FM 2009 Season Update Thread

Thought I'd give you all a little update on what is starting to snowball into a classic game, and I haven't even managed higher than League One yet!

Anyway to sum up I spent many a fine season at the mighty St.Albans City, and had taken them from the BSS to eventually leaving them mid-table in League One in late January 2015 for big spending Grimsby. Their new Finnish owners wanted me to take them to the promised land. That season I managed to help them win the Johnstones Paint Trophy, however the playoffs were beyond me.

During the close season I had my traditional new squad clean out (and I believe this was a mistake....), I sacked off a fair few of the overpaid and aging players to pastures new. I spent £6.25 million of my £10 million budget on new players, plus quite a few frees from the likes of Man Utd and Arsenal (I also used my 'special' friendship with Wenger to get some good loans too). However this all rather backfired, I was knocked out of the League Cup away to Shrewsbury (newly promoted to the football league) and embarrassed away to shyte Lincoln City in the first stage of defending my paint pot trophy. In my numerous FM/CM careers I've been in this situation quite a few times and already a quarter into the season I could see the writing going up onto the wall. The main problem was being consistant, we'd win 2 lose 2 etc etc...

So my job became 'insecure' then 'very insecure'. Therefore only about 14/15 games into my second season with big spending Grimsby I jumped before I was pushed! This was obviously very disappointing and of course I blamed the players (although signing so many new faces was obviously one of the main reasons!). So after god knows how long at St.Albans I didn't even last a year at the fishy Grimsby.

However salvation was soon at hand!! I noticed that Tiverton, newly promoted to the conference, had their manager as 'insecure'. I then noticed their finances were 'Rich', hmmmm I thought, and swiftly declared interest in the job! Sure enough the manager was sacked and I was immediately offered a way back into football (non-league allbeit). Needless to say I accepted and as I write this we have just lost the Conference Cup final 1-0 to Oxford. However my signings in the January transfer window (I had an incredible budget of £4 million in the BSP!), have propelled us from 14th to 5th with 10 games to go. We've also made it into the F.A Trophy semis as well. It seems my wealthy Korean consortium is pleased with me!

So this game is proving pretty interesting, maybe I just don't have what it takes to manage at a higher level? I should be shot if I can't get Tiverton Town out of the Conference with my budget!

In other news Ian Holloway has now been at Watford since the game started in 2008 (it is now March 2016). The 'orns are a properly established top 10 Prem team now (thanks to Danish £££££), and only Lewis Young remains from the present day. He and Ashley are both playing for England too!

 

after getting villa into the champions league last season with my almost all english squad finishing third, im dissapointed to announce that by the end of november a decline in form and a falling out with the chairman over a new contract has seen me revise from my post as villa manager.

i leave the club in 6th place in the league, 2nd in their champions league group and with a strong english based squad. i wish them well for the future, and am now searching for a new job.

 

:]]

 

i was very dissapointed to leave villa, but have perhaps been forced to come to the conclusion that an all english club, is just not possible unless you have some extreme funds.

anyway every cloud has a silver lining, and after being out of work for 1 month, kenny jackett got sacked from watford, so i snapped up the no.1 job at the vic.

watford were sitting in 20th when i took over, and shipping a lot of goals.

im currently in the process of rebuilding the squad with don cowie as club captain.

 

my hero zakuani is unhappy at villa where he finds the lack of first team opportunities disappointing, ive checked his form and since i left he has been on the bench for every game apart from champions league where he starts (completely bizarre).

hopefully in the summer when i move some funds around, i will be able to bring him and connor rennie back under my tutelage.

 

Are you one of Zakuani's favoured personnel?

 

yer, he has been with me at peterborough and villa, as has young connor rennie.

i will just have to wait and see, im not sure he will be happy to drop down a league to tell you the truth.

 

Pah so much for challenging to go up! A combination of a leaky defence and a fair few injuries have left me 11th after 10 games just 2 places above the drop zone with 16 games to go, we've had no problem scoring goals which is the frustrating thing.

Julian Brown joined in the summer, a RB or CB who was released by Barnsley whilst English born Senegal international 17yr old Steve Thompson a DC/DM/CM signed on a free from Casa Sport and young striker Alex Dawson signed on a free after his release from Watford. Clearly capable at this level he hit 4 in 6 but then a broken leg appears to have ruled him out for the rest of the season, so Eric Morrow was signed on a free after being released in the summer by fellow div 1 side Dundela.

For the first time in nearly 10 seasons i've got rid of some players for money! Damien Burgess left to join TNS in Wales for 3K whilst Phil Court departed to Ebbsfleet for 1K, neither were playing well and i was glad to get rid. A few younger fringe players have gone out on loan to my feeder club in the 2nd division.

 

I got that with marek cech and he only a back up. never praised him in the media or anything like that ???

and... then second season i sold him :]]

 

ok well its been a while since i posted a season update so here goes.

last time i had just applied and succeeded in getting the top job at the vic.

at the time the hornets were sitting 20th in the league.

i made several changes in january, selling longserving captain jay demerit to huddersfield and bringing in many free loans especially after setting up an affiliation with liverpool.

i enjoyed a run in the fa cup getting to the quarter final before losing to my old club villa 4-1.

ended up finished 15th and getting safety with three games to go.

over the summer i was informed that i would have little transfer funds, so i sold rob edwards to raise some much needed cash.

my defense had been drastically improved in january by the signing of bamba, and again in the summer by the free transfer of nuno andres.

the only expensive move i made in the summer transfer market was for nuno morais the brother of felipe, and im hoping the two will work as a pairing for me in the coming season.

 

Cups rule

League Cup

1st Round - Larne (1st Div, my league): We win 3-0 at their place in the first leg and appear to be cruising through until they made it nervy in the return league winning 4-2, a 5-4 aggregate win.

2nd Round - Lurgan Celtic (1st Div): It was a tale of late goals in this tie, home in the 1st leg we make it 1-1 in the 88th minute and then in the 2nd leg at theirs Richard Brookes rams in a 93rd minute goal to again make it 1-1, we go through 5-4 on penalties.

3rd Round - Dungannon (Prem): At the time Dungannon topped the premier division in NI, we duely showed up at theirs and won 3-1, Nigel Watt hitting a glorious hat-trick in the process, their 2-0 win at mine in the return league wasn't enough as we went through on away goals.

Q/Final - Glentoran (Prem): We get drawn against one of the big sides in the prem and now Glentoran were the prem leaders, away first we go down 4-1, only the away goal gives us any sort of hope for the return leg. Extraordinarily, we did it, we took our chances whilst they didn't and 2 goals from Watt, one from Ralph and a 30yard piledriver from Robert Young sealed an incredible 4-0 win over the mighty Glentoran, onto the semis now

The semi-final is against Prem side Limvady who are struggling so there's a chance of making the final and if we win that then we'll compete in the All-Ireland cup next season

 

Interesting selling, i guess you didnt buy rory delap? And jj o'toole only for 250k i was suprised. On my WBA career with watford in te prem he is worth £3m and when they were in the champ he was worth 500k and they wanted 900k for him. I guess he hasnt got any better then?

Aaron McLean is a good signing, how good has he got?

And i have just started a Villa career after being bored at WBA

 

yer delap was not one of my signings, he was on a high wage and had to go. o'toole's contract only had 3 months remaining on it and was refusing a new contract. im amazed i got any money for him.

mclean is good, he scored 5 in 9 after i signed him, but was injured on and off.

i am missing a left back this season, so im hoping that young eddie oshodi will be able to make the step up to senior level.

 

also gabby zakuani refused an opportunity to return to my side at watford, and instead signed for hull for 2m, purely for the bigger pay packet. i hope they dont get promoted back into the premierleague and then i can sign him again.

my other young player who i signed from peterborough whilst at villa, is turning into a quality scottish midfielder, and they refuse to allow him to even go on loan.

i was onto something quality with him.

 

Watford career

About 12 games in, will post some screenshots later currently about 6th but have found a new formation and training method that i have been using last three or so games which i have done well in after a poor start.

I think the training i have set and a new formation i have found on the internet is top notch. Will post the tactics, formation and the links on the internet for the downloads as they are top notch and would recommend them.

Literally all my players increase in stats every couple of weeks and therefore there price does as well and considering i have only being using this about a month it has instant/early success.

Squad (bold are new signings)

GK's- Loach, Lee

Defenders- Hoyte, Doyley, Kyle Walker, Severin, Elder Granja, Ricardinho (last two also play midfield for me) Mariappa, DeMerit, Harley and M.Williamson

Midfielders- Cowie, Jenkins, Cork, Smith, McAnuff, O'Toole, Smertin, Conway and also Elder Granja and Ricardinho who play in midfield as well

Strikers- Rasiak, Priskin, Hoskins and Beckford

Transfers Ins

Added Severin beforehand
Free transfers- Smertin, Ricardinho, Elder Granja
Kyle Walker- 100k
Craig Conway- 700k
Beckford- 250k up front and in monthly installments of £1.4m over 24 months therefore they take out of your transfer budget a total of 950k.

Total- £2.5m but like a mentioned earlier with the beckford deal its a bit less

Outs
Poom-140k to brizzle city
Sadler- sheff utd 700k
Kabba- Swansea 240k
Eustace- Cardiff 250k
Bangura- Preston 150k
Williams- Qpr 350k

Total- £1.9m

 

Have done a few games since my last post and the new tactics and training are working really well and are helping me climb up the table, oh and they worked a treat in the last game beating Villa 6-5.

I do think i will keep climbing up the table due to the new tactics and training, they are immense.

 

nice post.

im still struggling away as watford manager, cant help but feel im punching below my weight.

i have no transfer funds, an ever decreasing wage budget and the expectation from the board that they want a safe mid table position every year.

im not sure whats more depressing the fact that the majority of my transfers end up as free or loan ins, or that i have to sell my best players every year.

 

It is difficult but i was allowed 100% of what i sell which really did help. I will post the tactics and training i use that i found on the internet if you want? They are superb meaning that you will finish higher in the league.

 

hmm yer that would be useful just to see what they are like.

last season because of my lack of a consistent striker i ended up using a 4-5-1, and jenkins ended up as my second highest scorer with 10 goals.

this season ive signed an additional striker in the form of craig mackail smith, again on a free transfer.

hopefully between my strikers i can develop a successful partnership and am looking in pre-season to moving back towards the 4-4-2 i originally employed with peterborough and villa.

i will post squad list and transfers at the end of the window.

 

im also only given around 50% of money i generate from sales, the chairman is ******* all the life out of the club.

 

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=538

That is the formation i use for watford, everything is set up team tactics, set pieces and individual tactics etc.

I tried changing them to similar to what i like but it failed, so since then i stuck with it with no changes and it has been superb.

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/downloads.php?do=file&id=266

Training methods- two sets one for youth and one for first team then just organise the players into different sections for there positions.

 

The cup run has continued after knocking out villa, i have just gone and beaten wigan on penalties.

The draw has been on my side throughout pretty much, so i thought my luck would run out but no! Semi Final against the hull city definitely winnable. The other semi final is newcastle vs chelsea/tottenham so i got the best draw possible.

In the quarter final draw i missed out arsenal, hull, newcastle, tottenham, chelsea and man utd. So the easiest game would have been either hull or wigan and i got wigan Same as with third round as i got sheff utd and fourth round i got villa which is one of the better teams.

Here is my cup run.. so far

 

just starting my 12/13 season.

currently manager of watford having previously managed peterborough and aston villa.

once again the chairman this season gave me a very poor transfer budget, most of which had to be converted to an increased wage budget anyway.

i signed several players on free transfers, and was forced to sell scott loach to be able to afford my big signing of mame diouf.

scott was sold for 2.5 to fiorentina and wanted to leave the club, so not a bad bit of business, but i was only given 1.1 of his transfer fee to spend. the amount of money the chairman is taking out of the club verges on being extortionate.

my season has started ok, and my free transfers are settling in well. i think ive done ok in the window, the signing of CMS on a free and low wage is definately something of a coup as is the signing of kevin mccann.

i succeeded in signing pallson on loan from liverpool for the third year running. the young icelander gets better year on year, and has nearly racked up fifty on loan hornets appearances. young ross jenkins has dropped down the pecking order slightly in midfield and is now third choice, but still has a major role to play.

club captain don cowie scored twice against bristol city and looks to ok following an injury plagued last season.

nuno morais, the brother of felipe feels that i undervalue him, although i turned down two 500k bids from various clubs.

lloyd doyley signed a new contract recently and looks set to remain at watford despite not playing a lot, whilst mariappa has made the centre back spot his own along with mike williamson, whilst sol bamba has been forced to drop to the bench.

after losing scott loach it was important to find an adequate replacement goalkeeper as all my other keepers were youth team products who are not yet ready for the first team.

scott played every game last season, and i never had a reserve keeper on the bench. i offered trials to four different keepers, and signed deckers and cerny for this season. cerny is a backup and he knows it, but has appeared twice in the league cup. he is only on 750 quid a week so is certainly not breaking the bank. im undecided on deckers although he certainly has potential having made u21 appearances for holland.

 

I lost against hull 2-0 in the semi but not realising there is a second leg until the match came up. So i put a strong team out for the second leg and ended up battering hull at home 5-0. The buzz...

"Wembleeeyyyyy, Wembleeeyyyyy we're the famous watford fc and were going to Wembley"



Shame that its against chelsea.....

 

The Amazing Career of Lewis Young

I've now stormed into the year 2017 on my current game. I'm with Tiverton Town and we're top of the BSP thanks to our sugar daddy.

However the thing that has caught my attention is the amazing career of Lewis Young. In a nutshell he started the game at Watford (of course) and was quickly released on a free and snapped up by Leeds. He played 3 seasons at Leeds playing regularly at Championship level before Watford (now established in the Premier League) brought him back for £5.25 million. He has just now transferred from Watford to Arsenal for £47 million! Wow! Ashley eat your heart out mate! His stats are quality and I've got some screenshots for you.

By the way Ashley Young has remained at Villa all game more or less treading water and Watford are in the Europa League.

 

I see your trying to rent a flat stuboy.

 

This is correct you nosey sod! I wondered if anyone would pick up on that! Myself and 2 other mates are looking to set up a house of trouser.

 

lewis young!!!! 47m!!!! thats ridiculous, maybe i should sign him back from peterborough just on the off chance.

i signed him for peterborough initially and left him for villa, i think he is still there.

 

Thing which baffles me is I'm sure Young is an AML on the game.... However on yours he's just a striker...

 

Yes this is true, and baffled me when I looked at him. I can only assume that he has been re-trained to play as a striker, during Ian Holloways long tenure as Watford boss.

 

That still wouldn't explain the loss in "natural" for the AML would it ???

Could you do a shot of the Positions screen please Stu old boy, i'm curious now.

 

the game is unpatched. before the patch young was a striker, since the patch he is an AML.

 

After sneaking into the automatic promotion spots with only three games left (the run has continued), i am just about to play my last league game in 2nd with 95 point and with reading in 3rd with 88 points. But they have better GD by ten goals i am playing brizzle city, reading are playing at home to palarse.

Ohhh the pressure....

Shortly before the game the chairman offered me a new contract which i negotiated more length on the contract from about a two year dealto about a four year deal :happy3:

We are going up, say we are going up

 

Going into the game major injury- tommy smith out of the game...

Team for final game- Loach, Elder Granja, M.Willo, DeMerit, Harley, Conway, Cork, L.Willo, Cowie, Beckford, Hoskins

In the 13th minute he steps up again when needed to Jermaine Beckford, the man is a god! With a neat back post header from a conway cross. His 25th goal in all competitions and his 20th league goal :sign15:

Then on the 25th minute mark the orns go into a 2-0 lead this time a cross going all the way to the edge of the box to don cowie who has all the time in the world to pick out a corner and it goes rifling into the back of the net, sending the watford faithful wild.

From then on the orns were playing there fancying passing football with the city not being able to get it back and the orns coasted to a 2-0 win.

Not long after winning that game i was awarded manager of the season, that's the first time i have won it.

We are premier league!

 

ok well since my last post things went uphill but have now taken a drastic downturn.

i started the season in fantastic form even toping the league at one point. craig mackail smith has banged in 10 goals so far and we are only into the first week on december. im still keeping a lot of cleansheets although somehow backup keeper radek cerny has taken the no.1 slot, forcing deckers to the bench.

im now however beginning to struggle to find the net and the long term injury to don cowie is playing havoc with my midfield, meaning that im forced to use a very young central midfield pair of jenkins and pallson. ive slipped to 3rd in the league, and am hoping for 40 points by christmas.

the chairman has again refused to back me and im now 10k a week above my wage budget a problem that will have to be rectified in january.