[FM23] The 44 - The EFL teams who have never been in the Premier League - [4/44] - Chapter 5: Colchester United FC

[Punch]

1 hour ago, AlfieLucas said:

Really enjoying this so far, KUTGW!

Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying it.

Plenty of clubs still to come as well.

[Punch]

 

MAR 2024

With our clash against Man U postponed twice, due to internationals, and FA Cup games, no being played at the end of April, it ended up being a quiet month.

Man City were just a class above...two games in a row, knocking us out of the FA Cup, and then winning by the same scoreline a week alter in the League.

We hung in against The Gunners and stole a points at the death with a late goal.

 

We drop to 11th, but short of losing every single game between now and the end of the season, we should be safe from relegation, even if not officially yet.

 

 

We went with City to start the game, but they put the foot down at the 40th minute, and by half time, the game was over.

Our run ends at the 5th Round for the second straight year.

 

Even with minimal home games, we manage to turn a good profit again this month.

 

Next month does not look any easier.

[Punch]

 

APR 2024

A good start to the month as we held Norwich and beat Newcastle, but as usual, the big boys were just a class above.

 

We sit 12th, and the relegation places are already confirmed, with us not being involved.

 

After our financial struggles last season, we are now one of the most profitable clubs in the League.

 

A big finish to the season as we have a chance to push for a spot inside the top 10.

[Punch]

 

MAY 2024

A solid finish to the season as we hold Forest to a draw, lose a tight one at Bournemouth, but then round out the season with two good wins over Palace, and Everton.

 

A great final month sees us finish in 8th place, just 4 points behind the European places.

 

We finish the season with the club in a brilliant financial position, which is a massive turn around from the struggles in The Championship last season.

 

A monster boost from the end of season prize money.

[Punch]

 

2023-2024 Season Review

 

 

[Punch]

 

 Chapter 3 Wrap Up

Preston North End have spent most of the last two decades in the Championship, but had just never taken the final step into the Premier League.

A solid season lead us to 4th place, equaling our highest ever finish, before a crazy play off scenario, and an even crazier play off final seen us promoted to the Premier League.

Some really solid recruitment, and promotion of highly rated youngsters seen us put together a really solid squad.

We spent the majority of the season in the mid table region, before a big final push seen us finish in 8th place in our debut season.

The club has also seen a huge boost in sponsorship and fan support, and with almost £60 million in the bank, the club is in a great financial position for the future.

 

And with that...

 

 

Chapter 3 is complete.

[Punch]

Chapter 4 - The search for a new club

 

We pull the trigger on the random number generator...

 

 

All the way back near the top of the list.

 

 

 

Bristol City FC

 

 

Our longest trip yet as we make our way 315 kilometers south to Ashton Gate.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

 

Chapter 4 - Bristol City FC

 

Founded in 1894, The Robins have spent most of the last two decades between The Championship and League one.

Since their last promotion to the Championship, Bristol have struggled to make in impact, with a highest finish of 11th in 2017/2018, but have narrowly avoided relegation for the last two seasons.

 

Home games are played at the 27,000 seat Ashton Gate.

 

A two year deal to get me started at The Robins.

 

The Board are after a top half finish this season, building up to play offs and then promotion.

 

The fans just want us to stay in the Championship.

They also want as to beat local rivals Bristol Rovers, although they are in the division below us.

 

The bank balance is healthy to start, but there is no transfer budget, and not much room under the wage budget.

We may need to get creative with free transfers and loans.

 

I am changing up the tactic slightly this time around to a 523, to make use of the number of wing backs in the squad.

The squad looks pretty decent on first glance, but there are a few missing on long term injury, so will be interesting to see how the preseason friendlies shape up.

 

We are off to Ireland for a training camp, before kicking off the season against Hull.

[Punch]

 

JUL 2022

The squad took some time warming into the formations I am using, but it came good in the last few games, culminating in a thrashing of Hull to start the season.

 

 

 

Not much to go on yet, except a positive start.

 

 

The Bookies don't think much of our chances this season.

 

A busy month as the season proper kicks into gear, and we get a tough draw in the League Cup.

[Punch]

 

AUG 2022

A shaky start to the month as we were held to a draw by Sunderland, knocked out of the the League Cup in a tight one by Norwich, before another tight loss to Wigan.

We finally turned it around thrashing Luton, should have beaten Cardiff, but had to settle for a draw, before rounding out the month with a tight win over Blackpool.

 

 

 

We sit 7th on a packed table.

 

 

No Cup run this season as we crash out in the 1st Round, following a tight loss to Norwich.

In a pretty poor quality match, neither side created much in the way of chances, but The Canaries took the one that mattered,

I guess we just get to concentrate on the League matches until the FA Cup kicks in,

 

We received a payment from a previous transfer at the end of July which made the bank look better, but we still made a loss this month.

 

Just League games to concentrate on for the time being.

[Punch]

 

AUG 2022 - Transfers

With zero transfer budget, there was no big spending spree, so we have just brought in two loan players.

 

A solid central defender to help give us some depth, can also fill in on the left if required.

 

Another depth player that can play either wing or up front if needed.

 

How the squad looks

 

We have plenty of options across all areas, and with some good players coming back off long term injuries, our attacking depth will only get stronger.

 

Middle of the road as far as wages go, although we're over budget.

Norwich still makes me laugh every time.

 

 

[Punch]

 

SEP 2022

With the Huddersfield game postponed to next month, we had just the four League games.

We were unbeaten, but we also only won once, finishing the month with a hat-trick of 1-1 draws, and plenty of missed chances.

 

 

 

We fall to 8th, but it's such a tight table that a win or loss either way could take us from 3rd to 16th.

 

A big hit to the finances this month.

 

A massive month coming up to get as many games in as possible before the World Cup break.

[Stuniverse]

On 24/12/2022 at 05:48, Punch said:

A great final month sees us finish in 8th place, just 4 points behind the European places.

Congratulations on your success with Preston North End, @Punch. That’s three out of three now in straight seasons.

On 24/12/2022 at 10:21, Punch said:

Chapter 4 - Bristol City FC

No pressure, but Bristol City fans will be expecting more of the same.

Edited December 25, 2022 by Stuniverse

[Punch]

13 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Congratulations on your success with Preston North End, @Punch. That’s three out of three now in straight seasons

Thank you!

It's been crazy, such different paths to get there for each one so far as well.

 

16 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

No pressure, but Bristol City fans will be expecting more of the same.

Well so far the fans only want survival in The Championship.

[LazgoNNO2000]

4 hours ago, Punch said:

Thank you!

It's been crazy, such different paths to get there for each one so far as well.

 

Well so far the fans only want survival in The Championship.

wow now your in bristol city

takeover at Salford or Wimbledon where

[Punch]

1 hour ago, LazgoNNO2000 said:

wow now your in bristol city

takeover at Salford or Wimbledon where

The clubs are being picked randomly, so they will have their turn when their number comes up.

[Punch]

 

OCT 2022

A monster month as we squeeze in as many games as possible before the World Cup break next month.

Becoming the masters of the draw, and throwing in a few losses to boot, by the loss to Huddersfield, we had gone seven games without a win.

We managed to turn it around to finish the month winning three of the next four.

 

 

 

We had fallen as low as 12th, but manage to finish the month in 7th.

One more win would have us in 4th place...but one more loss, and we'd be 12th...crazy how close this table is.

 

Another big loss this month.

I took a bit of a look into the finances, and see that on top of wages, our next big expenses are spending nearly £250k a month on ground maintenance, and over £350k per month on taxes.

 

Three tough games to fit in before we go on a break for the World Cup.

[Punch]

 

NOV 2022

Just the three matches before the World Cup break, and we didn't win any of them. In fact, we didn't even manage to score a goal.

We knew they were going to be three tough games, so to take points in two of them, is probably not a bad month, but our goal scoring issues are a concern.

 

 

Even our xG was very low in all three games.

 

We sit 8th, but we give up ground to the play offs, and now sit more than a win behind.

 

The finances continue to be hit, going to need a good performance in the FA Cup to boost the funds.

 

That will be no easy task as we are drawn against Premier League Leicester in the 3rd Round.

 

Another four big games coming up after the World Cup if we want to push for a play off spot.

[Stuniverse]

@Punch the break for the Qatar World Cup adds an interesting dimension which you didn't have at Accrington but did at Rotherham, Preston and now Bristol City.

I may be wrong, but I'm guessing those three football clubs won't have lost many players on World Cup duty.

So how do you handle the six-weekish break? Give players time off or work them? Arrange friendly matches or not? Go like it's a second pre-season or not? And have you varied your approach from football club to football club?

[Punch]

@Stuniverse, Accrington being in League One for the World Cup period did not get as long of a break, from memory I think a few games were moved for other clubs.

For the most part I have just gone pretty easy in training and then organised a friendly the week before the comp starts again.

I think Bristol has four players called up to the World Cup, which is the most of the four clubs so far.

[Punch]

 

DEC 2022

We came back from the World Cup break with a bang, blitzing Rotherham, before turning on two of our worst performances of the season.

We were just poor losing to Stoke, and we probably should have been beaten by West Brom.

We finished the month off with an unconvincing win against a struggling Millwall side.

 

 

 

Draws are killing us.

We have lost less games than every team in the top 6, but we are just not winning enough to mount a serious challenge.

I am going to toy with the formation a little, and maybe make us more attacking to see if we can create/convert more chances.

 

First time I have seen this come up in an active save. This dropped them from 19th to last, and may see them struggle to avoid relegation now.

 

Still going backwards in a hurry.

 

Important games coming up, including a tough kick off to the FA Cup.

[Punch]

 

JAN 2023

An amazing month as we make a slight tactical adjustment to get another man forward, going from 523, to 4231, and it paid immediate dividends.

We take three from four, and a draw in the League, and also upset Leicester before getting thumped by Liverpool, but we did earn a good payday.

 

 

 

A fantastic month and all of a sudden we find ourselves inside the play off spots.

 

That great month leads me to my first Manager of the Month award.

 

 

We shocked Leicester at King Power with an early goal, and then picked up two more straight after the break.

They pulled one back, but we stayed solid in defence to send us to the 4th Round.

 

Where we got hammered at Anfield.

They just outclassed us all over the field, and the only good news for us, was the £1.5 million share of the gate.

 

Transfers

A few in, a few out, including a big pay day for Alex Scott who wasn't going to sign a new contract, so went to the Premier League.

 

An addition to bolster the midfield, not a superstar, but a solid player to help the rotation.

 

A central defender on loan to bolster the rotation.

 

Same with this one, a solid youngster who provides us another defensive option.

 

Some big money spent by the big clubs.

 

A big payday from a player sale, and a good Cup gate sends the bank balance soaring.

 

We've reduced our wage bill but still over budget slightly.

 

Just League games to Concentrate on now, and some big ones coming up.

 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

 

FEB 2023

Oh dear. I think the sooner we forget about this month, the better.

 

 

 

After a horrible month, we drop to 10th, but we are still only one win out of the play offs, just showing how close this competition is.

 

 

Four big games to come which could decide our chances of making the play offs.

[Stuniverse]

Oh no, after a fantastic January you had a terrible February.

What went wrong, @Punch, anything you can put your finger on?

I hope Bristol City’s March is more like January than February.

[Pearomaniac]

Oof u win 4:0, u think u will finally turn your luck but no. Chin up, u are still close to that promotion play off spot, time for a strong finish brother @Punch

[Punch]

5 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

Oh no, after a fantastic January you had a terrible February.

What went wrong, @Punch, anything you can put your finger on?

I hope Bristol City’s March is more like January than February.

The first two games were tight affairs that we struggled to convert chances, the Sunderland game we just collapsed, even though we dominated possession they just put the ball in the net every time they got in our area, and Hull was just another tight one.

Other than Sunderland, we didn’t play that badly, we just didn’t take our chances.

[Punch]

4 hours ago, Pearomaniac said:

Oof u win 4:0, u think u will finally turn your luck but no. Chin up, u are still close to that promotion play off spot, time for a strong finish brother @Punch

Yeah, win 4-0 just to give them all back in the next match…it’s a crazy game we play 

Goes to show how close the competition is in this division though.

[Punch]

7 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

What went wrong

Also, while this chapter of the save has had some weird anomalies, like Birmingham copping a 12 point deduction, first time I’ve seen it in an active save, I have also seen a lot of players wanting new contracts.

That is not always unusual as such, but squad players, on 5-10k per week, all of a sudden demanding to be important players on 15-20k per week.

Well 1, we don’t have the budget for that, and 2, if we had the budget, you probably wouldn’t be at the club.

Not that it seems to be affecting morale massively, but we do have a few players ‘supporting team mate who wants a new contract’.

[Punch]

 

MAR 2023

An impressive turn around from last month, as the formation tweak to a more attacking 4231 starts to pay dividends.

 

 

 

Four straight wins rockets us into 3rd place.

 

A quality month, and our turn around inform coincides with Semenyo starting to find form after  coming back from a long term injury.

 

A second award for myself.

 

Back to our normal ways of losing money.

 

A massive month to almost finish the season. A lot of games to get through in a hurry.

[Punch]

 

APR 2023

A monster month and we put in some great performances, and some dusty ones as well.

Won a seven goal thriller, and then lose and 8 goal one. Crazy times.

 

 

 

We did reach 2nd place at one stage, but with one game remaining, automatic promotion is off the table now.

Unless we get beaten by 20 goals, we should secure a play off spot though.

 

A tough match to finish as QPR will be trying to make the play offs as well.

[Stuniverse]

Good luck against QPR 🍀⚽️🤞

[Punch]

 

 

MAY 2023 - Match Day 46

We score a 93rd minute equaliser to take a share of the points, and break QPR's hearts as they needed to win to qualify.

 

We'd been as high as 2nd, and as low as 12th throughout the season, but we settle for 4th.

 

We get Boro in the semi final, with us getting the home advantage in the second leg.

We had a win and a draw against them this season, but it all counts for nothing in what I expect to be a hard fought tie.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

 

MAY 2023 - Play Off Semi Final 1st Leg

 

 

It took us a long time to get going in this game, and once we finally did, we'd left ourselves too much work to do, and we couldn't run Boro down.

We did pull a goal back, but we have left ourselves some work to do in the return leg.

 

Sheffield United hold handy lead in the other semi final.

[Stuniverse]

Good luck in the second-leg. 🍀⚽️🤞

[Punch]

 

MAY 2023 - Play Off Semi Final 2nd Leg

 

 

It all ends in tears as Boro catch us on the counter twice as we were chasing the game.

We didn't play badly, we just left ourselves too much work to do.

 

Sheffield United completed a comfortable win over Luton to win the other semi final.

[Stuniverse]

Oh, no,  @Punch. That's so gutting.

You know what you have to do, regroup, galvanise the troops, strengthen where needed, and aim for automatics next season.

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Stuniverse

[Punch]

Yeah, a disappointing end, but considering we were predicted 14th, and had never finished higher than 11th, to make the play offs is a massive achievement.

[Punch]

 

MAY 2023

A draw to finish the season regular, before a pair of 1-2 losses to Boro ended our season at the Play Off Semi Final stage.

 

 

Boro then went on to beat Sheffield United in the Final to gain promotion to the Premier League.

 

An increase in sponsorship, and the solidarity payment means we finish the season in a strong position financially.

 

It's not Premier League money, but it will come in handy all the same.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Punch

[Punch]

 

2022/2023 Season Review

 

First non-promotion season of the challenge.

[Punch]

 

JUN 2023 - Off Season Things

The new season draws near bring 6 new clubs for us to compete against.

Palace, Everton, and Southampton will make for tough competition as they look to return to the Premier League, while Fleetwood and Plymouth are probably surprise packets, joining Barnsley in promotion from League One.

 

We will kick off the season against newly promoted Barnsley, while our first test against the relegated Premier League teams will be in Round 4.

 

Ranked 9th by the Bookies this year, a big improvement on 18th from last season.

 

We get a slight increase to the wage budget, and we actually have a transfer budget to start this season.

 

 

Shows the massive gap between EPL and Championship.

 

A few friendlies here before we head to Spain for a training camp.

 

[Punch]

 

JUL 2023 - Friendly Season

Some big wins before a mixed bag on our Spanish pre-season tour, but I am more interested in the minutes than the results anyway.

 

A big chunk of money from the season tickets, but we still make a slight loss this month.

 

400 up on last season.

 

Just the one transfer so far as we bring in another right sided defender, where we looked thin.

 

We now have several players that will genuinely compete for positions now, and Freeman looks like a good solid defender.

 

A pretty solid looking squad to get us under way.

I have picked another youngster as a potential superstar in the AM(C) role, Benarous was awesome on loan last season, and being able to play anywhere in the front half, I am expecting bug things from him.

 

One more friendly to fill in the gap before the season starts, and then we are off and running, with a League Cup game in there as well.

[Pearomaniac]

Have i told u that Bristol City has mighty Loris Karius on goal in my save  @Punch

[Punch]

6 minutes ago, Pearomaniac said:

Have i told u that Bristol City has mighty Loris Karius on goal in my save  @Punch

Handy signing 

[Pearomaniac]

Looking forward seeing u manage Wimbledon, im curious to see how different approaches will work and how fast will u get to the PL @Punch

[Punch]

1 hour ago, Pearomaniac said:

Looking forward seeing u manage Wimbledon, im curious to see how different approaches will work and how fast will u get to the PL @Punch

Still a massive variety of clubs to come, and the random number generator hasn't given me a League Two side yet either.

[Punch]

 

SEP 2023

A good win to round out the friendlies, before we made a nervous start to the season against Barnsley.

We fumbled our way through a League Cup win over League Two Swindon, but then really started to hit our straps in good wins over Rotherham and Hull.

We rounded out the month by demolishing recently relegated Palace to complete an unbeaten month.

 

 

Plenty of clubs still unbeaten to start the season.

 

 

It was a bit rusty, but we done enough to get the job done against League Two Swindon, though we really should have scored more.

 

We hosted recently relegated Palace in Round 2, and by the end of the month we really started to hit our straps, and we ran all over them.

 

We get The Gunners in Round 3.

 

We turned a big profit this month after selling a player.

I will cover transfers in the next post.

 

The ticket office managed to sell another few hundred season passes, so we are now 600 above last season.

 

Another busy month coming up.

[Punch]

 

AUG 2023 - Transfers

 

Out

A big sale as we sell our leading goal scorer from last season.

He has been unhappy at the club since I joined, and was angry when I refused to sell him last season.

We had been getting offers in the £3-£4 million range, and I told him I wouldn't sell him for less than £5.5 million.

That calmed him for a while, so when Salzburg came in with a crazy offer, I knew we had to let him go.

Hopefully we can make up his goals from other players.

 

In

 

One of the really big problems we have had, is we just are not a big enough club for players to want to play for. Even if our transfer offers were accepted, if there were multiple offers, we lost out on all of them.

It wasn't even a wages issue, we are apparently just not an attractive club, or big enough reputation for them to want to come here.

We ended up having to settle for four loan players to bolster the squad, with nearly £8 million left in the transfer budget.

 

 

So we ended up collecting a bunch of multi-position talents, that can help fill the holes when we need rotation.

None of them stand out as superstars, but they all have solid numbers, and I think they can help get the job done.

 

Some big numbers spent in the Championship.

 

Some even bigger numbers spent in the Premier League.

 

We are middle of the road on wages, with a small amount of room under the budget, so we have done well there.

But Everton...

 

Hopefully we can boost our reputation before we make the Premier League, and bee a bit more inviting for players.

[Punch]

 

SEP 2023

After a slow start to the month, including a bad loss to Huddersfield where we had an xG of over three, only managed one goal, and missed a 94th minute penalty.

We then pulled it back together and toughed out three straight wins in the League, while bowing out of the League Cup, after giving Arsenal a huge fright.

 

 

 

We dropped as low as 8th after the loss, but the three wins took us back into the play off area.

 

 

We gave The Gunners a massive scare as we took a lead, and unfortunately missed a penalty which would have given us a 2-0 lead.

The hosts then ran over the top of us in the final 10 minutes, sending us out of the League Cup.

 

The Board have decided to keep me around for another three years, hopefully I won't see out that far before the end of this chapter.

 

We are still losing money each month, even with a decent gate from the Arsenal game.

 

Another busy month coming up, but with our League Cup exit, we can concentrate on the League.

[Punch]

 

OCT 2023

With one match postponed due to Internationals, we went undefeated through our four games this month.

The team is really starting to get into this 4231 formation, and it's paying off.

 

 

 

 

We have flown up to equal first, and with Everton having already been beaten by Palace, our next match against Coventry could send us top of the table.

 

The loss continues, although we are still massively in front on the season.

 

I like this graphic in this edition of FM.

 

A busy November with two massive games in the first week. A win over Coventry would send us top of the table, and we face the big match against Everton three days later.

Edited December 28, 2022 by Punch

[Sonic Youth]

Finished with another team!

Bristol City looks promising for promotion this season 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Promotion