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SI Community Challenge #1 - The Luton challenge: -30 to safety


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Since July was a month of tests, I'm starting my CV with August

Luton    1-2 Macclesfield
Luton    1-3 Cardiff (League Cup)
Barnet   1-2 Luton
Luton    1-2 Grimsby
Bury     0-0 Luton

Just one draw and one win, all of them away. I hope we are not getting a pattern in here, like losing points at home and gaining them back away.

League Table

#24 is my name and Bournemouth and Rotherham have increased the difference with one more point

Squad

After snatching Kinkladze on free and getting Chelsea as parent club from where I got Carl Magnay as "gift", I've attended the Trial Day which didn't offer me much choices. Last days of the transfer market were busy with a lot of offers made and refused, but I managed to snatch to loans: Jordy Brouwer (SC) from Liverpool and Josef Kveton (GK) from Opava. I also got rid of Spillane who was taking some space in my squad. Tried to sell McVeigh, even got an agreement with Wrexham, but they canceled the deal in the last moment.

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September

Millwall    1-2 Luton (Johnstone's Paint Trophy)
Luton       0-4 Lincoln
Bournemouth 3-5 Luton
Brentford   2-2 Luton
Luton	    1-1 Wycombe

A marvelous month with a win in Johnstone's Paint Trophy first round that will set me with a date with Leicester in second round. After the cold shower from Lincoln, a string of good results gave me some hope. Last three league games of the month were insane. The one from Bournemouth started at 1-0 for me, with a come-back from the hosts 2-1 and a devastating second half which put me in the lead with 5-2. The last goal from Bournemouth was just a consolation goal. The next game was more heart shaker than the previous. I got 1-0 in the 81st minute, got equalized in the 87th, 2-1 for me in the 90th and equalized in 94th.

It makes me happy that I'm gaining points, but it hurts to get just draws instead of winning

League Table

#24 is still my name and now Bournemouth and Rotherham have 16 points in front of me.

Squad

The new star was Brouwer who with his double qualified me to JPT's next round. Unfortunately, he never got a chance to shine due to an injury in the Lincoln game. Also got Parkin injured and this is putting in a bitter situation. What hurts more is that especially Martin and less Andrews are alternating the marvelous performance with embarassing displays. At least if they could play decent but constant, would be more than great. But no...one game scoring a double, next game rating somewhere below 6.0...this is how they play.

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ok well said it'd be slow but finally got a couple of games played and signed 3 new players.

2 Friendly results so far have been:

Cheltenham 2-1 Luton

Luton 2-2 Brighton.

Not a bad start but should have beat brighton they scored in the last minute of normal time.

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End of Season update

Finished - 7th

Playoff Final - Shrewsbury 3 - Luton 1

FA Cup - 3rd Round Loss to Man City

To be honest, I was never expecting to do this well in the challenge. With that said, even though I knew we'd done amazingly well I couldn't bring myself to not be mildly annoyed at capitulating in the Playoff Final.

We scored more than we conceeded throughout the season - which would please King Kev and, for once, proved fruitful.

Fleetwood and Parkin were on fire for the entire season. They were assisted strongly by my pairing down the right hand side of Gnapka and Weiss.

We ended the season with a small amount of cash to spare, but we didn't meet the wage cut challenge (which I wasn't really trying to).

End of Season Squad

We didn't make a profit during the season either. We did finish 7th though, positive thinking.

Points

Beaten Playoffs - 80

FA Cup 3rd Rd - 20

So, 100 points methinks. Feel free to correct me if i've screwed that up. Good luck everyone else, and I look forward to the next challenge.

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This sounds like fun.

Can people put up who they bought, how much for and what loanees they brought in aswell? Who are the players to sell?

Would it be worth getting rid of all the friendlies and getting 'big names' to generate monies from the start? What is the wage budget and transfer kitty (balance..) that you begin with?

A list of players would be good, and has anyone got any gems they would pass on?

I know i'm asking alot haha but what formation did you use? Where can they be downloaded from?

Gonna get involved a.s.a.p.!

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October

Luton		0-1 Shrewsbury
Luton  		1-3 Leicester (Johnstone's Paint Trophy)
Rotherham	1-2 Luton
Aldershot	2-0 Luton
Luton		2-0 Rochdale
Bradford	2-1 Luton
Luton		3-1 Accrington

A dreadful start for this month with 2 defeats in the league and also being eliminated from the Johnstone's Paint Trophy second round by Leicester. The morale was low, but a surprisingly win away at the relegation rivals Rotherham, increased my hopes of surviving. After that game, I managed to win everything at home and lose everything away. I'm still at the club and this is good: Manager Overview

League Table

Not moving from the #24 spot, but my chance was that neither Rotherham, neither Bournesmouth had taken advantage of my problems. Now the deficit is lower, just 11 points in front of me. So since last month I managed to recover 5 points. Not bad, but I'm still far from avoiding relegation.

Squad

Having Brouwer, Parkin and Kinkladze injured made my life a misery. Although Parkin had returned from injury at the end of month, I was stupid enough to let him play in a reserve game and he is now out for a few more weeks. Also, the starting keeper, Brill, got injured for a few weeks, but Logan provided excellent cover in the game against Accrington.

The main problem of my team is the attacking midfielder spot. Since I had alternated the 4411 with 442, I badly needed a good AMC, but O'Connor managed to drive me crazy almost every time with his below par display. Therefore, he was left out of my squad for a few weeks. The right flank is also a problem. Neither Gnakpa, neither Andrews managed to impress. Keane is much better in the DM position, while Charles is still too young and he hadn't be able to keep a steady good form. But still, he is one of my main options for the right flank.

A revelation was Howells who broke into the starting team due to a bad game of Davis (in the game against Rotherham he practically passed the ball towards the keeper just slow enough so that a Rotherham striker get it and open the score). His performance earned him a full contract and he is now an option for the ML position

Transfers

Considering the current situation of the squad, the winter break will mean changes. First of all, O'Connor, Andrews and Watson are at the end of the contract and there is no chance that I'm willing to extent any of them. Second, Brouwer will end his loan, but I will try to extend it for furthermore time.

Third, Keane and Asafu-Adjaye are wanted by other teams and if the offers are good, I will not turn them down.

Not at last, I'm hoping that I can finally get rid of McVeigh who missed the "chance" to get out of my squad due to injury. Several teams were interested in buying him, but only after he recovers from his ankle injury.

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November

Chesterfield	1-4 Luton
Farsley		0-2 Luton (FA Cup)
Luton		0-0 Chester
Darlington	1-0 Luton
Luton		2-1 Morecambe
Hartlepool	1-0 Luton (FA Cup)

A mixed month with good result (like the win at Chesterfied) and under string performance (the draw at home against Chester). The defeat against Hartlepool in the second round of the FA Cup ended my cup experiences in this season. I had bad luck when the draw was made in all the cups. Maybe if I would had some lower opponents, I could have reached more advanced stages in all the competitions. Luckily, the board was fair and admited in all the cases that despite losing, I was facing much better opponents and that the losses were deemed to be predictable. Manager Overview

League Table

Still on #24 spot, but the deficit is still decreasing. Just 7 points between me and Rotherham and 8 against Bournemouth. So since last month I managed to recover 3-4 points. If I'm keeping this rate of recovering, in 2 months I could be on 22nd place. Unfortunately, Wycombe is too far at this moment (17 points in front of me), so the 21st place is a fantasy

Squad

Brouwer ended his loan but I've changed my mind about him so I'm not extending his loan. Parkin is back, but Kinkladze is still a very big dissapointment. Luckily, Brill has return between the posts and he is my hope of good results

Transfers

More teams have expressed their interest on my players. Now Brill and Howells have joined the list of possible sells due to their performances. I'm waiting for the proper offers to come.

December

Dag & Red	0-0 Luton
Luton		2-1 Exeter
Port Vale	0-2 Luton
Luton		1-1 Notts Co
Gillingham	1-0 Luton

Last month of the year was impressive. 8 points from the first 4 games and I managed to reach over the 0 points barrier. Martin was in top form with 4 goals and he is now my goal machine. Definitely, a display that I would love to see every match from him. Although the last match of the month was a defeat, I might say that the month was not bad at all:Manager Overview

League Table

Still on #24 spot, but next month things will be different. I'm already breathing hot in the neck of my rivals Just 4 points between me and Rotherham and 5 against Bournemouth. Next month, I could be on 22nd place as I predicted at the end of November. Unfortunately, Chester & Wycombe are too far at this moment (15 points in front of me), so the 21st place is a fantasy.

Squad

The end of the month saw Emanuel returning so despite his good performances, Howells was left outside the starting eleven. Still no good news for Kinkladze and O'Connor. At least the last one is on is way out.

Transfers

Finally I managed to get rid of McVeigh, for just 16k to Kidderminster. I got my first acquisition. His name is Joseph Ndo, a 32-years old attacking midfielder from St. Pat's Athletic who came on free. I know that Kinkladze deal was a flop, but maybe Ndo will prove himself a better one. I bought him having in mind that either Nicholls or Keane will leave. Also, I'm considering letting Brill and/or Asafu-Adjaye to leave for the right price. I'm covered in all those spots especially that I have a young keeper who signed his first deal with me and he is looking decent enough

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Guest ali_g265

Not entirely sure how to post a screen shot of my profile, hope someone will help me with t but being born in Luton and feeling a great deal of sympathy for the club feel i have to give this a go, only a few days in and finding it hard to cut the wage bill, in fact ive probably added to it with a few free signings

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Not entirely sure how to post a screen shot of my profile, hope someone will help me with t but being born in Luton and feeling a great deal of sympathy for the club feel i have to give this a go, only a few days in and finding it hard to cut the wage bill, in fact ive probably added to it with a few free signings

How to Post a Screenshot

  • While in FM, press the 'Prt Sc' button (usually next to F12 on your keyboard).
  • Open an image editing program such as Paint and paste the image
  • Save the file as a JPEG
  • Upload the image to an image hosting website such as Photobucket
  • Post the direct Url to the image here.

How to Add Links

At the top of the forum, go to 'quick links' then 'edit options'. At the bottom, select 'enhanced interface' and save the changes. This will give you access to the extra posting tools that make it easier to post links. Once you've done this, highlight the word you wish to turn into a link, then use the link button (looks like a little globe) to paste in the direct Url to your screenshot.

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January

Macclesfield	2-2 Luton
Luton		0-0 Barnet
Grimsby		0-1 Luton
Luton		4-3 Bury
Lincoln		1-1 Luton
Luton		1-0 Bournemouth

Best month in my entire career. 3 draws and 3 wins and most important of all, one of the wins was against Bournemouth. The other most important event is that Rotherham and Bournemouth have met and the result of the game was a draw: 2-2, result that is in my favor. The fact that I had an excellent month was confirmed at the end of the month when I came third in the manager of the month contest. One hell of a game worth mentioning, the one against Bury. I've attached it on my post, because it needs to be shown. I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I had 1-0, 2-1 (in the 81st minute), 3-2 (in the 89th) and got equalized in 90+4. I was so close to smash my laptop, but in the next sequence I saw a once in a lifetime own goal. Martin targets the keeper, the ball rebounds to a defender who sent back the ball to the keeper and the keeper shoots the ball in an own defender. Obviously, the ball hits the defender and jumps directly into the net: 4-3 for me in the 90+6 minute. Check here the game: Luton vs Bury

On the finance chapter I have a big problem. Despite managing to lower the wages close to the 10k limit, I had the unfortunate bad luck to get Morgan back earlier than expected. With a 8k wage on his paycheck, my efforts of reducing the wage bill have been annuled.Manager Overview

League Table

Although I have predicted that I will be on the 21st spot at the end of January, my opponents have managed some unexpected results, like wins against top teams, so now I'm still on 24th place. The good news is that now I am just 2 points behind Rotherham and 3 points behind Bournemouth, so next month can be decisive for the outcome of the season considering that on 28th February I'll be playing against Rotherham.

Squad

Gnakpa is unhappy for not been used too much and the game against Bournemouth gave him a chance to prove what he is worthing. The unpleasant surprise (from some point of view) was the early return of Morgan. Not what I had in mind for the SC position as new arrival. Pilkington is playing the best of his career and I'm more than happy with this.

I managed to extend the contract of Brill until 2010 although I was so close to let him go on a free transfer to Kilmarnock or Dundee (who have offered him a contract), but I need a good gk now and I don't want to experiment on this.

The injury of Roper opened up a place in the starting eleven for Magnay and he had some magnificent displays in the field forcing me to let Roper in the stands. The midfield is working marvelous, my new acquisitions Ndo and Kakuta (check the transfer info below) enjoying their time on the field. So my only worries is the attack. Despite scoring 13 goals, Martin is still having some bad performances and neither Parkin, neither Talbot are covering for him.

Transfers

I didn't managed to sell any other players excepting Emanuel who left for free and will be joining Grimsby in February. Ndo worthed every penny and he already got on the score sheet. But the newest arrivals of the month are Gael Kakuta from Chelsea and Gilles Sunu from Arsenal. Both came on loan and Kakuta is my number one choice on the left flank of the midfield and he is already showing why is considered one of the most promising youngsters of the Europe and not only. Sunu will need sometime to fit in, but in the reserves team he already scored a goal in his first game so there is chance he will adapt soon.

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July and August

Transfers

No matter what i have tried i have been unable to shift the biggest drain on my wage budget sol davis

Brought in tony kane on loan from blackburn to solve my left sided problems and tomasz kupisz, a young polish lad from wigan.

Pre season

Luton vs plymouth (H) 0-0

Luton vs queens park (A) 1-0

Luton vs Millwall (A) 1-2

Luton vs Queen of the south (H) 2-0

Luton vs York (A) 3-0

Luton vs Tamworth (A) 1-0

All in all a decent pre season losing once and conceding 2

August

Drew a lucrative home tie at home to wolves in the first round of the carling cup and got colchester at home in the johnstones paint

Luton vs lincoln (H) 5-0

Kupisz bagged a brace on his debut as i tore apart lincoln

Luton vs Wolves (H) 0-1 AET

Crashed out in extra time, gnapa got himself sent off in the 20th minute

Luton vs Shrewsbury (A) 0-0

Had 1 shot all game

Luton vs morecombe (H) 1-1

Threw away a goal lead, missed a penalty to win the game

Luton vs Exeter (A) 1-1

Once again threw away the game in the last few minutes

An unbeaten start to the season just 25 points from saftey

Kupisz has 3 in 4 shame i only have him for 3 months

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i started doing this challenge, well i would have done it any way as i live in luton that i thort its the best challenge u can get, ive gone and rebuilt my luton side partly wiv a few transfers and a couple of good loans in, had watford in league cup 1st round and lost 4-0!! was not a gd result, but won 1st league game 3-0 but slightly gone over on wage budget :(

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Right, what a terrible Pre-Season I've had, only one victory and the rest were losses

Luton Town 0-2 Walsall

Luton Town 0-2 Dundee Utd

Luton Town 0-1 Millwall

Portadown 0-1 Luton Town

Luton Town 0-5 Sunderland AFC

I'm in for a long season

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Update August: Not a bad month with a couple of wins, a draw and a loss in the league and league cup.

Luton Town 2-0 Notts Co

Reading 4-1 Luton Town

Chesterfield 0-0 Luton Town

Luton Town 0-1 Bournemouth

Rochdale 1-2 Luton Town

On the transfer side of things I got rid of the loaned keeper by accident lol but then managed to sign Lee Cox whos turning out well.

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Hey folks, Im new to the board and have got hooked trying the Luton challenge tonight. I normally stick to playing in higher leagues with my home town club Norwich, but thought I would give LLM a try. Im no expert on FM and regularly get sacked quite early on but just thought I would give my suggestions from the game Ive started tonight. Its taken 16 games but I have finally got Luton off the bottom of the table and am now just 3 points away from wiping out the 30 point penalty and sit 6 points from safety.

I just thought id offer a few transfer suggestions...

Jovan Tanasjevic - Got him on a free transfer from Dinamo Moscow at the start of the season after being linked with him in the papers. Can play at either RB or CB and has been really solid so far this season. Wages are about 2k.

Shaun Newton - Another free transfer from Leicester. Another good performer, got 2 goals and 5 assists in 11 games on the right wing.

Chris Riley - Signed from unattached at the start of the season. Plays CB or RB and has been very solid.

The fans think all 3 signing have been superb so just thought I would share it with you :)

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I have finally reached 0 points after 19 games. I had hoped to have it wiped out before the turn of the year so to have it done in the first week of December is pretty good :) Still sit 23rd, but just 3 points from safety thanks to Macclesfields inability to win a league game all season!

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February

Shrewsbury	1-2 Luton
Luton		1-1 Brentford
Wycombe	1-2 Luton
Rochdale	1-0 Luton
Luton		3-0 Rotherham

The end of my unbeaten run. The "criminal" was Rochdale who defeated after ten unbeaten games. But the most important thing is that amongst those ten unbeaten games, I have one important victory: 2-1 against Wycombe. After that win I got out of the last place. Also it looks like the defeat against Rochdale was a "warning against complacency" 'cause my next game was a 3-0 thrashing of Rotherham.

Sunu and Kakuta are enjoying their time in here and it looks that the young Arsenal striker solved my goalscoring problems.

League Table

Yes...read it and cry. I'm on the 20th place!!! I was hoping that at the end of February, I'll be on the 21st place, but the other teams made my work easier. Not only that Bournemouth and Rotherham are behind me now, but also Wycombe and Macclesfield. The poor results of last ones allowed to recover a huge deficit and be on even with Macclesfield and 3 points above Wycombe.

Squad

Gnakpa is still unhappy for not been used too much but he will get his share of games soon. Ndo, Kakuta and Sunu are the main reasons why I have got out of the last place. Kakuta got the "Young player of the month" award for February and I'm enjoying the best days of my career at Luton

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After spending hours trying to revert back to 9.1 (ununstall, re-install, delete folders etc) due to the happless task of trying to string two wins together with Darlington amongst other teams I decided to give this a go. Bottom of the football league, no money, -30 points, shoddy players.... I thought, hey at least winning a game will be an achievement!!

I've used Razors tactic as its way too tedious and frustrating to make your own (that work!), havent purchased any players and Im unbeaten in 9 games with Parkin scoring for fun! For one minute there i thought i would revert back to FM08 but now im glad I havent!

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September

Luton vs Colchester (H) 0-1

Was preparing for penalties when they scored with the last attack of the game

Luton vs Bury (H) 1-0

1 shot on target, it went in, a poor game

Luton vs Port vale (A) 2-1

Same again, 2 shots on goal, they went in

Luton vs Brentford (A) 3-1

Buoyed by my recent comments about him in the press, sam parkin bagged a brace

Luton vs Grimsby (H) 0-0

Bore Draw

My players seem to be suffering from overconfidence due to our good run, any ideas how to stop this

http://i44.tinypic.com/24cbds0.jpg

Still unbeaten and going strong

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October

Luton vs Dag and Red (H) 1-0

Another fortunate win

Luton vs Aldershot (A) 0-2

Bump, reality check for my underperfoming side

Luton vs Bradford (H) 1-1

Kevin nicholls marks his return from injury with a goal

Luton vs Chester (A) 0-1

Tomas Kupisz plays his last game for the club as his loan runs out and i am unable to renew it

Luton vs Wycombe (H) 3-1

Dropped chris martin after his recent poor performances and it had the right effect

Luton vs Barnet (A) 1-0

Chris martin came off the bench to save me from another defeat

Drew morecombe away in the FA cup, the last chance i have of a good cup run

The season is taking its toll on me now, ive lost one of my best players and my strikers arent coming up with the goods often enough.

http://i41.tinypic.com/sdyzcl.jpg

Disapointed to still be on minus points but the dip in form menas that i am still stuck at the bottom of the table

http://i40.tinypic.com/drfns5.jpg

Finance wise we are still in the black but its falling fast

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