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

[Jtomsett11]

Pre-season 2033/34

We've had a pretty tough summer really.

Convincing players to join us has proved very difficult.

I identified this guy as a backup CB.

And he joins Portsmouth in League One, who offered double the wage we did.

Just to give some context, our wage budget is still lower than most League One sides, and significantly lower than Championship sides.

A more gutting signing to miss out on, and this time due to reputation rather than wages, was Jones, who I tried several times to sign again. That he went and signed for Sunderland really took the biscuit!

It means we've not added anyone to the squad.

Has the squad improved since the start of last season? Yes. Our average 'rating' is now 72.89 compared to 70.48 last season. However, at CB and BWM I would argue we are incredibly light. At CB we have a 15 year old who will probably play a good number of games with us having loaned out our other CBs (probably unwise but I assumed we'd sign someone). I could probably add a semi-decent CB for a bit of money, but I don't want to make our best paid player a backup.

To be honest, I'm happy to aim for survival and if we look like we're doing well then I'll start playing my best prospects regularly to rotate the side and give them game experience.

[Punch]

16 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

I've decided to change my positional changing to roles that cover more of the attributes and I'll see how it goes

Good luck, hope you see some benefits.

[Jtomsett11]

July and August 2033

This is a ridiculously good start to the season. 4 wins, 3 of those away from home and we've smashed some massive teams. 

Mascall made an instant impact, but it's been Folkes who I've been more impressed with. In 6 games in the league he has 3 assists and 3 goals, well up on his first two seasons with me. Harte also made his debut.

It would be fair to say he's got quite a bit of development to do!

We did have two medium term injuries.

The loss of Harrop, who started the season well meant I put in a loan offer for Scott of Man Utd. 

He scored a superb goal against Palace, an individual effort dribbling past two defenders and slotting it in from an angle.

So after 7 games, we're second in the league!  I will be flabbergasted if we win promotion again.

 

[Punch]

Thats an awesome start to your first Championship season

[Jtomsett11]

September 2033

A couple of very difficult away games this month, which involved reunions with Bondswell at Brentford and Toomer at Millwall. It's fair to say Toomer got the best of us. 

I'm not displeased with this at all to be honest. Our xG against Millwall was pretty similar to theirs, and we won at home comfortably. 

I've cut off the relegation zone by accident, but I really don't think I have to be worried at all. Can we win enough games to push for a play-off place perhaps? 

One thing that will harm our chances this season is our light midfield and defense. A few injuries will be enough to cause us serious shortages. 

[Punch]

You'd almost be proud to see your former Youth products performing well against you?

[Jtomsett11]

22 hours ago, Punch said:

You'd almost be proud to see your former Youth products performing well against you?

Definitely!

[Sonic Youth]

Great start to life in the Championship 

It’s going to help your rep no end, with players hopefully less likely to want to move. Well except for Prem Clubs and higher rep OS Clubs.

[Jtomsett11]

9 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Great start to life in the Championship 

It’s going to help your rep no end, with players hopefully less likely to want to move. Well except for Prem Clubs and higher rep OS Clubs.

That's what I'm hoping to be honest! Currently very hard to attract anyone that improves us!

[Jtomsett11]

October 2033

Another top quality month. We either smash teams without conceding or get smashed ourselves . I think this is largely due to our reputation, meaning teams set up very offensively against us and leave us so much space in behind. 

We're up to third, but I really don't expect us to challenge in the long run. Unlike last season where only 2-3 teams were capable of giving us a hiding, it appears quite a few teams at this level are. 

Other news

This makes me laugh. Sign him for £4 million then loan him back 3 and a half seasons running until the end of his contract. I wonder if we'll be able to sign him on a free at the end of next season.

With a threadbare midfield having two of our midfield cross over in their injuries isn't ideal.

Our finances aren't looking brilliant with a £250-400k loss per month. However, we do have a £1.66 million installment due in January for 3 January's to come. That's probably 5 months of a year covered. We will still need player sales each year. Interest is growing in a few players, but I'll update more on this in January as the crazy bids start to come in then.

We've had a few full internationals now. Harrop and Rowlands are two of my young wingers so it's nice to see them getting recognition from their nations. 

[Jtomsett11]

November 2033

This is what I meant about being smashed by some teams. However, we've hit back and sealed two wins to complete a very good month in my opinion.

I think now a top half finish is my aim, while a top 6 finish would be significantly exceeding expectations. 

[Punch]

3 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

This makes me laugh. Sign him for £4 million then loan him back 3 and a half seasons running until the end of his contract. I wonder if we'll be able to sign him on a free at the end of next season

That would be hilarious if you could.

[Jtomsett11]

December 2033

This is another bloody good month. The home loss to Coventry was a slight disappointment, but we have been throwing in some 16 year olds recently. The highlight of my experimenting was this.

16 year old Harte heading the winner and performing really well against Sunderland away from home is priceless!

We're now just over half way through the season. We're on 44 points and just about holding on to our 6th place. A wonderful start to life in the Championship.

 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake preview 2033

This is our best preview for a while. That's at least 4 players mentioned in the green part. A striker, midfielder and a couple of full backs would be great. 

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-season analysis 2033/34

Goalkeepers

Majernik has held the number 1 jersey all season. 9 clean sheets isn't too bad really and he's making lots of saves. I feel a bit sorry for Gordon really, but his '6' attribute for one on ones really puts me off as he's also got a tendency (15) to rush out. Ipswich are interested and I have a very good youth prospect so this could be an opportunity to bring in a little bit of money if a bid comes in.

Defenders

At CB, New and Mackenzie have been ever present. The latter is having a great season. He wins so many headers and his 5 goals this season have often contributed to winning us games. Harte is our backup CB, but he has jumping of 10. I'm starting to think he might be better off as a full back, but seeing as we're very short at CB he'll keep getting some game time there. 3 of his 4 appearances have been in the last 10 games, so I would envisage him getting 15 appearances this season.

At LB Holder has been the first choice and has significantly outperformed Howells in average rating, although the other statistics suggest it's a lot closer than that. Perhaps the fact Holder has been in a winning side far more is actually the reason for his higher rating as I find this often affects ratings, especially when you consider most of our wins have been quite comprehensive. 

Haughton started the season as first choice until an injury meant Fitton took over. There's not much between them except for Haughton's height meaning he wins more headers and Fitton contributing more key passes due to his better crossing. 

What is noticeable this season is how our output from our full backs has dropped. This is probably due to the increased quality in the Championship meaning our full backs aren't able to make as much progress and spend as much time delivering crosses as previously. I've also removed 'overlap' instructions so they're not operating anywhere near as offensively as last season. In all honesty, while Holder is good enough for this level, the other three are borderline. We do have some prospects, especially at RB, but could possibly do with some upgrades, especially if we don't manage to get Holder back in once his contract expires (assuming Brentford don't renew a contract on a player they've not used in 3 and a half years that is).

Midfield

Clarke continues to develop at a good pace and has done well this season. Yes, 4 out of 5 assists are from corners or free kicks, and yes his key passes are mainly from those too, but I'll still take it! Knill has played more at DLP this season as Park gets awful average ratings and we lose most games he plays in (unless he comes on as a sub!). I still can't really work out how to use Knill and we're getting to the point where his tackling of '6' means he costs us in games he plays as BWM. Backup DLP knowing he doesn't really contribute key passes or assists very often? Robbins is clearly our best BWM, continuing to make plenty of tackles per game, although his interceptions are down this season significantly, which perhaps suggests he's not far off being that yard off the pace at this level. 

Attacking midfielders

Nightingale continues to be our best performer on the wing. 11 goal contributions in 20 games is brilliant when we're newly promoted. I've given him a new contract worth nearly £200k a year which is very high for us. I know his star rating is low, but he just keeps producing. Harrop has been frustrating this year. Technically our best winger, but very inconsistent and he hasn't scored this season. I'll keep playing him, but he does have premier league interest and to be honest if a big bid comes in for him, with these performances I won't be too upset to lose him. It is probably worth mentioning he's had two pretty bad injuries, so perhaps that's also held him back. It has allowed Rowlands much more game time and his 6 goal contributions in 15 starts isn't too bad. Pennell has suffered from a lack of game time as Nightingale has been so consistent on the left and I feel I should develop Harrop when Rowlands isn't selected. He got two assists in two games before having a shocker, but his average rating, albeit from 6 games, is actually our second highest. Dilrosun was selected for the Sunderland game. He'll get 5-10 games I feel by the end of the season.

Strikers

Suddenly we are bloated in the striker department! So much so that two of Kalantari's appearances have been at DLP, with one great performance and one shocker. Folkes has had a bad time of it since I raved about him early on and gave him a new contract. He's contribution-less in the last 7 games I think! Istead has done okay in his limited starts, however he is unlikely to get ahead of Mascall who has been very reliable. 12 goals in 22 games with his 3 assists coming from the few games I've played him on the wing. Scott isn't natural as a DLF, but he does 'come deep to get the ball' and he's done well with a goal every other game and 3 assists. 

Now, I don't feel brilliant about our two best players being on loan (not even counting Holder!), but we've got to get ahead somewhere and these are the sort of loans other teams are taking advantage of in addition to having large stadiums to provide additional financing for wage budgets 10-25 times ours. Therefore, as long as I'm not holding back any youth players or bought players with significant potential, I'm going to continue to use the loan market until we're in a position where we can compete to own some of these young prospects. I think this is fair enough. The problem is some of my players e.g. Kalantari and Turner-Cooke are likely to want to leave as a result and that will leave me light next season if I can't then replace them. I still think it's worth it as in the long run, these players are unlikely to help us continue our progress up the leagues. Additionally, they're not Jersey-born or even just normal academy prospects, so I have less loyalty towards them. 

[Jtomsett11]

December 2033 addition

I didn't realise he'd got 5 assists in 5 games in December! That's all his assists for the season, so he's clearly growing into the Championship now!

This bid came in during the January transfer window. I rejected it, but it shows how far he's come!

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

January 2034

I completely forgot that we had bid for Eze on loan from United in December. He joins to provide the cover and competition we need at CB. 

January got off to a frustrating start, but despite that I felt as though my squad analysis from the end of December had helped me to find my rhythm again with the game and my squad. I'd done a lot of rotating in the first part of the season, but now felt more justified in my choice.

We should have won this game! Mascall equalised but we couldn't find a way through. More frustrating news was to follow. Mascall picked up an 8 day cold, and outstanding winger Nightingale would be out for at least a month.

However, again, despite this being bad news I felt it was an opportunity for Dilrosun to pick up more game time or for Rowlands to start more on the left, giving Harrop a good run on the right. Having to play my decent youth players was a little bit of release and we were rewarded in the next couple of games with some brilliant performances.

You'll also notice Folkes is back amongst the goals. Against Luton, Mascall was fit but I opted to retain Folkes and he opened the scoring for us to set us on our way. Scott is becoming more and more important at DLF.

The next game saw us play in the FA Cup, and we continued our fine form, as did Folkes.

We finished the month with two home draws, which was again slightly frustrating, but we remain unbeaten over the month.

We face Bournemouth in the next round of the FA Cup. I feel that's definitely a winnable game.

30 games played and we're still plugging away at the top end. We could just as easily end up promoted as missing out on the play-offs!

Scott took the main accolades this month.

Transfers

We had offers for both keepers, and although I said I'd sell Gordon, I ended up rejecting a bid of £750k for him as I feel I could get more. 

I did buy a player. Only my 28th bought player in 14 years (which I think must include loans).

£135k, wanted by most of the Championship and 5* potential. There's work to do, but I think he could be quite successful. Due to our installment from Bondswell, the finances are still looking pretty good.

 

[Punch]

Still hanging around in the promotion/play off contention. Massive effort that

[Sonic Youth]

Some good form there 

Time to use that good form and start making teams around you nervous about playing Jersey!

Nice run down of your squad. Could Knill (is it kill or nill?) play further forward (wing/amc/forward positions)?

And transfers  

[Jtomsett11]

10 hours ago, Punch said:

Still hanging around in the promotion/play off contention. Massive effort that

Yes, I can't quite believe we're pulling off some of the victories that we are! I think the 3 loanee signings this season have really helped us though.

27 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Some good form there 

Time to use that good form and start making teams around you nervous about playing Jersey!

Nice run down of your squad. Could Knill (is it kill or nill?) play further forward (wing/amc/forward positions)?

And transfers  

I've no idea how to pronounce - I've gone for Nill in my head. His issue is that technically he's awful while mentally he's exceptional. He's had a better season as a backup DLP this year and thrown in a few assists. If we did get promoted to the Prem, I can't imagine I'd be able to utilise him for long. 

[Jtomsett11]

February 2034

At one point I thought we were heading top!

Similar to Folkes last month, Istead came back into the side this month and did well scored for us. Harrop also showed signs of better form with an assist and goal.

There Istead goes again!

The rest of the month wasn't as successful bar the Millwall game.

Part of the problem is an injury to Scott.

We managed fine in the FA Cup without him. Istead again on the score sheet.

And the Millwall game was a superb display of attacking intent from us.

Against Cardiff and Derby though, we didn't really deserve anything. 

Those results leave us in 4th. We're still just 3 points off 2nd, but also just 3 points above 7th.

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Clauses March 2034

These are the most valuable clauses left to us, as the Holder 50% next sale looks unlikely with his contract expiring at the end of the season and him still on loan with us.

Bondswell is worth £4.6million, but they want over £10 million for any sale and he has 4 years left on his deal and is just 21. I think he'll still improve so I won't take this deal now.

However, Geddes is available for around £7.5million, and he's only got 2 years left on his deal. He's 25 years old and probably at his peak. I'll take the £2.8 million for him I think. He may go for more at some point, but I also think he may not. That £2.8 million will allow us to make another improvement to the club.

[Punch]

Some good money from those sell on clauses and buy outs

[Jtomsett11]

March 2034 (and some of April...woops!)

I got carried away and went into April by accident before taking screenshots of the table!

Still, 3 draws and 3 wins sets us up very nicely for the final four games. We've had some really tight games.

and some games we really should have won.

Bienvenu came into the side at AML where I eventually see him playing (he's a left footed right winger currently) and rewarded me with a goal in his first game and an assist in his second. His attributes have already bumped up quite a bit so I'm very hopeful for him.

The Hull game saw the return of Scott, which was timely.

Title run-in

That leaves us in a really exciting race for at least second place.

Brentford have some tough games, but so do we!

I reckon it'll come down to the final day again like last season!

We did go out of the FA Cup. I'm delighted with our run to the Quarters and the prize money we've earned on the way has been really useful for us. Southampton should probably have beaten us more than 2-1.

Gordon made 6 saves to keep them at bay. 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake March 2034

This is definitely a worse intake than last year, by about 2 points on attributes, but quite significantly on potential according to my coaches. 

The bright spark in there is Bah.

He looks like Dilrosun from last years intake in terms of current ability. A slight improvement in a few of those attributes and he'll look very decent. He's only 15 as well, so plenty of time to progress. We may have found ourselves another striker! 3 of the top 6 have poor personalities, so perhaps it's time to consider my HOYD again. Last year I couldn't find anyone who significantly improved upon him and would join us for reasonable wages. We'll see what we can find this summer.

 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2034

First blood to the Bulls!

Our next game was away at Charlton, and I had a feeling we'd struggle to get the three points.

We lost and dropped to fourth, with Cardiff on 78 points and Brentford 81. More bad news was to follow.

Scott has been crucial for us this season with 21 goal contributions in 26 games.

Next up, Watford away.

A draw for Brentford and a loss for Cardiff, we're back in third! We've got Norwich at home, and they've got Charlton at home.

We did our bit! Dilrosun continuing his excellent end of season form!

And Brentford...

Spoiler

They drew and go up on goal difference

 

[Jtomsett11]

End of season table April 2034

Our first season in the Championship and it goes to the last day for automatic promotion. I can't really be upset! Once again our season goes down to the wire. We still have the play-offs to go! 

[Jtomsett11]

Poached players update April 2034

I noticed that on our clauses page that two of our poached players have come through.

It's fair to say I won't be buying them, although I'll add them to our 'former player' shortlist. 

There's been one additional poached player, Thomas.

Not sure they've done their scouting right on this one! 

[Sonic Youth]

Goal difference!? You did say it would go to the final day. Time to make that so now in the playoffs 

[Jtomsett11]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Goal difference!? You did say it would go to the final day. Time to make that so now in the playoffs 

Goal difference indeed! 

[Jtomsett11]

Play-offs May 2034 and a bit of transfer news

Clarke had another superb month to take him to 14 assists for the season. 9 of those were in two months!

I've confirmed this loan signings for next season. Regardless of whether we go up, Mascall has been superb so to have him for another season is great. Scott and Eze were not to be convinced, so they'll be returning to United.

One player who will be joining from United is Morgan on a free.

We need another option at BWM and with his potential I think we can mould him into a great player. 

We've also agreed a sale, with Pennell leaving to join Colchester who he in on loan at. £250k for a backup winger is not to be sniffed at. There will be a few more deals this summer I feel as we now have sort-of-saleable assets in our reserves who are unlikely to ever make it for us.

 

On to the playoffs!

We faced Sheffield Wednesday away in the first leg of the Semis.

Mascall celebrates his loan extension in style!

We should have scored a few at home, but the away win is enough to take us to the final.

We would face Cardiff in the final. That's Cardiff who just won the FA Cup.

One of our old strikers sang the praises of our new (loan) striker before the game.

Could Mascall seal us promotion to the promised land?

No. Majernik made 5 saves including the penalty, so it was pretty one-sided! Ah well, another season in the Championship isn't all that bad. 

Especially as we made a huge amount on the Wembley game.

And we got paid for playing in the Championship!

So we don't go up, but we're suddenly flush with money!

 

 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Poached May 2034

The best of the lot poached so far. Still not brilliant but potentially good enough for the Championship I think. 

[Jtomsett11]

End of season review 2033/34 - player performances

Goalkeepers

With 47 appearanced Majernik led the club this season. I've been very pleased with him considering our defense isn't really Championship quality. Gordon is probably unlucky to miss out, but I don't like his attribute combination of a lack of pace and poor one on one ability with a tendency to rush out. I think I should have sold him in January for £750k.

Defenders

Harte never got his appearances that I promised, but Eze came in and did a brilliant job for us from January. It's interesting that he scores higher on average rating despite a much worse tackle success rate than New or Mackenzie. From my experience it's probably the headers won in the air as this seems to always favour the ratings for CBs. 

I've rotated my RBs and LBs quite a bit this season, but Holder is the most consistent, intercepting and tackling better than our other full backs. 

I thought this was interesting as Mackenzie loses loads of headers (nearly half) but still won the 7th most key headers in the league. 

As my analysis above indicated, Holder is good at his job.

Midfielders

Bar one or two games, we got by with just 3 central midfielders. Robbins has been superb this season, and his tackling is league high per 90 minutes and 4th best in total. At one stage he was touted for player of the year.

Clarke has also been sensational since December. 

He's top for assists and second per 90 minutes. 

Knill has had a much better season playing as backup BWM and DLP. His 8 assists is his highest for years. 

Wingers

Again, good contributions from all my wingers when you consider Dilrosun is just 16 years old. Nightingale is still our most effective, but his injuries meant he didn't get back in to the team much towards the end of the season. The question next season will be who do I favour on the left and right wings. Harrop and Rowlands on the right with Nightingale and Bienvenu on the left and Dilrosun playing either side for a few games here and there? 

Forwards

Kalantari aside, we've had our most successful season ever in terms of different players getting goals. Whenever someone was in poor form, their replacements stepped up. It's a shame Scott won't return to us, but Folkes showed he can compete at this level with 18 goal contributions from his 41 total games. Mascall is obviously the stand-out performer and the fact he'll be staying for another season is brilliant. He was third top scorer in the league and our player of the season.

Scott also won the rookie of the year award and the same with the club.

Team of the year

No real complaints with this. We're down to 4 Jersey-born players in the team, but 3 more are youth products. I'm hoping we can continue to have at least half youth products in the team. I always thought that as we climbed the league we might lose out on Jersey-born players due to improved youth recruitment and reputation meaning players come from further afield.

[Jtomsett11]

Club progress end of 2033/34

While we haven't developed any facilities recently, we've never been in a better state. We've now got a decent amount of money in the bank, we're upgrading our youth facilities and we were really close to promotion to the Premier League. We're also maxing out our stadium in league games, so an upgrade to our stadium would be welcome in the next couple of years I imagine. I don't want to request it yet in case we lose all the money we've earned this season.

 

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute analysis May 2034

Goalkeepers

Very pleasing growth here for all except Gordon who didn't get much game time anyway. I  do wonder how much more development Majernik has in him. De Rosa needs a loan or game time next year, so really Gordon needs to make way. Morris is young so I've got time with him, but De Rosa turned 19 without me realising so definitely needs pushing now.

Centre backs

Eze won't be staying with us, but overall our CB picture has improved. New and Mackenzie have both developed and Harte, if he can improve his jumping by one or two, is well suited to a sweeping type role. He's only 16 and his development has been superb. Both Barzey's (not related) are weak mentally, although 33H probably has longer left to improve, whereas 29D is now 21 years old. I'm not convinced any of the others will make it with the exception of Seymour, who seems suited to full back or centre back and has 5 star potential. 

Full backs

Howells growth has been very impressive even though he's not quite as effective as Holder at LB. The player I'm most excited to include in the first team next year is Davidson, who has 5 star potential and consistent growth and is just 17 years old. Most of the players below him aren't ready for first team football yet. Barzey's growth is very impressive, so we will see how he develops next year as his potential is limited according to the coaches.

Ball winning midfielders

Probably the area with our smallest amount of depth or options coming up through the ranks. Fontaine is 18 and developing, but his physicals are really poor and I'm loath to throw him in to our midfield just yet. Black needs more time out on loan. He's got potential, but I'm not sure he's going to cut it. In terms of first choice, Robbins was brilliant this season and his growth after a year of stalling is encouraging. Knill does a decent job as a backup, but the reason I've bought in another BWM ahead of next year is his tackling isn't suited to the role at all!

Deep playing playmakers

Clarke improves yet again and Knill also saw slight improvement this season. The most interesting on this list is Bah. He's been at the club 2 months and yet he's improved at least 5 attributes by 1 point already! Could we have a real superstar in the making?

Larkin and Park are surplus to requirements and will leave at the end of their contract. Despite their suitability to the role, they just haven't performed for me, or in Larkin's case, out on loan.

Wingers

We have a winger problem again. 

Yes, quite a few of these also play up front for us e.g. Istead and Mascall. I think some sales are in order! Pursall has had a good loan spell, so will hopefully join the first team next year, although there's so many options now I'm not sure if I've got the room. The concerning player is Dilrosun whose only grown by 1 point. I'm wondering if he's come through as a high CA, but limited PA player and he's already close to potential. He's only 16, so we're not in a rush at all, but I hope he has potential to grow. Bienvenu is looking like a good signings, with 3 points of growth since his January move.

Deep lying forwards

Kalantari will be leaving if I can find a buyer as I no longer use him. He's been useful, but his performances are not at the same level as Scott or Folkes. Bah's development is clear again here! That may be the best way for me to utilise him as unless we can get a decent DLF in, Folkes is likely to start and then we don't have a backup. 

Advanced forward

Mascall is our standout player, so to get him on loan for next season is a result. Istead provided good backup this season in the end and he improved ever so slightly. 

There's a range of other players who could potentially make it. Bah is the obvious one as he can finish (11). Many of the others are close to their potential so I may look to sell them. Degabriele is a good example of a player still developing, but his finishing of 6 means he's unlikely to ever do a job up front for me, and you've seen the competition on the wings!

 

 

[Sonic Youth]

Kind of feared that last game after the loss at home in the second leg coupled with the news that Cardiff won the FA Cup (). Kind of like a narrative you’d expect to read about happening on these boards (FA Cup plus promotion to Premium League).

For your first season in the Championship, and only missing out on promotion because of GD, that’s a pretty decent season too, and also a narrative you read on these boards too  

[Punch]

Pretty awesome first season in the Championship

[Jtomsett11]

On 01/12/2021 at 20:18, Sonic Youth said:

Kind of feared that last game after the loss at home in the second leg coupled with the news that Cardiff won the FA Cup (). Kind of like a narrative you’d expect to read about happening on these boards (FA Cup plus promotion to Premium League).

For your first season in the Championship, and only missing out on promotion because of GD, that’s a pretty decent season too, and also a narrative you read on these boards too  

 

On 01/12/2021 at 20:51, Punch said:

Pretty awesome first season in the Championship

Thanks to both of you! I absolutely agree, it's disappointing to miss out, but a fantastic season still.

It's been a tough summer trying to find recruits, but I think we're nearly ready to go in 2034/35!

[Jtomsett11]

Summer 2034

Off the pitch

Our first focus this summer was staff. I wanted to improve several areas of the club, including the coaching and scouting. The big priority though was a new HOYD. After a bit of deliberating I chose this guy. He improves on our previous HOYD in all areas, although Deakin had been with us since season 1 and had helped us bring in some fantastic talent. 

Now, granted not everything is perfect about him as he doesn't really suit our wing style play, but he should still bring in players who are suitable. His personality is also an improvement. Let's see how he does.

Coaching wise, after 4 additions we're now 4 star minimum in every category in the first and U23 team. Our U18s have a few 3.5 stars as attracting talent there is more difficult.

We have attracted a few more scouts, but our wages are still very low compared to other sides and the chairman isn't willing to budge as we "spend a lot on staff". We actually spend more on staff than players, so I guess he's right!

The other huge development off the pitch was this news:

I'd ummed and ahhhed about this, as I'm concerned we might end up moving out of St Helier due to the game not really realising we're on an island. However, our 5K capacity is now holding us back as we can't generate anywhere near the income other sides can. 

Transfers

Now to transfers.

In

Yeah. We've really struggled. I don't want to offer people £10k a week for what I consider to be average talent. Our highest paid player is now on just over £300k a year (Harrop) and that's as high as I want to pay right now. Therefore it's been slim pickings coming in. 

I'm not sure if I posted Morgan already, but his ratings were very poor when he arrived (2 star CA and 3 star PA), but they've jumped up back to the values I scouted him at. 

His ratings in the attribute analysis suggest a solid player who could get better. We needed a backup BWM and I decided our youngsters needed more time on loan rather than playing second fiddle.

Fletcher comes in to play as second or third choice CB. 

Considering we didn't really have one of these until Eze arrived on loan in January last year, I think this is a great addition.

We have made one transfer for January.

Jialiang joins mainly because he wants £40k a year in wages! Yes, he has areas to improve on, but he is a pretty solid base and I'm hoping he can improve further. He'll join in January. is his attribute rating.

Out

Significant players to leave include Pennell and Kalantari. Both contributed hugely to our promotions.

The others were youngsters who didn't quite make the grade. A few of them have been sold with 15% profit clauses.

We have had one other offer come in. 

I'm not interested in selling Mackenzie, especially not to a Championship club.

Squad and season preview

We're not predicted dead last anymore! We're also not predicted much better. Here's the top 10 for interest.

Mascall is in with a shout of top goal scorer though!

Our squad, unless any changes happen in the next 7 game days, looks like this for our opener against Reading.

As we've failed to recruit a DLF, Bah will fill in the role as the 16 year old continues his ridiculous growth (another 5 attributes have popped again from what I can see just during pre-season). The squad is 2 points stronger than last year, but we did then recruit Eze and Scott so perhaps it's about equal.

Aims for the season? A play-off finish and a decent cup run. 

 

 

[Punch]

Great looking lead up. Good luck for the next tilt at the Championship!

[Punch]

I should also mention, good luck with Jtomsett stadium

Has a nice ring to it, no?

[Sonic Youth]

Ooh, a new stadium! What’s your rep at the club? Icon yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if the stadium ended up as St Hellier again. Or St Helier even  

Building up nicely, and the improvement to your backroom staff will is good work too. It will be curious to see the next intake as well with your new HoYD!

[Jtomsett11]

21 hours ago, Punch said:

I should also mention, good luck with Jtomsett stadium

Has a nice ring to it, no?

 

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Ooh, a new stadium! What’s your rep at the club? Icon yet? I wouldn’t be surprised if the stadium ended up as St Hellier again. Or St Helier even  

Building up nicely, and the improvement to your backroom staff will is good work too. It will be curious to see the next intake as well with your new HoYD!

Ah, here's to hoping! 

I'm currently a legend.

However, Parsons and Geddes are ahead of me. Does that mean they're bigger legends? I wouldn't mind Geddes arena 

[Sonic Youth]

Yes, the Parsons Arena doesn’t have the same ring to it does it?! 

[Jtomsett11]

August 2034

Player moves and bids

Now I'd almost forgotten about Toomer. However, he scored 15 goals last season and has earned himself a move to fellow Championship side Nottingham Forest.

He's had a pretty solid career. Along with Geddes and Bondswell, we've got three proper Championship quality players playing for other clubs.

We've also had a stupid bid in for Mackenzie.

We don't need money, so he's not going anywhere, but I'm surprised by this bid to be honest. He has grown significantly, but I didn't think he was that good.

We've also had another player poached.

That's probably two reasonable prospects lost, but we'd be beyond their ability level by the time they came through anyway.

Football!

At first glance this is a good month. However, take away the cup games and there's a worrying trend in those away games at Stoke and Palace with 7 goals conceded, followed up by 3 conceded at home against Sheffield Wednesday.

In both games, we conceded penalties that made the xG look better than it was. In reality we should have won both games, but instead conceded at every opportunity. I have been using my positive mentality tactic home and away after it was so successful last season, but perhaps I need to be more cautious away for a while.

I feel part of the problem has been an injury to Clarke. Knill just isn't good enough as a deep lying playmaker and he's poorly suited to BWM. I am coming round to the idea that I need to replace him permanently.

Overall, this analysis of our performances is probably accurate!

Despite that, we end the month in 6th.

There have been some great individual performances this month.

Harrop's two goals here go along with 6 assists, all from through balls, in the two cup games. 

Dilrosun has also made a good impact, although he is inconsistent which is fair enough at his tender age. I think he probably took corners in this game for 11 key passes!

Finally, although he's not played well, Bah is coming along brilliantly.

This is his all time progress since arriving. I'm really pleased with him as he's been at the club 5 months.

Finances

Our wage bill is still ridiculously low. Talk about punching above our weight!

We're secure here because even if we lose £500k a month, we get £1.6million in January from the Bondswell sale and we'll get £4 million in payments at the end of the season. Basically, without player sales we're covered at our current salary level. 

 

 

[Punch]

Those sell on clauses keep coming back to give you a boost. Glad I learned about them through reading threads like this, as I will be making sure they go in any players I sell.

[Jtomsett11]

1 hour ago, Punch said:

Those sell on clauses keep coming back to give you a boost. Glad I learned about them through reading threads like this, as I will be making sure they go in any players I sell.

They're 100% worth it as you grow your club. It's worth cashing in on a few but leaving some as well as the paydays do keep coming and topping you up.

[Jtomsett11]

September 2034

I'm not sure what to make of our season really. We overachieved so much last season, that being 9th feels frustrating even if we're not far off the play-off places I feel we should be able to achieve. I don't think we've ever finished lower than 5th in a league. I've just checked and we haven't. . I did change our tactics for the away games and that worked, but then we were really poor at home. .

One thing that is frustrating me is the performances of players like Nightingale. 

He performs brilliantly for periods, then gets injured (twice already this season and many, many times in previous seasons). Ultimately, he's not good enough for this level but then that's true for at least a third of my squad, if not half, so while he produces the goods he deserves starts. Dilrosun will get the nod while he's out injured. In the past the problem becomes that whoever replaces Nightingale does pretty well which then means he doesn't get back in for a while and we lose out on his goals.

Now, we may have gone out of the cup to lower league opposition, but we did break a record in the process.

Perhaps I need to give myself a little bit of a break and accept a midtable finish, or even just survival, while playing 16 and 17 year olds semi regularly is pretty good going in only our 15th season of my management. 

[Punch]

20 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

They're 100% worth it as you grow your club. It's worth cashing in on a few but leaving some as well as the paydays do keep coming and topping you up.

I've not yet sold any of my academy kids. Most of the offers are zero dollar non negotiable offers, which get rejected outright.

I have had a few that are open, but they withdraw as soon as I negotiate. Oh well, so be it. I'm not hurting for money at this stage so I don't mind keeping a big squad around.

 

12 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Perhaps I need to give myself a little bit of a break and accept a midtable finish, or even just survival, while playing 16 and 17 year olds semi regularly is pretty good going in only our 15th season of my management.

That's probably a fair expectation

[Whalix]

Genuinely loving this thread, been reading for months now and love seeing the notification bell whenever I sign in. Keep up the good work, if not this season you'll push on to the Premier League next year and you might be all the better for it.

I had a "Non-League to Premier League" save in early FM21 and followed a very similar path. When I made it to the championship, I somehow scraped playoffs in my first season. Undertook a bit of a squad rebuild with strong young players with decent potential over the summer, thinking I could try to push on, but in the second season, we really struggled and finished 14th. However, the amount my players "learned" that year was huge, as we blitzed the league the next year. Also another season at that level helped build the clubs reputation a bit, so I was able to sell off one or two young players at really good prices which gave my budget a really healthy boost, so I could fill in any holes needed.

So maybe accepting a year of stabilising and player development won't be all that bad in the long run!