reward for beating Sunderland! It's going to be a massive day for the whole town, perhaps even the whole region. Liverpool are the current FA Cup holders and Premier League champions, so it really doesn't get any bigger than that, even if they do seem to be a little out of shape at the moment. This is the beauty of the FA Cup and the kind of tie any club like ours dreams of. Bring it on!

[Rikulec]

But before we get to the Liverpool game, let's break a couple of records.

[Rikulec]

I guess we'll see.

[Rikulec]

Seriously FM, what the ****?

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - December 2021 - Southend United

EFL League Two

Those two wins at the end of the month could turn out to be absolutely crucial.

EFL Trophy

No luck for us this time, although we were close to winning it within 90 minutes.

[karanhsingh]

6 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Seriously FM, what the ****?

I chuckled at this 

It wouldn't be FM without it though would it? 

[Northernpilgrim]

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I chuckled at this 

It wouldn't be FM without it though would it? 

It's not just the fact that outplaying teams and getting 'FM'd' happens so much more than IRL, for me it's that the sucker punch always comes so late that you don't have time to respond. Cue someone posting that Barcelona v Celtic game as 'proof' that it happens.

[karanhsingh]

57 minutes ago, Northernpilgrim said:

It's not just the fact that outplaying teams and getting 'FM'd' happens so much more than IRL, for me it's that the sucker punch always comes so late that you don't have time to respond. Cue someone posting that Barcelona v Celtic game as 'proof' that it happens.

As you say that i just lost to benfica in the 91st minute 1-0 having 28 shots to their 6 

[Sheriff7]

11 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Seriously FM, what the ****?

 

Ι've been there my friend.....

[Rikulec]

7 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I chuckled at this 

It wouldn't be FM without it though would it? 

 

4 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

It's not just the fact that outplaying teams and getting 'FM'd' happens so much more than IRL, for me it's that the sucker punch always comes so late that you don't have time to respond. Cue someone posting that Barcelona v Celtic game as 'proof' that it happens.

 

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

As you say that i just lost to benfica in the 91st minute 1-0 having 28 shots to their 6 

As soon as I saw us missing chances that we normally convert, I knew what was going to happen and that feeling of hopelessness crept in.

[Rikulec]

Balls. This is really harsh, I played him at AMC rather than CM and he did very well for us, averaging 7,12 in the league with nine goals and five assists to his name. A huge blow, here's hoping I can find a good replacement.

[CityAndColour]

15 hours ago, Rikulec said:

 

 

As soon as I saw us missing chances that we normally convert, I knew what was going to happen and that feeling of hopelessness crept in.

My personal favourite is when the AI 'keeper starts teleporting across goal to gather shots from close range (ie - he doesn't even dive). That is my sure fire sign that I'm going to be hit with a "slump".

[Rikulec]

7 hours ago, CityAndColour said:

My personal favourite is when the AI 'keeper starts teleporting across goal to gather shots from close range (ie - he doesn't even dive). That is my sure fire sign that I'm going to be hit with a "slump".

This or headers from two yards out hitting the crossbar or going just over.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - January 2022 - Southend United

EFL League Two

Not the most convincing of months, excluding the final act. We've built up a bit of an advantage though.

FA Cup

It certainly could have gone worse. They obviously outclassed us, but both their goals actually came from set pieces. Harry Seaden also has something to remember for the rest of his life as he saved a penalty taken by ex-Valencia player Carlos Soler.

Transfers

George Maris - we paid Mansfield £45K for the man who's hopefully going to replace Azeez.

We also sold Mark Oxley to York for £52K and temporarily promoted Keeroy Evans to the first team.

[Rikulec]

The first game of February is already going to be my 100th in charge. Time really flies by when you play 55-60 competitive games in a season.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - February 2022 - Southend United

EFL League Two

The Salford game was a sign of things to come after all - we had plenty of fun in front of goal this month! Gordon has been absolutely unstoppable, at the moment he has 61 career league goals at the age of 27 and 26 of these goals have been scored this season.

[Rikulec]

He's on fire!

I didn't expect this to be honest, but I'll happily take it.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - March 2022 - Southend United

EFL League Two

Not the most spectacular of months, but we're nearly there.

Youth Intake

No real standouts, there's always hope that one of these lads unexpectedly starts developing rapidly though.

Alan Harvey

Zac Alli

Kenny Bradford

David Jalloh

Tim Lees

[Rikulec]

Promoted with three games to spare.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - April 2022 - Southend United

EFL League Two

Some up-and-down form, but what matters is the title and the title is in our bag!

[Rikulec]

It's the second League Two win in the club's history. It's also our new record points total and the highest number of league goals scored in a season since the 1950s!

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - Season Review - 2021/22 - Southend United

EFL League Two

Results (Jul-Nov) - Results (Dec-Apr)

Competition Performance: Winners

After last season's heartbreak, we came back much better prepared this time and ran off deserved title winners. I think winning nine games in a row in a league as famously even as League Two is something special and we managed that at one point, which pretty much set up the rest of the campaign for us beautifully. To top things off, we finished on 91 points, one point more than last season's winners Colchester.

FA Cup

Competition Performance: Third Round

Some memorable ties for our fans as we beat Sunderland at their place and hosted Liverpool at Roots Hall. Obviously they were too much for us at this point, but we did put up a bit of a fight.

EFL Cup

Competition Performance: Third Round

Not a bad showing either, although we could have done better against Peterborough.

EFL Trophy

Competition Performance: Southern Section Second Round

Same as last year, only this time we didn't get embarrassed.

Squad

The squad is better than last year, but at this level it's a constant work in progress. Clifford, Demetriou, Dieng, Nathaniel-George, and Akinola are getting released.

Transfers - Finances

We made a bit of a profit while also significantly strengthening our squad, can you really ask for more?

We're making some very good money thanks to stadium sponsorship deals.

Player of the Season

1st - Josh Gordon - speaking in FM21 terms, this guy is probably the lower league version of Callum Wilson. In all seriousness though, what a sensational season this has been for our striker. 33 goals is the most anyone has scored since the Third Division became League Two, and let's not forget he missed some games due to injuries.

2nd - Ryan East - if you want to dominate games and win the possession battle against any opponent, you need a metronome. This guy provided exactly that, regulating the tempo of our play and ending the league campaign with an impressive 13 assists. I wouldn't go as far as comparing him to Xavi, but it's as close as you're going to get at this level.

3rd - Aristote Nsiala - possibly the biggest surprise of the season. The experienced centre back was brought in as a rotation player, but he ended up breaking into the starting eleven and becoming an absolute rock in the heart of our defence. Six league goals aren't to be scoffed at either.

Next Season

I'm fairly confident that we can stay up if we make the right moves in the transfer market. Ideally I'd like two or three seasons of consolidation in League One before setting sights for the next level.

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

After two full seasons I got my first job interview offer. Swindon finished 13th in League One last season, so they're at the level I've only just reached. Apart from that, there's obviously a lot more I want to achieve with Southend, so at the moment I'm not interested in any other clubs.

[Rikulec]

A nice set of upgrades for both the club and myself.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - Season Preview - 2022/23 - Southend United

Board Expectations:

EFL League One: Avoid relegation
FA Cup: Third Round
EFL Cup: Second Round

My Expectations:

EFL League One: I'll be satisfied as long as we stay up.
FA Cup: The board seem to be quite ambitious, a lot depends on who we draw.
EFL Cup: Not too fussed.

Budgets:

Transfer: £767,916
Wage: £42,752 (currently spending £27,836)
Balance: £1,296,193

[deltablue]

Well done on promotion.

[Northernpilgrim]

Congratulations on promotion! Great season. Fingers crossed you can at least survive in League One this season.

[Rikulec]

2 hours ago, deltablue said:

Well done on promotion.

 

2 hours ago, Northernpilgrim said:

Congratulations on promotion! Great season. Fingers crossed you can at least survive in League One this season.

Thanks a lot guys. I'm happy with the transfers I've made and quite positive we can do it.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - Pre-Season - 2022/23 - Southend United

Friendlies

Could have done better against Mansfield.

Transfers

I went for a very calm approach and only brought in two players... no, of course not. I actually signed eleven new players, but nine of them arrived on the opening day of the transfer window and aren't shown here.

Ronan Darcy - plenty of quality already and hopefully he can develop further. He cost us £90K from Bolton.

Olivier Dhauholou - a backup option for Gordon joins from Newport for £10K. I can see him causing all sorts of problems for defenders!

Nicky Cadden - he picked up a serious injury right after we paid Forest Green £22K.

Alfie Gilchrist - a real coup for us, especially as he came from Chelsea for free.

Myles Kenlock - our new starting left back, a free transfer from Ipswich.

Stephen Kenna - one for the future. £2,2K, Woking.

Anthony Forde - a good option for the right wing. £1,9K, Sunderland.

Luke McGee - another great opportunity I couldn't pass up on. We've got ourselves a real quality goalkeeper, finally. £9K, Forest Green.

Harvey Griffiths - Manchester City released him on a free and I was more than happy to pick him up.

Berna - I hope for a real fight between him and Forde for the right wing spot.

Will Ferry - a great player for our level.

And finally, our 12th new player is Imaad Sankoh from the U23 team.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Rikulec

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - July 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

That's not the start I was hoping for when I saw what our opening fixture was. We were the better team visually and statistically, but didn't take our chances and got punished with a 90th minute counter attack.

EFL Cup

This was actually our first game of the season and we also had every chance to win it in regular time, but eventually had to rely on the luck of the shootout.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - August 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

What a month! We end up in an automatic promotion spot after a perfect set of wins and clean sheets. I don't think it's very likely that we'll stay here for long, so let's just enjoy the moment.

EFL Cup

A comfortable win for our second string.

EFL Trophy

We fail to beat the Cambridge goalkeeper again, this time we had the chance to set things straight on penalties though.

[Rikulec]

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - September 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

Ronan Darcy loves himself an early goal, doesn't he? Remarkably there are three newly promoted teams in the playoff zone at the moment, I wonder how long we can last up here.

EFL Cup

No shame in losing to a Premier League quality team who have just been relegated to the Championship.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - October 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

Another strong month with some very impressive wins. Dhauholou is on fire!

EFL Trophy

We're top ahead of the final game, but there's still work to do.

[Rikulec]

Well and thoroughly deserved.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - November 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

Almost perfect, just the one goal conceded and a derby win to wrap the month up. Could you really ask for more?

FA Cup

Two straightforward wins allow us to meet the board's expectations.

EFL Trophy

No goals conceded.

[Rikulec]

Two in a row!

[Rikulec]

Alfie Gilchrist is basically a cheat player.

[Rikulec]

This doesn't get me very excited.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - December 2022 - Southend United

EFL League One

We're eleven games unbeaten and incredibly solid at the back. Moreover, our next game is Rochdale away. It's getting quite interesting up here!

FA Cup

What a result, what a performance! It's not even like we got lucky, actually we dominated the game and it was Wolves who were lucky not to concede more. We nullified them, mostly thanks to the indispensable Gilchrist, and they just couldn't handle long balls over the top towards Dhauholou. Once again, what a result!

EFL Trophy

We advance further than ever before while maintaining our perfect defensive record in the competition.

[Bitner]

Congratz on your promotion, and maybe a back-to-back promotions are on the cards?

Cheers,
Bitner 

[Rikulec]

2 hours ago, Bitner said:

Congratz on your promotion, and maybe a back-to-back promotions are on the cards?

Cheers,
Bitner 

I don't think we're quite ready for a jump like this, but don't I say this every time? Cheers mate.

[Rikulec]

We've reached a point where we can afford this, so why not?

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - January 2023 - Southend United

EFL League One

A bit of a hiccup towards the end of the month cost us the top spot. The fixture congestion is getting to us, hopefully we can handle it.

FA Cup

We tried to keep it respectable, but a red card for Matthew Platt in the first half made it impossible. The trip brought us a lot of money though.

EFL Trophy

Well, I guess we couldn't keep winning those shootouts forever.

[Bitner]

9 horas atrás, Rikulec disse:

I don't think we're quite ready for a jump like this, but don't I say this every time? Cheers mate.

You're never ready, but you always do it...

Cheers,
Bitner

[Rikulec]

11 hours ago, Bitner said:

You're never ready, but you always do it...

Cheers,
Bitner

Imagine what I could do if I was actually ready.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - February 2023 - Southend United

EFL League One

Ipswich are running away with the league and we've hit a rough patch that sees us slip out of the automatic promotion place. There's still time to recover, we have to find our flow again though.

[Rikulec]

Ryan Clark's Management Career - March 2023 - Southend United

EFL League One

Ouch. All close games this month and in all but one we failed to tip the scales our way, although we did lead against both Hull and Bristol Rovers. Automatic promotion is almost out of the question at this point, we have to focus on holding onto the playoff place.

Youth Intake

Reilly looks like he could become quite useful!

Olsin Reilly

David Beard

Mitchell Webber

Álex Callizo