erik45

Season 2032/2033 review. 15th in the league and getting to the quarter finals in the league cup - I'm happy! When looking at xPts we should've been a bit higher, but I'm not complaining. In the spring second half of the season we played very close to the level numbers suggested so maybe next season we can finish higher, maybe even top-half? Best eleven. I wanted to show this as it shows we still have four players who played here before I started managing the team. Next season I will push them out of the 1st XI. We have better options waiting in the line, but so far the older players have had the upper hand as they've been more consistent performers. Also, there won't be another season where a player with 6.5 average gets to the seasonal best eleven, I promise! Most minutes played. Parillon 30e played in all the games of the season! He signed a new contract right after the season ended and it will keep him in the team until summer 2036. For the upcoming season, I want to try new players for DLP (McCaffrey), CB (Moore), WBL (O'Reilly 27i) and CM (Doyle) as the current players are getting "old" and haven't been performing too well. Most goals scored. We didn't have a prolific goalscorer this season, but I don't know how much I can expect as our strikers are still very, very young. 14 goals by Adigun 32a is good for his first full season and Walcott 31k's 12 goals is fine as well as he mostly played for the 2nd XI. Reddy is going to be the club's record goal scorer for years to come but this might be his last season in the 1st or 2nd XI. My only worry is the DLF position as Scott 27c only got 8G+1A from that position. He should be creating much more, but he only got 1,71 xA?! Most assists. Somehow the advanced forward from the 2nd XI got the most assists. As mentioned, DLF Scott 27c was a disappointment, but so was WBL O'Reilly 27i with three assists. Our strikers robbed Stewart 31a who got 6,88 xA but only one assist. Players debuts. Seven players made their debut this season, Adigun 32a getting the most minutes. According to my assistant manager, he's now the best player in the team! The number on the left tells how many players have debuted and the numbers on the right are CA and PA of the player at the moment of debut. As our teams quality is getting better we don't need to push players to the first team right after the youth intake. Only one player from this year's intake, Coleman 33a, got some minutes in the last games of the season. Next year there might be even more debutants as I'm pushing the old guard out of the starting elevens. New contract. After a somewhat succesful season I felt I could ask for a contract extension. Board agreed with a 2+1 deal where +1 would be activated by promotion (which I think won't happen).

April 2033. This is as boring end to the season as it can be. We should've won the games against Warrington and Stafford, but just couldn't do it. Doesn't matter, we stayed in the division and that's the important thing! Final league table. We couldn't rise in the table during the last month, so our first season in the Northern Premier League sees us finishing 15th in the league. Stalybridge Celtic had the chance of creating the new point record, but they lost second game of their season and ended up with 104 points (same as the record). Stafford ended up winning promotion playoffs... and then their manager resigned?! He didn't have a new job waiting, he's now unemployed.

March 2033. We are safe from relegation! Only in the game against Radcliffe we conceded more than once. As we've conceded almost 2 goals a game so far this season, this is an important improvement. We also have a new goalscorer as midfielder Mandic 32d scored his first goal. Table. 45 points from 38 games is quite good for a first season at this level. If we can keep this form we can get past 50 points. Facility upgrade. As we have some money in the bank and we are making small profit every month I thought it was time for a training facility upgrade - and the board agreed with us! I could've asked for youth facility upgrade but I chose this instead as our players are not developing too much at the moment. First fine. Adams 30c got the honour of being the first player of fined actual money! Before this season we haven't had players with part-time contracts, so this is the first time fining players actually means something. New contract. Our best prospect, Adigun 32a, will stay in the team! He was unsure about the new deal as we were in the relegation fight but as we are now safe he was ready to negotiate a deal. He signed a 2+1 contract and I'm sure we will use the extension. Finances. The facility upgrade created a dent to our finances. Nothing to worry about. Upcoming fixtures. The last games of the season are tough! Couple of playoff bound teams and then Bishop Auckland who reeled theirselves away from relegation spots with their good spring form.

Youth intake 2033. This looks promising! Less 5-star PA players than in the couple of earlier intakes, but this is still a very good intake. The best player of the bunch, Coleman 33a, has 2,5 CA and professional personality! He's CB, and we are in a real need of a good centre-back. We actually got two proper prospects for the position as Hudson 33b, who is 2m tall , is also a centre-back. I also like the look of Gould 33i and Nduwimana 33n, the player profiles can be found below. The only player I won't be signing is Letheren 33p as he doesn't have high CA or PA and he has a bad personality (unambitious with low determination). Youth intake tracking. Not as high potential or ability as before, but I think it is because the level of players already in the team has gotten better. The key stats are not great, but it doesn't mean we couldn't get some really great players from this intake.

February 2033. Oof, this is not ideal. Our league cup run is over, but that's a small issue. In the league we just can't find our form... or the opposition goal Matlock Town fully deserved their win, but the rest of the games were very even. We were very close of winning Bamber Bridge, but then their goalie decided to do something unheard of (check the previous post). In the game against Darlington, a former player of ours, Lonsdale 28b scored his first goal for his club...in his 46th appearance - and he's a striker. Table. Five points from five games is bad, but not that bad that we would be in the relegation zone. Ten games left and seven points separating us from the relegation spots. Bisshop Auckland has found their form, let's hope other teams below us won't do the same. Upcoming fixtures. It's the month of youth intake, which should happen quite close to the Wythenshawe Town game. The games against Bradford PA and Alfreton Town are the ones I'm looking to win, and for the rest I just hope we get a bit lucky.

I think this goal sums up our luck. The opposition goalie has gone up for a corner in the 90+1 minute. He starts to run back as we clear the ball but their player passes it to him and he decides to score an absolute worldie from almost 30 metres. Can't be mad to goal as amazing as this.

January 2033. After an awful end of the year we turned things around by winning four and losing just one of our seven games of the month. Stalybridge was too strong, as expected, but we played consistently well throughout the month. The away win against Redcar put a smile on my face as it was one of the few games 2nd XI has got play in the league. Table. Six points above relegation zone. If things stabilise, we will end up being somewhere between 13th and 17th at the end of the season - and I would be pleased with that. Stalybridge is after an unbeaten season! Expected goals. I don't know if we actually can stabilise anything as we truly are the agents of chaos in this league. Third most nPxG and xGA, I love it! Finances. We are continuing profiting almost every month. This means it's time to ask for facility upgrades. I think I might go for the training facilities. My guess is that the cost could be somewhere between 600,000 - 900,000 €. Upcoming fixtures. Our 2nd XI continues their league cup run against Redcar who they won earlier this month. This is the furthest we've got in this cup! In the league we have mostly games who I predict to be very even, although Bamber Bridge and Worksop Town will be clear favourites against us. Seven points and I'm satisfied at the end of the month.

December 2032. Well... this is just disastrous. We are not this bad, we just can't score at all and we concede way too easily. Our defensive line constantly gets ratings below 6.4. The only positive thing came in New Years Day as I forgot to take screenshots before the Ashington game (that we actually won!!!) Expected stats. If looking at xG, xGa & xPts, we should be 10th in the table. I feel that's fair, but we are also so inexperienced at this level that we just don't know how to handle the games with better quality and tempo. Table. One point between us and the relegation zone. We actually were below the line but the win against league bottom Ashington helped us a bit. Youth intake preview. Good goalkeepers (we already have good starting and back-up keeper) and good wingers (not used in our formation)... this is not what we need. We need quality in CM and CB positions, maybe the B grade will surprise us! Upcoming fixtures. One in done, hopefully many more to com! I'm eagerly waiting to meet Stalybridge who are cruising to the title. The games where we have the best potential to gain wins are against Basford, Stockton and Witton.

November 2032. Our 2nd XI is cruising in the league cup, and our 1st XI is doing well enough in the league. The away win against Winterton was a big one as their wage budget is over 1 m€/year and their top earner is on weekly wage of 3,3k€! Table. Five points from four games is not amazing outcome, but it is enough to keep us above relegation spots. As long as we keep getting 1< points/game, we will be safe. Upcoming fixtures. Three games against sides around us before we face two teams from the promotion spots. Wins from home, something from the away games?

September 2032. Well... I was aiming for six points, got two in the end. We are not playing badly, we are just not taking our chances. Last season we couldn't stop scoring, this season the same players can't find the net. There has also been multiple red cards and penalties conceded. The team seems to be a bit more...nervous? In FA Trophy, Trafford, our rival from last season, got the better of us as they rightfully won 0-3. Table. Three points between us and the relegation zone. We are in a bad form but so are the teams around us. Injury. Scott 27c injured his ankle, again. I was slowly giving him more playing time each game, listening to physios, but he still twisted his ankle. He is a big loss, again. Upcoming fixtures. Can we change our luck in November? We need to find our scoring boots first (and maybe the defensive line needs to have a chat about defending). My full focus is in the league, but I don't mind if the 2nd XI gets through in the league cup - more games for them!

September 2032. Out of the FA Cup, but seven points in the league is a good return. The best game was against Stalybridge who seem to be aiming for back-to-back promotions. The heavy midweek defeats were not really that heavy, opposition was just way too efficient. But I admit, our defence has been horrible this season. We've also been playing without our best DLF Scott 27c and I feel our current attacking trios are a bit out of sync. There was whopping 4,920 spectators at our cup loss against Barrow. The loss hurt, but we got quite nice pile of money from it (but I forgot to took a screenshot about our finances). Table. 5 points between us and the relegation zone, I'm really happy with that! Upcoming fixtures. We face Trafford in the FA Trophy., the team we won in the promotion playoff final last season. They'll sure be hungry for revenge! In the league we have four games. I would be happy with two wins, anything better would be amazing!

August 2032. What a way to start in a new division! How nervous can a start of the season be? Two red cards and a conceded penalty in the game against Basford is something I don't want to see again. In the first league game the team showed that we belong to this level as we trashed Ashington in front of 1,200 spectators. The last two games of the month were more even. Our strikers haven't found a consistent form yet, but I'm sure they'll do that once they get used to the higher-level games. Table. 1 win, two losses means we have three points. Stalybridge has started incredibly strong, but they do have the largest wage budget by a mile. If at the end of the season we would be 11th, I would be more than satisfied. Injury. Our best player is out for 1,5 months. He's done a good job at DLF role and I'm not sure who to put there in the 1st XI on his place. Finances. Even with just one home game we made some profit. That is a very positive signal. Soon we might offer more part-time contracts for the most important players. Upcoming fixtures. We have the two of the hardest tests so far this season as we face tycoon-owned Stalybridge Celtic in the league and Barrow AFC in the cup, who play in the league above us. I think we can challenge them both and the minimum expectation is that we get good gate receipt money from the cup game.

Season 2032/2033 preview. First season in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The board wants us to attempt to avoid relegation, I'm aiming for mid-table. Media prediction. Media thinks in the same manner as our board: we are going to be in the relegation battle. Stalybridge, who got promoted with us, are heavy favourites for the win, once again. They have the highest wage budget (as they are tycoon owned) and I think they will be in the top 2-3 places. During the pre-season we lost one player from our starting XIs as Onyeka Chidi 29c decided to leave for Clitheroe who play two divisions below us. I don't understand why he did it as he was in the 1st XI for us and Clitheroe don't pay him more than we did. Pre-season friendlies. Harrogate was too strong for our 2nd XI, but the rest of the games were relatively easy wins. I'm always happy when we can win another "island team" as we beat Guernsey in our only away game. Youth product tracking. This is something I've done for the first time in Football Manager in this save. I follow all the players who came through our academy and collect data about how many games they've played for us and how many goals they've scored. Players in italics have left the team. Players with underline have left the team but we have re-signed them. Players with both have been re-signed but they've left again. These are all the players with 50 or more apps for the team in all competitions. 6 of these players still play in the team (but two of them are not in the 1st or 2nd XI anymore). After this season the list of players with 50+ apps is going to be much longer as we have 10 players from 2030 and 2031 youth intakes in your playing XIs. Upcoming fixtures. Some fresh air for the start of the season as we don't have FA Cup game as the season opener. We face Basford United who are predicted to be in the relegation fight with us. Then two mid-table sides before starting our cup journey.

First part-time contract. Phizacklea 28b got the honour of getting the first part-time contract in the history of FC Isle of Man! There were some offers for him during the summer so I decided to try if I can get him sign a part-time contract. As he was wanting a non-contract it was difficult to guess the right level of weekly payment. I think I overpaid a bit, but not much. 50-60 € p/w could've been possible. At the start of the new season we have three players on part-time contracts. At the end of the season we have about 15 players who have their youth contract ending so at that point we need to be ready to offer many more contracts. We have almost 1,2 m€ in the bank so we are in a good position to do that.

Lucky for me, he didn't accept any of the offers from other teams so he's staying with us with his old contract, which earns him 375 per game.

Season review, part 2. Before going to the new season, I wanted to show two important factors behind our promotion. We had good luck with both transfers and injuries. Yes, we lost two players from the 1st XI (Gibbons 30b and Spooner 29f) and couple of good rotation options, but the big picture is that our team was stronger at the end of the season compared to the beginning. We also got two players back to the team. We won't be trying to renew Price-Jordan 29g's loan, but Phizaklea 29b is very close of getting to the mezzala role in the first XI. The other reason is lack of injuries. None of the important players lost more than 2 weeks. In the screenshot below there are all the players who missed 2 weeks or more because of injuries. The list is very short and what is even better that we had only one player who was missing more than a month (Parral).

Thank you for asking, because I thought I couldn't, but I CAN! I haven't moved any further after the season review, so I thought things hadn't changed but... There are many teams circling around our players. As starting DLF Scott 27c got an offer from another club, I wanted to check if I could offer him a part-time contract because of your question. He was asking non-contract with 1,1k€/game appearance fee. I tried to offer him part-time contract and my last offer was 240€ p/w and 240 €/game appearance fee + bonuses, but he was not interested. We really can't lose him, hopefully those teams wanting him don't offer anything better. I checked and all the teams in the league above have at least some players with part-time time contracts, most teams having yearly wage budget of ~200-300k€/year. I think we should be able to afford close ~200k€/year, but I want to take things slowly.

Season review. Finally! We got promoted and we did in style! We scored so much!!! Stalybridge is on a different level with their tycoon budget, but I think we got deservedly promoted, although there was some luck involved (more about that later in this post). Players sorted by minutes. These were all the players who started at least one game this season. I think the top three were available for the games the first XI played, that level of fitness and consistency will be needed in the next division. I might need to re-think our defence as we conceded 70 goals in the league and our CBs got quite low average ratings throughout the season. Players sorted by goals. Strikers delivered very evenly this season! Reddy and Walcott 31k were on fire most of the season and Scott 27c & Dugdale 31c backed them up really well. The players from 31 intake are on youth contracts, so I definitely get to keep them at least for another year, hopefully Reddy and Scott 27c want to stay as well. The surprise name on the list is Jamie Doyle, who got a new role for this season - and made it his own! 9G+15A in the league, 11G+15A in total. Those are numbers I've been expecting from CM(a) but he's the first to deliver. Dugdale 31c also needs his own mention. Look at these rookie year numbers?! The reason for our promotion can be found from the screenshot below. Our attackers were so active and efficient that they made the promotion possible. Season end When looking at the Tracking. As one can see, this was our best season when it came to final position (and promotion). But if we look at the xGD or xPts, we've had multiple seasons better than this. I said earlier that we need some luck to get promoted and this season it happened through our attack being very, very, very efficient. Hopefully we can keep that up, but probably not gonna happen. Contract extension. Promotion means +1, yee-haw!

Playoff final. WE DID IT?!?!?!! We took an early 2-0 lead and hoped for the best after that. Trafford kept coming and coming, shooting whopping 28 times! We didn't budge until the 91st minute when they got their first good change: open goal from 2 meters. But it wasn't enough, WE GOT PROMOTED!!! Seventh time is the charm, right?? And we did it playing the 2nd XI in the final! I think it was destiny as McMahon, who's been so unhappy with his playing time, scored the penalty. That told me that anything is possible. I'm just so happy and relieved that we actually made it through the playoffs!

Playoff semi final. What???? 3-0?! Let's gooo!!!! We were so good, maybe not 3-0 good, but still the only side that deserved to go through. All the three strikers scored and our defence left opponent shooting from poor positions, I'm so happy with this! Playoff final. Away from home, just three days after the semis... this is going to be tough. I am going to make a bold decision and start our 2nd XI. This is a mid-week game so it's their turn! I think Trafford won't change that many players in the starting line-up so we have the fitness advantage if we use 2nd XI. It is a high risk tactic, but I want to do it. The previous games have been very even against Trafford. The only worry is that we played against them just a few weeks ago and lost 3-1. But that's not the whole truth as the game was really, really, really even. Just look at the numbers:

April 2032. Two clear wins, two almost-as-clear losses. Trafford had the chance to overtake us if we failed to collect more points than them. Did we fail? Final league table. Yes... but we still got the home advantage! But only for the semifinal, so if we progress we need to play away from home and the final is just three days after the semis! Also, please take a look of our goals for column! 113 goals, that's new league record Semi-final opponent. Atherton have been in solid form, winning 6 out of last 8 games, losing only once. They have been a very very difficult opponent for us, we've beaten them only once. But on the flipside, the only win came this season, just a few months ago when we demolished them 6-3! Expectations. Both the board and the fans think we are going to lose the game... I think we are slight favourites, but we really need to find the game balance after losing the last two games of the regular season.

March 2032. We are scoring SO much! 22 goals in six games is something I can't remember doing earlier in the save. On top of that, we are winning everything we can (Nantwich was just too much, they were the better side). And both our 1st and 2nd XI are doing their job. Table. Even with our form, we are definitely not running away from our competitors. We have almost guaranteed our place in the playoffs, but we want to do better than previously and get the home advantage. Transfer out. Losing our 5-star PA goalie just before the most important games of the season is...not optimal Spooner 29f went up one step in the league pyramid and still is the first choice keeper for them. That tells something about his current level. The new #1 is Parillon 30e. A year younger than our previous #1. Parillon 30e has a bit over 20 starts with the first team, so he's not a total rookie. He has really big shoes to fill - and he needs to fill them fast - but I think he's quite decent option at this point. U18 champions. This is the third time our U18s won the league, this time they did it 5 games before the end. Upcoming fixtures. Oh dear... I'm feeling nervous. Not because the fixture list, but because this is the end of the season and probably our position in the table will be decided in the game against Trafford (who are currently 3rd). The first two should be relatively easy, but then... let's see

Youth intake 2032. Oh my days, this is an amazing intake! Both high PA & CA players! Four players who have 2,5 or better CA If there's something negative to be said, it is that two of those players have a challenging position: ML (we don't use) and RB (we already have two exciting talents). Players. All the English players are from the island. Once again, we have some Swedes in the intake. Is there some reason for it? Viking connection? My favourites are Adigun 32a, Mardic 32d and Alie 32p (yes, the one with the worst star rating). Their and other high potential players' player profiles can be found below. Intake tracking. Once again, a lot of high potential players AND even more players with a decent starting CA. Stats-wise this is a good intake, but not the best. What impresses me is the small number of negative personalities, that's a good sign for the future!

March 2032. Oof, this is a bit of a blow. We are playing in the same way as earlier, but we don't have the luck we had. Table. Our blip in form means we didn't gain any advantage in the promotion battle. It is very close and teams in positions 2nd to 8th are all very close to each other. I know I'm a bit too optimistic at this point, but I really want us to get to the 2nd place so we could have home advantage in both semis and in the playoff final. But first we need to secure playoff spot Upcoming fixtures. I was too eager to play and took the screenshot of the fixtures (and the table) after the first round of March. Target man hat trick, I love it! Nantwich Town is going the be THE challenge of the month. The 2nd XI will get their chance in the mid-week games. Also, it is youth intake time!

January 2032. The league leaders were too strong for us, but it didn't stop us from continuing our strong form in other games. I love how the team bounced back after the loss by scoring six goals against Atherton who are in promotion battle with us. I forgot to take screenshot of the table, but at this point we are third in the league table, Stalybridge being 1st and Trafford 2nd. Transfer out. Gibbons 30b is from the last intake who didn't get youth contracts so he was free to leave whenever. Cannon Woods started from the level 10, but they got bought by a tycoon in 2025 and are now a top half side in Vanarama South. Gibbons 30b was available for a loan but he decided to join Whitehawk who play in the Isthmian Premier (can't blame him). He was our best CB, let's see how our team can cope. Upcoming fixtures. I forgot to screenshot at the turn of the month, so a bit different view this time. Staveley Miners Welfare has been a tricky opponent for us and they are playing well at the moment. Rest of the teams should be winnable.