Motlhen

Biggest clubs from each of the biggest cities in England: (as of the start of the save 2023/24 season) London (Population 5 - 10M) Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Fulham & Brentford Birmingham (Population 1 - 2.5M) Premier League: Aston Villa Brighton (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Brighton Liverpool (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Liverpool & Everton Manchester (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Manchester City & Manchester United Newcastle (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Newcastle Sheffield (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Sheffield United Wolverhampton (Population 250 - 500K) Premier League: Wolves Bristol (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Bristol City Coventry (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Coventry City Hull (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Hull Leeds (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Leeds Leicester (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Leicester Stoke-on-Trent (Population 250 - 500K) Championship: Stoke Bradford (Population 250 - 500K) League Two: Bradford City --- Bromley (Population 250 - 500K) Vanarama National League: Bromley Ealing (Population 250 - 500K) (7th tier) Southern League Premier South: Hanwell Enfield (Population 250 - 500K) (7th tier) Isthmian League Premier Division: Enfield Town Croydon (Population 250 - 500K) (9th tier) Combined Counties League Premier South: AFC Croydon Athletic Hillingdon (Population 250 - 500K) (9th tier) Combined Counties League Premier North: Harefield & Broadfields Utd Southwark (Population 250 - 500K) (9th tier) Southern Counties East Premier Division: Fisher The bottom 6 "cities" are all London Boroughs. Bromley are flying up in the 5th tier with Enfield and Ealing two tiers below and then Croydon, Hillingdon & Southwark 2 tiers below that. I started with Bush Hill Rangers another two tiers down (tier 11), have already been promoted once and am about to play the playoff final to potentially jump up to the same level as the final 3 in this list. Over time it would be good to keep track of how the best teams from each of these cities is doing and try to catch up to them one at a time!

Kizzi is still at Sutton in this save, and despite his advancing years, still seems way too good to want to drop down to our level. Faal had two incredible spells with Enfield Town, scoring 53 in 65 games in total. Interestingly though he started his career in Italy and was born in London (so wouldn't be eligible for us to sign).

Brilliant insight, thank you! I had some plans to test exactly this, but now my test will be to reaffirm your (or makoto's) findings. More to come Joe Kizzi is on our shortlist, but not interested in joining yet. Hopefully a promotion or two will help us attract some better players like him! Is he a favourite of yours?

Hey! First off, love your threads and appreciate your time reading and commenting on my thread Enfield FC was formed in 1893 and has the historic rivalry with Barnet. Enfield Town FC were formed in 2001 as a fan-owned phoenix club as Enfield FC dissolved (before reforming some years later). Enfield Town is part of the London Borough of Enfield which consists of other areas like Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill etc. According to FM though, Enfield is a city. And it's one of the most populous cities in the country! AND doesn't have a big team within the city (so my thinking is, less local competition for the best players the area produces.) Largest Cities in England:

Playoff Semi-Final We've scraped through. We went ahead twice and then in the 2nd half started coasting and got a rude wake up call in the form of a fantastic free-kick to level the game late on. Luckily we went straight to penalties as our team was tired and we didn't miss from the spot to set up a final against 4th place St Margeretsbury. We need to play a whole lot better than we did in the semi-final to deserve promotion!

Mar 2026 We have managed to keep up the win-streak into the playoff where we'll be facing 6th place at home. Playoffs

Mar 2026 We lost in the QF of the FA Vase against a team 2 tiers above us. The game was tight, but as we pushed for an equaliser to make it 3-3, they ran away with the game. We can hold our head up high after a more-than-decent cup run this season. In the league we're storming into the last month of the season - I can only hope we keep this winning streak up and into the playoffs! It was a risk adding the players from the new intake into the squad during this winning run, but they're quality shows as they haven't missed a beat.

Others The rest of the players from this year's intake will become squad players - fighting for a spot in the 2nd XI and to be considered for next season.

Top 3 The top 3 prospects are a very attacking left full back, a decent right winger and a centre-back with great heading. Each of these players will walk into the first team.

Goalkeeper Improvement Tim Slade is BH03g (with 'g' meaning the 7th best to come through the latest youth intake). But his impact on the immediate squad is the most noticeable. We have struggled for GKs with only 3 at the club, with our first choice, Botawala only on loan for this season. The comparison between 16yo Slade and 19yo Botawala below gives you an idea on how much of an impact he could make - we need to make sure he is tied down to a long contract as soon as possible!

Youth Intake 2026 2024 (12 of 16 from Enfield) 2025 (9 of 16 from Enfield) 2026 (8 of 16 from Enfield) The top 3 players are from Enfield, as well as our first Enfield-born goalkeeper coming through the youth intakes in what is a phenomenal year. The number of players from Enfield is down to half, so we are releasing the other half immediately. Once we had signed all of the Enfield-born players, this is how they stacked up (in terms of star rating) to our current squad. Tim Slade at GK is so important for us, as 6 of our 10 best players have just come through in this intake!

Feb 2026 A perfect month, including getting to the quarter finals of the FA Vase! We're looking likely for the playoffs, but the gap to Moulton is probably too big to consider automatic promotion.

Staff In After losing Ass Man / Scout Charles, we needed to get a pair of staff members in to cover both roles. We've added £85pw to the wage budget for something Charles was doing for free (and was better at it!) but we need both of these roles filled to be successful as a club. We've welcomed Byles back to the club, he was touted as our best player in our first season, but never delivered. Hopefully he'll be better as a scout!

Jan 2026 We've progressed again in the cup and had a great start to 2026 until drawing with Stotfold and then losing this time round to league-leaders MKDons U20s.

Staff Out We've lost our Assistant Manager / Scout Charles. He was on an amateur contract and so we lost him with no compensation. I'm having to take charge of the U18s games now and I am worried about the lack of other interested Enfield-born staff. Hopefully we can fill the Ass Man position soon!

Transfer In We've had two left backs rotating in and out of the starting XI (Pirone & BH02o Matt Elliott), but neither have showed the quality we need, so to bring in Thompson who has bags of quality in comparison, he'll be going straight into the starting lineup (after the cup game, as he's cup tied).

Dec 2025 With only 3 wins from 6, it's surprising to see us end the year on the right side of the promotion playoff spots (3rd). We're still 11 points off of Moulton, but we're now 6 points away from dropping out of a playoff position. Gary Farr has continued to be a rock in the centre of midfield and it's good to see new signing Adedeji making a difference too.

Youth Intake Preview Another promise of a decent keeper, we could really do with him being from Enfield this time!

Nov 2025 We've managed to squeeze through in the FA Vase and I am all for a long cup run to help (however marginally) with the finances. Unfortunately, a loss and a draw in the league in a busy month mean we are now 11 points off of the automatic promotion spot and only 3 points from dropping out of the playoffs.

Yep, he slots right into the first XI! I'm hoping this year's intake is a very good one and then I think we should dominate at this level, rather than just being mixed in with the front runners. All of my most recent attempts to ask for more junior coaching and youth recruitment improvements have been rejected by the board. Our finances are dipping closer and closer to zero each month, so I don't anticipate that we'll be able to afford any upgrades for a while. Hopefully we can jump up the leagues with the current quality of youngsters we're producing.

Transfer In

Interest in Edgerley We've been hounded for bids for Edgerley over the last month. The screenshot says 44, but there's been more than 50 offers for him. I extended his contract, but that didn't stop the bombardment, so I offered him a new contract 3 year deal. It's seemed to work as the bids have stopped coming in - and it also means I will be trying to extend the deals for our important players again. It's not long since I could only offer them all one-year deals so I was surprised to be able to do this so soon after. More work to do!

Facilities I thought the board had made a huge mistake when I first read this message. But actually, we haven't taken out a loan to improve the training facilities. We took out a loan to build our new stadium and as part of the new stadium our training facilities were improved. So the £575k loan here is (thankfully) not a new one, rather it is referencing the same £575k loan that we are already repaying.

Oct 2025 After stopping MK Dons U20s unbeaten run at the start of the month, we ended the month by almost stopping Moulton's too. But a late equaliser for them means that they stay 8 points ahead of us in the only automatic promotion spot and we are in the mix for the promotion playoffs in the chasing pack. (MKDU20s can't be promoted which is why the promotion spots have shifter down.)

Transfer Swap on the Right Wing In the space of a week we lost one of our top performers and signed a replacement in the same position (more by chance than on purpose). Phillips wouldn't sign a part-time contract lower than £50pw and I cannot justify that level of wage for any player at the moment. He was consistently one of our top performers and will be missed. His replacement has one of the worst average ratings I've ever seen in any FM, and I just hope that his apparent quality will prove my doubts wrong.