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Constantine

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Everything posted by Constantine

  1. Brackley Town - January & February 2024 Vanarama National League North Yeah, we're running away with it. My boys even stopped bothering with defense. We were never exactly Atletico Madrid when it comes to it but these last two months we kinda don't bother with it. Score two or three, let one in, score another, let one in, rinse, repeat. Personally, I don't mind it for now, since we're winning easily and breaking records left and right but it might become a worry when we get into higher tier. Transfers Kirby out, Kirby in. Now, in February, we had some development. It won't kick in till June but... Adams is out. Arguably, our best player, same as Kirby and Collar, kicked up a fuss about exploring his options. We had him for another year and a half but Preston and Sunderland started an all out war for his signature which resulted in what will be, I assume, record transfer for our club. That's two year's running budget for Brackley. No way board will be rejecting that. Or let me reject that. In other news, I've refreshed our coaching staff a bit. Got even a famous name in. New HoYD, since we had some improvement done with recruitment. And another badge for myself. Man, I couldn't wished for a better board for my personal development. They've got my back every time...
  2. Brackley Town - August til December 2023 Vanarama National League North It might be the high from all these green goodies and victories speaking but it seems like I've got my FM bug back. I knew I should stop and report back here couple times til now but I just wanted to keep playing. What can I say, we're spectacular. Cruising the league, despite having few difficulties in first two months due to fixture congestion. But when we're fresh off our feet, we're just blowing everyone off the pitch. Which is a good thing. Because I could easily end up in trouble and have a mutiny at my hands should we fail to deliver... Luckily, we're all in sync and pulling in the same direction. Though I really should consider not making that many promises. This is Morale Manager 23, after all and even one small thing could snowball into something disastrous... Emirates FA Cup We did well to go past the qualifiers but Lady Luck wasn't our friend at the first round draw and, while we did put up a good fight, Lincoln was simply way too much for us at this point. And one thing I forgot to mention, they snapped a player, a really, really good player from us. We actually had Ben Cottrell at trial. Rather tidy player. No one apparently wanted to touch him. But as soon as we put our offer forward, all hell broke loose, dozen upon dozen other clubs sent theirs and... I knew he was never gonna choose us but I was nice to dream that he might. He would be a game changer, player to build around. Isuzu FA Trophy I was hoping for another cup run but Spenny cut those hopes short... Only the league to focus on. It's ours to lose... News and Stuff Nya Kirby is leaving us for Burton Albion. One day, literally the same day, he and Will Collar just woke up and jumped me with notes that they'll be exploring their options as their contracts run down. Since both were expiring at this season's end, I thought it would be best to try and offer them out. Collar had no takers but Nya did. There were some negotiating, they offered us insignificant amount of money but I thought it would be best to sell him for nothing, keep him til the end of the season and maybe make some money down the line, as we have 50% of profit from his next transfer. Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment have had another upgrade. Had to fight the board a bit for Recruitment but they conceded at the end. And I've extended my stay at St. James Park for another year. I'm rather easy to please, give me Youth Recruitment, pay for my studies and I'm yours, 100%.
  3. Brackley Town - Preseason 2023/24 News and Stuff Our finances are sorted out. We were slightly in the red near the end of the last season. Nothing scary but our employer injected lots of money (for our level, that is), sorted out couple of sponsorships and we actually had transfer budget!! It wasn't that much, 19k but it's better than not having any... Some of that money got rerouted toward Junior Coaching and Youth Recruitment. Still at borderline basic level but I'll keep funding it. Always love having at least one academy prospect in the first team. Our reputation took bit of a hit in the last year. We'll sort that out... Oh, right... Chorley got promoted... I'm still bit sour about that... Hopefully, they'll wait for us in Vanarama National. Squad Couple of changes here and there but the core team from last season is there. Most of the players renewed their contracts. I think we released just three players. Plus our 40 years Model Citizen goalkeeper, who decided to retire. Rest of the lads are still here. Two players got released, two left (Fabio, who you can see here, and Flanagan). Our number 1 suddenly decided to retire and we're chasing another keeper. So that's five players that I had to replace. Number six, loanee, was brought in as a stop gap measure, after both Dowling and Kirby got injured in the same match, one week ahead of season' start and... We needed another body in there. Media predict us to finish in Play off zone (3rd). That lines up with what the board is expecting from us. Personally, I want us to win this bloody thing. I think we're more than capable of doing that. We have great group of players. See for yourself. I've bolded names of the guys we signed in this window. Just so we can differentiate them from the ones who were already here last year. GK Roco Rees, Aaron Bott DF George Carline, James Horsfield, Ollie Younger, Luca Murphy, Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, Josh Tobin, Joe Maguire, Riccardo Calder MD Nya Kirby, Shepherd Murombedzi, Jordan Richards, George Dowling, Gene Kennedy, Elliot Thorpe, Will Collar ATT Cosmos Matwasa, Kobei Moore, Joe Adams, Callum Stead, Levi Amantchi, Jaylan Wildbore Preseason fixtures doesn't mean anything to me. I have a habit of arranging matches only against lowly opposition. The goal is to build up fitness and morale. We'll have enough hard games this year. Let's see what we can do...
  4. Heartbreak! It turns out history do repeats... We took the lead, looked like the better team... We had all the statistical parameters on our side, except for one that matters the most, goals scored. This sucks... This hurts...
  5. We'll be facing Chorley... We won in our first encounter but they did beat us back in rematch at our place so... Our form is encouraging but this is just one game. Anything can happen in one game.
  6. Brackley Town - April 2023 Vanarama National League North Unbeaten for two months straight! We've caught fire right on time, for the play offs. And our historic victory v Alfreton caused them to concede the top spot to Fylde, right there at eleventh hour, in the final round. I know I would be mad had that happened to me. I would be carrying some grudges... I'm pleased. To rise up to 3rd, after the start they had, to close the gap from the league winners to just three points... These guys are special. Bring on the play offs. We're ready. And, whatever happens, I'll be here next year. Board offered me a contract extension, which I gladly accepted. And they funded another coaching course for me. What can I say, these people are really supportive.
  7. Brackley Town - March 2023 Vanarama National League North What are those weird yellow circle thingies? Oh, right, those are for draws. It feels like forever since we had one of those. And one of them is a goalless one. Anyhow, we're up to the third place, four points off from the cut off line for the play offs. Double that off the top. Our schedule is mixed, we're facing Fylde and Alfreton with Hereford and Buxton also in the mix. I think we're staying in the zone but one never knows for sure with the football. That's why we love this game so much...
  8. Brackley Town - February 2023 Vanarama National League North Rather happy with this. With our play, to be more precise. We're becoming more fluid more time passes. Still having occasional scare in defense but as long as we keep scoring one goal more than the opposition, I'm fine with it. Chorley played us off the pitch, it was one of those bad days at the office for the whole team. Bounced up brilliantly, though, with two perfectly executed wins. Losing at Kettering away... I made an oops. Don't know about you guys but I have made saved team selections which I use to rotate sides without clicking into oblivion. And ahead of that match, I was doing something in background, misclicked and without realizing it, started the game with fully backup side on the pitch. Oh, well, at least our first teamers were happy. They got their overdue rest... Transfers One more player out. We're down to 22. Any further outgoings, we're gonna have to go back to the market...
  9. Brackley Town - January 2023 Vanarama National League North Broke in the play off zone in this month of two halves. We hit a rough patch, which coincides with one sale we made (more on that later) and it might be crazy to say that we really struggled with finishing our chances when we scored nine goals in five league games but, man, we really struggled with finishing our chances this last couple of weeks. We are controlling our games but one or two defensive lapses, fullback caught out of position or midfielder missing a (should be) easy header and all hell breaks loose. I'm hoping those quirks gets ironed out as boys play more games together... Isuzu FA Trophy I rotated heavily for this game and, yes, we were heavily outclassed but somehow we took Oldham to penalties. We lost but the lads have nothing to be ashamed about... Transfers Six players out, three players in. We lost helluva lot of experience here. Martin Woods and Alfie Bates (who decided to go to Finland for some godforsaken reason), those two were already arranged, we had our replacements sorted out and I thought that was it for our window. We won't be bringing anyone in. Obviously, I was wrong. Tranmere came for Gareth Dean, our easily best defender. And, for realism sake, I just couldn't say no. Money was **** poor, we're already in red, this doesn't help us that much either way but how can I say no to a player who never played above Vanarama Nat level when two L2 clubs came in for him. It helped that we had Ciaren Jones, whom I really wanted to feature more in the first team. But for some reason, he kicked up a fuss about wanting to join Needham Market, a non league side so... Off he goes, I guess. Luca Murphy is who we signed as replacement for two lost defenders. Few obvious flaws in his game but with our high line and style of play, I don't think it'll be much of an issue... One that hurt the most... Adam Rooney. Man, he was sensational for us. He played in form of his life, scored pretty much for fun. But one club from his home country came knocking, top tier side nonetheless and pretty much the same as with Woods, I guess he wanted to end his career at home. Wildbore was signed when it was obvious Rooney will be leaving us, really young, still raw but he scored on his debut. Big boots to fill, kid... George, we got just because. He got recommended to us, I liked his skill set, he didn't ask for much. Frak it, why not...
  10. Brackley Town - December 2022 Vanarama National League North Adam Rooney kicked it into fifth gear and had us flying. Flawless performances, flawless month as we caught up to other play off contenders. Isuzu FA Trophy Oldham awaits in the Fourth Round. Transfers Three in, two out. With two more on their way out. We're slowly but surely reshaping the squad. Joe Maguire, former Liverpool academy graduate, going to fight it out with Calder for the starting gig. James Horsfield is really tidy player who can cover multiple positions. Brought in as a replacement for Glenn Walker, who left us for Met Police. Ollie Younger played for Sunderland in L1 just one short year ago. Absolutely massive signing for us. And I think that will be it for us on the transfer market. I don't see us going for anyone unless someone leave first. Core is there, the team is set and I'm really happy with the boys.
  11. Late for reply, sorry about that. Work and a rabbit hole that is Crusader Kings got in the way... To answer your question, extended highlights, two clicks from the right.
  12. Brackley Town - November 2022 Vanarama National League North *Boston Utd and Bradford (PA) games were supposed to go in a separate update but when I went to post them this morning, forum was offline. Anyhow, we had a great start. Nearly flawless. Of course, we had to bottle it against Blyth Spartans, who have lost their previous six games before facing us but that's just football, right...? Lads are still getting used to new way of playing, some of them aren't really comfortable with it yet, some physically struggle with it and that often leave huge gaps which are easily exploitable by our opponents. Most of those will be fixed in time. All that aside, results wise, we look really great. Escaped the drop zone and we're cruising toward midtable safety. Nice cushion distance from the bottom four but it's way to early for us to relax. Isuzu FA Trophy It was tough, King's Lynn were incredibly hard to break but, at the end of the day, we're through and we'll be facing against Hemel Hempstead in Third Round. Transfers Couple of things have happened in relatively short amount of time. Let's get the bad new outta way first. I had one player retire on me, one important player, just two or so weeks into my tenure. James Armson, around whom I planned to build a team around, have suffered a season (and in this case, career) ending injury during our match against Southport. He was on the verge, I wasn't sure what to expect but couple of days later he decided to hang up his boots and that was it. Luckily, we were able to sort out his replacement quickly. I was looking into similar type of players already, making a contingency for when Martin Woods decide it's his time for retirement, we had the money, drove the two trucks of trialists in and decided to keep two of them. Will Collar's my first signing for Brackley. Not exactly the perfect fit as Armson was for the role I had him in but I really liked the looks of him. Great personality, great PPM's, I hope he'll do great things for us. Nya Kirby was the second one. Tottenham's academy graduate, spent lots of time at Selhurst Park, has some L2 and L1 experience under his belt and he'll add even more competitiveness to our already stacked midfield. Sam Smart had his loan terminated. Sam wasn't playing for us, he was on huge wages and I did what I thought was best for all parties and sent him back to Halifax. I've saved the best for the last... Meet Joe Adams, a young Welshman who was the centerpiece of my Dulwich Hamlet team, a crown jewel and one player I signed the moment I saw he was interested. You beautiful, beautiful man... Other I've took my first steps toward getting my Pro License.
  13. Brackley Town Few things that I forgot to mention in Brackley OP/ things that have happened in two days since I signed with them, leading up to my debut versus Boston Utd. Club Vision & Supporters Profile So expectations from both the board and supporters are that we finish up in the middle of the table. Easily achievable, if players perform how I believe they can. Supporters are expecting that we end up above Banbury and Leamington and considering they're both fellow relegation contenders, I think their wish should come true. Board expectations for FA Cup has bugged out since The Saints were out way before they got me but SI's gonna SI. Squad wise, captain and his deputy, I won't be touching into that for now. No changes. Code of Conduct has been set and it's the one that's been working for me ever since they introduced it as a feature. I'll go easy on you first time but fool me again and you're in trouble. Tactics... It's the setup that served me great in the past, as well in an online save I played with a mate. Some roles and lines of engagements are prone to change depending on an opponent and how well my players can handle their roles but this is the base.
  14. Brackley Town Took them a while to come back with an offer but ultimately they did and that's what's important. I've successfully negotiated my salary up to 800 euros per week before signing the deed. So... My journey start at the lowest tier of English football. As their name suggest, they're from Brackley, a small market town in, from what I understand, East Midlands. A semi pro side, they're Vanarama North residents since 2012, always close to getting up the ranks but never quite cracking it. The Saints were runners up last year and they actually had some success in recent years, having won the FA Trophy in 2018. General :: Facilities :: Finances As that one quote from that one TV show goes, it's not great, not terrible either. Already being in red and it's barely October sucks but hopefully we'll manage. There's some space in wage budget, should I wish to sign someone but let's reassess the squad first. Fixtures :: League Table Already out of the FA Cup. That's a shame. As for the league, this team was predicted to come 4th. They fought for promotion in last couple of seasons. They can do better, surely... Squad At the first glance, these fellas are rather good footballers. Danny Lewis, our number 1, oldie but a goldie. George Carline, love the name, close enough, is an exceptional right back. Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, Ciaren Jones and Gareth Dean, neither without faults but either pair should be great for this level. Riccardo Calder, far from the worst LB I've managed at this tier. Our midfield is loaded, with players like James Armson and Martin Woods being the cream of the crop. Though not exactly the type of player I'd go for, you can't tell me Adam Rooney is bad. Cosmos Matwasa looks like a fun one too. I'm excited. Let's see what I can do with this squad. Loving the looks of them. Boston Utd and Bradford PA are our first opponents. I'm confident. We can take them. Bring it on!
  15. Thanks. Hopefully, it'll be an enjoyable adventure... Cheers.
  16. As you can figure out from the title, this is planned to be one last ride with FM 23. You can't predict the future but I wish this will last me till Winter Update for FM 24 drops, which is when I'll most likely make the switch. General idea for the save is basically to do whatever the hell I want. Get to the top however I can and then pick my projects. Sleeping giants and underachievers are my weakness so you can definitively expect some of that but I might just take some of the biggest jobs in the world (if opportunity arrives, of course) just for the sake of it, for a year or two, until I get bored. Anyhow, one club will be my endgame. Sometimes, down the line, when everything's said and done, when I feel the save is near the end, I'd like to take over my local side (Jedinstvo Ub) and make them into the best club in Serbia. Hopefully, they'll be available. Playable, in Serbian second tier... Or I'll manage them along the way, jump around and then return for a requiem. I don't know. That is the beauty of games like these. My profile, for the record. No badges, no proper football experience. Stuff as usual. Alright. Let's go.
  17. R.C. Deportivo de La Coruña August, September & October 2026 Transfers We've sold our top scorer to Vallecano!! Got some money for backup central defender, sent out few players on loan, let some contracts expire. We had bit of a squad revolution going on this summer. Two players joining us from my previous club, two obligatory players coming from Real Madrid and three of my countrymen. Eventful. Talent found in lower tiers of Spanish pyramid. Used to be the next big thing coming from Madrid's academy, now, here, in Galicia, looking for a fresh start. No place for Jacobo on Madrid's bench but he easily start for us. Talented wingback snapped from Gelsenkirchen. Due to lack of better options, he's in starting lineup. You already know how much I love him. Switched both the club and nation this summer, some big decisions from young fella. Grabbed him for peanuts from Serbia. Already great and had a bag of potential. Jacobo's partner in crime. Former Watford player. We needed someone like him, to ground our midfield. Backup goalie. LaLiga SmartBank Brutal start to the season but that unlucky defeat away at Eibar seems to sent us to a downward spiral. Hopefully we snap out of it. Soon. Tenerife isn't joking around. To wrap this up, our full squad. I'm happy with it, lots of young, talented players. That comes with its own downsides but we'll manage. Board is asking for a midtable position, I'm feeling more like a play off spot. We can get involved in promotion fight. Club like Deportivo deserves to get back into spotlight.
  18. R.C. Deportivo de La Coruña May & June 2026 LaLiga SmartBank Well, that's rather unspectacular way to end a season... Sadly, even San Roque de Lepe dropped the ball, falling out of play off places. Still, board is pleased with what we've achieved. And we have one exciting summer ahead of us. We have bit of a squad revolution going on, seven new players is arriving to Galicia in couple of days. Few of them going the other way. This is where the squad's currently at. We'll be cashing in on Kevin. He had a fantastic season but his misfortune is that Llario is coming. And he's teacher's pet. Anyhow, brand new Deportivo, coming soon. Cheers.
  19. R.C. Deportivo de La Coruña March & April 2026 LaLiga SmartBank Injury or two (or three, four to be exact) was enough to throw us in a bit of a disarray. Still, we're on point, it seems like we'll fulfill our objective for this season, the no man's land in the middle of the table. We're already preparing for the next season. Here's a teaser for what's to come. Copa del Rey This series ended 10-2... Ducking hell.
  20. R.C. Deportivo de La Coruña January & February 2026 Transfers Um... We had bit of an exodus going on... All high earners with double digit salary are out along with few players that weren't in my plans, as well as few kids who got sent out on loans. Got quite nice sum of money for some of our best players but I was of opinion that we'll be alright without them. Time will tell how right or wrong I was... Just two players in. We had a large squad as is... Yago Santiago - Former Tottenham midfielder, brought in for cover but over time he sneakily got into starting XI. David De la Víbora - It's becoming bit of a meme at this point but, I swear, this is completely unintentional. It's not a transfer window till I sign Real Madrid player. As always, couple of kids got promoted to the first team. Marco - With Adrian Lapena leaving, there was a spot open in CD rotation. As I found no options good enough (for a fair price), I decided to give Marco a chance as fourth CD. Damián Salgueiro - Retraining this lad to play as DMC. César Molinos - Can't really take the credit for this one, as he was already part of the first team. He had one sub appearance to his name but I give him some more playing time and, boy, did he deliver... Andoni Etxaniz - I love players like this, pacey little bastards. He'll do alright as a backup to Kevin. LaLiga SmartBank Not exactly defensively sound football board asked for but the results are here nonetheless. Rose up from relegation places up to the 12th. I reckon this is not the end of our rise... Copa del Rey We had a miracle run, eliminating Villareal and Barcelona somehow, got to the semi final where Real Madrid brought us crashing down to Earth and put us in our place.
  21. R.C. Deportivo de La Coruña I'm taking it. Justified this, both with my romantic self and realist self. Negotiated myself 10 times the salary so it makes zero sense for a rookie manager to reject that big salary hike to manage a relegation threatened fallen giant. Profile :: General :: Facilities :: Finances Los blanquiazules can't catch a break. Got relegated from Primera in 2018 and never got back. Since then, they were in a free fall, even had a taste of third division football for couple of seasons before promoting back to Segunda in 2023. Finances are bit of a mess... Sigh, I thought I was past it, repairing a financially damaged club. I guess not... Gotta start with sorting out that ridiculously overblown wage budget and go from there... This squad could use some work but they're far, far from terrible. Why are you underperforming like this?! Decent #1. Great defender. Though, that salary... Boy, that is a lot. Well rounded midfielder. Former wonderkid, genuinely one of my favorite FM players. Decent option to have up top. Our schedule isn't the kindest but we'll manage. Board is demanding middle of the table and I guess we can achieve that, they aren't that far off. We're still in the Cup and facing league rivals. Gonna try and go as far as possible. Deportivo has a reputation to protect. As for San Roque Lepe... Thank you for the opportunity. Seriously. No one wanted me but they took the gamble with me. Left them with a great, young core, 3rd placed and I really hope we'll both get to play in La Liga down the road. Now... Let's get this party started.
  22. C.D. San Roque de Lepe November & December 2025 LaLiga SmartBank It starts out with us drubbing some poor fellas 5-1 with Llario scoring a few and ended up with us drubbing some poor fellas 5-1 with Llario scoring a few. God, I love him... Again, apologies for delay. But I'm getting better and I hope things will pick up soon. Copa del Rey Jerez took the lead but we got serious in the second half and did the job. Elche C.F. is next. On a side note, I've got an offer I might not be able to resist. I'm such a romantic, man, I want them to do well, I managed them few editions ago and I'm torn on what to do. Saved the game and will sleep on it a little. Think it through. We'll see...
  23. C.D. San Roque de Lepe August, September & October 2025 Apologies for the lack of updates, I'm dealing with some wrist issues at the moment and that makes it hard for me to sit and work the mouse for prolonged amount of time. Transfers Our #1 went back home and joined Velez. We already had a new keeper lined up, Maidana accidentally at the same time asked for a change of scenery and I obliged. Once more, all our business is done within the first two weeks of transfer window opening. Álex Robles - Some competition for Jurado on the right. He can also play in the center rather competently should the need arise, which is just a plus in my book. Jon Aramburu - Jon and Xavi Sintes will make for our main CD pairing coming into this season. Nil Ruiz - Our already mentioned new starting goalkeeper. Marco Moreno - Third choice CD. Alfon - Backup for Baba and he can seamlessly slot into ST in a number of roles. Theo - It's no proper summer window until we sign one Real Madrid academy graduate. Theo is just the latest and, dare I say, the most talented of them all. Brilliant player, so happy he decided to join us. LaLiga SmartBank Great start, signs of trouble in the middle and wheels off during final third of this period. Still, we're at the great spot right now, doing better than I thought we would. Can't really complain, can I... Full squad. Still sticking with our own kids in backup roles. Reminiscent of my time playing Youth Academy challenge, no doubt. Younglings can surprise with how decent they can be, given the chance to shine. Also, I think I'll stop moaning about finances for a while... We're doing great now. Those 5 mill from Segunda TV rights helps a ton. Now I just have to convince the board to get some upgrades rolling. They've been resistant to my charms so far...
  24. C.D. San Roque de Lepe May & June 2025 Primera RFEF Footters - Grupo I We've had bit of a scare but the boys pulled through. We got promoted to Segunda!! Jinxed Fuenlabrada with my last post, as they almost immediately started throwing up points. Steadied the ship in last three matches, racked up three victories but it was too late, we were already gone. Sadly, they haven't got a card for a trip up the division as they stumbled in the play offs. No other side from our division managed it. Unfortunate, really, some of them had great seasons. As for us... I'm really happy. The boys are coming together, squad is settled, the spine is there and I think we'll need just some fine tuning to achieve our goal, which is, simple enough, to survive. We're going against some of the big boys next year. Baby steps... Finances are dire as usual but I think there's some Segunda money coming in since we somehow got half a million transfer budget for upcoming season.
  25. C.D. San Roque de Lepe March & April 2025 Primera RFEF Footters - Grupo I We're barely containing Fuenlabrada, who's been on a fantastic run ever since they've beat us. Those boys have 8 victories from 9 games. Which will most likely continue, since they have much easier schedule than us. Can we keep our top spot? Find out in the next episode of Dragon Ball Z!! Yeah, it's a stupid joke... Sorry about that. Youth Intake Only one player signed this time around. Alberto González. Winger by nature but looking at his spread of attributes... Yeah, he's a central midfielder.
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