theBlackPrince

I counldn't remember where in Cornwall I'm going For once I didn't book the holiday which is probably why we heading down south rather than our usual Northern trips. Looks like I'll be an hour away, or maybe 2 with those Cornish roads!

Season 2- January and February 2024 Update The post-Christmas blues is real with 4 losses in the next 5 league games. This saw us fall outside of the play-off spots into 6th place and nothing was working on the pitch. We once again struggled to put the ball in the next enough. Just a majorly frustrating time when even an ultra-defensive formation lets goals in for fun. Then we had a stroke of luck when Keeper Patrick Boyes (GT) was without a club after a loan spell at Gainsborough Trinity. A massive upgrade on our current keepers and probably the best player at the club by a large margin, we beat a couple of clubs to his signature by offering a decent non-contract wage and the huge (for us who pay no bonuses) £350 bonus per clean sheet. 2 games, 2 clean sheets and 2 victories and back into the play-off spots and a current rating of 7.45, Boyes is certainly earning his money! This may just be our season saver! 5 points from the top spot, 3 points ahead of 6th place with 9 games to go. 4 at home and 5 away. Attendances are way up from the start of the season and similar to last year which is a positive and will hopefully continue to increase as we head into the final few games. Time to see if our new keeper can bring home a promotion!

Season 2- November & December 23/24 Review We managed to get another upgrade passed the board but everything else was flat out rejected, I think we are at the limits until promotion happens, if it happens! We managed to grab 3 more signings to help us strengthen the squad for the rest of the season. Still a struggle to attract big names or better standard players to the Yellowbelly Stadium! We are in our 6th month of making a profit in a row, which is a great situation to be in, keeping the club sustainable for the longer term. December was a pretty much perfect month in the league with 15 points from 15 and up to the top of the table. I wonder if out post Christmas slump will come sooner or later....

Season 2 - September & October 23/24 Review As per season 1, these two months were CRAZY with fixtures every midweek and that currently has us 2 or 3 games behind everyone else. The good, we are still undefeated in the League but have drawn 6 games out of the 11 played. If we can keep winning at home and picking up these points on the road, we should stay in the top 4 or 5 teams once we catch up. The fixture list did catch up with us as we would go out of two cups, The Isuzu FA Trophy and the FA Cup at the Fourth Qualifying Round to local rivals Gainsborough Trinity. We still managed to make the most of that with several large crowds. We still have the Integro League Cup as we head into the Third Round with an away game against Liversedge. Promising young striker Charlie Burden-Whittleton (L) has now bagged 7 goals in 6 (2) appearances and seems to be stepping up to play at this level. He has formed a great partnership with the veteran Ryan Oliver (L) and look to be the starting partnership. All the young prospects have seen playing time with the heavy fixture list of the past two months. Dale Botterill (L) was looking promising with 2 assists in 4 games from left back until injury set him back several weeks.

Season 2 - July to August 23/24 Update Well, the season started with a bang scoring 5 goals in 3 of the 6 games so far including a huge 5-1 win over local rivals Grantham Town. Unbeaten in the Cup's also with the hopes of another magic run to get the gate money so we can look to improve the training set up once more. We find ourselves at the top on goal difference but last season we started strong also, so not taking anything for granted so far. Up 29 season tickets on last season but that hasn't seen an increase on the day yet...

Just been catching up, yikes this is a long long way down the footballing league to be! The promotion last season was at a canter which is nicer than losing it in the last few games!! Im heading down to cornwall later this year, wonder if these guys are close to where I'm staying

Season 2 Preview - Lincolnshire FC 2023/24 - Northern Premier League Division One East Had some more time to set up the excel spreadsheets so hopefully season 2 will look a little more complete! We left last season with many of the squad needing to be replaced and we managed to bring in 12 players in to bolster the ranks. 10 of these are on a full time deal with 2 loan signings, both from Scunthorpe United. We are very excited by some of the prospects who were released from their clubs at the end of the season. Martin Lathbury was the first we had seen and snapped him up before adding a second from Boston United in left back Dale Botterill. At just 17 many of these are on the cusp of the first team so will be given expose to the first team to see if they can cement a place. That gives us a 23 man squad for the season with a few players in the under 21's who we cannot sell on at this point, but I cannot see them moving back to the first team. Lewis Norvock (L) is still the star man in the team and we have a genuine competition for the #1 jersey in goal. We may still only be projected to finish 17th but with 11 players on a potential 5th star for future ability, the future is looking bright. Is this season too soon or can the young squad push forward and defy their years?

2022/23 Player Overview I found a little more time to look over the players from last season. Nothing too out of the ordinary and shows the large rotation of players to really only have Jake Bayram (L) (excluding the keeper) play a large percentage of the minutes available. Looking at the below it does show I have a glut of players who are "Surplus to Requirements" and will need replacing for the new season, which I knew already. Ryan Oliver (L) at +4.95 xG was surprising and looks to be one who will stay on despite is advancing years.

Unfortunately it is not. It's just the nickname for Lincolnshire people and there is a beer named after it (Yella belly, I guess to avoid naming rights)

Season 1 - End of Season Review League Position - 2nd - (Knocked out Semi-Final Playoffs) Well, we choked at the time it mattered and had 2 chances to win automatic promotion and then a 2nd seed for the play-offs but we would lose 2 games and draw another to see the season end early. It would still be a season of massive overachieving with a 20th place prediction at the start of the season so we have to take a great FA Cup run, improvement in facilities and money still in the bank. We will be able to get our under 18's up and running next year along with more players to bring along for our under 21's. Overall, so close but so far! Jake Bayram (L) would not only lead the higher ratings and assists, but would come good with 20 goals from the spot or free-kicks. He would take home the fans player of the season also! Goalkeeper Jake Frestle (L) would play the most games as he had little competition at the spots and Ryan Oliver (L) lead all with 21 goals for the season.

2022/23 Youth Intake Well, it could be a golden generation but the scouting at the club is not the best. We signed everyone to at least their youth deal so we can evaluate them over the next 12-18 months to see who may sign for us in the long term. As expected, 11 from the 16 are from Skegness but we do have 5 players with other nationalities amongst the intake. If any of the players look to break into the first team next year we will look at them in more detail!

February & March 2022/23 Update 2 steps forward, 1 step back and then a 0-4 defeat at home to local rivals Lincoln United to end the month. We were scoring for fun at the start of the season and now we struggle to score a goal a game. But with 4 games to go we have a 3 point lead on Tadcaster Albion who are currently in 6th and just outside the play-off spots. 12 points from 24 available in the 2 months and if we get 6 from the last 12 available, we should be in the hunt for the play-offs. Outside of that, been a frustrating time and little going on in the transfer market looking ahead. We are starting to offer contracts out for some players for next season but most we can leave until nearer the end of the year. The first youth intake has happened and will update separately. 4 games to go, automatic promotion is off the cards (mathematically possible, but highly unlikely) so play-offs is all to play for!

December & January 2022/23 Review After 3 straight defeats and facing top of the League Brighouse Town, a change in tactics was required from 4-4-2 to a 4-3-2W-1 to try and win the battle in the middle of the pitch. This limited their possession and attempts on goal to just 5 for the game and he Yellowbellies managed to get the only goal of the game from the spot from Jake Bayram (L) much needed 1-0 win. The team needed a few new faces in as it was becoming apparent that the squad was still behind where it needed to be. We managed to secure a few loan signings to hopefully give us the push to finish in the play-offs this season! Semir Karic (CU) is a player we would like to sign on a long term deal and Lynton Karkach (L) was someone we missed out on earlier on in the season. We will see if the additional firepower was needed. After some record profit months, with few games we see a decrease each month of around £10,000 despite our frugal-ness. We should still be well in profit at the end of the season. In the League we cannot shake those below and cannot gain on those above, in that limbo last play-off spot. Ryan Oliver (L) has saved the month with 6 goals in 3 games for January and right now, who knows if we will stay in the hunt to go up!

November 2022/23 Review The magical FA Cup run continued into a replay at Dulwich Hamlet after a late Max Baker (L) goal shocked the Vanarama National South team. They had taken a 0-2 lead by the 11th minute but Lincolnshire FC would fight back to stay in the game, 2-3 down at the half. The 2,525 fans, a new record were delighted with the equaliser and the chance to move to the second round. The away leg was totally different with Lincolnshire FC taking the early lead and would be 2-0 all the way up until the 79th minute when Dulwich Hamlet scored. They would gain a penalty in the 92nd minute and crushed the travelling fans, extra time the cards. The Yellowbellies would keep up the pressure and a superb Haydn Havard (L) shot from outsie the box helped restore the lead. The game was put to bed with a Jake Bayram (L) penalty with just 3 minutes to go. What a performance over the 2 games and a welcome £41,000 prize money to go along with the record gate money in the home tie. The FA Cup second round would see League One Fleetwood Town come to the Yellowbelly Stadium. Despite a strong effort in front of a near capacity 3,683 which brought in another £40,810 in gate money, the League One team were jus two strong and ran out comfortable 0-2 winners. Not a bad result all things considering and the mammoth cup run certainly will set the club up for a while to upgrade facilities. We managed to get the much needed training facilities upgraded, which was a must for 8 of the players I had promised that to. The increase in Academy Coaching is a welcome boost, but no increase to Youth Recruitment unfortunately. Outside the FA Cup run, the league was 2 wins, 1 draw and a loss to Grimsby Boro, which moved them out of the bottom 3. Sticking to that 2nd spot in the table, Brighouse Town sit just 2 points ahead with 6 teams all on 30 or more points, keeping the top 5 places up for grabs at the half way stage of the season. With the cup games now done, can really focus on putting out the strongest 11 each week, not resting too many and challenging for Promotion this season.

October Review - 2022/23 7 games in the League, 7 Away Games!! Talk about a tough slog away from the Yellowbelly Stadium. 3 Wins, 1 Draw and 3 Losses to give 10 points from 21 which is probably a few behind where we would like to be, but we end the month in 2nd place still and 2 points behind Brighouse Town. The fixture list looks much kinder in November and 3 from 4 league games are at home! We would lose our on loan keeper due to lack of matches, which was fair. We did sign Luke Baxter (L) on £20 a week just to make sure we have a spare keeper on the roster, he wont be challenging Jake Frestle (L) for the #1 Jersey but injuries/illness can happen. The FA Cup Third Qualifying Round game saw Lincolnshire FC take the 165 mile trip across country to Warrington and would come away with the victory and the performance of the season from Jake Bayram (L) who would score all 5 of the goals (3 penalties) to take the 5-1 victory. He had a perfect game with a 10.0 player rating and 5 goals may never be beaten. The draw for the 4th Qualifying Round was huge, with the chance to qualify for the Main Draw on the first attempt. The 3rd ball out was Lincolnshire FC, a home game at least!! The next ball out, Thame United! Wow, wow, wow!! A game against a team at the same level and at home, this was perfect! It would be a great game with both teams having spell's on top. It would be Callum Robinson (L), the Skegness born player with both goals, including a stunning 30 yard effort to put Lincolnshire FC up 2-0. Thame United would score in the 89th minute to set up a nervous last 5 minutes. But the 1,690 fans (1 away) erupted when the final whistle rang out, into the FA Cup draw proper for the First round. League One teams get added at this point but for now, just bring in the hat for the next round is more than ever imaged. And the draw came out, and the Lincolnshire FC players and fans were made to wait until the last 2 teams in the round. It would be Dulwich Hamlet of the Vanarama Nation League South in the next round but would it be home or away. It would be another game at the Yellowbelly Stadium and the the club attendance record is probably going to be smashed in this game.

September Review - 2022/23 Well it seemed a long month with more cup games then league games, but the cup games bring money from increased attendances and match day sales. Despite the few League fixtures we remain at the top of the table and have a couple games in hand as there are only two unbeaten teams left, Worksop Town and us! An absolutely bumper month with £71,430 income (£29k gate receipts, £30k match day income) against only £24,964 expenditure, thanks in part to the low wages and no match day bonuses so far. The FA Cup qualifying rounds would see 1,722 fans witness the 6-3 win over Harefield United (Hilllingdon) before 1,843 saw Welwyn Garden City at the Yellowbelly Stadium for a 3-1 Victory. This sets up a mouthwatering away at Warrington Rylands in the FA Cup Third Qualifying Round. A third successive home game was too much to ask for but we avoided the larger teams from the Vanarama National League North/South which was a huge bonus. Can the run continue or will the long travel in a few days time be too much? We would also lose the other two cup games we played in, including a heartbreaker to Tilbury who we battered but they scored 2 from 3 shots to win. On the transfer front we made 2 additions, and boy, one was good one. Lewis Norvock (L) initially wanted around £300 per week and he has still got more than anyone on the team, but he has graded out as the start player so was worth the 1 year deal with us having the option to extend. If he can improve over the next few years he may be able to still factor for us if we get to the Vanarama North. Oliver Ryan (L) may still have some sub appearances in him, but the journeyman striker is set to take on the scout role for us which we had not been able to fill with a Lincolshire born staff member up to now.

Love these type of saves, adds a little more to the youth only style by adding extremely limited transfers/loans available! Having another few clubs in Enfield will help in the future, if you can help them improve also!

August Review -2022/23 A flying start to the League season and the board granted an improvement to the clubs Youth Facilities. I'll be honest, I meant to do Youth Recruitment and did not expect the club to say yes when pressed on the matter! Nevermind, we need to increase these and the training facilities (which some players wanted and probably should have been done first). On the field we managed to stay unbeaten in all the cup games including an impressive victory away in Kent against Chatham FC with 2,000 fans in attendance in the FA Cup Preliminary Round! Currently in the top few spots in the League, a 90th minute goal from Cleethorpes in the Lincolnshire Derby cost the victory which would have put Lincolnshire FC on top of the table. A red card in the match by Brandon Buckley (L) and playing a weakened team with an FA Cup First Qualifying Round Game coming up at the weekend didn't help the cause. Overall, a spectacular start to the season and a board that may back the manager to make the upgrades needed to the club, when the money is there!

Step 2 - Assemble the Team It would be a difficult task putting the team together but for the first game of the season, we have 22 players with 5 of them coming in on loan, mostly from Grimsby Boro. Setting out a strict wage control from the start put many players out of reach but with financial stability required, going into large debt in the first few season's is not where we want to be. The top player signed so far looks to be DC Oliver Kemp (SU) who was released by Scunthorpe United. After some time away, he is back to prove them wrong. With the final loan signing of (DL) Max Baker from Grimsby Boro, we now have cover at every position as games do come thick and fast, especially if we have any cup runs. We will be continuing to reach out to players who may not be interested yet or demanding over £250 per week, which is just too much at this level. We have room for a 25 man squad so that is where we will aim to get to. 2022/23 - Lincolnshire FC Squad We have Boston born Jake Frestle (L) as the #1 on the season. At just 19 years old, he was released by Boston United and bounced around a few teams. He has loan signing Liam Highton (L) for squad depth and brining in on loan takes away any wages we would be spending so makes good business sense. The center of defense looks to be set as James Blunden (LU) and Oliver Kemp (SU) look to be two of the best players at the team. Sisa Tuntulwana (L) looks to be a star in the making on the right side but competition on the left is there to find the starter. Jack Barlow (L) looks to be the best midfielder in the team but competition will be there for all places as everyone is of a similar quality. We really struggled for strikers and it was looking a position of worry for most of the pre-season, but we managed to sign a pair of 30+ journeymen in Ryan Oliver (L) and Marc Cooper (L), who has scored goals at the level below this. We will see if they have the ability to bag the goals or do we need to keep out on the hunt for other options?

Step 1- Hire the Assistant Manager - Stuart Ruddington Luckily there was some choice of staff which meant we could get an offer on the table on day 1. A few wanted wages too high for me so we ended up with 44 year old Stuart Reddington from Lincoln. He was once on the books at Chelsea after starting at Lincoln United before making 54 appearances for Mansfield Town. After this it was down to Lincolnshire non-league clubs to finish his career. At £55 per week for the season, it will give us ample time to see if he is the right man for the job long term.

[FM23] Lincolnshire FC - Flying the flag for Lincolnshire from Step 8 to Premier League When you think of football and Lincolnshire you will probably know, there are no Premier League Titles or trophies won in Europe. Lincoln City are currently in League One after a spell in the Vanarama Nation League from 2011 - 2017. They now seem to be stable as the top team in the county, followed by Grimsby Town in League Two, Scunthorpe United in the Vanarama National League and Boston United in Vanarama National League North. Not exactly all pushing on towards top flight football. And then we move to footballers, the current top player born in Lincolnshire (Grantham) is Leeds United Striker, Patrick Bamford. So.... taking a team with only Lincolnshire born players or those who went through a Lincolnshire Academy first shouldn't be a problem? Can it be completed or will there not be enough players without raising the profile of at least another Lincolnshire based club? Up The Yellowbellies!!! The aim for the save is to take the team from level 8 to the Premier League, playing as realistically as possible and sticking to the rules. All players must be born in Lincolnshire or their first club was a Lincolnshire based club. All players born in Lincolnshire will have a (L) as their name. All players who went to an academy in Lincolnshire will have the team abbreviation in brackets (LC), (GT), (SU), (BU). All Staff must be born in Lincolnshire. If there is no-one for that role, we go without. We will start at Step 8, 2 promotions to the Vanarama Nation League North. This starting point is the Northern Premier League Division One East. The team was created and all players were released to build the squad from the ground up.

Update here

I haven't seen any on here so thought might be a good one, although managing in England with all the money may not be so satisfying in the ling term but we shall see. Time to get some more games done as we haven't really played any of the big 6 yet which will see our good start tested!

Pre-Season 2022 Pre-Season saw plenty of goals and the team trying to build together and gain rapport with each other for the upcoming season. The only loss came against Belgian side Club Brugge. A final win over LaLiga side Cadiz was the highlight of the games before heading to the Premier League Season.

Nottingham Forest Overview The World Famous City Ground has been jumping in real life this year and made it an experience every game. The 30,332 seater stadium is now probably 20,000 seats short of where it needs to be for current demand. Raising the funds for the stadium will be vital in the next few years to be able to increase revenue. The real worrying part of this is the "Adequate" Academy coaching and "Above Average" Youth Recruitment which puts Forest on the back foot for talent in the local area and further afield. This needs addressing as soon as possible if we are to bring the Nigel Doughty Academy back to the level that it needs to be. Starting Finances Starting Balance - £1,324,000 Transfer Budget - £8,649,000 Wage Budget - £1,494,500 Wage Spend - £1,390,900 - Committed Spend £1,484,500 Aims and Objectives Secure the club financially Increase Academy facilties as a matter of urgency. Look to upgrade/build a larger stadium to meet Premier League Demand Build the clubs DNA to focus recruitment and player development. Stay in the Premier League The DNA of the club will take time to build with the way the squad was put together this season. Players were generally 22-28 years old with a few older players brought in for experience. The big wage difference between the top earners and the rest may cause some friction down the line, but both big earners may just be a 1 season and gone which will enable us to get a structure in place moving forward. At this point, the buzz around the club is at an all time high which also brings the expectations of the supporters up another level or two.