[FM24] Darlington - the long road back

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Carambau said:

You´re on track for another promotion!

Steady on, old boy . Anything better than lower-mid table would be great this season.

But I'll do my best 

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck maestro! 

[lfds89]

Good luck, Warlock!

[warlock]

The Long Road - October 2025

I'm not sure how it happened, but I appear to have played through an extra month between updates. I can only blame the pressures of lower-league management 

In the event, things have progressed rather well. Although September proved to a stern test of our ability at this level:

Although the win against Crewe of L1 in the Bristol Street Paint Pizza Plate - otherwise known as the EFL Trophy - was a good result for us, there is little money or prestige in it until and unless you have a shot at the final at Wembley. Our league form is much more important and, sadly, we fell quite a way short this month with only one win, one draw and two defeats. Those results saw us slip back to mid-table, still above our pre-season prediction but worrying nonetheless. It would be important to pick ourselves up in October. Happily, we did just that:

Ignoring the defeat to Salford in the Trophy, a run of five wins and a draw in the league was a great achievement for the club and included some impressive performances. Swindon and Doncaster have a track record at levels higher in the pyramid, and Fleetwood were top of the table when we played them. We also showed great spirit in the win over Doncaster as we gave up two early goals before staging a magnificent fightback.

It was a month that propelled us back up the table:

We are, again, a one-man squad. After losing star Cedric Main when we couldn't renew his work permit at the end of last season, we had some pretty big boots to fill. It looks as though Finley Thorndike has his sights set on filling them:

Largely thanks to his efforts, we boast the best attack in the division with 29 goals from 15 games. The good news is that October saw a number of his team-mates step up their own game and, hopefully, that bodes well for the remainder of the season.

[warlock]

This might be important:

The club was obliged to expand the ground to meet L2 requirements and while the expansion was happening we had a reduced capacity. Now that the work is complete I'm hoping we can keep up this level of support. The increased gate receipts could be crucial to our finances. Ground capacity is now 5,500, so we've a way to go but we're on the right track!

So far this season, we've increased our gate receipts from £688k last season to £590k this time with more than half the season to go. Need to keep that money rolling in 

[SixPointer]

Catching up. League two already!! Your flying! And sitting third already!! Doing unbelievable especially when you consider the difficult transfer windows and losing the main man.