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

[Jtomsett11]

21 hours ago, Punch said:

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.

 

That's probably a fair expectation

I haven't caught up with your Isle of Man save although I was following your Notts County one! I will do so when I have a spare moment 

10 hours ago, Whalix said:

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!

Thanks! It's good to know that people enjoy reading it! I am starting to think you're right and was thinking I need to prioritise the development of my young players if promotion is looking unlikely as that'll be of great benefit in the long run! 

[Jtomsett11]

October 2034

October started really well, to a certain extent.

The win comes at a huge cost. Our two main strikers are out for a good while. Luckily we have a 14 day break for the internationals, but we're going to miss them for all of this month. Istead and Bah on their own are probably not going to cut it, although it'll be good development for the latter.

Two more injuries have followed shortly after. Davidson has been playing really well at RB so I'm disappointed he's out. Howell is backup, but we're now really short across the squad.

Considering the injuries, the month hasn't been a disaster.

Our away form isn't good. We're conceding far too many goals. However, look at the match winner here!

16 year old Bah doing the business!

We're not far off the playoffs, but need to stop leaking goals!

[Sonic Youth]

GD is only stopping you from already being in a playoff position!

Bah is looking very promising 

How is your medical staff? Does better staff help with quicker recovery from injuries?

Edited December 9, 2021 by Sonic Youth
Bah!

[Jtomsett11]

On 09/12/2021 at 21:31, Sonic Youth said:

GD is only stopping you from already being in a playoff position!

Bah is looking very promising 

How is your medical staff? Does better staff help with quicker recovery from injuries?

You're right of course, I didn't notice that! The next month wasn't brilliant so we're a bit further away now. 

I'm really pleased with Bah's progress, but also Dilrosun who had stalled last season in my opinion and that made me question whether he was a high CA, low PA player. From following various threads on this forum it's quite clear to see that there is a PPA bias towards higher CA intake players. 

My medical staff are top notch physio wise, but not 20 on sports science. It definitely impact time out, but I think my training schedules are probably behind players being fatigued and getting repeated injuries as I still leave it to my assistant. I think my next save will be at a higher level to start with allowing me more tinkering time with training. 

 

[Jtomsett11]

November 2034

Not a particularly great month, but not completely awful either, bar the West Brom result.

I said that Dilrosun would get game time due to Nightingale's latest injury. He rewarded my faith straight away with a goal. We did need an injury time equaliser for this.

Folkes and Mascall were back for the West Brom game, and both got on the score sheet. Unfortunately, we conceded 4 times.

At this point I decided to switch keepers and bring in Gordon. Nightingale was also back and Dilrosun was so poor against West Brom that I put him straight back in.

Much better. Folkes is scoring quite a few penalties, but he's also picking up assists so I don't mind that.

Against Millwall we were quite lucky to pick up a point.

Still, Gordon rated 7.3 so I feel vindicated on dropping Majernik. 

We're 12th, but we're 2 points off the playoffs and 8 off top. If we won a few games we'd be in with a shout of promotion. The good news is we have a 12 point gap to 22nd, so I feel we're pretty safe regardless of whether we start winning or losing. 

[Jtomsett11]

Extra Nov 2034 stuff

One player I've been delighted with this season and most of last season is Robbins. 

He's our ball winning midfielder and he's really risen to the occasion. Whereas Knill is really only still around because he's got a great personality and mentals for mentoring + he's Jersey-born, Robbins performs superbly in his role. He's technically not great, but his work rate and teamwork are second to none and I think this helps him to make tackles, and important ones, consistently. 

Off the pitch we've had some success with mentoring recently.

Mackenzie is still 'unambitious', but his determination is now 10, up from just 3 and I think he's not a million miles away from being just 'balanced'. He continues to develop and gets a lot of game time. 

Harte is an enigma in that he's poorly suited to full back and ball winning midfielder attribute wise, yet also can't jump (10) so isn't going to be useful at CB unless he grows a bit! I'm considering what to do with him, but any improvement in personality is a bonus. 

Fletcher is on loan and is now 'light hearted' rather than 'unambitious'. A win for Man Utd who've loaned him to us I suppose. 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

December 2034

We started December brilliantly, and when we faced Charlton a win would have put us top of the Championship. However, that loss and three draws in a row have put us back down where we belong.

In the three wins, Harrop scored each time while there were also goals from Dilrosun and Bah. 

The draws were pretty poor to be honest.

We should have won this.

And probably this. 

We're 8th, just out of the play-offs on goal difference (again!) and 4 points off the automatic promotion places. I really thought we were on to something with the three wins in the row, but I think the season is probably going to go like this for the rest of it. We're waaay off our points total from last season, but the league is obviously ultra competitive as so is everyone else up the top.

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake preview

I might regret my choice of HOYD depending on where else the attacking midfielder can play. From this I think we'll have two good attacking midfielders and one forward. We'll wait and see if it's a 'golden generation'.

 

 

[Punch]

The only golden thing you generally see is the colour of the text on the preview

[Sonic Youth]

It’s funny that Charlton are now top as you said Jersey would have gone to the summit if you’d beaten then 

Those two you think you should have won probably should have been considering their positions on the table 

It’s quite the adventure this season’s league!

Hope you get some top prospects through the youth intake 

Will you change the HoYD if this group is underwhelming?

Edited December 11, 2021 by Sonic Youth
Positions

[_Ben_]

17 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Youth intake preview

I might regret my choice of HOYD depending on where else the attacking midfielder can play. From this I think we'll have two good attacking midfielders and one forward. We'll wait and see if it's a 'golden generation'.

 

 

Not sure when you appointed him, but remember that youth players are at the club for about 3 years before coming through - so there is certainly a hangover from any old staff!

One thing I discovered, personality wise, when moving between HoYD’s last year. 

[Jtomsett11]

14 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

It’s funny that Charlton are now top as you said Jersey would have gone to the summit if you’d beaten then 

Those two you think you should have won probably should have been considering their positions on the table 

It’s quite the adventure this season’s league!

Hope you get some top prospects through the youth intake 

Will you change the HoYD if this group is underwhelming?

We're definitely not winning the winneable games, but you're right it is making it an adventure! I don't know whether I'll win 3 on the bounce or draw them all, or lose them all!

4 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Not sure when you appointed him, but remember that youth players are at the club for about 3 years before coming through - so there is certainly a hangover from any old staff!

One thing I discovered, personality wise, when moving between HoYD’s last year. 

Ahh yes, I had forgotten that and only brought him in during the summer. I think what swayed me into thinking he had influenced this already is the attacking midfielders as the new guy prefers formations with AMCs, whereas my previous one didn't and fitted out approach perfectly, although his attributes were a lot lower. As a result of @_Ben_ reminding me of the time it takes for influence, I'll definitely keep him a few year @Sonic Youth!

[Jtomsett11]

December 2034 analysis

I've kept my analysis more brief in recent seasons as work has meant playing time is reduced and I want to get on and play! However, I always find a basic analysis useful and it usually helps me to select my players for the second half of the season and we usually pick up our form. This could be a result of this process, or just my players maturing each season, but either way I will continue to do the basics.

Goalkeepers

These stats are exactly why analysis is important. I've preferred Majernik for the last two seasons, but his form has been shocking this year with his lowest average rating of his career. He's conceded over 2 goals per game as well. Gordon, on the other hand, has conceded just over 1 per game and is holding most of his shots. I guess a lot of the parried shots by Majernik are being hit in on the rebound? Either way, Gordon deserves a decent run in the team. His one on one attribute is now 8, so if it went up a little further I'd probably select him as number 1 purely on attributes. Both of these keepers now seem close to full ability and we have two younger players with 5 star potential, so I think whoever gets the long term number 1 jersey, it'll only be for a season or two until they're overtaken.

Central defenders

There's a few noticeable changes this year. The numbers of headers won per game and % headers won are down for all my CBs, and tackles are at an all time low too. Mackenzie isn't having a great year and to be honest, neither is New. Fletcher is doing okay, but he's on loan so we need to be careful about relying on him. We are bringing in a new CB on a free who I think we'll give a run, but he'll be completely unfit when he joins due to playing in China and them being on a break. Harte needs more game time. I may play him at full back for a while just to give him that time.

Full backs

You can see other than Holder, I've really chopped and changed my full backs, especially at RB. I think Davidson has real potential, so he will get some more game time at RB as Fitton and Haughton have both hit their potential. It's interesting that Haughton has a higher tackle %, header %, interceptions/90 and key passes/game than Fitton, but we've won more games with Fitton playing. We may be able to sign Holder on a free at the end of the season.

Midfielders

Bar Robbins, our performances in midfield can be filed under 'very average' this season. Clarke has 5 assists, but Knill has been borderline useless and Morgan is new to our system. Our DLP definitely has a lot of pressure on him. We play a 4-2-4 essentially, so our DLP is often out-numbered or under time pressure to find a player. Clarke does the job pretty well, but it's now clear to me we need a better backup, or preferably someone better than Clarke to rotate and offer us another option. 

Wingers

Harrop has been our outstanding contributor from the wings, despite his continued inconsistency. He either scores or assists, or gets a 6.2 rating. He had a brilliant run in December.

On the left we've used Nightingale and Dilrosun predominantly. Dilrosun takes corners, which boosts his key passes, while Nightingale takes free kicks (and has scored 2 this season), so their numbers are boosted by this. Nightingale, if he could ever stay fit for longer than 2 months, contributes so much more than any other player, but is also prone to doing nothing when we play badly. Bienvenu and Rowlands have had limited game time. I am tempted to loan Bienvenu as he has significant potential, but will do this at the end of January once he's played in the FA Cup.

Forwards

Mascall has done well again with his 11 goals. Istead has barely played since September as I've preferred Folkes as an advanced forward and Bah as a DLF (although I see him as an advanced forward once his pace and acceleration pick up from 12 and 14 currently) to give the latter game time. I've no real complaints here. We're not scoring as freely as last season, we miss Scott, our loanee from United, but it's in defense that we've been poorer and that's why we've dropped points we shouldn't have.

 

[Jtomsett11]

January 2035

Well, we didn't start January very well!

We did finally win 1-0 thanks to Dilrosun, but we should have been far more comfortable!

The rest of the month was mostly forgettable, including our very brief FA Cup campaign. 

Stevenage play in the National League, so that was quite the upset!

After this I had a tinker with our tactics and simplified the team instructions a little.

That's better! 

So, 2 wins and 3 losses in the month. How are we still only 2 points off the play offs? 

Those of you looking closely will have noticed a new goal-scorer in our 6-2 win.

We've brought in 3 players this January, although I have made a huge error with one of them.

Jialiang arrives on a free. He's solid and that's what I wanted. He's only played 23 games ever, so I think he's probably got some potential left in him. A slight improvement in his technicals and mentals would leave him very solid in my opinion. At worst we can make a decent profit on him due to his value!

Hall arrives as an option at DLF, AF, LW and RW! He scored his hat-trick from right wing as Harrop hasn't been brilliant and Rowlands has been at the Asian Cup since December and isn't due back until mid-Feb. 

As a result of this loan signing I let Bienvenu join Hearts on loan. They have excellent facilities so I'm hoping he'll develop with them.

I was also in the market for a DLP, and thought I'd found one.

However, he decided to join Ipswich instead. 

As a result of this I put a loan bid in, but due to auto-continue I didn't notice it being accepted and O'Neill arriving.

I feel like I'm going to seriously regret my oversight, both in terms of the impact he could have had on the field and the potential negative impact on our relationship with Man Utd. . 

Ahhh well!

[Jtomsett11]

February 2035

A much better month overall.

We've picked up 4/9 points away from home and 7/9 at home. If we continue this form I think we'll finish in the play-offs, but it's a big if in our inconsistent season!

We've had some up and down games!

Last minute equaliser for Burnley and Bah and Hall sealing the win against the run of play against Luton.

Bah got the only goal of the game against Coventry, before we probably should have got something out of the Bristol City game.

We may be amongst the leading goalscorers, but we're also still conceding huge numbers of goals.

We are just one point off the play-offs. 11 games to go.

I did decide to push for a youth facility upgrade to help with the development of our youth intakes.

This leaves us with £3 million in the bank. Potentially I'll upgrade training facilities at the end of the year if the payments take us up to £7 million ish again.

 

Edited December 12, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Punch]

Still looking pretty positive. Holding your own, nowhere near relegation fight, potential to push for play offs, things going pretty well for your little island team

[Sonic Youth]

You’re doing well and just need to tighten up your D as you near the end of the season.

Leaving Marc O’Neill out at the same time as missing out on John Wright would have been gutting.

Keep on with these unbeaten runs you’ve been threatening to take into a larger run 

[Jtomsett11]

March 2035

I'm afraid the good run has come to a judder and a halt.

I'm not sure the criticism of my stewardship is particularly fair considering this is our first real bump in the road in 15 years, but progress has definitely stalled.

Our defense is still pretty permeable. Our attack seems to have been somewhat blunted.

There are bright sparks, such as the continuing emergence of Davidson. He's earned himself a new deal on the back of his progress and performances recently. 

The playoffs are pretty much gone, which will mean that this season marks the first of our 15 to not end in promotion or the play-offs! A remarkable run that had to end one day!

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake 2035

Attribute wise, this intake is our highest average score yet. There are three stand-out players according to attribute analysis, and Dowling, Johnston and Holland are all up their potential wise too.

You may notice we're down to just one Jersey-born player  This will definitely make this aspect of the save harder as we continue as they're at a real premium. Obviously the fact Dowling has good attributes, a good personality and good perceived potential is very promising for him featuring in the team. 

Johnston is almost good enough to go straight into the squad. If we can change his unambitious personality we'll have a superb player on our hands here, assuming he grows. 

Dowling was only 4 star potential on the intake day and is up to 5 already. He looks pretty good in the right areas, but his mentals such as 'decisions' and 'anticipation' need to go up for me.

Holland scores well for attributes because a ball winning midfielder's key attributes include things like bravery and work rate which take up very little if any CA (I think). He could be good, we will see!

I've signed all the players this year. We have the money to now so lets give them at least two years on the youth contract to develop.

Youth in our first team

I thought I'd do a little analysis of recent youth intakes and who is in our first team/ squad and what their current ability and potential are. (3/5) will indicate 3 stars current, 5 star potential)

2035: None yet

2034: Bah (3/5)

2033: Harte (3/5), Dilrosun (3/5), Davidson (2.5/4.5)

2032: None

2031: None

2030: Clarke (3/4.5), Rowlands (3/4), Mackenzie (3.5/4.5), 

2029: Harrop (3.5/4.5), Howells (3/3.5), Haughton (2.5/3)

2028: Holder (3/3.5), Majernik (3/3.5) SOLD Brooking

2027: Gordon (3.5/4) SOLD Bondswell 

That's as far back as I've tracked each intake without deleting the last on my spreadsheet. What's interesting is I seem to have had a few bad years and then 2033 and 2034 I've got some real quality despite their tender age. 15 players have come through and made the first team or squad and 2 have been sold on and now perform at Championship level. That's not including some players who may start to feature next year, such as De Rosa and Pursall who are both out on loan for experience. I'm hoping our investment in youth facilities will help us to continue our development of first team footballers as we really need to continue this if we are to compete financially. Currently we can't compete in signing players if there's any competition, so bringing through the youth seems the better option.

[Punch]

Good to see you still have plenty of Youth in the team, shame about the lack of Jersey players, but I guess that is to be expected as your reputation grows

[Jtomsett11]

10 minutes ago, Punch said:

Good to see you still have plenty of Youth in the team, shame about the lack of Jersey players, but I guess that is to be expected as your reputation grows

Yes, I was really pleased when I looked to see nearly every year we get one or two through who end up contributing. I think I'm just going to have to do my best with the Jersey boys, we've got a few in the squad now and then if we keep bringing one or two through we should still have 2-4 in the team, or that's my hope anyway!

[Jtomsett11]

April and May 2035

Watford missed a penalty to end our winless run!

With that result we finally guaranteed that we wouldn't be relegated, not that that was ever really a worry!

Overall, the end to the season was pretty solid!

We played really well in most of the games, and the Huddersfield one is the only one we probably should have won, but I accidentally used our away tactics and we sat back and let them control the game. 

So we end the season in 9th place. 

 

[Punch]

I seem to find I have one, maybe two from the youth intake that go straight into the squad, but then it can take 3-4 years for others to develop into first teamers.

I'm in 2026-2027 season now, but it was season 2025-2026 before some of the class of 2021 became regular first team players. That was when I stopped playing the last of my originals.

[Jtomsett11]

23 hours ago, Punch said:

I seem to find I have one, maybe two from the youth intake that go straight into the squad, but then it can take 3-4 years for others to develop into first teamers.

I'm in 2026-2027 season now, but it was season 2025-2026 before some of the class of 2021 became regular first team players. That was when I stopped playing the last of my originals.

Yeah it's not dissimilar for me. If I was playing youth only I'd have to throw a few more of them in early on. Playing time is what gives them the best development and I think players like Bah, Dilrosun and Harte have improved dramatically because they've been blooded due to my lack of signings. 

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2034/35 analysis - club progress

At first viewing this might seem quite a poor season compared to our recent progress, however, to have our first season in 15 years where we didn't end up in the play-off or promotion places is fair enough!

On the pitch we've consolidated ourselves in the second tier of English football with a young, cheap team and there's plenty of promise of growth over the next few years.

Off the pitch, we've developed our youth facilities already and have another upgrade in the pipeline, while these two bits of news were also announced.

Okay, it's annoying we don't own our stadium, but this seems a really sensible size to allow us to grow and we incur no costs at this point. We'll have nearly tripled our capacity which should have a knock-on benefit for the wages we can offer players. Although it's not named after me, this is a fantastic development overall and it'll be ready by the time the 2036/37 season comes round!

I'm not sure of the impact of youth rating on intakes or development, but any increase is positive. I do know it impacts compensation which is great as a number of our players are getting poached each season now including 3 in 2034. 

Our aims for this save were threefold:

1. Get Jersey up the leagues while reflecting their use of players from other clubs in Jersey on an amateur basis. 15 years in, we're in the Championship and we had 6 Jersey-born players in our ToTY. While this will get harder and harder to maintain due to our youth players coming from all over the place, we've rarely had more than 5 bought players in our teams of the year, so it's other academy prospects that take up the Jersey-born places. Indeed, 2 of the 5 non-Jersey-born ToTY players were academy prospects. 

2. Win the FA Cup. This was to reflect how no team from Jersey had ever entered the FA Cup until Jersey Bulls in real life this year. I'm not particularly close to this aim, although we did make the Quarter finals last year.

3. Realistic transfers and wages for migration purposes. I stuck to this pretty rigidly except for one season which saw us promoted to League Two. The way I'm trying to incorporate this now is by limiting wage inflation to a financially manageable level. Our highest paid player is currently on around £6k a week and our wages are by far the least expensive in the Championship still. With a new stadium meaning more income we may stretch our financial muscles in the next few years, but let's wait and see how much income a new stadium brings!

Part of me is itching to buy and play FM22, but I don't think this save is anywhere near finished as this is only really the second time I've struggled (slightly) in a league. I can't quit now just because we've finished 9th! The Premier League and all its riches await (at some point)!

[EDIT] Our finances are pretty low as the consolidarity payments haven't come through yet - this will bump us up to about £5 million I think.

 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Sonic Youth]

Good season 

Take 5 loss and turn them into wins next season and your a good shout at being promoted 
That’s a good sized stadium, going to help a lot. I bet the next time it will need an upgrade is when you are in the Prem.

An upgrade to your youth category is great too 👍 

All this before your other off/pre-season stuff!

[Jtomsett11]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Good season 

Take 5 loss and turn them into wins next season and your a good shout at being promoted 
That’s a good sized stadium, going to help a lot. I bet the next time it will need an upgrade is when you are in the Prem.

An upgrade to your youth category is great too 👍 

All this before your other off/pre-season stuff!

Thanks! I feel a lot will depend on whether we can bring in some quality in the free transfer market. I've got a few on the shortlist who would improve us considerably and reduce our reliance on loans, but it remains to be seen whether we snap them up or they opt to go elsewhere!

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2034/35 performance review

Goalkeepers

For the first time in a number of years I've not been happy with my keepers and this is evident by the fact the game time is split between them. Majernik started the season as number 1, but his average rating was awful and he conceded way more than his xG conceded. Gordon came in and was better, holding a lot more saves per minute. However, even he made 3 mistakes leading to goals, and while he kept 8 clean sheets I'm still not completely convinced. De Rosa was out on loan this season, but perhaps deserve at least backup status next season. In light of that I'm likely to move Majernik on either on loan or a transfer. 

CBs

This was a problematic area this season. New's average rating is not bad, but other than interceptions he's outperformed by the other three CBs. If we can find an extra couple of players (Fletcher won't be staying as he's refused an extension to his loan) then I might move New out. Mackenzie had his worst season average rating wise, but did improve once Jialiang joined. I was quite impressed how Jialiang settled and I like his 90% tackle win ratio.

I did some further analysis of centre backs, as this is definitely a porous area for us.

I have excluded Fletcher here, although he'd be about where Fitton is. What worries me is perhaps our split block means our centre backs sit back too much and don't get involved in interceptions or tackles. 

Header wise, Mackenzie is well ahead but played more than Jialiang and New. I think minute by minute Jialiang is probably our best performer. Fletcher would have been between Jialiang and Mackenzie.

Again, Jialiang is proving effective in the tackle. Mackenzie's pretty poor season is summer up by his tackling ratio being below average. Fletcher would be just left of Haughton . 

I also did a comparison against other CBs in the Championship and Premier League.

Let's take a look at Fletcher, Jialiang and Mackenzie.

The low number of tackles wouldn't be worrying if we weren't ridiculously porous this season. Jialiang is clearly the best performer in the tackle and when intercepting. Mackenzie leads the way in the air. I may adjust my tactics a little.

Full backs

Apart from Holder it's a real mix of players performing at full back. 4 different players got decent game time at Rb this season as I begin to turn towards the future. I've accepted that Harte won't ever be a decent CB, so I've turned my attention to using him at RB. Davidson did really well in his 16 games, offering a decent tackle ration, headers and interceptions while also contributing the most key passes and 2 assists. Howells also played really well at the end of the season, getting himself 3 assists. 

If we manage to get Holder on a free, I'm happy with Howells and him at LB. RB I think I may be brave and go with Davison and Harte rotating. Fitton and Haughton are at their potential and both performed pretty average compared to the other full backs, so I don't see a reason not to go with the high potential youth players.

Midfielders

Robbins is our standout player in midfield at the moment. We could probably improve on him, but we did get Johnston through in the youth intake and I think he could be a better player before too long. Morgan disappointed me when he played. His tackle ratio was much worse and I think this contributed to his awful average rating.

Clarke had a real off season this year. Just the 6 assists compared to 14 last year and far fewer key passes. Knill ended up playing a few games at the end and did quite well, boosting his key passes and picking up 3 assists. I still think we need a new DLP. It's a real shame I didn't register O'Neill!

Wingers

I'm really pleased with my wingers. Harrop has been up and down, but he's got 16 assists and 9 goals in 32 games. That's incredible. Having a really good winger to rotate with him, Hall, has really helped. He had 14 contributions in 18 games, so a very similar ratio. Nightingale's figures are astonishing. 12 goals from 13 starts. I think I'm just going to completely forget about his rated ability and keep using him next season in rotation with arguably the star of the season, Dilrosun. At 17 (just turned 18), he's played 35 games and has 17 goal contributions and 153 key passes to his name. Okay, a lot of those are from corners, but he's still great. If I can boost his team work and work rate that would help his interceptions and tackle ratio.

Rowlands dropped out of the picture this year. He was on international duty for what felt like forever, and Dilrosun's dual-footedness meant I can easily cover injuries on the right rather than play Rowlands. As he can play on both flanks too, I may keep him next season in reserve. I do think I need another right winger like Hall to come in ahead of him to improve us though.

Forwards

We were less effective as a unit this season, although Folkes continues to shine. His best return of 13 league goals and 10 league assists and his first average rating over 7 come in his 4th season with us. He's now worth £7.5million and is a real asset. He has two years on his contract and wants £560k a year to renew his contract. I'm not sure he's £10k a week worth! 

Mascall wasn't as good this season, with just 15 goals in 39 appearances. However, he's still doing pretty good so I've renewed his deal until the end of next season. Bah often rotated with both our main strikers and picked up 7 goals in 24 games, which is excellent for a 16 year old! Istead wants to leave on loan, so I'll see if we can perhaps bring a good DLF in to backup/ improve on Folkes and use Mascall and Bah as advanced forwards.

Team of the Year and awards

No real complaints here, although Haughton is probably lucky to get in the team. 6 Jersey-born and 2 academy players, pretty impressive!

I'm really pleased for Dilrosun winning the player of the season. 18 years old, could he go on to be our best player yet? We'll see how he's developed when I do my attribute analysis as he did stall last year. 

Knill is our record appearance holder, although Robbins is only 4 behind on 296 and plays more, so might overtake him next year. They're both 26 years old, so perhaps could hit 500 appearances each before retirement if we don't progress too quickly.

Data analysis

I think this really sums up our season. We've faced more shots on average and conceded more goals than we should have done from those shots. We scored 80 league goals, exactly the same as last year, but conceded 15 more goals this season. 

Best eleven

Knill, Robbins, Robbins, Holder and Majernik (subs bench) are the only players still at the club with Holder on loan. I look back on Geddes fondly; what a record! Imagine if Bah becomes that successful for us?! Sorry, I missed Nightingale who has a stupid record for a left winger with a goal every 3 games. 

We've not had any record breakers for a season for a while!

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2034/35 attribute analysis

Goalkeepers

Gordon's game time has meant he's overtaken Majernik again. De Rosa is making rapid progress, so will be number 2 next year I think. Morris needs a loan now as he's 18 and I want him to continue his development.

CBs

Harte, although he won't play CB, grew hugely this season. Feeney is the other player who I notice here. He's 4 star potential, so perhaps could make it with us if he continues his progress. Losing Fletcher will be a shame, but we need to improve this area. Jialiang may not rate as highly as some others, but his addition was much needed!

Full backs

That development from Harte! Davidson has also done well, so you can see why I'm considering the two of them for starting roles next year. I'm disappointed by the development of our younger players bar those two to be honest. I thought Seymour would develop a lot more.

Ball winning midfielder

Robbins made some more progress this season which is pleasing at 26 years old. Most of his progress was technical - I think he improved in tackling and marking. Morgan made progress but was disappointing. Do I risk Johnston as our second choice next year? Fontaine did develop on loan, but he's still really lacking physically so I think it's another loan for him.

Deep lying playmaker

Clarke is probably near his potential now. I hope he has a better season next year as if he does have any development left in him, his poor average ratings won't have helped! Black was disappointing on loan. His potential is 4 stars now, so perhaps he's quite close to his potential, in which case he won't make it. Bah could play here, but will play up front. Torrao is on trial as we need another play in this role, but I'm not convinced by his '12' passing and '13' for vision. In fact his '10' off the ball isn't really good enough either.

Wingers

Just the 21 players who are wingers at the club. Most of the younger players have developed, with Nuhu and Young impressing. Nuhu has 4.5 star potential so I'm hopeful he'll develop into something. Pursall regressing isn't good. He's 20 now and is further away from breaking through than he was before his loan.

Dilrosun has made really good progress this year to go with his Player of the Season award. I'm pleased as I was worried about his PA. He's two-footed as well, so that'll hold him back slightly in his rating. Most of the young players are likely to head back out on loan if they're 18, or play in the U23 or U18 if they're under 18. A few may be sold/ let go if they're slowing down and are unlikely to ever play for us.

Deep lying forwards

Bah's development is clear to see here. Vines has some potential so will go out on loan to see if he can continue to develop. John is actually not great despite his rating. He'll go on a free transfer at the end of the season. I feel I need a backup here as Bah will play as an advanced forward going forward.

Advanced forward

Mascall has probably hit his peak, but that's good for us as we get to keep him on loan for a third season. I think Bah can come in and play a role as backup AF with Istead perhaps moving on. Starkey is out of contract and his finishing probably isn't good enough for him to play for us as an advanced forward. Hassan is 16 so has lots of time to develop. His finishing at 8 will need to go up to 12 or 13 for me to consider him as an advanced forward.

 

[Jtomsett11]

15 year update

Let's take a look at how teams have done in the big 5 leagues in Europe.

Spurs have done really well to win a title. Liverpool also pick up one, with United 3 and City the rest. 

Inter and Juventus continue to share the title.

Real Madrid extremely dominant here.

No real surprises here!

Nor here!

The European competitions are a bit more interesting, although do remember until this summer I've only had the English leagues loaded.

Only English winners here. I do hope by loading the top 5 leagues as playable that in the next few seasons Europe becomes more successful. Tottenham have not only won the Premier League, but also the Champions League, while Chelsea have 1, Liverpool 3, United 5 and City 5. 

The England-bias continues here. Arsenal haven't had a good save so far, but did pick up the Europa League. It's interesting to see super powers City and Bayern picking up titles here.

Well done to Leeds!

Internationally, there's obviously been fewer competitions.

After Jamaica were runners up in 2030, normal service has resumed. 

[Punch]

16 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

15 year update

This is fantastic.

[Sonic Youth]

Jamaica the only real surprise in the 15 years. The next 5 with top 5 leagues playable should bring more diversity to the results.

[Jtomsett11]

Transfers June and July 2035

This has definitely been the busiest transfer period of my tenure so far. We're finally in a position, due to a bump in our reputation to 3 stars (national) to attract some, if not many, decent players. However, we've also had to react to some sales and strengthen as a result.

Before the summer I wanted to target a CB, a DLP, another DLF option and potentially a RW.

Let's go through the sales first.

Outgoings

There's quite a few out on loan as they hit 18 years old and I can't guarantee them game time. There's a few on free transfers and the two Barzey's (unrelated) who I've sold. Then there's a few bigger transfers.

Morgan leaves after just one (unimpressive) season with us to join Brentford, who have been relegated and now own 4 of our former players! I'm taking a gamble that Johnston, our 16 year old, can offer cover for Robbins as I'm not planning to replace Morgan at this point.

Rowlands joins fellow Championship side Huddersfield. I want to give more game time to Bienvenu and didn't manage that last season due to Rowlands place in the side. 

Centre back New leaves as a result of our transfers in. He's always been solid, but the fact he's gone to League One suggests he wasn't really good enough for us.

And the big one.

Folkes also joins Brentford. That's Folkes, Morgan, Holder and Bondswell who've headed to them now. I think they've given us about £22 million for those four! Folkes has grown hugely as a player for us, going from 0 goals in 27 league appearances in his first season with us to 13 last year. However, he's only got 2 years of his contract left and wanted £668k a year to stay. That's way more than we're able to pay even if I wanted to pay him that. £9.25 million is great as £6 million up front and £3.25 million in two installments will allow us to develop the club further again.

His sale did mean we now needed to bring in two options at DLF, but it was just too good to turn down.

Incomings

Let's work through these in date order.

Jakovljevic was a long term target and I paid £250k rather than wait until he was able to discuss a free transfer as other Championship sides were lurking. He's not on much a year, although he does have a £20 million minimum fee release clause, but I think he's fantastic and is going to elevate us defensively.

He rates  on our attribute ranking, which is the highest CB we've had since Bondswell left. He's got no obvious weaknesses to me. 

Scott returning to us is another fantastic signing. Our reputation bump seems to have helped. He played brilliantly as a DLF but also as a right winger for us, so helps two positions I felt we needed to improve. He rates  on the wing and his physicality is very impressive.

Konate was a bit of a punt, as he wasn't fully scouted. 

He's not as impressive as Jakovljevic and scores , but that's enough to make him our second best CB. The key thing is that we now have 4 very solid options at CB, which we haven't had for a long time.

O'Neill was my transfer fiasco from January. He didn't want to sign again, but after a couple of tries he's come back in. I'd have preferred to rely on fewer loans (Holder renewed his contract with Brentford in the end and then extended his loan deal with us, plus we've got Mascall on loan for a third year), but I can't turn my nose up at the quality O'Neill will bring to the squad.

Finally, we smash our transfer record to bring in Campbell. 

Homegrown in Plymouth, he joins to replace Folkes and I'm very happy with what I'm getting. He's not played at this level before, but got 16 goals in 33 games for Plymouth in League One last season, earning 10 PoTM awards in the process. He scores on the attribute rating system, so he's technically an improvement. Time will tell!

Rejected offers

We have turned down a couple of big bids this summer.

Bienvenu clearly has potential, so I need to try and utilise him this season. Mackenzie isn't first choice anymore with our new signings, but we've strengthened this area considerably so I'd like to keep a youth player in the CB options, and bar last season he has been excellent throughout his career with us.

First team squad

As long as we don't have any last minute changes, this is our squad for the season. Our average score is only just higher than last year, but the quality is much greater in my opinion. This doesn't include some squad players like Fitton, Haughton, Majernik, Knill and Istead who are likely to stick around. The one dodgy area could be BWM if Robbins picks up an injury, but Knill has played there before and Clarke and Howells also could play there.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Club development June and July 2035

A lot also happened off the pitch over the summer.

Two extra players were poached this year, although I don't think we'll miss either of them. I also noticed Warren came through the intake at Bristol Rovers, so I'll keep an eye on him. He could reasonably end up as a decent Championship player.

The money coming in to the club due to sales allowed us to push for this.

While our youth facilities have also been improved.

This now leaves our facilities looking like this, with a new stadium also on the way.

Our finances are also looking really solid even after spending £3 million on a player. With installments set to come in January (£1.66million) and then the next two summers (about £1.75 million) plus solidarity payments each year, even without promotion things are looking very promising for us.

[Sonic Youth]

Some nice upgrades there. Bring on the new season 

[Jtomsett11]

August 2035

We start the month with quite a few injuries, but mostly to backup players.

I was still pretty optimistic and expected us to pick up a few wins this month.

Instead...

Bar one cup game we've been really wasteful in front of goal or really leaky in defense. Gordon was dropped and De Rosa installed between the posts after we conceded 4 goals for an xG of 2.34 including a penalty. That's slightly improved things bar the shocker against Swindon with mostly a first team playing.

This is pretty typical of most of our games.

I'm fiddling with tactics, but I'm loathe to change too much. We probably just need a little time to start finishing. Mascall is back so once he's up to fitness perhaps we'll be a little better.

We're clearly just not creating enough and definitely not finishing well enough.

Not where I wanted to be at this point!

I did laugh at these two financial news items.

Our wage expenditure is still the lowest in the competition. That sponsorship deal is pitiful really!

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Punch]

So if you were to boost your spending by 100 million, you'd still be spending your current wage bill less than Leicester

[Sonic Youth]

Got lots of room for improvement with that start to the season.

Wait, that’s your current sponsorship deal? You need a new chairman 

[Jtomsett11]

16 hours ago, Punch said:

So if you were to boost your spending by 100 million, you'd still be spending your current wage bill less than Leicester

What shocks me more is we're spending £2million a year less than Shrewsbury who were promoted last season and who've been in League One since a brief Championship spell in 2027/28. They're paying their best player, a homegrown striker, £626k a year.

8 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Got lots of room for improvement with that start to the season.

Wait, that’s your current sponsorship deal? You need a new chairman 

Yes, a really poor start. 

My chairman came back the next month with another new deal. Check this one out!

[Jtomsett11]

September 2035

Much better!

We finally win by beating Birmingham in our next game and it's one we thoroughly deserved. We then outperformed Huddersfield (just!) and Mascall tore through Swansea at home to make it three wins in a row. As you can see from our xG compared to our opponents, we're not exactly water tight, but at least we're winning! 

Our final game of the month saw us away at West Brom, which we lost 2-1. Funnily enough, that saw us lose our unbeaten run after 4 draws then 3 losses. It's funny how a few wins make everything look better!

We're moving in an upward direction in the league and away from the relegation zone, which I have to admit I was a little worried about at the end of August.

Sheffield United look like they could run away with it!

Crucial to our success this month has been the finishing of Mascall. Bah is only 17, so relying on him didn't really work last month. Mascall picked up the player of the month award.

Finances

Financially, we take our monthly hit, but we know installments and solidarity payments will cover these kind of losses.

We do have 4 clauses available. 3 of these are new. None of them are worth taking really!

Edited December 21, 2021 by Jtomsett11

[Jtomsett11]

October 2035

From the ridiculous to the sublime.

We've adjusted tactically with our home and away performances by dropping the defensive line away and also removing 'gets forward often' from our full back instructions. I'm not sure you'd say it worked against Watford, but we got a point!

Dilrosun has impressed this month. I've watched quite a few games for the goals since our poor form in August, so I've seen more of his play. His two assists this month have been a sublime chipped through ball and a beautiful cross to the back post from deep. 

Sheffield Wednesday couldn't cope with us getting in behind and unlike earlier in the season, we were absolutely clinical.

Those 10 points see us further up the table again.

This is where I wanted us to be at the start of the season. Who knows where we go next as we've been so inconsistent in the last season and a bit. We could end up challenging for promotion, or slinking back down the table.

[Jtomsett11]

November 2035

Another impressive month as our August-form becomes a distant memory. Just the one goal conceded as we pick up 10 out of a possible 12 points. To be honest, the home draw with Rotherham was really disappointing as all these teams were in the bottom half when we played them.

Mascall was once again in scintillating form early on in the month. What pleased me about this game was Campbell's performance as he's started very slowly since his move from Plymouth. If you remember, our previous DLF, Folkes, scored 0 goals in 27 league appearances with just the 1 assist in his first season, so we won't be judging Campbell yet! He hasn't got a goal, but has 3 assists in 6 appearances so far. 

On the back of this game I thought I'd chance my arm at extending Mascall's loan.

We've now got him until the end of next season, so as long as Blackburn don't recall him he'll be with us for a 4th year. He's near his potential and is top-end Championship quality, but probably not Prem quality. If we did get promoted I'd still try and buy him as I know what we'd be getting and we'd be getting guaranteed goals. 

He's now won awards three months running as well. Player of the month September, October and Young player of the month November.

The other game I'd like to highlight was the one against MK.

We dominated this, but it took two free kicks from Clarke, who gets his first assists of the season, to break them down. Our CB pairing of Konate and Jakovljevic is setting nicely after a rocky start. 

We're up to 4th! The question is, will we be looking upwards or just trying to stay in the play-off places by the end of December? We've got 7 league games coming up, including Norwich, Stoke, Sheff Utd and Leicester. Our easiest game of the month is against Sunderland who are 13th, but still a pretty big team. This will be the month that either makes or breaks our progress over the last three months.

Finances and clauses

We took two clauses this month. One was outgoing money, as Campbell will definitely end up playing 50 league games for us, so we save £45k. The other was for Rowlands. He's worth £500k, and is unlikely to sell for £1.5million in my opinion as he's yet to play a game for Huddersfield. 

 

 

 

[Punch]

7 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

What shocks me more is we're spending £2million a year less than Shrewsbury who were promoted last season and who've been in League One since a brief Championship spell in 2027/28. They're paying their best player, a homegrown striker, £626k a year.

Just a slight disparity

 

New season is going well though

[Jtomsett11]

December 2035

The good months keep coming as we see off 7 very tough fixtures and claim 14 points. 

The Charlton game was incredible. Watching the goals, our play was excellent and we were so clinical. Mascall again with another hat-trick. By the end of the month he'd have 3 hat-tricks and 4 doubles this season on his way to 22 goals in 17 league starts. 

By the time we beat Sunderland and drew with Stoke we were 11 unbeaten in the league. We then faced off against 1st and 2nd. The loss to Leicester was deserved and we should have lost to Sheffield United too, but we fought and won with a 93rd minute winner from Harrop, who has been forced into more of a substitute role recently with Scott performing so well on the right wing.

Against Palace we could have lost again, but outperformed out xG while keeping them quiet enough at the other end to end 2035 on a high.

And what a high. We're up into third and just a point off the automatic promotion spot. 

Transfers and contracts

Over this month I've sanctioned a number of sales of fringe players. I really don't like playing with a bloated squad; I want all my players happy with their game time and I want to be able to give most of them at least some game time.

These transfers are set to bring us in about £1.1 million. None of these players has stepped on the pitch for more than 20 minutes this season and this should open spots up to youth players if we need greater depth.

Haughton has been a favourite of mine for a number of years. 152 league appearances, mostly at RB due to his pace, means he'll get a warm farewell. We had 4 right backs in the squad at the start of the season and with Harte performing brilliantly and Davidson getting a decent amount of game time, we only need Fitton or Haughton in reserve and Fitton can play at both LB and RB, so is more useful. 

Nightingale has been brilliant for us. Look at his contribution last season! However, he's regularly injured and with Dilrosun and Bienvenu looking better and better and several other young players ready to step up soon, getting his £250k a year wages off our books is the good long-term decision.

Istead joined us in League One and made an instant impact. Unfortunately, (for him) our promotion coincided with Mascall joining and he's seen very limited game time since then. A 7 month injury meant he wasn't sold in the summer. Are we slightly short up front once all our loan players leave? Yes, but Istead isn't the long term answer. 

We've also sealed two contract renewals.

Dilrosun has 10 assists and 3 goals already in 17 games this season. He had interest from Chelsea and Everton, so that tells you something about his potential. This is a lot of money for an 18 year old, but it means we have him until he's into his 20s and there's no minimum-fee release clause which is perfect.

Clarke is another really important player. He's played in both roles this season, and while he only has 3 assists he also has a 7+ average rating across 21 appearances so is contributing across the board. I think that if we were to get promoted that he would still be useful 3-4 years from now.

Other news

In real life I support Liverpool, but I hadn't realised Klopp was still their manager.

They're 6th this year and well off the pace.

However, what caught my eye was this.

Lets hope Van Dijk has a more successful managerial career than another Liverpool CB legend Hyypia...

 

 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake preview Dec 2035

We probably have a keeper, an attacking mid and a CB from this. I don't need a keeper really, but then again it's good to have a decent production line!

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-season 2035/36 analysis

I'm keeping this one brief as I want to keep playing as we're doing so well!

Goalkeepers

I had spoken about using De Rosa more this season after his growth on loan. After game one and Gordon conceding 4 I decided the time was now and haven't looked back since. As our defense has improved with new players gelling, he's grown and bar the December month, where we played some real quality sides, we'd actually kept it much tighter at the back. He's made a tonne of saves which may be down to his handling and reflexes. If he continues his current growth, we have a really solid keeper here. The shame is he's not Jersey-born, but at least he's an academy player.

Centre backs

Jialiang's numbers are down on the others bar interceptions, but this is much better than last season. Konate has been really impressive after a shaky start. He has the highest pass completion ratio of any player in the Championship. I feel so much happier about this department now. If a bid came in for Jialiang I might accept it; he's worth £8.5 million so it would have to be a decent amount but he's not quite as good as the others.

Full backs

Harte has been the real success story of this season at full back. His defensive work is solid if not spectacular, but his offensive work is really impressive. Over 2 key passes per game is excellent. I don't really have any complaints here, although Davidson definitely doesn't win enough of the ball in the tackle. 

Midfielders

Robbins and Clarke have been the best performers, but having O'Neill is really helping to balance game time and provide another option at DLP. Knill and Johnston have barely had a look in. Johnston is playing for the U23s and is still developing, but I will get him out on loan next season most likely.

Wingers

I've put Scott here, as he's played a lot more on the wing. You can see Dilrosun and Scott have had the biggest impact, but Harrop and Bienvenu haven't been too bad. Considering the quality of player in this league, being 3rd and 4th in the assists table is excellent.

Forwards

This is really about one player. Top scorer in the league and our first striker to score more than 1 goal a game for quite a few years (Geddes was probably the last back in the Vanarama National), Mascall has been superb. Campbell has probably been disappointing, but then so was Folkes at first. Bah is chipping in the odd goal and assist without ever looking like he's going to go on a run so far this year. Then again, he's 17 years old and already has 11 goals from 51 appearances in all competitions. 

January transfer window

I won't be looking to bring any players in unless they're young players for the future. Interest has died down due to new contracts, so hopefully I can continue our excellent season without losing any of our best players.

[Sonic Youth]

Now that’s a much easier on the eye table 

Being on the end of scoring and receiving 6 goals in one month must have been an interesting experience!

Klopp at Liverpool that long is pretty amazing.

Some good squad sorting there, with contact situations sorted and moving on players that needed to be.

Looking forward to what happens in the the second half of the season plus youth intake 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Sonic Youth
Extras

[Sonic Youth]

10 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

My chairman came back the next month with another new deal. Check this one out!

He needs to go back to business school 

[Jtomsett11]

On 21/12/2021 at 23:21, Sonic Youth said:

Now that’s a much easier on the eye table 

Being on the end of scoring and receiving 6 goals in one month must have been an interesting experience!

Klopp at Liverpool that long is pretty amazing.

Some good squad sorting there, with contact situations sorted and moving on players that needed to be.

Looking forward to what happens in the the second half of the season plus youth intake 

Agreed, I feel like that December month was a watershed one for us, if we can continue our form into the 'easier' games we've got a really good chance this season.

Klopp's profile is outrageous, he has 18-20 for almost every attribute! 

I've shipped a few more rotation options out in January as well, I really do like a small squad! It also really helps with developing youth players as if your second choice is a 17 year old, he'll probably play at least a few games.

[Jtomsett11]

January 2036

I know lots of players and posters on here manage to get into the 2050s + regularly, and that my pace of play is very slow despite using the IR button for this save. I think my laptop is to blame for much of that in terms of processing time, but also my style of play often means I get bogged down in monitoring small scale changes. All of this is to say that 2036 is definitely the furthest I've ever got in to the future, and I think my 15.5 seasons now equals my longest save which was with Farnborough on FM2019, where I attempted (but didn't post) to complete the Dafuge Challenge and won the Prem several times without ever clinching that Champions League victory. I can see this save lasting a lot longer as long as nobody gets me FM22 for Christmas 

Anyway, back to the football.

January in the league was OK. We had two slightly frustrating draws away to bottom half teams, but the home victory against Brentford and scrapping past Hull more than made up for those draws and the loss to Forest. 

Those 8 points from 5 games were still enough to see us move into second place as Sheffield United suffer a loss of form. It's a long way to go, but with a 7 point gap back to Stoke it could be an interesting next month. Our form is okay, Leicester's isn't much better and Sheffield and Stoke are also underwhelming at the moment. Whoever picks up form could be in a commanding position by March. Will it be us?!

The Cup was superb, as our mostly second-string side thrashed Premier League side West Ham and then knocked out League One Bolton. Both those games netted us £900k in ticket sales which is a nice boost to have. We will face Forest away in the Fifth Round, and as they just beat us I can see them beating us again. Bah has had a difficult season to be honest, scoring just 2 league goals and 2 in the Carabao Cup. His performance against West Ham was brilliant. The potential is there, I just need to give him time to develop. 

Club developments

Off the pitch, there were two changes of note this month.

Our training facilities have been improved, which takes our facilities to Great for youth and training. This is excellent progress. 

A bigger change for us was the loss of our assistant manager. Now, this is the first career where I've IR'd games, but I assume that as my assistant essentially makes all the changes aside from my match plans, he's a pretty important guy.

Looking at him, you can see I preferred his managerial assets as a result. I've no idea if 'tactical knowledge', 'motivating' and 'man management' have an impact on his ability to manage when I IR (perhaps someone with more knowledge could clarify?) but that's what I went for.

This is our replacement.

His preferred formation and tactical style suit our tactics more, although we're not really a route one side. He isn't quite as good a man manager and lacks some tactical knowledge, but he's the best I could find to be honest. Let's see if his appointment has any impact!

I suppose a third development would be me hitting 800 games, but it's less important than these two changes to be honest.

Transfers

Two extra outgoings this month, but otherwise relatively quiet.

We didn't need 3 senior goalkeepers plus one highly rated youth prospect out on loan. Fitton could have stayed as backup RB and LB, but he started kicking up a fuss and he wouldn't have earnt a new contract anyway, so might as well get a bit more money for him now.

Both of these players have truly played a key role in our development. Fitton moved up 6 division with us and could still mostly cope with the football at this level!

Our finances now look like this. Very healthy.