[FM21] BackTheBulls - Jersey Bulls: a charge into the football league

[Jtomsett11]

February 2037

A tough month, but we did get a bonus point. The City game was really tight, but the Liverpool game I threw in a match plan change that backfired I think. 

We are now back in the bottom three, but we're still within touching distance. The issue is other teams are picking up points and the gap above Blackburn and West Ham will probably grow considering Fulham's good form. We are going to need to win some big games to stay up, no doubt about it!

[Sonic Youth]

That's a good uptick in form, but a rough end of season fixture list (is there ever a good one when fighting for survival?). The Prem is definitely a different league to the rest of the pyramid.

I see you got yourself a lucky charm when buying Dempsey

Looking at your goal difference, you are definitely in with a shot, especially as only one other team is scoring more than Jersey in the bottom 7. It's the goals conceded that is the issue here. Though that's why I'm looking at the GD instead for competitiveness.

Come on the Bulls!

[Jtomsett11]

March 2037

This is starting to feel like I'm going down. I don't think I've ever been relegated before on FM as I've always been sacked before reaching that point! 

We probably should have beaten Spurs, the Leeds loss was a game they dominated and the Forest loss again we had the upper hand on xG, but over 1xG came from our CBs from corners. We're tighter at the back, but it's not really working!

We're still only three points adrift, with a reasonable goal difference.

However, when you look at the games we have left, I just can't see where we pick up the points. I think we're going to need 32 points now to stay up. Where are we getting those 3 wins from? 

To make matters worse, we've had Harrop ask to leave to a lack of game time, followed by these injuries, including to Harrop. I am minded to let him leave, as he wasn't really consistent enough last season.

Dilrosun is out for 6 weeks, Clarke for 2-3. He may be back for the next game after the international break. Cook should be back so that's good, as he's been slightly better this half of the season. 

So, an unhappy, injured, short of quality squad needing pretty much a miracle, with a manager who has changed his tactics completely for the first time in 17 seasons and isn't sure which ones to use. 

 

[Sonic Youth]

Ouch! Got to try and get wins/draws against Southampton, Bournemouth and Leicester (scrapping for a European spot though). Fulham and Everton are must win while hopefully Man Utd have won the league and have switched off in your penultimate game.

Everything to play for now. Maybe do a squad run through just to see if there is someone else to use at the moment?

Going to be a hard stretch to play through

[deez0r]

Can you explain where you get the average rating scores? I have started a save where I am using average attribute scores but I think yours is a more weighted example if you run me through it?

[deez0r]

Also a great read!

[Jtomsett11]

On 13/01/2022 at 12:38, deez0r said:

Can you explain where you get the average rating scores? I have started a save where I am using average attribute scores but I think yours is a more weighted example if you run me through it?

Spreadsheet attached. I based mine of @shaunvamos but wrote the formulas based on his so may have made an error, but essentially weighting key attributes as 1X and non-key as 0.66X. I've only done it for the roles I use, but it should be straight forward!

 

On 13/01/2022 at 12:38, deez0r said:

Also a great read!

Cheers! 

Player attributes Template.xlsx

[Jtomsett11]

Poached players update Feb 2037

Three more players came through last year, but I've only just noticed when going through the clauses. I scouted Thomas, Robson and Salter. None of the three are Jersey-born. Robson looks like he could be quite a decent player. I believe 1 Gold star is probably around 120PA ish, perhaps slightly more or slightly worse based off calculations other forum members have made. I'll keep all of these on a shortlist for former players. 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake March 2037

Disappointing at first glance. No 5* potential players and bear in mind that 2.5 stars in my current squad isn't good enough to feature in a side that looks destined for relegation, it's unlikely any of these players will feature unless my scouts are wrong. Hadler looks the best, but we have quite a few good young keepers.

Let's look at their attributes.

It's our best intake yet! Perhaps the league we're in now affects our star ratings? Or they've got good CA and poor PA? 

The ones who've caught my eye are Jele, Hare and Hadler.

If Jele has slightly better potential, he already has some decent attributes and could be very useful. His determination isn't great though.

Technically not bad, with decent flair and balance. Not loads to shout home about, but it depends whether my HOYD has over or underestimated his potential.

Apart from the fact he can't take a touch on the ball, nor throw it or concentrate, this is a very solid starting set of attributes for a keeper, with a decent personality. Potentially yet another good goalkeeper to come through the academy!

 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2037

We're going down, down...

We played 4-5-1 for the first two, but I decided 4-2-4 for the home, must-win game! How wrong was my decision!? We were thrashed. A win would have kept us within touching distance.

Bah is injured for the rest of the season, but we have managed to sign two of our brightest youngsters to new deals without relegation release clauses.

Okay, he's going to be on a fortune in the Championship, but it gives us some more security. Maybe he'll stay and help us try and come back up?

One of our few performers this year, he did have a release clause of £4 million if we were relegated. 

Poached player

Wow, he looks like he could have been amazing for us! Thanks Spurs!

Next up, three more games. Fulham and Everton away, Man U at home. We'll stick to 4-5-1. We'll hope for a miracle. We expect relegation. As I said, I've never been relegated before. I expect some wholescale changes to the playing squad and for a time we may sacrifice our Jersey-born players who've hit their peak and not been good enough, but I do hope some coming through like Dowling will play a prominent role for us.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2037

We began with a fortunate draw away against Fulham, but things suddenly got interesting after our home game against United.

Two goals from corners saw us win 2-1. West Ham had drawn, so were now 2 points ahead of us.

Up next, we face Everton away and West Ham face Brighton away. We need to win and hope West Ham do not.

Look at those late goals! We were so close to doing it. Alas, if you finish on 28 points, but could have finished on 30, you don't really deserve to stay up! 

Man Utd losing to us cost them the title. What an odd season. Two of our wins were against Man Utd and Chelsea, who we were unbeaten against. There were points where we looked like we could fight back, but ultimately we were 3 points and goal difference from staying up.

The board have set some reasonable initial wage and transfer budgets and we've sealed a couple of very good transfers already which should improve our squad. Next I'll review the performances of the team and the club, before looking at attribute growth. I'm going to be ruthless in the market this summer as I look to carve our way back into the Premier League next year.

[Jtomsett11]

Club end of season review 2036/37

It's not how we wanted to end our first season in the Premier League, but in the grand scheme of things this season has still been a step forward. We've invested in the stadium and our facilities and there were two further announcements by the board just after relegation was confirmed.

A stadium expansion and youth category increase. We also have £69 million in the bank as we speak up from £53 million on the end of season day when I do the stats update due to increases in sponsorship. These increases were much needed.

While our wages have gone up, they're certainly under control.

Just 15% of our turnover was spent on wages and we'll sit towards the bottom end of wage expenditure still in the Championship. 

I am disappointed with how this season has gone for sure. Tactically, we're now playing something of a guessing game regarding which one we use as 4-2-4 flopped so spectacularly this year after 16 seasons of using it successfully with a few tweaks here and there. Player wise, very few have shown they can handle the Premier League so we really need to look at the squad and get rid of some of the weaker links and strengthen, while still trying to retain that focus on youth. As you'll see soon, we only had 1 Jersey-born player in the ToTY which is our lowest ever and quite disappointing, if expected when fighting for survival. Hopefully, we manage to find a balance between bringing in better players and giving the next generation a chance.

[Punch]

An entertaining fight to the end. Bad luck about going down, now the fight to get back up begins

[Sonic Youth]

Jersey in having a say on the title race by beating Man Utd  

And so ends an unexpectedly adventurous and at times exciting season. I think you gave the Jersey Bull fans hope until the last minutes of the season that survival could happen especially how adrift you were at one stage. Small margins and fine lines. 

Tactically, 424 is something I find needs absolutely top class players to really work in the top flight. It leaves the defence a little bit too exposed.

Getting an increased stadium capacity as well as youth category upgrades is great news for the future. Having that player poached by Tottenham was not cool and hopefully make teams second guess doing that next time.

Wages to income percentage is at a pretty decent level 

Looking forward to the next phase of squad analysis and building.

Very interested in what your youth intake will be like next season.

Take a breather for as long a moment as you need after a season like that. It looked pretty rough going at times.

Edited January 16, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Say

[Jtomsett11]

On 16/01/2022 at 12:49, Sonic Youth said:

Jersey in having a say on the title race by beating Man Utd  

I know, as a Liverpool fan that was somewhat rewarding!

 

On 16/01/2022 at 12:49, Sonic Youth said:

And so ends an unexpectedly adventurous and at times exciting season. I think you gave the Jersey Bull fans hope until the last minutes of the season that survival could happen especially how adrift you were at one stage. Small margins and fine lines. 

Tactically, 424 is something I find needs absolutely top class players to really work in the top flight. It leaves the defence a little bit too exposed.

Small margins indeed, and I think you're right about 424. If we'd gone for 4-5-1 all season I think we'd have had enough points and wins to stay up. I think we'll use 4-2-4 against weaker sides next year and the 4-5-1 especially in away games. 

On 16/01/2022 at 12:49, Sonic Youth said:

Getting an increased stadium capacity as well as youth category upgrades is great news for the future. Having that player poached by Tottenham was not cool and hopefully make teams second guess doing that next time.

Wages to income percentage is at a pretty decent level 

Looking forward to the next phase of squad analysis and building.

Very interested in what your youth intake will be like next season.

Take a breather for as long a moment as you need after a season like that. It looked pretty rough going at times.

The poached player does show how our youth development is improving, and this along with the stadium and category upgrades should benefit us over the next 5 years or so. 

I think we should aim for instant promotion, but plan for promotion within the next 3-5 years with the aim to be solid in the top flight next time. I've had a few days off and am in a better place to do my analysis and transfers now!

[Jtomsett11]

End of season player performance review

Looking at this shows you some of the problems we've had this season. Just three players average over 6.9 and there just aren't enough goals or assists across the team.

If we break it down into positions, we can however highlight those who didn't do too badly.

Goalkeepers

If you make 200 odd saves in 40 games and still concede 79, I think it suggests you faced quite a lot of shots.  That, more than anything is behind De Rosa having his worst season so far. There was the occasional game where he blundered, but to be honest I don't really blame him. He's premier league quality according to our Assman, so he's not going anywhere. I may move Gordon on to make space for a youngster to play the cup games.

Centre backs

Tackle wise there isn't a lot between our CBs. Jakoljevic is the best in the air and makes quite a few key tackles and he seems happy to stay with us. Konate is similarly effective in the air, but makes more interceptions. Bondswell was so disappointing and to be honest I'm very tempted to move him on. The problem is Konate wants to leave and has a £10 million release clause, and Mackenzie isn't up to the standard, so I don't want to have to recruit 3 CBs in one transfer window.

Full backs

Defensively, Moreau and Davidson make significant numbers of tackles per game with Moreau's key tackles per game the highest of the three. Davidson is very solid in the air too. All three contributed nearly a key pass per game and reasonable output in terms of assists per game. Harte mainly appeared when we lost, so is definitely second choice at RB now. I really wish I hadn't given him 'gets forward often' as a PPM as I can't use him as a CB now. His technicals are still really poor so I'm not sure if he's going to push on and be an effective full back, CB or just an average player.

Central midfield

As ball winning midfielders, Robbins and Rafael did reasonable jobs, but nowhere near as effective as Robbins has been in previous seasons. Clarke, Dempsey and Cook played a variety of CM(S), AP(A) and DLP(S) this season as I switched tactics. Cook started to look better as the season went on, but Clarke again has the highest key passes per games and won more points per game than any other player. I need him to feature more next season. Dempsey and Cook started to dribble more in their advanced playmaker role and if I use 4-5-1 I want to utilise this more. Dempsey in particular has a lot of pace so could offer something different.

Wingers

I lost faith with Bienvenu and Harrop, although at least the latter scored and assisted this season. Bienvenu really did nothing this season and perhaps I should have taken that bid from Villa last year. Harrop wants to leave and with Dowling coming through I'll let him as we have Scott on loan again next year. Scott scores, Dilrosun assists. He seems happy to stay now which is a real bonus. I may look to my younger LWs to come through as second choice rather than buying another, but we'll see what's on the market.

Forwards

A horrible season in front of goal for Mascall compared to the last two years, but a breakthrough season for Bah as he hit 10 goals, which for an 18 year old in a poor team in the Premier League isn't bad! Campbell is just out of his depth. I would love a better DLF/CF option as even with 4-5-1, two strikers in the squad is not enough. 

I think this sums up our season nicely. Should have gained 10 more points, should have stayed up, didn't. Leaky and busy, passive and clinical. 

[Jtomsett11]

May 2037 attribute analysis part 1

I've split this into sections for two reasons. Firstly, it allows me to focus on each position a little more. Secondly, I've realised that I've had my formulas the wrong way round for 'key' and 'preferred' attributes for 17 seasons and correcting it is taking a while. Luckily it's changing scores only slightly for most players. We'll start with the defensive positions.

Goalkeepers

De Rosa is now the number 1 on attributes as well as current ability ratings from my coaches and scouts. He's hitting his peak though, so there's a chance for Quansah or Hadler to overtake him if their potential is high enough. Morris has gone backwards on loan this year which is disappointing, and Pritchard isn't going to be good enough to play for us I don't think as you can see from their potential below. Both can go on loan and I think we'll have Quansah as our backup next year as with his personality he's likely to need more game time to speed up development. I may keep Gordon around for one more year as third choice as if De Rosa got injured, I'm not sure I'd want to rely on a 16 year old to get us promoted.

Centre backs

There's no real growth from our top 5 CBs. The more I think about it, the more I want to give Harte another go at CB to try and get him developing again. His technicals are really poor though. Kizito is the other prospect and he can at least jump. Fontaine has stalled on loan and is now 21 and has stupid PPMs such as 'knocks ball past opponent' and 'gets forward whenever possible' which he's picked up on loan. He might be a lost cause. Feeney is 18 and has 4 star potential, so he may be worth a go next year. A lot depends on who I sign and who I have to, or want to sell. Bondswell is on £1.82 million a year and performed terribly last year, but is probably very suited to this level. Jakovljevic isn't going anywhere, but Mackenzie and Konate probably are, leaving me with two, plus maybe Harte and maybe a youngster. If I did get rid of Bondswell that's at least two new CBs I'd need to bring in.

Full backs

Davidson became one of my favourite players over the past two seasons. His attributes are very solid as shown here and he continues to grow. With Moreau on a reasonable £1.3 million a year, they'll both be first choice on their respective right and left sides. Behind them is more uncertain. Harte was OK in the Championship at RB, so could do a job there if he isn't at CB. Holland deserves a place in the squad, but he's very versatile and can play at CB and is natural in CM too. He's left footed and has potential so I think I prefer him as a full back at the moment. Tempest has made rapid growth and with 3.5 star potential he could make an impact in the future. Ramsay has 4 star potential on the right but is some way off a first team appearance.

Food for thought at the back. A mixture of some solid players, underachieving high potential players, players I don't know how to use and those surplus to requirements. If I can bring in players in defense it'll be CB that I prioritise due to the two most likely outgoing players. If a better LB than Moreau is available I could move him on as he wasn't amazing last season.

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute analysis May 2037 part 2 - midfield and forwards

BWM

Rafael made some progress this year, but Johnston has made loads of progress on loan. I'm going to have to give him some game time, despite his poor rating from my coaches he does have lots of potential.

If we don't play Holland at LB, he would play BWM nicely. 

Deep lying playmaker

Palmer and Jele are my big prospects in this role attribute wise, but Palmer has more potential according to my coaches. I'd like to use him more next season. Cook wasn't too bad in the end this season, and along with Clarke they make a good pair for DLP in the Championship I think.

And now to my new role for the 4-5-1.

Box to box midfielder

I don't have initial ratings, so can only compare the start to the end of this season. Palmer's growth is impressive, and Bah continues to develop across the range of attributes. Dempsey is our main player for this role I think.

Wingers

Dowling got lots of first team experience last year and it's paid off as he's into the 70s now. Hutchinson also grew by a similar amount, while O'Hara is another youngster showing significant growth. Dilrosun looks like he's near his potential. 

Deep lying forwards

I'm not sure how much I'll utilise this position going forward.

If I do, Bah has been a better player than Campbell despite the latter's attributes suiting the role. I'm not sure Patel and O'Hara will develop significantly enough in this role. I do think we need another player to come in, perhaps to replace Campbell.

Advanced forwards

Plenty of options here, although we didn't set the world on fire last year. I'm disappointed with Hassan, who had a great season on loan but hasn't grown much. His technicals are still weak.

[Jtomsett11]

Shopping list June 2037

Having done my end of season performance and attribute analysis I decided to immediately let some players go.

Outgoing

Mackenzie isn't really up to the standard of my better CBs, and £4 million isn't bad for him. Harrop goes to a fellow Championship side, so perhaps this is a mistake, but he was unhappy and inconsistent even when he played well. Knill isn't good enough anymore and goes to League One, while Pursall never made the progress required to feature in the first team.

That leaves us with some space. 

Goalkeepers

No need for recruitment here, De Rosa is good enough for lower Prem sides and we have lots of potential in the youth teams.

Centre backs

We should keep Jakoljevic, Brighton offered £10 million, but he has a £25 million release clause due to relegation so unless they meet that, which would be over priced, we'll keep him.

Konate has a £10 million release clause, so he is likely to go. He's a whinging, moaning brat so I'm not too fussed, even if he is one of our best average rating CBs.

Bondswell was awful last year and is technically poor. Nottingham Forest are interested, so if they bid enough, they can have him.

That leaves us very short, so we need 1-3CBs depending on sales!

Full backs

I'm happy with Davidson and Harte at RB at this level. Moreau is a good enough LB, with perhaps Holland covering here and BWM. We could improve on Moreau but if we can't I'm happy.

Midfield

Apart from Cook, who has a release clause of £4.2 million, nobody looks likely to leave. For BWM we have Rafael and Robbins, who at this level should be good enough. For DLP, we have Cook and Clarke. For BBM, we have Dempsey. If we use an AP we can utilise Cook and potentially 17 year old Palmer here. We've got lots of options here, but the question is, are they good enough? We'll see who comes along here from the scouts.

Wingers

Dilrosun and Scott are certain starters, with Dowling a backup on the right. Bienvenu was terrible last year and not great the year before. Nobody is interested in him, but I think bringing in another LW option is a good idea.

Forwards

Mascall was superb in the Championship, while Bah did well last year in the Prem, so if we play 4-5-1 we'll do well with these two. However, if we go 4-2-4 we need more players and we only have Campbell as a backup. I'd like another good versatile striker capable of playing both advanced forward and deep lying forward, but more suited to the latter.

Overall shopping list.

1-3 Centre backs

Potentially 1 LB

Potentially a CM

A left winger

A striker

 

[Sonic Youth]

A good couple of round-ups to check out your squad and transfers to target.

Looking at your new position:

14 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

And now to my new role for the 4-5-1.

Box to box midfielder

I don't have initial ratings, so can only compare the start to the end of this season. Palmer's growth is impressive, and Bah continues to develop across the range of attributes. Dempsey is our main player for this role I think.

I see the difference between Dempsey and Bah as workrate, concentration, passing and vision. Good to have them both for the position.

[Miiksern]

I'm pretty sure the get forward ppm doesn't affect CBs at all so you should be safe using Harte as a CB if needed.

[Jtomsett11]

Transfers and squad building July 2037

This has taken slightly longer than normal as I've been playing around with tactics. We've had a successful pre-season, after which I've ended up with this.

The AM role may change, and I'm not going to adjust attribute tracking for this yet despite the change to Complete Forward in addition to an entirely new position as we haven't started the season yet. These are the results from pre-season.

I played 4-5-1 against Blackburn and didn't like it. 4-2-4 followed for 3 games, but we conceded 6 from 2 xG and I decided we needed to do something more defensive, but not 4-5-1. 4-2-3-1 seemed reasonable, so we tried that and had great success, conceding 0 goals and scoring quite a few. Realistically we don't have lots of players capable of playing as AMC, but we have enough to give it a trial for half a season or so.

Transfers

We wanted a CB, CM, DLF and potentially a LB.

We did get 2 CBs in.

They're not quite our best CBs, but they are much better on the ball and quicker than our existing options. Konate hasn't left but I expect him to. Vanegas  will be our second choice while Miguel joins as a squad player which we've struggled to get players to agree to that squad status so he'll be very useful.

In midfield, we'll have an arrival in August.

I really like the look of this guy, who doesn't have any real obvious weaknesses other than a slight lack of pace and he's only 17 years old. We'll probably be packed in the midfield now, but that's better than being short on quality. He joins on the 28th, so we'll see how he settles in.

On the wing, we've picked up a real gem.

Unfortunately, he's out for the first 4 weeks of the season, but in pre-season he looked quality on both flanks and with a little increase in pace he'll be sensational. Like Dilrosun, his ability to play on both flanks is a real plus.

Finally, we do bring in a striker, although due to switching to a 1 striker formation we've let Campbell go for £1 million. A loss on him, but despite his attributes he just never seemed to do it for us.

What I like about Molina is he can do a bit of everything and that helps us if we need to switch formation during the season. Bah is still coming back from injury and may play in the AMC slot at times, but this guy gives us options and if he's rubbish, well we're not paying too much for his loan.

I will do a squad overview for the year, but once we've played a few games as if it all goes wrong then we'll adjust formation, if not then my 'squad' will look a little different due to the new positions and I'll have to re-calculate attribute scores.

Other pre-season bits

With parachute payments, we're absolutely loaded, although of course this will disappear pretty quickly if we don't go back up. £41 million up front is insane money!

It means even missing out on our 50% clause on Geddes isn't too painful!

While we've been relegated, we've still sold 10000 season tickets, so the clubs growth continues and hopefully it'll sustain our wage budget of £25 million a year even if we don't go back up.

Speaking of which, we're 7th favourites.

As you can see, a whole host of teams on 25-1. These are our best odds for a season in the Championship, so we've definitely improved since we were last here. We've also got 3 players in the top goal scorer predictions, although I'm not sure any of these will be in with a shout considering we're not using 4-2-4 at the moment.

I'm quite excited to see how the season goes. August is busy, but with lots of winnable games. We'll either start really well and be in contention or it'll be mid-table mediocrity for us!

 

[Sonic Youth]

Lots of South Americans! I think your stacked for the AMC position, though then could be short on the wing or upfront instead with the players coming in (Ygor and Jorge).

Molina looks great as well. If he performs, would he cost much?

Defensive players look like upgrades. Miguel has interesting traits 

Going to be an interesting season 

Edited January 26, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Traits

[Jtomsett11]

On 26/01/2022 at 00:26, Sonic Youth said:

Lots of South Americans! I think your stacked for the AMC position, though then could be short on the wing or upfront instead with the players coming in (Ygor and Jorge).

Molina looks great as well. If he performs, would he cost much?

Defensive players look like upgrades. Miguel has interesting traits 

Going to be an interesting season 

It really depends what formation and roles we end up picking (which is developing throughout the first month). If we only play 2 in the middle and one AMC then we have a real depth in CM. If we play with 2 strikers we're in trouble!

Molina could cost £15 million according to the scout report, but let's see how he does first.

Yes, Miguel could be a liability  At worst we'll sell him for £10 million and make a nice profit!

 

[Jtomsett11]

August 2037

I suspected we'd make a decent start to the season, but this has just about exceeded my expectations. I'd like to have scored more goals, but to be honest after last season (and the seasons before that really), keeping some clean sheets is a must. We've kept 5 in the league in 7 games. Much better! I was going to post game by game, but our performances can be highlighted by the stat analysis.

We're excellent across the park, apart from putting chances away. We're underperforming our xG, which is actually a good thing I think, as we're creating decent chances and just not finishing them, and yet we're still doing really well. I've added 'work ball into the box' as a team instruction and I'm considering altering one winger to an inside forward to try and adjust things slightly. I'm also playing around with the role for my forward as Bah, Mascall and Molina have just 2 goals between them, with most of our threat coming from our wingers. 

I am irritated that we're out of the cup, as it gave our rotational players games, but overall I can't complain about the month.

Joint top, with the best defensive record in the league. 

Transfers

Transfer wise, we've continued to alter the squad quite significantly.

A few young players go out on loan, while Konate leaves as does Bondswell, who's technical ability and high wage meant I wanted to ship him out. Villamizar was already set to join, although we're playing without a DLP at the moment, so we'll see where he fits in. Probably as an AMC.

Mafoso joined as a backup ball-playing CB with lots of potential and low wages. He scores much less than other CBs, but I like him anyway due to his spread of attributes.

I've definitely moved towards attribute spread and potential and away from higher attributes in a few key places this transfer window. We'll see if it pays off!

We're still sitting pretty handsomely financially.

[Jtomsett11]

September 2037

Another good month, and we score 3 for the first time this season!

Even better, a striker got some goals as Molina grabbed all 3 against Huddersfield and had 2 more offside goals too.

This leaves us looking good in the table. We've not conceded in 8 of 10 games we played.

I'll also take a £4 million loss a month no problem.

[Sonic Youth]

Very good start. That new defence has started well, and the O is beginning to work each other out.

With your transfers, Villamizar looks remarkably like Mafoso. Are they related? They both do look like promising signings.

Nice bank balance 

[argento]

Looks like you’ll be straight back up! 

[Jtomsett11]

18 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Very good start. That new defence has started well, and the O is beginning to work each other out.

With your transfers, Villamizar looks remarkably like Mafoso. Are they related? They both do look like promising signings.

Nice bank balance 

I realised that I used Mafoso's profile twice! This is Villamizar.

The defense is looking much better now!

[Jtomsett11]

October 2037

Another pretty good month, although we did have two slightly frustrating away draws, including against Sheffield United who had 10 men for 87 minutes!

However, overall, we have 3 more clean sheets and 11 points from 5 games, extending our lead at the top to 4 points and we're points clear of third.

I'd like us to score more goals, there's no doubt about that. Scott on the right is our top scorer, which is frustrating as I like my strikers to score. However, I can't argue with the results.

We are still creating a low number of clear cut chances (14) but our xG is top of the league at 27 goals. I don't want to fiddle too much while we're doing well!

This is what is going to get us promoted this season if we keep doing as we're doing. We're defensively very impressive.

[Punch]

That defence has turned into a brick wall

[Jtomsett11]

November and December 2037

I got carried away and played two months before saving an image of the table. November was pretty much perfect, but December was a little more tricky. We've started to concede goals. Now, December is always tough due to the number of games, but I think if this pattern continues we'll adjust slightly. Having said that, Everton scored 3 from 4 shots including a worldie, and Bristol City scored twice from set pieces. 

Overall, we still have a very healthy lead.

We're 9 points ahead of 2nd and 10 ahead of 3rd. If we can start keeping some clean sheets again, we should achieve promotion this season, and perhaps even a first league win since 2026/27 when we won the Southern League Premier South!

January has a few tough games, but quite a few winnable home ties too. 

Off the field

We've managed to tie 3 of our best youngsters down to 5 year deals.

All three are wonderkids. I'm not sure if the requirements for the 'wonderkid' description have changed as I'm sure it use to be CA and reputation based, and these guys probably don't qualify on a CA basis. Anyway, all three are important, although Bah hasn't performed as well this season as he did last season, and it was important to tie them down. They've all got minimum fee release clauses but the lowest is Ygor's £68 million. 

We've also invested in our facilities. Both the youth facilities and training facilities will be upgraded.

That was mainly in response to this.

Great...

I'm going to do an analysis of the playing squad next as we've got a much larger squad this year so it'll help me with my selections going forward. Tactically we're obviously doing well, but the increased leakage at the back, coupled with our inability to consistently put chances away are bothering me. Every team has peaks and troughs in a season and we did go 16 unbeaten before the Everton loss, so perhaps I need to wait and see how January goes first.

 

[Sonic Youth]

Season continues to go well bar a couple of blips.

Off field things are also improving, except for that weird youth preview. Hopefully they intake doesn’t reflect the preview unless you get a couple of world class wingers!

[Jtomsett11]

11 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Season continues to go well bar a couple of blips.

Off field things are also improving, except for that weird youth preview. Hopefully they intake doesn’t reflect the preview unless you get a couple of world class wingers!

Last year was particularly disappointing, so i'm hoping for better than the preview, but accepting it might be just a crap intake!

[Jtomsett11]

December 2037 performance analysis

Goalkeepers

There's not been a whole load for my keepers to do. Morris can consider himself hard done-by that he's conceded 0 yet went out in the cup on penalties. De Rosa has the most clean sheets in the Championship which is unsurprising.

Centre backs

My Centre backs still don't make many tackles, but Vanegas and Miguel seem better at it than the others, plus they've done better in the air. Jakoljevic has been surprisingly poor all around, so perhaps I need to drop him in favour of Miguel. Those two also intercept the ball more effectively.

Full backs

Moreau has been superb this season. He's made the most key tackles in the league, the most possession win-backs and he has 5 assists for us. Numbers wise, Harte has been our best right back and he really should have more than 1 assist with 40 key passes this season. Davidson has played a role for us, but has certainly not impressed as much as he did last year, and Holland has looked out of depth at LB. His potential is down to 4 stars now too which is annoying, although obviously you can't read too much into these things.

Midfielders

Starting with our BWMs, Rafael has underperformed slightly compared to Robbins. The biggest deviation between them is in interceptions, which I put down to Robbins' superb work rate, but really the Jersey-born player has outperformed his Brazilian rival in all the important measures. He's 10th on tackles per game in the league. 

Clarke and Dempsey have shared the lions share of the box to box midfielder role, with Dempsey just edging most measures except key passes per game. 

Cook started out as our AMC in the role of an advanced playmaker and did really well until two successive unjuries. However, his injuries have allowed Ygor to start and as I've adjusted his role to an attacking midfielder, his numbers have increased with more key passes, assists and 4 goals.

Then you have Palmer and Villamizar. Palmer is young with potential, but I am tempted to loan him out in January to give him game time as he's essentially 4th choice AMC. Villamizar has been disappointing. To be fair to him, I signed him as a DLP and we aren't using that role at the moment. He is quite suited to AMC as an attacking midfielder or advanced playmaker, but so far his performances haven't warranted a starting berth. That being said, his numbers aren't actually that bad, with a decent number of key passes and interceptions per 90 minutes. He's on £1 million a year plus an important player role, so if I don't start using him at some point he'll probably get upset. 

Wingers

Our wingers are by far our most productive players this year. Bienvenu has had a resurgence after a terrible year of 0 goal contributions last year, while Dilrosun continues his excellent work. Scott is our top scorer and after 10 goals in the Premier League last year I'm convinced he can cut it if we get promoted. His contract is up with United at the end of the season, so unless they renew I'll be making a move for him. Dowling's good end of season form hasn't translated into regular game time this year, but with just 2 RW options I'm loathe to loan him out, unless we move Mascall across to RW as his game time up front has been severely restricted.

Strikers

After years of playing two up front and usually having high scoring, high performing forwards, this year is a real change. Molina has 8 goals, but he's been quite inconsistent. Two of Bah's goals have been penalties and free kicks, so he's also been quite poor overall this season. Mascall hasn't had much of a chance to be honest. 

I've moved between deep lying forwards, advanced forwards and complete forwards, but nothing seems to be sticking. Expected goals wise, Mascall is 2, Bah is 6 and Molina is 6. I suppose if I'd stuck to one forward we'd probably have someone on 12-14 goals. Chopping and changing isn't something I usually enjoy doing, but with one up front I find it harder to balance a squad. Having just two strikers on the books makes life quite difficult if injuries strike, while 3 means either more rotation or unhappy customers.

[Jtomsett11]

January 2038

The start of this month was really tough as we continued to leak goals and not score from our expected goals. This was the best example of that in our 2-1 cup defeat. After that game I stopped playing for a few days as I was worried out title push was going to go down the pan.

However, a shift to a slighter lower line of engagement and a slightly less risky mentality (positive rather than attacking), coupled with two role changes in midfield (BBM to DLP(S) and our AMC playmaker to a midfielder) seemed to work in the two 4-0 wins before a 1-0 hard fought game to finish the month.

That's the first time we've won 3 in a row since the end of November, and our first clean sheets back-to-back since October. As long as the 1-0 against Millwall (xG 2.34) isn't a sign of returning to under-scoring, things look on the up again after some mixed form.

Ygor has been the inspired player with 2 goals and 4 assists in 2 games, along with Bah who has 5 in goals in the month. Unfortunately Ygor is out for 4 weeks injured which won't help our cause.

We're now 10 points clear of both 2nd and 3rd position which I'm delighted with. Each month we can continue with this lead is another month closer to a return to the Premier League.

Next month we have 4 home games and we face nobody in the top 6 so theoretically it should be a good month!

[Jtomsett11]

January 2038 transfer window

This was busier than usual.

A few players go out on loan, including Dowling and Holland who were on the verges of the first team squad but weren't getting game time. I've sold two younsters in Feeney and Knap. Both had 3.5 star potential, but considering only our 4 star players are considered Premier League quality I'm not too fussed about their exits to Championship sides. Mascall is the big outgoing, although its on loan to League One Sheffield Wednesday. He demanded a loan and with the emergence of our 4-2-3-1 I just haven't needed him. I may regret this in the second half of the season, but feel overall we've got enough strength in depth.

Incoming we have two young players with lots of potential. Santos is a striker with a rating of  as a DLF and  as an AF, so lots of options with him. I like his ability on and off the ball for an 18 year old. 

Smith is quite a basic but rapid winger. He needs mental development, but if he continues to develop he could be quite a player. He rates as a winger.

We also had some big offers come in for some of our players.

Both players were happy to stay. Dilrosun seems to be at the top of his potential, so I'm hopeful he will stay with us. No way was I selling him to a promotion rival!

We're now down at £89 million.

However, we're still nowhere near the top on wages, so we're still punching above our weight significantly. 

[Punch]

Looks like some good business done there.

Hope it helps you push back to the Premier League

[Jtomsett11]

February 2038

We've had some interesting moments this month where injuries have left us quite short.

Fortunately, two of our CBs can play LB and RB so this offered us security. With that, we had an excellent month.

The loss to Sheffield United was our only poor performance. That was really poor, but did coincide with some interesting team selections as both the team and I were complacent about a home fixture after 7 wins in a row. A short injury to Bah meant Molina came in and scored 6 in 4 games, while Scott and Bienvenu have both scored hat-tricks. 

We extend our lead to 12 points and our gap to third is now 16 points. Derby and Ipswich have been in superb form although Derby did lose the first game of the month. Ipswich have won 8 on the bounce and are flying. However, with 10 games left and only 30 points available, I feel we're very likely to win promotion. We have the best defense and best offense in the league. We need 5 wins from 10 to seal the deal and that's if Ipswich or Everton win all remaining games (unlikely). 

 

[Sonic Youth]

Navigated a transfer window and mini injury moment and extended your lead at the top? Got this season sewn up bar the engraving on the trophy 

[Jtomsett11]

Jersey player sales update

I realised that I stopped updating the player sales as we got to a point where we didn't sell many players we didn't want to. However, I've decided to start tracking again for any youth academy players who we sell so I've gone back and updated most of the ones I missed (except the odd £300k sale of someone who won't go on to do anything).

Bondswell we've gone on to sell twice, but otherwise no really big sales of youth players for a few years. Dilrosun may be the next judging by the Blackburn bid in January.

[Jtomsett11]

March 2039

It's a perfect month and it means we've won 12 of 13 league games since the change in roles and dropping the line of engagement. 

More important than this though, is what we've achieved as a result.

Molina has been the man this month. He got two goals against Derby to open up the gap midway through the month and the crucial goal here to win us the title with 6 games to spare.

We're 13 points off Reading's 106 point record with 18 to play for. We should definitely hit 100. It's our first title win since 2026/27.

It's been a very positive month off the pitch (bar the youth intake, which you'll see is awful!)

900 games in charge and rewarded with a new contract. 

We've also seen our stadium expanded and we instantly broke our attendance record, hitting 90% attendance, which is great considering we're in the Championship.

We also may break another milestone this year.

De Rosa has kept one more since this, so now needs 3 clean sheets in 6 games to break the record. We haven't had a record broken since 2027/28!

[Sonic Youth]

Nice, winning the league before any other team earned a playoff spot 

Looks like you’ll need a new stadium soon too, what with those crowds.

Records to break? Time will tell.

[Jtomsett11]

On 05/02/2022 at 08:42, Sonic Youth said:

Nice, winning the league before any other team earned a playoff spot 

Looks like you’ll need a new stadium soon too, what with those crowds.

Records to break? Time will tell.

I'm not sure of the extension limit on this stadium. We still don't own the stadium as it's council owned so it may be worth buying it first if it can be expanded further, we will see!

I'm hopeful of some records being broken!

 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake 2038

A really disappointing intake by attribute analysis and PPA. I may look for another HOYD as this is his third intake and none have been particularly impressive.

I've signed all but the bottom 3 by potential just in case their potential has been misjudged.

That's the worst average for 4 years. 

[Jtomsett11]

April/ May 2038

Well we certainly finished April in style, and although the result against Everton is slightly disappointing, I won't let it overshadow an incredible season.

April was extremely satisfying. We broke our attendance against Ipswich as we saw a sell-out crowd and a Bah double saw us through. He would go on to score doubles in the next two games to win the young player of the month award.

This is really pleasing as he's not had a great season this year having stood out as our best performer last year. 14 league goals in 26 appearances is a pretty decent return and gives me confidence about his future as a striker.

The Blackburn game was particularly pleasing. 2-0 down, we went on to turn it around against a very good side. Villazimar, revitalised in a DLP role in the midfield, scored his first goal for us from 30 yards to start us on the road to victory.

We break the Championship points record, we break our own points record, equal our wins in a season record and break our clean sheets in a season record.

Everton beating us has seen them promoted with us, but we have to be very proud of a 21 gap to second place.

Analysis of us going forward and defending is interesting. We concede the least shots and hit the most, but about an average amount of those shots go in. When you think about it, our conversion rate might not be brilliant, but if we're taking the most amount of shots and have average conversion we will still score the most and the opposite in defense. 

[Jtomsett11]

Club season review 2037/38

What a way to bounce back from relegation. We've absolutely smashed it this season, at least as far as the league is concerned. The less said about cups in the last two years the better!

Progress off the pitch continues at a pace. Our reputation has grown as have our finances. The training facilities have been upgraded and the youth facilities and youth setup upgrades are due to come into effect before the start of next season. Our attendances may have dropped this year, but that's only due to the temporary capacity drop in the stadium to allow our expansion. At 21393 seats, I believe we'll be selling out every game next season if we can judge by the end of this season where we had 90%+ attendances at every home game with one sell-out. 

We're also in a better position within the transfer market. I've already identified a number of players who may be able to come in and improve the team significantly, whereas when we were promoted last time we just didn't have that option. I'm determined that this time we'll stay in the Premier League!

[Jtomsett11]

Player performances 2037/38

Goalkeepers

De Rosa has had a great season as he's faced so few shots. He's conceded less than 1 a game and in total only faced 155 shots on target this season (excluding blocked shots). That's a really impressive turnaround from us considering we've never been very strong defensively. Now he's hit his peak, it's likely we'll look to improve this area of the squad and allow time for our younger keepers to improve on loan with a view to them taking the gloves in a few seasons time.

Centre backs

Vanegas and Jakoljevic played the most this season and did pretty well. Vanegas makes more interceptions and key tackles and scored 4 goals this season which is probably why he averaged a higher rating. Mafoso's tackle ratio is exceptional even if he only made 19 tackles. Miguel has done well, but doesn't seem happy not playing as a CB, so we may let him go at the end of the season even though he's done pretty well. 

Full backs

Moreau has been superb this season. He wants to leave and I've promised him he can leave at the end of the year, but I hope we can retain him. His interceptions per game are league-high, and he has made a very high number of tackles as well. He's also picked up 7 assists and 6 POTM awards, showing how impressive he's been. Davidson's low average rating surprises me as he's not done much worse than Harte really except for the 3 assists. Harte has had a much better season this year, but I'm still not convinced he's going to cut it at the next level. Whatever happens, we need reinforcements at the LB position as having 3 full backs isn't viable for a whole year, and if Miguel goes we don't have him to cover.

Central midfielders

Robbins has been more effective than Rafael as our BWM, winning more tackles (per minute), more headers, intercepting more and contributing offensively to a greater degree too. Considering Rafael is taking up a foreign spot I am considering selling him and upgrading. 

We've shifted to using a DLP alongside our BWM (as we did before the shift during the Prem season) and this has suited our midfield better. Dempsey played the most here and his 7 assists and 2 goals are an excellent return in addition to the tackles he makes. Villamizar also looked good towards the end of the season; on some of the highlights his key passes were just fantastic. Those two have displaced Clarke and to be honest, I think our Jersey-born stalwart's days are numbered. We could keep him as a third option. 

In our AMC role we're using an attacking midfielder and this suits Ygor and Palmer perfectly. The issue with the Brazilian is his injury record.

6 injuries, missing a third of the season. If he can stay fit, he's a great option at RW too and his 7 assists and 6 goals in just 21 games shows how useful he can be. Palmer got 14 games in total in the end, and is likely to stay in the squad next year. Cook played a lot at the start of the season, but his recent performances weren't worthy of regular selection and I think I'm likely to sell him and try and get one more quality AMC in, especially now I'm a little more set on roles for the formation. 

Wingers

Dilrosun and Scott have been an absolute joy this season. Scott is our top scorer and if we can get him on a free transfer I will. Dilrosun performs well in whatever league, but it's his goals this season that have seem him go to the next level. He's scoring impressive individual goals and he'll be crucial again next season. Smith just came in and didn't really feature much. He'll either go on loan next year or I'll use him as a backup. Bienvenu had a great year with 9 goals, but he was still quite inconsistent and I think if we can find a better option we'll go for it as he was awful last time in the Premier League and he hasn't really developed much since then.

Strikers

After a poor start, both Molina and Bah delivered the goods at different points during the season. Bah is more effective at breaking up play and setting up others, so probably just edges Molina. I'm going to see if I can upgrade on Molina before offering for him as despite the 17 goals, he also had some very poor performances and I'm not convinced he can cut it at the next level.

Mascall did really well in League One so we'll see if some bids come in for him. 

Our Best Eleven for this year features 2 Jersey-born players and 2 other academy products. I would like to see those numbers grow, but I'd also like us to stay up!

We finally have a record broken after 9 seasons with no records!

One other record to mention is the league appearances record. Robbins is now on 378 which is so impressive for a player who first played for us in the Southern League Division One South. If I'd had to pick a player who'd stay with us back then, it probably wouldn't have been him!

 

[Jtomsett11]

Team of all time Jersey Bulls

After 18 years it's not too often that new players are promoted into the all-time team. Michael Scott joined this season which is very impressive when you consider that all 138 appearances have been on loan from Manchester United. 61 goals in that time is an excellent return considering he has played at a much higher level for us than those with a better goal:game ratio.

[Punch]

Congrats on going straight back up! Hope your second time goes better than the first.