FM24 - Stopping Southend from Sinking

[ToMexico!!]

7 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Smashing it!

Thanks!! We overachieved hugely this season again. Next season is going to be extremely tough with limited resources. 

[ToMexico!!]

End of Season Review - 2027/28

We either win by scoring four goals or loss conceding twice. 

League 1 - 1st - an unexpected title win and promotion to the Championship. 109 points is a new league record for points accrued. 

FA Cup - 4th Round - Bath, Derby and Millwall were defeated en route to the 4th Round tie with Everton which ended in defeat. 

Carabao Cup - 1st Round - out in the first round again. 

EFL Trophy - Southern Section Group Stage - we struggled this season.

Transfers IN & Transfers OUT - two left in the winter window. 

Top Scorer - Kacey Wooster (32) - a fine season on his return to Southend.

Most Assists - Debum Eze (16) - was a rotation option through the course of the season, out out-assisted his 8.49 expected assists. 

Unsung Hero - Omari Forson - 19 goals (12xG) and 12 assists either playing right wing or central midfield.

We finish the season a little better off than we did last season. 

[ToMexico!!]

May 2028

[Vakama2619]

Who walked the league? SOUTHEND! SOUTHEND!

Edited October 30, 2023 by Vakama2619

[ToMexico!!]

6 hours ago, Vakama2619 said:

Who walked the league? SOUTHEND! SOUTHEND!

We did walk the league. We're not walking in the Championship though, barely crawling. 

Mid-season update to come. 

[Vakama2619]

20 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

We did walk the league. We're not walking in the Championship though, barely crawling. 

Mid-season update to come. 

That does make sense, usually the championship takes a few years, what league are Scunthorpe in currently?

[ToMexico!!]

6 minutes ago, Vakama2619 said:

That does make sense, usually the championship takes a few years, what league are Scunthorpe in currently?

Currently 3rd in the National League North. 

[ToMexico!!]

Mid-Season Update - 2028/29

I couldn't bring myself to update monthly, we're pretty trash but luckily there are a few sides who are worse at this moment in time. 

Just three wins is rather poor but luckily we've managed to turn defeat into draws on a few occasions to give us a small points boost. The wins have come against Preston (3-0), Middlesbrough (3-0) and Watford (2-0). We're currently on an 11-game winless run dating back to the last game of October. 

We just didn't have the money; transfer or wages to bring in the players we needed to or the reputation to attract the players necessary to really improve the squad for life in the Championship. 

Just six players joined, three on loan as we looked to spend little money to avoid putting us in unnecessary debt. We've had a huge number of our own players kick up a stink about feeling underpaid and wanting a new contract, I've given in three or four times due to squad harmony and given new contracts, with some players double or tripling their wages. 

I'm not sure how much longer the board will allow me to carry on, I've gone from A+ Untouchable to B- in a short space of time but as long as we are out of the relegation zone we have time on our hands. I'm not sure whether to gamble on signing a couple of players and maybe put us in debt or stay as we are and trust the players that got us to where we are. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2029

A win!! 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2029

I had to do some work at work so my time was cut short to one game. 

Back to monthly updates, well we'll see what February is like before making a committed call. 

What a month. Although we didn't really play much in terms of quality opposition. Boro' are currently 20th, Luton are 13th, Hull are 15th, Bristol Rovers are 22nd and Preston are 21st but you have to beat/ play what is put in front of you. 

We're up to 16th for the time being. 10 points clear of the relegation zone. 

[ToMexico!!]

February 2029

A pretty poor month in comparison to January until we hammered Plymouth away from home. We were 3-0 up against Millwall; conceded twice, had a man sent off and capitulated. Good results against Burnley and Coventry to be fair. 

We move 13 points clear of the relegation zone, feeling confident of staying up now. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2029

Finally an elite talent after three seasons of nothingness. 

Joseph Ojo - ST - I like the look of him, great finishing, technique, some good mental attributes but some work to do physically. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2029

Three players come through at their new clubs. 

Joseph Fisher | Conley Murkin | Kris Robson

[ToMexico!!]

End of Season Review - 2028/29

A mixed March and an awesome April. One win over Peterborough in March but a couple of important draws to keep the points ticking over. April was a different story, unbeaten, draws against 1st and 3rd placed teams and wins over Stoke, Rotherham and Ipswich. 

Championship - 15th - easily safe in the end, with a 25-point gap to the relegation zone. 

FA Cup - 3rd Round - out at the first hurdle against West Ham.

Carabao Cup - 1st Round - out in the first round again. 

Transfers IN & Transfers OUT - mainly loans in and all loans out. 

Top Scorer - Omari Forson (12) - the Ghanaian international top scores with less goals than he scored last season. Signs of the struggles

Most Assists - Stephane Lavinge (8) - the on loan Dortmund striker made the most assists. 

Unsung Hero - Josh Brownhill - the veteran midfield scored nine times from central midfield. 

We've had to increase the wage expenditure greatly to keep hold of our better players and it's affected our finances. We'll get money for our league finish and sponsorship which will put us back in the black. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2029

I need to break the squad down and see where we need to improve and invest in the squad. We have £1.5m to spend and currently £10k of room in the wage budget before out-of-contract players and loan players leave the club. 

We've been lucky this season that we haven't had an injury to our first-choice GK. Collin Andeng-Ndi has there or thereabouts been number one for the duration of the save, he's improved tremendously to the point where he's been called up to the Cameroon squad on numerous occasions but has yet to make his international debut. We could be left rueing the decision to not bring in a back up goalkeeper. 

Kuipers has agreed a deal to go back to Belgium so we'll need at least one RB. Rosanas has done a job in rotation with Kuipers but I would expect him to drop down to second choice if the right player can be signed. At left back it's mainly been Alex Murphy who is improving well. He will continue there but I feel we need to improve our back up option as Kian Jenkins is a League 2 standard player at best. 

At centre back we have a few good options. Kaelan Casey and Waylon Renecke are probably our best options with George Nevett the first rotation option in. Egan-Riley may be replaced if again the right option comes along. 

Chalobah, Traore and Heard are out of contract and will leave. Carrill and Beazley will return to their parent clubs. The plan could be for Brownhill to move to DM due to his decline in physicality which means we need to find two new out-and-out central midfielders. 

On the wings, we have Shoretire, Forson and Kodua. We need at least one more permanent winger signing plus another on loan who can fill in up front. Eze and Harper are back up options for CM. 

The striker area needs the most work, Lavigne will return to Dortmund, Scarlett is out of contract whilst Harper and Kodua play further back leaving us with Wooster who has struggled. We need a new first-choice ST and probably another rotation option. 

I've set up five recruitment foci to try and find the initial set of players we need to improve the first choice XI. 

[ToMexico!!]

August 2029

We've really struggled to recruit the players necessary to improve the overall quality of the squad. We've been limited by the transfer budget, wage budget and reputation. 

We were only given £1.5m to spend, which in this day and age won't get you much even in League 1. We only had £10k spare in the wage budget prior to out-of-contract players leaving. So I moved all the transfer budget into the wages and that gave me some more wiggle room. In terms of reputation, we're still catching up to the other Championship clubs, a downfall of our own success by moving up through the league system too quickly. 

We've signed just five players. 

Justin Oboavwoduo was previously on loan with us in the first half of last season and he did well before Everton wanted him back, he scored five goals and made six assists in his time with us. Whilst not the best player mentally, albeit decent off the ball and work rate his physicality will help him massively. Former Norwich and Stoke midfielder Marcelino Nunez joins to improve the midfield options we have, which I feel are still not good enough. The Chilean international scored seven goals and made 10 assists in the league last season, he contributions could be vital this season for us. 

Charles Kauffmann was released by Newcastle in the summer and whilst not an ideal first-team solution for us, he joins having had first-team experience last season with Wrexham, he scored 11 goals from the left wing, albeit in League One. I'm hoping he can help us free up Forson to move inside more permanently to improve creativity through the middle of the park alongside Nunez. Joao Ferreira was another player released by their previous employer, the Portuguese right-back was with Watford but had time on loan in Russia and Denmark. He immediately improves our right-back options but will be someone we look to upgrade when the money is available to do so. 

Last to join so far is 18-year-old Romain Douay from Bayern Munich on loan, the youngster can play all across the frontline and will rotate in, hopefully utilising his physicals and his determination to improve and impress whilst at the club to our benefit. 

I've missed out on a fair few targets, with some opting to join lower-league opposition due to their superior reputation. I will delve into the loan market once again due to the lack of available wages to spend. I ideally need to find a defensive midfielder as cover for Brownhill and another striker. 

[ToMexico!!]

2029/30 Mid-Season Update

I was going to go back to monthly updates due to starting the season rather well but I got carried away and was midway through the next month already. 

August to October - we started the season really well losing just once in six Championship games. We even won a Carabao Cup game, beating Preston 3-1 at Deepdale, thanks to a Nunez hattrick. September and October were much poor months, with just one win against Peterborough in September and two wins over Bristol City and Luton in October. 

November and December - a month of draws in November including tough games against Leicester and Fulham. December was a busy month, not helped by the fact the African Cup of Nations was also played in December. Seven games were played and 13 points were achieved even with wins over Burnley and Ipswich. 

10th place is extremely good considering the fact our squad is not that good in my opinion. We've been carried by Marcelino Nunez to an extent, his 10 league goals (13 overall) and six assists have helped us over the line on numerous occasions. 

There's no money to bring in reinforcements in January plus we're beginning to renew the contracts of a few of the key players who's contracts are up in the summer, putting us further over our weekly wage expenditure. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2030

Our own intake was poor once, we have changed HoYD so it could be something to do with that. 

Anyway, three more poached players have come through at their new clubs. 

Nick Stern at Coventry, James Moore at Preston and Tyreece Krause at Norwich. 

I mixed the Murkin's up on the last update, it was Conley at Bristol Rovers who came through not Kelvin at Liverpool. For some reason, Kelvin is not on my clause list, so that's why I missed him. Kelvin Murkin came through at Liverpool last season and seems to be of no immediate relation to Conley Murkin, they were also born in different places. 

I've created a shortlist for the poached players and have ticked the keep scout reports up to date. That's now everyone poached so far at their new clubs. We've not upgraded the facilities in a while nor improved the junior coaching. With our increased stature in the game it probably means we've been able to keep hold on a few of players who would normally be poached if we were lower down the footballing pyramid. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by ToMexico!!

[ToMexico!!]

End of Season Review - 2029/30

January & February - A really poor couple of months with just two wins from 11 games including losing to Arsenal in the FA Cup. 

March, April & May - March was amazing in comparison with four wins from five. April was a little poorer but two good wins over Reading and Bolton. We ended the season with an all-time classic against Middlesbrough, the game finishing 5-5. 

Championship - 11th - a big improvement on last season, as we finished four places higher than the previous campaign. 

FA Cup - 3rd Round - Beaten by Arsenal in the 3rd Round. 

Carabao Cup - 2nd Round - we finally won a League Cup game, we beat Preston before losing to Millwall. 

Transfers IN & Transfers OUT - no players joined in January. A couple of players left with their contracts due to expire. 

Top Scorer - Marcelino Nunez (23) - Nunez scored some crucial goals for us from central midfield as a Mezzala. The 30-year-old nearly scored double his xG. 

Most Assists - Marcelino Nunez (10) - 10 assists for the Chilean international. He's been a crucial player for us through the course of the season. 

We were heavily in debt but the solidarity payment put us back in the black and then we got our season ticket payments in. We have a couple of players wanted by Saudi clubs, one in particular I would be willing to cash in on. 

[ToMexico!!]

June 2030

[ToMexico!!]

September 2030

We've made good inroads into improving the squad this summer but I'm still unhappy with a couple of positions. I'll show the players who left first...

I took advantage of Saudi interest in a couple of my players. When Joao Ferreira had interest in him midway through April last season, I knew he would be the first to leave. The Portuguese player was struggling to get a work permit but was able to play for us due to the ESC Work Permit Place allocated to him. Due to his performances, I knew it was wasting a permit place and even though he was only sold for his rough value, it was big money in the bank and wages off the books. 

Omari Forson had a poor season, comparatively speaking, the Ghanaian winger-come-central-midfielder struggled with his consistency across the season. He accrued just four goals and six assists over the course of the season. We managed to break our record sale again, getting £12m which was the higher end of his valuation. 

In total we brought 11 new players into the club. I won't go through all the players but pick a few players out to mention. 

Jonathan Asp-Jensen was a free transfer from German giants Bayern Munich, the Danish national can play either central or defensive midfield and can fill in at RB if needed. He is quite a well-rounded player whilst not being outstanding, he probably would have signed elsewhere if that was the case. Good passing, technique, vision and flair give him the attributes to become that playmaker in the middle of the park for us. 

Han-Noah Massengo, another free transfer, this time released by Burnley having made around 200 appearances for them across seven seasons at the Lancashire club. He will slot straight into defensive midfield, utilising his physical attributes along with his anticipation, off-the-ball, positioning and work rate. 

Eduard Antonescu becomes our record signing at just £2.6m from Romanian side CFR Cluj. I've taken a bit of a punt on him, I could see all his attributes, he was out of my scouting range and he was signed on deadline day. The young Romanian striker had scored just twice in four games for Cluj. Hopefully the combination of good finishing with his determination, he can become a bit of a success story for us. 

Another notable mention must go to the new wide player Faniel Tewelde who was released by Spurs, the Norwegian started the save at Odd before moving to Southampton and then Spurs before being loaned out three seasons on the bounce. 

[ToMexico!!]

September 2030

Two months of the season completed. A good start to the season, smashing Middlesbrough in front of a capacity crowd. The rest of the month was a little inconsistent, losing to Bolton in the Carabao Cup, being hammered by a now decent Birmingham side. One consistent thing was that Kacey Wooster scored in almost every game. We ended the month with an away win over then high-flying Plymouth. 

We kept the winning run into September, winning all three of our games against West Brom, Bristol City and Ipswich. Nunez and Asp-Jensen inflicting the damage from central midfield. 

We're currently 2nd, a point behind Luton. I feel a play-off place could be achievable this season. 

[ToMexico!!]

December 2030

A better-looking intake in prospect for us. 

[ToMexico!!]

January 2031

A mixed October with just one win but only one loss too, a better November with four wins from five and a poor December with just two wins from six games. 

Somehow, we're 2nd. 

[ToMexico!!]

March 2031

A tough feeling couple of months. Two wins in January over Ipswich and Cardiff and three wins in February. 

We drop down to 4th, a couple more losses and we could be out of the play-offs. 

[ToMexico!!]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

December 2030

A better-looking intake in prospect for us. 

Intakes are so broken still. An excellent intake becomes a poor intake. 

[ToMexico!!]

End of Season Review - 2030/31

March to May Results - An implosion in March with no wins, not much better in April and a loss in May to end the season. 

Championship - 8th - another improvement but it could have been more had we not only won three of the last 11 games. 

FA Cup - 3rd Round - we'll get an easier draw at some point soon.

Carabao Cup - 1st Round - back to being dumped out in the first round. 

Top Scorer - Marcelino Nunez (17) - a second successive season as top scorer, says a lot about our forwards

Most Assists - Justin Oboavwoduo (13) - an improvement on last season's most of 10 from Nunez. 

We end the season with a positive balance and that's before solidarity payments or season ticket money.

[ToMexico!!]

June 2031

[Rikulec]

Getting ready for the Premier League push, step by step. 

[ToMexico!!]

17 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Getting ready for the Premier League push, step by step. 

Thanks, we've done really well to get where we are but I'm not sure I'm going to continue the save anymore. I've got 10 players wanting new contracts, all unhappy that I'm not able to double or triple their wages.