[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man

[erik45]

Youth intake 2042. No standout wonderkids here, but an interesting prospect to the midfield positions, a good keeper and a player from Montserrat!  

I'm not sure, but I think this might be the first time it is not a 5 star intake?

The personalities are not the best. The top prospect, Wakeham 42a, is unambitious, but fortunately his determination is high. With some mentoring we might be able to "upgrade" his personality in a year or two. Here are my favourites + the Montserratian Dyer 42n:

We haven't had too many midfielders who have solid defensive stats, this is a nice change! His passing stats aren't the best (yet), but I think I still want to play him as deep lying midfielder.

Dyer 42n won't probably play for the first team, but I will make it my task to develop him as much as possible! If he fullfills his (low) potential he might be a handy player for the Montserratian national team. He will be only the 2nd Montserratian player to play at FC Isle of Man, Lucas Kirnon being the first in 2029-2031.

[erik45]

March 2042. Not the best, but undefeated. In all the games, we were better, if you count being better by having better xGD. We created whopping 11.96 xG in these three games, but scored only 5 times. If we would be even a little more efficient, we would run with the title this season. Just look at this:

 

Table. We had one game postponed, so there's still six games left for us. Winning all of them would give us a chance to fight for the title, that would be nice! 

 

International call-ups. Four players at international duty, that's a new record for us! And only one of the players is a loan player! On top of that, 16-year old Arnison 41a got called up for The Gambia - and played his first minutes for their national team! 

Here are the players that got called up for the first time:

 

Upcoming fixtures. The postponed Stockport game will make April even more trickier than it already was. We've had some injuries and we don't have too many back-up players, so it will be interesting to see how our squad can take up this massive challenge. We will definitely be in the playoffs, but it would be so nice to be in top 3 to skip the first playoff round.

[erik45]

April 2042. What a month, one of the best we've had in this save!  A very difficult schedule, but we battled magnificently! The big one was the away win against Stockport which gave us some breathing space between us and them. Then the win against Rochdale basically guaranteed our top three finish before we coasted past Halifax and Newport. Our defence is still a bit wobbly, but our attacking is just so much better than anyone else's at the moment that it makes it possible for us to win any game. In the previous months we've had some problems with finishing, but this month we were very efficient! 

Table. In the end our great run wasn't enough as Wimbledon had an even better run, winning the last 8 games!  But 2nd position means skipping the first playoff round and getting the home advantage for the semis, so I'm not complaining!

xPts table. I think I've never had this level of domination at the xG table. Almost seven expected points more than the next one? xG of 109?? Maybe I should be disappointed with finishing second..? 

We will face either Stockport of Corinthian-Casuals in the semis. My hopes are on Stockport as they've been a bit more favourable opponent for us.

[erik45]

[erik45]

Playoff semi final. If we were inefficient in our attack during the regular season, it was because we saved all of the efficiency to the playoffs! We got a horrible start when Stockport scored after our goalie parried a free kick save straight to the path of their player. After that we got our game going and after the 3-1 just before half-time it was clear we were able to win this game. They got one back in the beginning of the 2nd half, but it was just a consolation for them and we killed off the game in the 65th minute with the 4-2 goal. 

[erik45]

Playoff final. No words... we played really well... until we didn't. We just totally stopped playing after the first half. I don't know what happened there. Our players were fresh and motivated, and the opponent didn't do massive changes to their tactic, but still something happened that made us just give up.

They deservedly scored an equaliser, but the winning goal was just so, so frustrating. Their goalie just booted the ball and neither of our centre backs went for the ball. It went behind them, they just stayed still while their striker ran past them, took the ball and scored. 

[shd34_216_42]

Amateur clubs tend to be overpowered compared to what they would be in real life. Turns out players care a bit more about club prestige than money in the game, and the club prestige formula doesn't consider professional status.

That probably means they're sitting on millions in the balance due to not having to pay for much.

[erik45]

Season 2041/2042 review. 2nd season in the National League and we were so, so close to make it the last. Three points from winning the league and one win away from promotion, but we just couldn't make it.

Final league table. 100 goals and 93 points, what a season! It would be perfect, if we would have get promoted, but it didn't happen so we go again next season! AFC Wimbledon had an amazing end to the season, winning the last 8 in the row. Stockport choked during the spring. At one point they were in the lead on even points, but had three games in hand - I think they only got one point from those three games.

To rub salt to the wound, the game notified me that our point tally is the highest without winning the title...

xTable. I think I've never had a season with such a dominating xPts number. We outperformed that number quite well, especially considering we underperformed our xG. These numbers give me confidence we can be challenging for the title next season!

Best XI. Once again this is basically the 1st XI. Only omission is... our best goalscorer?! Interesting.  But I kind of agree, he was very inconsistent!

Players by minutes. Eleven players started 30+ games, nice to have that kind of consistency without too many injuries! The 1st XI CBs had the most minutes, the difference between them being Mayman 28c's one sub appearance. He's been very consistent, although not amazing, player for us since returning to the club a few season ago.

Players by average rating. Target man = good rating. Both Lowndes 40k and Dugdale 31c keep on getting high avg ratings every season. But what I'm really happy about is pressing forward Dingwall 39d getting such good ratings! Also, 4 out of the top 4 are younger than 20, nice!

Players by goals. Smith 40a couldn't score from the penalty spot, but otherwise he was quite good. I don't know if I'm satisfied with 24 goals from our main goalscoring threat and penalty taker, but it is still the best in the team. He will leave us this summer, I really hope ManU has a proper plan to continue his development.

Players by assists. The star of the show: Dingwall 39d! But after him it is quiet, next player getting only 8 assists.

I don't know how this is the new record when Lowndes 40k had a better avg rating in the league this season? Did he play too few league games (22) to be considered for the record? Anyways, happy our player has the record!

 

U18s league. This team is just levels above every other team in the league. How do U18s get promoted? By upgrading our youth level? By getting our senior side promoted?

Unbeaten in the league is just amazing achievement, especially considering all the U18 players with even okay CA were even playing for the 1st team or loaned out.

How could our 1st team learn from the youth when it. comes to scoring?

Facility upgrade. This was a costly one, but we have the money for it. The playoff final brought over 0,5 m€ to us, and I decided to try all kinds of upgrades. Turning pro and getting youth facility upgrade were denied, but the board agreed to upgrade training facilities. 

Expiring loans. Three of the best CA players are leaving the team for good. I think we have good enough replacement for Broe 39a in the CM position and an okay player to replace RB Wellenreuther 38b. But I have no idea who will play advanced forward next season. I have two players out on loan who have scored 20+ goals this season in National South/North, maybe one of them is the answer?

Ps. all the transfer deals for these players include massive sell-on clauses, could some of these deals bring us the big bucks? E.g. Wellenreuther 38b has been immediately put on the transfer list - and his worth 5+ m€!

[shd34_216_42]

I believe your youth team gets promoted when you get the first team to League Two, that would require diving in the database with the editor to make sure though.

Transfer-listed player is probably not selling for anywhere close to 5 million (if he is even sold at all). If you get a decent offer to sell the clause, you probably have to take it.

[erik45]

On 02/08/2024 at 00:55, shd34_216_42 said:

I believe your youth team gets promoted when you get the first team to League Two, that would require diving in the database with the editor to make sure though.

Transfer-listed player is probably not selling for anywhere close to 5 million (if he is even sold at all). If you get a decent offer to sell the clause, you probably have to take it.

Yeah, I haven't had the best of luck with the sell-on clauses. I think I've sold one clause (for 1.07 m€ ) and only once I have gained a "real" sell-on payment (and that was a very small sale, we only got 750 € ).

At the moment we have 6 sell-on clauses, but I think none of them are getting activated anytime soon. I'd say out of those 6 clauses, 4 of them have the potential to bring us 1+ million €.

[erik45]

Season preview. One win away from promotion last season, but here we go again: another season in the National League. But no problem, this save has always been a slow-burner, there's still more than enough gas in the tank.

This season's challenge is that we lost our three best players after they were sold (and loaned back to us for one more season). Their positions were RB, CM and AF. We will be fine with the RB, have some options for the midfield, but I don't know who will step up to spearhead our attacking trio. More about the players later in this post.

Expectations. After a successful season the board is feeling more ambitious, I like it! Mid-table is very realistic, almost a tad pessimistic after finishing 2nd.

Media predictions. Media predicts us as the 15th favourites for the title, in the exactly same position and with exactly same odds as the season before. That's actually positively surprising as we lost three of our key players. The profiles of our key player and hot prospect:

1st XI. Five new names to the 1st XI. I already mentioned that we lost RB, CM & AF, but I also decided to make some other changes. Lowndes 40k was amazing last season - and very consistent - so he took the place of Dugdale 31c. He also has always had really high average ratings (all the players in TM position have), but now it was time for some fresh blood. The other change was the DLP position as I thought Hayward 32k hadn't delivered that much to justify his position as one of the older players (26) in the squad. Icelandic Pétursson 39n will take his place for now. Our best young prospect Wakeham 42a would be good fit for the position, but I just think he's too young.

Filling the gaps of the players that left us was somewhat of a challenge. RB position was quite straightforward decision: McGeechan 39e had a very good loan last season and he's our best RB, so he will probably cement his position in the 1st XI quickly.

The CM (a) position was more challenging, but we made a signing(!) to play there. More about Roach MS in the transfer section of the preview.

The major challenge was the AF position. Smith 40a was the star of the show in the attack, but even he had problems finding the net consistently. I'm not sure about my decision yet, but I will give Burdett 37d the nod. He has had multiple loans and last season he scored 17 goals in National League South. He should be ready for this level. But if not, we have multiple players relatively at the same level as he is.

 

2nd XI. Not too many 16-years olds this time. Multiple players who were on loan has now gotten their chance with us. Let's see who will take their chance and challenge for the place in the 1st XI. My eyes are on Franks 41f (CB), Opoku 41d (BBM), Wakeham 42a (DLP), and Arnison 41a (DLF).

Reputation. When it comes to reputation, we are still one of the smaller teams in the league. But we are moving up, soon to be 1,5 star team!

Finances. The club is upgrading its training facilities and that cost 2,2 m€, but we are still in the black. We had couple of financially beneficial friendlies that kept our summer losses to a minimum.

Transfers. Loans + two free transfers out. Interesting to see Willem II signing our squad depth player!

But the big thing is we signed a player - who is not our youth product!

Roach MS is Montserratian like the MS country code suggests. I check the players from British Overseas Territories (and Crown Dependencies) couple of times a year and this time and offer trials for all the players who might have some potential. Usually all the players who are good reject us. Roach didn't! He has played 100+ games at this level and has a good personality so it was an easy decision to sign him. He wanted a non-contract, and I had no problem with that. He took the 1st XI place straight away, hopefully he delivers!

 

Pre-season friendlies. Blackburn (CH) demolished us but it was much more even against the big boys of Wrexham (L1), Manchester United (PL) and Everton (CH).

Upcoming fixtures. I'm a bit nervous how we get things started as our "new" players hasn't been fully gelled in to the 1st XI. But this set of fixtures shouldn't be the hardest, so we could be in a good position after August.

[erik45]

August 2042. Ummmmm... what  I knew our team was a bit weaker than last season, but this is surprising, and not in a good way! 9 goals in 5 games isn't the worst, but conceding 12 is veeery bad.

Maybe it will take time for our 1st XI to find its from after there were so many changes. There even was one after the start of the season as I sold Burdett 37d to Port Vale just because they suggested a transfer right when I was feeling very frustrated.

Table. Well, we are still in mid-table positions, so the board is happy. I'm not

Upcoming fixtures. Another quite "basic" month, maybe it is time to start winning games?

[erik45]

September 2042. This season is really going to test my motivation to play...  We are not playing well, but we are not this bad! Worthing thrashed us, but the rest of the games were winnable and we had better xG than the opposition.

Table. *Chuckles* I'm in danger!

We are playing at mid-table level, but when we concede easy goals and don't score our easy chances, this is the result.

Upcoming fixtures. October is really going to test us. In the league we face five teams from the top 9 (+ Sutton) and in the FA Cup we travel to Hartlepool (who are last in our league). If we don't play better, my place in charge of the team might be in danger for the first time in this save! 

[erik45]

October 2042. At the start of the month we were 20th in the league, so I hadn't the highest of expectations, but look at this! Win against Tranmere (who were topping the table at that moment) was massive and I felt that gave us so much hope in ourselves. This month also gave me some more motivation to continue playing.  

Table. Jumping to 11th (and only 3 points from playoffs), nice!!!

New contract. They gave me +2 year contract when I went to ask for a new one (with + 1 if we get promoted). 

Sell-on clause. Finally!!! We've had so many worthless sell-on clauses that it makes me so happy to see one working. Wellenreuther 38b was still on loan with us last season and I didn't think his clause could be activated so soon. But it was active and as he hadn't played any games for Blackburn I thought this might be the best value we can get from the clause. €2,57m is so much money for us!!!

Facility upgrade. Of course I wanted to use the money immediately...  Well, I did not plan to use all the money, but youth facility upgrades are starting to be really, really expensive.

Finances. A lot of things happening, but it doesn't show in the balance or profit graphs as these things happened during one month. We are in a healthy financial position 

 

Upcoming fixtures. A delicious cup game to start the month Sheffield United are currently a mid-table side in League 1. They are heavy favourites to the game, but it wouldn't be our biggest upset to win them! No matter what, we will get nice amount of ticket income from the game.

[erik45]

 I don't know how we "eased past Sheffield United" when they had better chances to score goals, but still, win is a win!

Edited August 24 by erik45

[erik45]

November 2042. Magnificent win in the 1st round of FA Cup and then a bit more of a mixed bag of results. I'd say that if we'd won the Hartlepool game (like we deserved), I would've been very happy.

The 2nd round of FA Cup was against South Shields, who are currently topping the League 2 table. It was one of the most boring games, as they just defended, took their only chance and won 1-0. A random spectator could have not guessed which side played in L2.

Table. Even with a quite weak form, we are in the 8th position. There's a big gap between the 6th and the 7th (although Stockport does have multiple games in hand).

Award. I didn't know this kind of award existed, very random time to announce the winner (in mid-November).  The only "direction" that has this trophy, is Northwest, why??

International call-ups. 17-year old Arnison 41a is once again in the Gambia NT, good for him! I don't know what he has done to deserve the place, as he is not playing well.  Almost even more surprising call-up is O'Connor 41h's to Ireland U19s. His on loan at Curzon Ashton in the Northern PL. He is playing okay, but there's nothing to suggest he would be interesting player for the Irish FA.

 

Facility upgrade. We are average, yee-haw!!!! 

 

Finances. Two cup games = +€200k to the balance 

Upcoming fixtures. The FA Trophy starts for us with a game against Ebbsfleet, who play in the Isthmian League. We should ease past them, emphasis on should. December is the busiest month so far, so we will need all our players in shape. 1st XI will play the weekend games, 2nd XI the mid-week ones.

[erik45]

Youth intake preview. Two promising centre backs, let's gooo!!! I would also love to have a promising striker and maybe some players to the middle of the field. It is a five star intake, so there's hope!

[erik45]

December 2042. Chaotic month with mixed results. Two wins with five goals scored, but the rest of it wasn't that good. It seems we just can't hold the lead. Against Halifax we were leading 3-1 until the 88th minute, against Barnet we started with two goals and they answered with three...luckily we scored once in the end to get one point.

Table. Still in the last playoff position. Positives: 6th place isn't that far away. Negatives: we've played 1-4(!) games more than the rest.

xPts table. I've said it before: if we want to get promoted, we need to outperform our xPts.

Upcoming fixtures. FA Trophy is not important for us, the focus is 100 % league.

[erik45]

January 2043. Not the best of starts for a new year. We definitely should've won our first two league games, but it is the same story: we can't hold on to our lead.

The FA Trophy game was just bizarre. We created 3,3 xG but just couldn't score (they also created over 2,0 xG). But the month ended in good form as we took two wins and had only a narrow loss against league leaders (playing our 2nd XI).

Table. Places 1.-5. are already gone, but if we find a more consistent form, we could still get a playoff place. The end of the month gives me hope that our players have that form in them.

Transfer. I don't know if it is wise to sell players so young, but when they insist, there's not much I can do if I don't want to leave them unhappy. Maybe I should ignore their feelings for a while, because we keep on losing our best and most promising players too soon.

Arnison 41a should be one of our best players, but I just feel he doesn't contribute that much. Yes, he's only 17 years old and already having 7,0+ avg rating, but still, something isn't clicking. So when he demanded a transfer and Bristol City offered a good package, I decided to accept it.

Finances. The transfer fee gives a little boost to our finances.

Extended leave...or not? This was a weird situation. My assistant suggested that Gilroy 38a needs some rest. I accepted physios recommendation, 1-2 weeks of holiday. BUT he sent him on leave for three weeks?!

But that's not the weird part. During his leave, Colchester asked to have him on trial for a week. I accepted it just to see what happens. He went there, had his trial and then came back to team without continuing the leave!  And he wasn't feeling jaded anymore?! He came back almost a week earlier than planned, which was good for me, because he had such a long leave by accident. 

 

Upcoming fixtures. A quieter month, (I just don't get how the schedules are made, as Dec-Jan is pure madness). We need wins and we need them consistently.

[erik45]

February 2043. I was feeling so good after the amazing 6-0 win and well fought 3 points against Stockport that the back to back losses hurt so bad. Wigan played really well against us, but I don't know how we lost to United of Manchester...

Table. Six points from four games is not the best, but we still have a real chance for the last playoff spot!

Player of the Month. This was well deserved! Joyce 37f is playing his first full season with us - and he's already 21! He wasn't a sure starter for the 1st XI in the first half of the season, but he has developed really nicely - and become quite effective! 

Upcoming fixtures. Weird rhythm in the schedule, but we don't care. We desperately need at least three wins to keep our promotion battle alive. The first two games will be crucial, as those are against sides above us.

[shd34_216_42]

The March schedule is laughing at you.

At the very least you probably will finish top half, which isn't bad for a semi-pro club in a league that's mostly professional.

[erik45]

Youth intake 2043. Three elite talents, two of them being interesting CB + CM combination!  I see a lot of wingers, which we don't use in our system, but at least some of them can play in other positions as well.

This bunch of players looks somewhat balanced, almost boring..? Not too many very good or very bad personalities, no real standout talents, but many interesting players (my top 5 player profiles below). I really like the dual nationalities, especially the CYP/ENG & USA/ENG.

We are in a dire need of a proper advanced forward, but this intake didn't bring it. But we did get two prospects who can play DLP (McGivern 43b & Wood 43c) , a position we've been a bit short for a long, long time.

[erik45]

March 2043. Two losses to start the month, not the way to show we belong to the playoffs. Then a friendly and two hard fought wins. We just aren't taking our chances right now and the opponents are.

Table. We still have a small chance of taking the last playoff spot!

International call-up. I show these every time there's a new player getting called up (or a player getting senior call-up for the first time). This time the new guy is Opoku 41d, who's only 17, but made it to Ghana U20 team. He hasn't been amazing, but he is fairly consistent, and that's more than I can ask for a player that young.

 

Upcoming fixtures. Three games, all difficult in their own way. We need to win all three to even have a chance of making it to the playoffs. It wouldn't be the end of the world to not get there, but it would still be a chance of getting promoted!

 

[shd34_216_42]

I'm cheering for Corinthian-Casuals to win the playoffs, because it would be funny (even though I don't think they would even be eligible for promotion in real life due to being amateur).

I can do that, right?

[erik45]

On 28/08/2024 at 02:12, shd34_216_42 said:

I'm cheering for Corinthian-Casuals to win the playoffs, because it would be funny (even though I don't think they would even be eligible for promotion in real life due to being amateur).

I can do that, right?

Of course, I also do have a soft spot for them!   One thing about them that irritates me is the fact they have so many players with proper experience in the PL/CH level. But maybe they are such a cool club players want to join them when they start to wind down their careers. 

[erik45]

April. Maybe even the best month of the season. until the end, but our 2nd XI couldn't find a way to challenge Newport.

Table. Even with three wins we wouldn't have made it to playoffs as Forest Green Rovers were too strong. The Chester win was nice as without it we would have been 10th.

Goalkeepers' stats. This can't be possible.   These are screenshots from both of our GKs stats. Maybe I don't understand the stat of expected goals prevented. But I read this as they face X amount of xGOT and on average concede one more goal per match from those chances than they statistically should..? "Nice"!

[erik45]

Final league table. Last season we were one win away from promotion, but after we lost three of our best players I knew this season is going to be difficult. If we would've been a bit more consistent I would have been very happy with this season (even without promotion). Next season is going to be a big one! I may need to fight harder to keep the best players, but I have had this rule that I don't keep players who want (and deserve) to move to a better division, if we are offered a fair compensation.

xG table. The xGA and the xPts...not looking good. Last season we were the best team in xPts, this time the fifth. Last season we outperformed the stat by a little bit, this time we underperformed. Next season we get extremely efficient, yes??

PL table. I needed to show this: no teams from Liverpool in Premier League 2043/2044. Everton is now a mid-table team in Championship, even had a season in L1 and Liverpool has had financial troubles. I love it when big teams get relegated, I don't know why.  

Best XI. It is our 1st XI. We will lose Bremser 36c as he didn't want to renew his contract. His new team will be Paderborn in 3. Liga. I really hope he will be the only loss from this bunch.

Players by played minutes. As we didn't have massive cup run(s), the difference between minutes played by the 1st XI and the 2nd is quite clear.

Players by average rating. Chapman 42g, what a player!  He might get his chance in the 2nd XI next season. And once again, the target forwards got the best ratings, I really like to know how that happens _every_ season.

Players by goals. Positives: five players with 10+ goals. Negatives: no players with 15+ goals. We need a deadly striker, but I don't think we have that kind of player in our books. There are couple of interesting forwards available on loan who are from the British Overseas Territories, maybe we can get one of them to join us?

Players by assists. Montserratian Roach had a nice debut season. He started slowly but in the end he was one of the more consistent players. He's also the only player who's not from our academy.

International call-ups. First time our player has been called up for an international tournament as Opoku 41d joins Ghana U20s for Toulon Tournament! Also, do we have an uncut gem in our hand: Wood 43c has been called up to Scotland U20s while being 15 years old!  His personality sucks, but he is in a mentoring group so I hope we will make him more ambitious and determined (and professional etc.)

 

Club improvement. This was a real surprise. Just few weeks before the board election the current board decided to suggest youth level improvement. I was so happy to agree as they have declined the improvement multiple times. Now we move to Level 2! 

The costs of the youth setup goes up, from ~€80k to €95k, but this shouldn't be a major problem.

In the election the club got a new chairman and his board decided to add a new objective for me: Maintain the Vanarama League's best youth system. Does the maintaining part of the objective imply we already have the best system? Nice!

 

Transfers. I'm happy that it was so quiet in the transfer front. Dozens of loans, but that's just how it goes. I would have preferred not to lose Arnison 41a but Bristol offered good money and even if his attributes were pretty good for a young player, he just didn't live up to the level expected from him.

Sell-on fee. Burdett 37d moved to Port Vale in the beginning of season for €1k. To get €33k more from him is a nice bonus. He wasn't developing or playing too much so I decided to cash in now.

Finances. The cup games helped us back to a healthy bank balance after we had training AND youth facility upgrades. I think the next step is to gather more money so we can turn pro.

[erik45]

15 hours ago, erik45 said:

Of course, I also do have a soft spot for them!   One thing about them that irritates me is the fact they have so many players with proper experience in the PL/CH level. But maybe they are such a cool club players want to join them when they start to wind down their careers. 

@shd34_216_42, talking about Corinthian-Casuals having good players, this just came:

Sheehan is 24, from Tottenham's academy, and has played for Barnsley and Crystal Palace.

Xiaolong is only 24 but has almost 100 games in the Championship & League One (and one in the Premier League ).

Cheshire has 6 games in the Premier League, a full season in League 2 when he was 19 and is now 26. 

And I think this is really cool (but maybe a bit unrealistic such promising players turning fully amateur so early in their careers).  

[erik45]

Season 2043/2044 preview. It is the "20th anniversary" of this save! This is the 20th season, 4th in the Vanarama National League - and I think it can be the last!

Board Expectations. The board ain't so positive. The previous board wanted mid-table finish, but the new board is satisfied if we just fight against relegation. We are much, much better than that. Anything but a place in the playoffs would be a disappointment for me.

Media predictions. We are the 13th best team in the league according to media, and I kind of agree. Other teams have better players, but we have players who have played together for a long time and have a strong commitment between them and the club. I would say top 3 is the ambitious target, but I would be content with a place in the playoffs.

I somewhat agree with our key player McGeechan 39e, he had a "good enough" season. I also agree Wakeham 42a is our best talent, but the problem is he is very unambitious (I know that because mentoring report has told multiple times him being more ambitious than before but he is still unambitious), so he hasn't developed almost at all.

 

1st XI. One of our older players, Haddow 35f, gets the vacated LB spot. Why? Because we don't have any proper talents for the position. The only other change is that I have put Wakeham 42a as our starting DLP. He had that position once before, but couldn't hold to it. He is now a bit older (still only 17), maybe he can find his form this time?

2nd XI. This XI changes multiple times during the pre-season as players get loaned out. The team leaders Dugdale 31c and Mayman 28c are there to help the youngsters to develop themselves and help the team to win games. Most excited I'm about 1) Chapman 42g who assisted a lot of goals for the U18s last season and 2) Affleck 42d who scored 47 goals and assisted 14 more last season. This season is a test if he could be advanced forward even though his best position might be presssing forward or shadow striker.

Finances. We've made a loss of €250k during the pre-season, that's quite a lot, isn't it? There's mysterious €123k expenditure in the category of Other, I have no idea what that is.

Transfers. A silent summer, I like it! 

Manager. I look at this screen once a year, at the beginning of season. During the last year, I have improved attributes in Attacking, Youngster knowledge and Determination. I really that the determination stat is going up. My personality has been fairly loyal for a long time, maybe it could change in the near future to a better one?

Pre-season friendlies. Many tough games and I'm happy with everything...if we don't look at the very last game, where the 2nd XI lost to Barrow, who are in the division below us.

Upcoming fixtures. The season starts at Gillingham who were promoted after a season in the National South. We've faced them 4 times and won 4, but they are not to be underestimated as they are higher in the media predictions than us.

[shd34_216_42]

On 30/08/2024 at 09:28, erik45 said:

Of course, I also do have a soft spot for them!   One thing about them that irritates me is the fact they have so many players with proper experience in the PL/CH level. But maybe they are such a cool club players want to join them when they start to wind down their careers. 

I like your explanation better than whatever the actual code-related explanation would be.

(I've never actually seen them be promoted above the National League.)

Edited August 31 by shd34_216_42

[erik45]

August 2043. This would've been a very good start if we've had kept the leads against Gillingham and Morecambe. But we did not so this is bit meh.

Table. A slow start, but not a catastrophic one. Corinthian-Casuals are starting very strongly!

Transfer in. We welcome Mendes to the team on loan from Carlisle United. He's Montserratian, and together with Roach they are the midfield duo of the Monsterrat national team. I hope their partnership is good as I plan to slowly push Mendes to the 1st XI. We even pay a small loan fee to get him.

Mendes has plenty of experience for a 21 year old as he 60+ games in L2 and 33 games for his national team.

I also tried to get some strikers and a left back to join us, but none of them were interested. The left back I had been trying to get didn't want to join us, but was okay going on loan to a division below us?!

 

New contract. My contract was up at the end of the season and as I asked for a new one I was positively surprised they offered me 3 year contract. I added +1 if promoted, I'm very happy with this.

Finances. This is quite a bit of loss for August. Usually we do €0-20k loss in the first month of the season, €90k is a lot... do I need to get worried?  I say no, not yet.

Upcoming fixtures. First mid-week game and first TV game of the season. No easy opponents, let's see if we can properly get this season going on in September!

[erik45]

September 2043. Okayyyy, now we're talking!  We were very close to a perfect month as we were leading Radcliffe 2-0, but 13 points out of possible 15 is still very, very good.

Table. We go all the way to the 2nd place, only behind the undefeated Corinthian-Casuals.

 

Injury. Notice where he got injured. He got injured in the first half against Stockport and we didn't have a keeper on the bench (we never do), but our defender in goal kept a clean sheet.

 

Finances. After couple of months of losing money, we are back on track of making profit!

Upcoming fixtures. FA Cup starts and we didn't get the kindest of draws as we travel to Halifax who are in the same league as we. They are 22nd in the league at the moment, so we should be slight favourites for the game.

[erik45]

October 2043. What a month! Only blip was the late conceded goal against Woking to lose a tight game. The highlight of the month was the Halloween game against Marine, who lead the League 1. They had no chance against us!

Table. Some lost points at the end of the month, but we are still doing very well! Also, Corinthian-Casuals have finally started to drop points.

 

Finances. Three cup games = money!  Expenditure of €317k is also a lot!

Upcoming fixtures. Can we keep the momentum in the league, while making it to the 3rd round in the FA Cup? It doesn't show here, but the opponent is Mansfield, who are a mid-table side in the League 1.

[erik45]

November 2043. A great start to the month, but then we maybe lost some of the great momentum we had. We definitely should've won against the league leaders Corinthian-Casuals, but they somehow find a way to win almost any game. The draw in the cup against Mansfield is a great result, but it also means one more game to the already hectic winter.

Table. We are 2nd, very good! There's quite a gap between us and the leaders, only if we had won the game against them...

Finances. Cup game = profit at the end of the month.

International call-ups. I'm very happy to see players getting called up! The most excited I'm about GK Macready 41e getting his first call-up to England U20s! 

 

Upcoming fixtures. FA Cup replay, FA Trophy start and five games in the league. We will most definitely need all our 1st team players to show what they're capable of. If at the end of the month we are still 2nd and are through in the FA Cup, I will be very satisfied!

Edited September 6 by erik45

[erik45]

 

Youth intake preview. A-rated striker, there we land!  I really hope that guy is capable of playing advanced forward, because we are in a dire need of a player in that position. It's also a 5-star intake, no complaints about that.

[erik45]

December 2043. The end of the year was a real rollercoaster. Loss, win, loss, win, loss....

I think we were creating enough to win almost any game (Bath City game being the exception, they deserved the win). I could've been happy with the month if we had won against Morecambe. They are in the playoff spots with us and we played them out of the park, but scored only once from ~3 xG while they scored thrice with less than 1 xG. How is that possible?

I tell you how: we lost our best-performing keeper for two months. Montgomery 39c doesn't have the best attributes, but he is performing so much better than "number 1" Leigh 34c. Just look at Leigh 34c's form:

 

In the attack we are firing all cylinders! This screenshot is from early December, but it would look exactly the same at the turn of the year.

Table. Not the best of month, we dropped to third and even with all the draws, Corinthian-Casuals are 10 points above us. On the positive note, we also have a ten point gap to teams outside of playoff places.

xPts. The top 3 or 5 is above everyone else. Corinthian-Casuals are way above other top sides when it comes to overperforming their xPts.

New assistant manager. I hadn't renewed my assistant's contract so he was here on a month-to-month basis. I missed that Fleetwood Town had offered him manager position - which he accepted. When looking for a new one I wanted one with a very good personality and good enough stats.

 

 

Finances. The cup run ended this month, but we gained about €0,5m from it, very good!

Wages. This is bit of a concern IF we don't get promoted this season. From ~€9k to ~€14k in a year or so, that's over 50 % rise in wage expenses.

Upcoming fixtures. Apparently I forgot to take the screenshot at the beginning of month, so here's one with two games played. The win one, lose one rhythm seems to continue...

[erik45]

January 2044. The new year brought less losses, more draws, I'm quite okay with that. The results were quite fair until the Grimsby game. We created chance after chance but they just didn't budge.

Table. Looks like the top 2 is starting to get too far away from us.  Corinthian-Casuals are just flying right now and Bath City are almost as good as them.

I put this here because we have three players on this list, but only one of them is a goalkeeper!  Already twice this season we have been in a situation where our goalie has got injured in the game. As I never have a keeper on the bench, the outfield players have been put there to protect our goal. So far it has been very successful tactic, they are yet to concede a goal!

Upcoming fixtures. I don't care about the FA Trophy (maybe I will if we get through ), but I will still keep my rhythm of using 1st XI for the weekends and the 2nd XI for the midweek games.

[erik45]

February 2044. Another month with the feeling of "almost".  Most of the month we played really well, but the loss against Chester really hurt. We didn't deserve, but it happened.

Table. Positives: we are with 99 % certainty in the playoffs. Negatives: teams in positions 4 & 5 are getting too close!

Transfer. Another signing, whaaaat?! Wellens had been without a club for over six months. I had tried to sign him earlier, but he wasn't interested. Now he was and although he was asking high wages, I decided to take the risk and sign him. The reason: we don't have proper advanced forwards. He is not perfect, but should be a better option than the current ones.

 

Injury. Our best target man has been missing almost all the games this month, not good.

Upcoming fixtures. We need to keep on winning points, I'm desperate to get the 3rd place as it gives us a pass from the 1st playoff round.

[erik45]

Youth intake 2044. Proper striker prospect, yes! Many of the better prospect seem to be wingers, a position we don't use.

The first view looked better than this. Many "bad" personalities, how can there be so many unambitious players? If I can't mentor them to get a better personality, these players won't develop properly.

What I like about this intake is the massive striker (who isn't good in the air ) and the amount of players with over 1 star in current ability. Here is my top 3:

[erik45]

March & April 2044. I was pressing space bar so fast I forgot to take screenshots at the end of March. March was really good (Corinthian-Casuals somehow scored 3 goals with ~0.8 xG), but then we totally choked in April. What happened, I don't know...

Table. The April choke was a disaster as we slipped from the 3rd position at the very last round. This means we start the playoffs from the very beginning and we need a good amount of luck on top of skill to get promoted. 

Playoff 1st round. We will face Wigan. We should be favourites, but after the disaster month, I don't know anymore. I already feel defeated, I hope the team doesn't  

[erik45]

1st playoff round. We really needed to fight for it, but in the end we got there with an extra time goal! First step towards promotion: done.

Playoff semis. Only four days between the previous game, and we face a side who haven't had to play at all...away from home. They are the favourites, but if we keep our calm and make smart decisions, we will get our chances.

[shd34_216_42]

I want to congratulate Corinthian-Casuals on being promoted.

Unfortunately, I don't think anything higher than League Two is feasible given the hardcoded amateur status, but it's still funny anyways.

Now that I finally got my hands on FM24 (Epic Games Store is currently giving it away for free), I see that the main database changes were losing the division-based salary caps and adding full-time minimum salaries.

[erik45]

2 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

I want to congratulate Corinthian-Casuals on being promoted.

Unfortunately, I don't think anything higher than League Two is feasible given the hardcoded amateur status, but it's still funny anyways.

Now that I finally got my hands on FM24 (Epic Games Store is currently giving it away for free), I see that the main database changes were losing the division-based salary caps and adding full-time minimum salaries.

Yes, Corinthian-Casuals were level above everyone else in the end, they deserved the title and the promotion. Just yesterday I saw Twitter account Forgotten Football Clubs promoting their article about the club I knew a bit about the history of Corinthians FC and nothing about the Casuals FC, I thought the article was definitely worth a read: https://forgottenfootballclubs.com/2024/09/02/corinthian-casuals-fc/

Good luck with the start of your FM24 journey!

[erik45]

Playoff semi final: Two missed penalties and a 94th minute winner for the opponent. How is this amount of self-destruction even possible?! 

If I would allow myself to replay even one match in FM, this would've been the one.

FA Trophy final. The season ain't over, we still have our first cup final in 19 years, when we won the North West Counties League Cup.

In the final we are facing Sheppey United, who play in the league below us, so we should be clear favourites. Everything can happen in a one-off game, just like the previous game brutally showed us.  Let's hope this time will be different and we get a positive end to the season!

[erik45]

FA Trophy final. . . . . 

Missed penalty: check

Winning by xG, but losing the game: check

Opponent scoring 5 goals with just above 1.0 xG: check

What a memorable way to end the season! 

[erik45]

Season 2043/2044 review. Another season that can be put in to one word: almost. If I put in to two words: almost, again. It has been frustrating two seasons, but I still feel motivated to continue. As long as we can keep the players I want to keep, we are going to be in the promotion battle next season.

Table. One more win and we would've had much better chance of getting promoted. Early on in the season we were even challenging for the title, but two teams were better than us, no question about it. I was quite certain we will be third, but we blew it in the last five games. Bowers & Pitsea had an amazing end of the season to leapfrog us - and going all the way to the promotion!

Actually the last month wasn't the worst, we were struggling the most when we had our 1st choice GK injured for 8 weeks.

xPts table. 2nd most expected points, but 4th position. Look at how much points Bath City and Bowers & Pitsea gained even when they underperformed their xG!

Best XI. 1st XI but the advanced forward is replaced by 2nd choice target man. I need to fix how the advanced forward position works.

Player awards. Lowndes 40k is POTY for 2nd time in a row and the Young player of the season for the third time.  The target man position is more or less broken when it comes to average ratings. Dingwall 39d had the most assists and goals, but wasn't the best player...?

Players by minutes. 3,000 minutes for the 1st XI, 1,500 minutes for the 2nd XI - quite good balance? Montgomery 39c would've had the most minutes, but he was injured for 2 months.

Players with 7.0< average rating. 10 players with rating starting with seven. No real surprises here, but it is concerning our supposed main attacking threat is not here (the player(s) in AF position).

Players by goals. Two out of the attacking three get "enough" goals that I'm happy. But the advanced forward doesn't: Gomez 39f, Robertson 37l and Wellens had total of 24 goals in 59 games. That's not enough! The problem is not that they are bad at finishing but that they just don't get enough chances. Their combined xG is 25,41, so they underperformed it by "only" 1,41.

Players by assists. I would like our full backs to get a few more assists, but other than that, I'm quite happy with the numbers.

Youth level upgrade. This was started already a year ago, but we finally got approved to move on the next youth level.  I don't know how it actually affects us, but I guess it should bring something positive to youth player development.

Finances. Even with the rising wage (weekly costs from €9,5k to €17k in a season ) and youth setup (monthly costs from €80k to €95k)  costs we made some profit!

I took this opportunity to sell the clause as Rother 35a is yet to play a game for QPR, and he's been at the club for four years.

Most appearances in the history of FC Isle of Man, a loyal warrior leaves us to join a team in the 1st division of Ghanaian football. Adams 30c was never amazing, but always consistently good enough. 430 league games for us, thank you Samuel! 

[erik45]

Best players from FC Isle of Man academy...so far. I have now played 20 full seasons and I decided it would be interesting to look at how are best youth products are doing. I have listed here all the players who have played in the EFL (or foreign leagues similar to similar quality).

For me, this is motivation to continue the save as I have progressed quite a bit slower than I thought. I haven't been able to create real momentum to get e.g. back-to-back promotions at any point, but I'm still satisfied with the save so far.

Piet 27f was one of the first to move to EFL - and play there! He wasn't a sure starter for us, so I was surprised how decent career he had. Now in his homeland Denmark.

 

Bailey 28f was snatched by Portsmouth for free and it took some time for him to get proper minutes. Still, over 300 games in League 1 and 2 is quite good!

 

Fagan 29a was the first player I felt had some star quality. Not in a way he would play in the PL, but that he had skillset that could carry him to have a successful career. Almost 600 league games and 250 goal contributions, that is a notable career! He was also the first player we sold. We had 50 % sell-on clause on him and I had really high hopes we could gain a million or two from his next transfer, but in the end he decided to leave for free after 9 seasons with Bury.

 

Spooner 29f was important part of our team in the early 30s, but then he decided to leave us for Hyde United. Then a move to Ireland and before Leeds United snatched him to play as a back-up. He even has 6 Premier League games!

 

Parillon 30e - another keeper! It seems that goalkeeping coaching is really working in the academy as we have had so many fine prospects. Parillon 30e made an interesting choice of taking a step down to Punjab United. I remember they paid him very high wages for that level. After that he's been climbing up the league pyramid and now is starting keeper in MK Dons at League 1!

 

Lewis 34a's transfer had the largest fee received for us at the time. He's yet to play full season at a higher level, but 30+ games a season in League 1 is not too shabby!

 

Green 35b was one our better players at the time but I still felt we could afford to lose him as he didn't contribute that much from CM (a) position. League 1 and Irish Premier Division, nice!

 

Wilson 36b - a player I considered as our first proper centre back. He's had an okay career in Burton so far. They got relegated, so it will be interesting to see if he will stay with them in the League 2. We have 50 % profit clause, let's hope it gets activated at some point!

 

Dyer 37a is another CM (a) position player who was good, but not as good I felt his attributes suggested. After leaving us for Marine in League 1, he has practically no goal contributions?!

 

Broe 39a - for a change a CM (a) player who I really liked. I was sad to see him leave, but I understand why he wanted to leave when Wrexham (not owned by movie stars anymore) came knocking. He is a starting player, but still surplus to requirements..? I would be happy see him sold for the estimated value, as we have 50 % sell-on clause!

 

Smith 40a - our first proper wonderkid! Before looking at this screenshot I hadn't noticed he actually has the wonderkid media description, yeehaw! I was a bit skeptical he chose Man United as the next step, as it would be easy to get lost in the youth teams. But they have loaned him out and the latest loan to Cardiff has been a real success - 18 goals in Championship!  His estimated value has been somewhere between €50m-€120m and we have 50 % profit clause...this is one specific reason why the save is still motivating!

 

There are even more players in higher divisions, but I have only showcased the ones who actually have a proper role in their team. Let's hope in the future the EFL players are all ours (as we will get promoted some day, surely we have to manage to do it eventually )!

[erik45]

Season 2044/2045 preview. Once again, it is the start at the National League. I would've hoped to get past this level already, but I always knew it was going to be tricky to get one of the two places for promotion.

Board expectations. How can the board be so unambitious?? We've been in the promotion fight every year in this league, but they still just expect avoiding relegation. Well, I won't be losing my job because of bad performances, the low bar guarantees that!

Also, how can they be disappointed with developing players using the club's youth system? There are total of two players in the club who are not our youth products. The average age of the first team is just above 21.

Media predictions. Media is more positive towards us than our own board.  The predicted position is the same as last year, but the odds are a bit better. It is interesting to see that all the promoted and the relegated sides are predicted to finish so low.

I think we have quite balanced team right now, maybe the midfield could need some reinforcement. I agree with media that McGeechan 39e is our best player and it is interesting to see Yeboah 43a as the hot prospect. He's a winger, and we haven't used those earlier, but that is about to change!

 

1st XI. Big changes! For now, I have ditched the narrow 4-3-3 for this 4-2-3-1 system. I needed a change to keep the save interesting and I thought maybe the players needed too. We have so many players who were shoehorned to play out of their natural positions and this new system fixes that problem. There's still one player playing in an unfamiliar position, Dingwall 39d, but that's just because I think he will become a great attacking midfielder.  

The most excited I'm of course about the use of wingers. We've had many decent prospects, but so far they've become either strikers or box-to-box midfielders. There are multiple new players in the 1st XI, winger Johnston 39b maybe being the most interesting player. He's had 4 seasons out on loan already, so he should be more than ready for us.

 

2nd XI. Assembling the 2nd XI was a bit trickier than before mainly because we don't have many DMs and our quality in the attack is a bit low. A lot of potential in this team, with four more experienced players.

Transfer #1. He had been our 1st and 2nd choice keeper for six seasons, but I still felt like he was too unreliable to actually be an option I would be happy with. I think he will play a total of 0 games in Luton, but I'm happy for him as he can make a lot more money there than here.

 

Transfer #2. This one is a bit more controversial as Joyce 37f has bee really solid for the last two seasons. But as I changed our formation, we are not going to need that many central midfielders. He's already 22 years old, so there won't be much more development to happen.

 

Injury. The Gibraltarian striker Wellens got injured in the very last pre-season friendly and will be out for the most of the season. He was going to have a big role, but let's what kind of player he is when he gets back.

Youth leagues. The benefits of moving up a youth level! For the first time ever, we are joining a U21 league!  On top of that, we will play in a better U18s division, nice!

Reputation. We are now one of the mid-table sides when it comes to reputation.

Pre-season. Some losses against bigger teams, but four games without conceding and couple of big wins, maybe the new formation works...?

Upcoming fixtures. The season starts away to Grimsby. The new 4-2-3-1 formation hasn't been in the training for long, so there might be some hiccups early in the season.

[erik45]

July & August 2044. A rough wake up call in the first game of the season. I heavily doubted if it was a good decision to change the tactic and formation during the summer. But after the shock start we started play better. Our attack is not the most efficient, but look at the number of goals conceded in August: 0 

Table. A solid starts considering how much we changed things during the pre-season.

Finances. These keep on being solid.

Transfer saga...-ish. Our best player (or at least the one with the most CA stars) has made a lot of noises about leaving the club. He even missed two training sessions as a protest, that has never happened in this save! I negotiated a deal with Bristol Rovers that included: €105k + 20 % sell on + friendly + loan back. I accepted it, stalled the deal and in the end declined it as I felt we just didn't have any quality in that position if we lose McGeechan 39e. I was surprised he wasn't angrier than he was, as he was happy to continue with us while waiting an offer of €170k to happen. This is a lesson for me to toughen up when dealing with players who want to leave

Upcoming fixtures. A very basic month, with the 2nd XI getting their first game in the midweek fixture against Morecambe.

[erik45]

September 2044. We are scoring enough goals and not conceding that much, very nice. This would've been an amazing month, but the 2nd XI just wasn't strong enough against a good Morecambe side.

Table. We climb up all the way to the third spot! I'm happy to see that none of the teams are running away at the top.

Young player of the month. Our players are good and they are young =   

 

Finances. This screenshot shows a bit more than the usual one about finances. You see the transfer clause part there. I wonder which of the clauses that is...

...it is the 50 % profit clause on the best player our academy has ever produced, Nicky Smith 40a! His transfer value has moved around €50-120m and his media description is wonderkid, so there's a possibility his next transfer will be a major one. But there's no guarantee that he will ever transfer or that the fee will be that high. So do I take guaranteed €15m now OR do I gamble on the clause and wait for another one to n years for a bigger number? The 15m would cover for the next 4-6 facility upgrades and would allow us to turn pro. I just feel the money now is much more valuable than it would be somewhere in the unknown future. I'm yet to activate the clause, but I am VERY tempted. 

He is a really good player, but it looks like he's staying with the ManU U21s this season, which can't be good for his value.

 

Upcoming fixtures. It is cup time! And the schedule gets a lot busier. Couple of really difficult games in the middle, this month will be a real test for us - and especially for our 2nd XI.