http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/images/2007/08/20/logo_170x179.jpg

Alright fellas, we have now adopted Chelmsford City, a semi-pro team in the Blue Square South as the official SG team. As such, we will have a succession game where a new member takes over the game every season. Reloading is illegal. If you get sacked, I don't know what we will do, but my best guess is that you are allowed to create a new "manager" that we will used. But, assuming that never happens, our manager is this guy

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/4251/43310327.jpg

We can write all the back story we want. Pablo Castro is from Cuba, possibly related to Fidel, defector to the West, and whatever else.

Our owner is a billionaire named Mansell Wallace. He is probably not a billionaire in real life, but he is in our world. This might bump up the pressure on us managers, so be prepared for that.

List of managers:
2009/2010: Nimreitz - Promoted to Blue Square Premier
2010/2011: Sean Denny - Promoted to League 2
2011/2012: Filipower - Promoted to League 1
2012/2013: Fender - Promoted to Championship
2013/2014: Zlatan - Promoted to Premiership
2014/2015: Juventino - 14th in Premiership
2015/2016: Nimreitz - 13th in Premiership
2016/2017: Sean Denny - 11th in Premiership
2017/2018: Zlatan - Premiership CHAMIPIONS
2018/2019: Alex - Premiership and Champions League DOUBLE
2019/2020: Nimreitz - Won EVERYTHING
2020/2021: Horatiu - Won EVERYTHING
2021/2022: Juventino - Premiership and Champions League DOUBLE
2022/2023: Azrael - Premiership Invincibles, FA Cup, Champions League TREBLE
2023/2024: Alex - Won EVERYTHING (38-0-0 in League)
2024/2025: Nimreitz - Won EVERYTHING
2025/2026: Zlatan - Premiership, FA Cup, Champions League TREBLE
2026/2027: Filipower - Won EVERYTHING (38-0-0 in League)
2027/2028: Nimreitz - Won EVERYTHING, Premiership Invincibles
2028/2029: Nimreitz - Premiership Invincibles, FA Cup, Champions League TREBLE

It will continue from here. Let's say that each poster has 1 week to finish their season, but we can extend that if it's necessary. Please don't sign up if you don't have the time to get a season finished in a reasonable amount of time. Screenshots are mandatory, as is a description of the squad and your tactics at some point before you hand the team over to the next person. Without this explanation there will be no continuity and at this low level it might take the next person a while to find the best players and best tactics without these descriptions.

Corner trick is not allowed. Some seasons we just won't get promoted. The team starts out as absolute trash; I would expect either me or Fili to be the first to fail at achieving promotion. Blue Square Premier seems like quite the jump.

Seasons last from June 1st to May 30th. You are to save the game on June 1st and post the save file for the next person to download.

It can get frustrating to have the computer crash, so I recommend that you save the game OFTEN. You don't have to be as neurotic as me with the saves, but you should do it regularly just in case.

Man seeing as you'll probably won't finish in time of me being able to do my season all before Saturday, I'll kindly asked to be postponed as Manager until the third season :D (I'll be back on the 31st, so it gives the 2nd season Manager precisely enough time)

Man seeing as you'll probably won't finish in time of me being able to do my season all before Saturday, I'll kindly asked to be postponed as Manager until the third season :D (I'll be back on the 31st, so it gives the 2nd season Manager precisely enough time)

I'm going to finish today.

But I can't promise to finish it in three days, plus Horatiu had asked for Season 2...

But I can't promise to finish it in three days, plus Horatiu had asked for Season 2...

Oh okay, I didn't remember that. Sounds good.

Alright, well I guess I'll start out by posting some of the more significant signings I made at the beginning of the season. First of all, the only player that I signed that I actually found online:

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2418/61472422.jpg

Now the rest:

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/3677/18450348.jpg

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/3286/97834476.jpg

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/7245/60368313.jpg

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/5660/30751767.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9082/79833816.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9545/83072289.jpg

First Game:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8326/57807406.jpg

First win:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8520/74216211.jpg

We were predicted to win the league, so things got a little scary around Christmas time for Senor Pablo

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5206/13400127.jpg

Luckily we won the next to games, which brought the table to here:

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/8909/48346644.jpg

First time in first place

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7793/11538552.jpg

Final Standings:

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7793/11538552.jpg

Playoffs First Leg

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/6581/37334992.jpg

Playoff Second Leg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/5718/49223131.jpg

Playoff Final

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/3225/72613069.jpg

And some end of the year screenshots

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1707/83257157.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4513/64014801.jpg

I said we would go for a Top Half Finish. It's the lowest I could pick, and I figured that would be the best for the next manager. Plus we're not exactly lacking in money.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8854/85431761.jpg

Looks like the bookmakers expect much more of us, but that's probably due to our budget and not our squad, which I'll get to now.

Basically, I had a hell of a time trying to find a winning formula, and we would have probably been at the bottom of the table if it wasn't for about 70 combined goals from Topp and Rose. I apologize for not taking a screen shot of the stats, but I advanced too far without realizing that I should take the picture. Either way, there's really not much to see; Topp and Rose are good, and pretty much everyone else sucked. We ran a flat 4-4-2 because the players didn't seem capable of understanding or implementing anything else. Rose has 16 for pace and was probably the fastest player in the Blue Square South, so we tried to boot the ball long and have him run on to it. Unfortunately the team was so miserable technically that we couldn't even do that. I got run by a team playing a 5-3-2, so if the next manager can get the personnel to run a 4-3-3 or a 5-3-2 I think we could dominate the Blue Square Premier where most teams are playing a flat 4-4-2. We might already have the personnel for a 4-3-3 actually, now that I think about it.

As far as the players go, there really isn't much. I consider Topp, Rose, and Chalmers the only players who are capable of playing at the next level. Perhaps Ashmore and Ricky Holmes because of his pace and dribbling, but I'm skeptical of them. The next manager has a lot of work ahead towards building the squad, but thankfully we have a lot of money to spend on players and wages.

Here was my first XI:

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/333/24942815.jpg

Horatiu, you're up. Game file:

http://rapidshare.com/files/408102393/Succession_Game.fm.html

Looks good (Y) Congrats on the promotion

I would put myself on the list but I hae nowhere near enough time to play it through so i'll just observe

Boo, you whores

I don't think Horatiu is going to do this season, he told me that he has started a full time job and won't be around as much as he used to.

Someone step up!

I'm going to have a go. I'm not sure what I've got on timewise so don't count on me if you want it moved on quickly.

Just a warning BTW, I have already made us the fattest/oldest team in history.

Signings so far, all on frees:
Kevin Phillips
Lee Trundle
Bobo Balde
Lee Hendrie
Salif Diao

HAHAHAHA, AWESOME!!!!! Anxiously awaiting the report. Kevin Phillips and Lee Hendrie (H)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a quick update as I head to the opening game of the season.
As you can see, I have decided to go for experience. They will get me out of this division. Decided to save a bit of money and keep them for wages if needed.

I appointed Gary Breen as player manager, amazed I got a player of his caliber to the club.
Also signed Wayne Rooney's brother, the next white Pele.

Tactics:
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9260/tacticsi.jpg

Transfers:
http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/861/transfers.jpg

Squad:
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/4992/squadqg.jpg

Are the images coming up for anyone?

The urls give a 404 file not found error.

Crap, fixed now

Didn't know Francis Benali was still listed as a player.

Update (I'll post some screenshots in a bit)

I am 19 games in. I brought in a couple of short term loans to help out the midfield, Fran Merida and Magnus Eikrem.

My tactic is now 2-3-2-1-2 (like a 4-4-2 diamond, but with the full backs as wing backs)

Without the short term signings we play a very drab effective game. With them and we can be awesome. Lee Trundle is a bizzare player. He can go games without scoring and then explode with braces and hat tricks. Kevin Phillips is steady.

I have opted to spend some of the money we had stored and sign the short termers. Merida is going to cost £2m and Magnus for 650k. I will also be adding Alan Lee on a free transfer.

I'll have a screenshot update shortly.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2083/playerstatss.jpg
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/4615/resultsfj.jpg
http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/4501/speeddemons.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/2994/squadxc.jpg
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7913/tablev.jpg
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/6208/tactics.jpg
http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/8227/trundle.jpg

As you can see, without Magnus, I am ****ed. I have to wait a month and a half until he comes back.

Is there any screenshots that anyone wants to see?

Just had a whopper FA Cup match with my bogey team. Funniest thing is all 3 goals were offside.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/4331/facupv.jpg

Well, the season is over.

Check out the table:
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7022/finaltabley.jpg

Play Off Final:
http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/4081/playofffinal.jpg

Player Stats:
http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/2661/finalstats.jpg

I will upload the save game soon. Just waiting to get to the date.
We got manager of the year.

A better manager will do a lot more with the team. I sucked big time. When I was top of the league I could never break free.

I'm back from vacaciones babies, I guess I don't mind picking it up (H)

I'll have it uploaded in a bit. I'm going to save it early to give you a bit more time to shape your team. That's if everyone doesn't mind.

Aye, whatever you'd like man (Y)

Cool, it's uploading now. I'll link it as soon as it's done.

http://www.easy-share.com/1911751472/Succession_Game.fm

Sorry it took so long, internet is acting up on me.

No problemo, downloading it now, will have some updates later today or tomorrow (Y)

It should be a fun task. Some aging legs in there. Moody bastards too haha.

I think it might make more sense to stop the games on June 1st instead of July 1st. Do you guys agree?

That's exactly where Seán left it (Y)

Alright, we'll do that from now on. I'll edit the first post.

So, "new" Manager, new season. And a whole new approach. First off I went through the Staff room and revamped it, upgrading our training system and giving it a few more stars by signing new coaches.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/764/chelmsfordcitystaff.png



Next up we have the new tactical system for the upcoming season; Sean's was probably a bit too avant garde for the League Two, and I'm more comfortable with this tactic since I used it in my Leeds game.

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1415/chelmsfordcitytactic.png

As you can see Merida's going to have a crucial role on the left, with Elkram still being essential on the center, supporting Kevin Phillips who has been great so far, despite the age.




Speaking of age, the club has taken a new direction concerning players. We have signed great, but young talent; and disposed of a few golden oldies. Some retired, some were simply let go, some are on the transfer list. This is our activity on the transfer market so far:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4779/chelmsfordcitytransfers.png

Still quite below the 5M given by the board for the new season (at the ambitious proposal of a top-half finish.)




The three new players brought in were as follows:

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/9725/10olivernorwood.png

From Man Utd, a great youngster who hopefully will take control of the midfield as our box-to-box.



As another backup for the important midfield role, we have

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/194/8danielphilliskirk.png

Brought from Chelsea as a good prospect, we'll see if he can be useful.



And finally,

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/9971/2shaleumlogan.png

As we desperately needed to re-enforce the right side of the defence (Colin Wilde and Dale Bennett are very young and not so good).




Now, the pre-season is done and these were the results. Fairly good ones considering the closeness of the games and the change in tactics/players. We got West Brom in the first round of the Carling Cup, which could be better, but we'll see.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/8984/chelmsfordcityfixtures.png



So, all in all, a good start in the pre-season, still too early to really have any idea, and we still must dive in the transfer market (I've tried all sorts of deals for great youngsters but the reputation of club/league is very poor). We really need a goalkeeper and possibly another winger.

Reactions?

I like it. I didn't bother with coaches and training because I didn't think any player on the Blue Square South team would be with us in a couple years, so I'm glad that someone finally did it. The signings look good, and the team looks like it's coming together a little.

And here's the much needed keeper. Our scout (I also bought a new one, along with a new physio) says he's much better than Söderberg. Pricey, let's see if he steps up to the price tag.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6394/andrewlonergan.png






edit: First game of the season, 3-1 win.

Unfortunately a Championship team is much too strong for us. Very good game though, Cech's goal was a consequence of the all-out attack after Diao's goal. Still a pretty good performance from the team, and they did have Scott Carson who is insane in goal.

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7775/chelmsfordvwestbrom.png

I found that you can get decent guys in for 3 month loans.
Good to see you're going for youth. Definitely needed. Good to see you fixed the training/coaches as well. I got the academy/training facilities upgraded before I left so hopefully it will start producing new talent.

Not bad for our first ever Carling Cup game. Looking forward to the FA Cup. I challenge you to beat my 3rd Round run ;).

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/2852/24andrewdavies.png


This concludes the youth revolution. We also had the first loss of the official season, but it's still very much early (3 games I think). Let's go Chelmsford!

First penalties I've managed the team in, players responded great even though we had only three decent scorers on the field. Lonergan was the star of the tie-break saving two penalties, which was nice.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6628/lutonvchelmsford.png



It was also a chance to use some less used players, and even a fairly promising youngster, John Bartley, who broke the record for younger player ever for the club. (Y)

Jesus Christ SI. It's not even October yet. Plus Kevin Phillips has been on and off (more off than on), and Caldwell and Lonergan recently also got injured. F*ck. Actually getting a point was fantastic.


http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1082/chelmsfordvshrewsbury.png

Sorry guys a few problems have kept me from finishing it, but I'm now making up for lost time. I'm in March already, might finish it today or tomorrow (Y)


So far it's been shyte. I mean I've managed to keep us in the race for the Playoff, but the amount of injuries has just ruined this season completely. SI need to do something about this issue. Kevin Phillips is constantly injured, when he's not he's bagging hattricks so you see how he's missed. At one point we had Eikrem, Rooney, Phillips, Mérida, Cladwell and McCann all injured at the same time. Fortunately I've brought a young offensive midfielder in January who helped bag some important goals in a much needed time... We fell in the FA Cup against Tottenham, impossible to beat them I didn't try much, and the Johnstone's trophy I couldn't care less...

So, that's that for now, and sorry again...

Kevin Phillips is old as **** man, it would be more unrealistic if he was healthy all the time.

Yeah, injuries seem to be rampant. I think it may be for the best if we stay in League 2 for a bit and build a decent squad.

History has been made! We've secured 7th place, and with it the final spot for the playoff that can get us into League One! (H) Now if only we hadn't drawn the team higher up in the Playoff spots, haha... Screenies in a minute, guys!

Here they are!

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/182/cocacolaleaguetwo.png

Definitely too many draws I'd say... I don't mind the losses so much because sometimes we really don't deserved to win, there are definitely better teams in this Division... But the draws are frustrating, particularly the typical last minute screamers FM has got us used to...



http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5656/14mattritchie.png

This is the bloke we've brought in January, who provided us with much needed goals (he got 5) when people like Phillips, Elkrem, Rooney and Mérida were injured... Works wonders in AMC or ML/AML (Y)



http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/744/chelmsfordcity.png

Pretty good squad, I reckon it can be much much better, and it will have to be if we make it to League One... As you can see, Phillips, Elkrem and Norwood were crucial, the latter getting the highest av.rating(only one above 7.00) got my ego inflated obviously haha...



http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/466/chelmsfordvbournemouth.png

Ass whoop of the season (Y)



http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2374/chelmsfordvbrighton.png

And a major home win against future division champions Brighton; amazing stuff (Y)





Now on to the Playoff! Reactions? :D

Very cool. Good luck.

1-0 Half time in leg 1 against Stockport, things are looking up! (Y)




edit: First leg went good(another injury, sur-*******-prise), now for some Mourinho-like result management away from home (H)


http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/1655/chelmsfordvstockport.png

Not only that, we were superior (H) This is moving from a particularly normal season into a possibility of making history :D

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/6416/stockportvchelmsford.png



Final is against 5th placed Bournemouth... Here we go, Wembley.

Not quite as comfy as the 7-1, but still (H)


I, really, cannot believe it, this got my FM ego skyhigh :D

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/6121/chelmsfordvbournemouthp.png


League One, watch out (H)

Oh ****!!!

Alright, so who wants to take over now?

Quick end of season summary then, Gary Breen finally retired; we were second in Manager of the Year in League Two; Norwood was named in Team of the Season; the board are to improve youth facilities; clubs are already coveting some of our youngest/best (ie Merida, Elrkrem) and as a last act I've signed a promising 16yo defensive midfielder. On to the next one, good luck (Y)


(I'll upload it right now)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BRCVFVF6

There it is (Y) I've saved just before defining the objectives for the new season, thought it was only fair... Good luck to whoever picks it up :D

congrats man (Y) well done

Don't you want to take over Mus?

Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus! Mus!

i would love to but i doubt that i could get a season finished within a week with school and everything at the moment :(

Haha, school in August. (H) Friggin' hemispheres. :D

yeah it kinda stuffs a few things up haha. only got about 7 weeks left then exams and i'm finished so its not too bad. if there is noone who wants/can do it though i should be able to step in

okay, decided to have a look at the save and maybe get a little head start if it happened that noone wanted to take over, and discovered this guy. no editor no scout nothing just looked at him by chance because he was so tall :icon_spin:

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5246/wtfgod.png

I like the skin (Y)


Amazing kid, don't know if you'll be able to get him though...

I like the skin (Y)


Amazing kid, don't know if you'll be able to get him though...

indeed, wants to "stay and learn more" at sheffeild

What we also need though are faster players... But there's no doubt a clinical target man like that kid would is one of the top priorities...

I'll give it a go.

Lets go Fender *clap *clap
Is it wrong I celebrated wildly after this promotion? Fair ******* play Fili.
Can't wait to see how this goes. We still need a lot of improvement. But League 1 is an awesome achievement.

I still can't believe it went so good, but after clinching the Playoff Spot I just couldn't lose it :D

http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/5246/wtfgod.png

:O

that's definitely Chase from House M.D.

I'll give it a go.

awesome goodluck (Y)

:O

that's definitely Chase from House M.D.

hahaha it is too

Can we get a screenshot of the manager profile? I wonder how well liked Castro is.

Ok here we go due to the parachute payments the club has some cash to splash getting the players to come is another problem. The rep of the club probably came into effect when signing players tried to sign Anton Ferdinand but he didn't want to come and instead signed for another team for less terms than what was offered to him.

Anyway, the squad has a bunch of good youngsters and some old folk who can barely run and badly needed reinforcements upfront. So i decided to bring a couple players with experience yet are still not too run down.

Brought in these players for free
-Ibrahima Sonko 31 for CB as backup.

-Daryl Murphy 29 AML/Strk from Sunderland to help shore up the frontline and the midfield.

-Michael Tonge 29 ML/MC to help replace the aging legs of Diao and McCann

-Jonathan Dos Santos 22 MC the fans didn't seem happy with his signing anway we'll see how it goes if it doesn't work out could just sell him and make a quick buck.

Andy Carroll 23 Strk Needed a target man and decided to splash the cash on him, fingers crossed he delivers.

Brought in loans as backup for the RB/LB position, LB Alex Billington from Man Utd and RB Oskar Lewicki from West Ham.

Lastly brought this young striker from Man City as backup since Phillips will be crocked most of the time.
http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/9679/mesan.jpg

Managed to beat Crystal Palace 3-2 in a pre-season friendly, but really didn't know what to expect once the season starts. First match and the team goes 1-0 down within 30 seconds :facepalm: they scored again in the 10min. :facepalm:

2-0 down in 10mins a tweak in tactics was majorly needed surprisingly the team did well and drew level by half-time. Unfortunately lost the match 3-2 to a goal from a corner, the fightback was good but by the looks of it its gonna be a long and hard season. Oh and drew Portsmouth in the League Cup in the next game. :nape:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3275/matchnv.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8757/profsm.jpg

Good luck man (Y) What tactic are you using?

I was using the 4-4-1-1 leeds tactic at the start of the match modified it to a 4-4-2 with tweaks after going 2-0 down.

(Y)

Rough season to draw, but you seem to be off to a decent start with your signings Fender. Carroll seems like a bit of a coup.

Roller coaster of a match, coming back after being 0-4 down.

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/5176/qeeg.jpg

Evidently the team can score but the defending is a problem.

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3961/tableu.jpg

Makes sense. I haven't seen a new keeper in awhile, so our current #1 is probably awful.

Managed to string a good run together, the team just might do it.

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/8950/tabbt.jpg

Got a lot of help from this guy, got him on a 3mth loan hoping to get him back on loan once the transfer window reopens.

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1381/986b.jpg

We're too good (H)


Great job man, a playoff spot is incredible, because then anything can happen (Y)

Decided to sign the lad Vinet, didn't check his potential on an editor or anything but his description before i signed him loan was listed as "Promising Youngster" so the team might have gotten a gem here and he's been excellent. First game after signing scores four in a match and gets a 9.9 rating playing 90 mins. :33vff3o:

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/6079/sgsgwg.jpg

Biggest win of the season so far, Vinet scores a hat-trick in his third game after signing that makes that 7 goals in 3 games played. Barnsley were 2nd so with the win the team is just a point behind Barnsley for 2nd place.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/9775/aefga.jpg

Towards the end of March and the team is leading the table, the team is on a massive 16 game unbeaten streak. Promotion looks like a real possibility. I think and hope the team can even achieve 100 goals scored.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2003/sgsg.jpg

Oh my. I guess I say this every season, but I don't envy whoever is going to do the Championship.

Haha, amazing run fender! (H)

Chelmsford are going to the Championship! :dance: More than 100 goals scored. :mike:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4274/tablevf.jpg

I would say largely thanks to this guy Jean-Claude Vinet, signed him in the mid-season transfer window after coming on loan before that, scored 25 goals in total not 18 if you include those during his loan spell.

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/5885/vinet.jpg

The team went on an amazing run of 24 games unbeaten right till the last game after a patchy start, the record was nearly lost though in the last game when the team was 2-0 down and managed to score two in the last 10mins.

Reasons to the amazing run the defending improved a whole lot had a separate training schedule for the defenders so that might have helped. The tactic seemed to work very well, being a 4-3-2-1. Noticed in the backroom advice screen that a lot of the teams in the league did well against teams in a 4-4-2 decided to give that tactic a try and has worked great since especially with Carroll upfront and Vinet and Merida supporting him.

Castro won League 1 Manager of the Year and was offered a job by Burnley turned down. Four of the players were included in the team of the year.

Some thoughts on the next season for the person taking over a lot of the old folks are retiring Diao,Hendrie. Phillips the lot so not much reserves available.

I think a third gk needs to brought in whether it being a new No.1 or a good back-up. Brought Simonsen on loan mid-season after Lonergan had a Darren Anderton spell and kept getting injured non-stop. Thank goodness he came Soderberg got injured as well so for a short period Simonsen was the only available keeper. Might consider selling Lonergan he isn't really that good and is on a ridiculously huge contract (it wasn't me :munch:) Soderberg is not too bad but its League 1, Simonsen can be considered as well.

Took the liberty to sign two of the players that did well on loan Alex Bilington from Man Utd LB the future of the team with Vignal aging and Mesa from Man City Strk to provide strength upfront.



Game saved in early June will upload the file in a bit.

Might even continue the game on my own for fun. Good luck to whoever takes over.

Succession_Game.fm - 55.26MB (http://www.zshare.net/download/79415478c6c300a4/)

I'm really pissed that my FM doesn't work because I want to take part in this. Keep up the good work guys, it's a good read.

So who's next?

If everyone's okay with it I'm going to have a try.

I will be away for the coming weekend, but I hope to finish the season before then. Let's go!

YAY!!!!!!!! Good luck. Start spending those millions.

I hope you bring Total Football with you, Max (H)

Delighted that this amazing run is still going. Can't wait for next season.

Okay so here's a little update. I've been busy trying to get our squad up to the championship challenge. I told the board I'm going for a mid-table finish, but secretly I'm opting for promotion. Subsequently I got almost 15m to spend. Here's what I did with it. Screenshots of stats on demand.

http://i35.tinypic.com/214xsic.png

Roberto Mesa (ST, 20 years) and Alex Billington (DL, 20 years) are two signings fender made. Mesa is going to be a backup striker with a chance to break into the first eleven for me. Billington is one for the future, will probably spend most of the season in the reserve squad.

Mikael Dorsin (DL, 31 years) is a short-term free signing that I made, to give me a little bit more depth on the DL position. Juan Quero (AM RLC, 28 years) is a (certainly for championship standards) quality winger, who can play at both sides as well as in the middle. Liam Fontaine (D LC, 27 years) is a signing I made to get our defense up to Championship standards, Caldwell is getting old and slow while the other defenders are for the most part pretty poor. Kevin Drysdale (AM L) is a 17 year old talented winger from Portsmouth. He's and Murphy are going for the left winger spot. Philip Kristiansson (D/M R, 23 years) is a Finnish right back, to give us some options on the right back spot. Roy Cooper (AM R, 19 years) comes from Sheff Utd on loan and is a backup right winger to Quero. Finally Mezo (D/DM C, 17 years) is a talented defensive midfielder, this season probably still behind McCann but can turn out to be our main defensive midfielder in the near future.

These are the tactics I'm starting the season with it.

http://i38.tinypic.com/kbauft.png

I'm using a pretty straight forward 4-4-2 Diamond, which I change from time to time to 4-1-3-2, moving Merida(our playmaker) back to the MC spot, playing a bit more defensive. I'll mostly us this tactic when we play away or against a difficult opponent. The main focus point is of our attack is our target man, Andy Caroll who'll recieve balls from either Merida or our two wingers and then either go for goal himself(if he's close to the opposition's goal) or try to drop balls in for our roaming striker Vinet who then either tries to set up an attack for the upcoming players from midfield or tries to create a chance for himself. Of course these tactics can easily change whenever I think is necessary during the season. I'm for example considering using a more progressive 4-3-3 with two wingers, but this might be a bit too dominant for a newly-promoted team.

So how are things standing so far. Well we're three matches in, so it's hard to really tell you. Still, we've already had a couple of ups and downs.

http://i37.tinypic.com/29vijqh.png

Disappointing were the matches at home against Norwich and Q.P.R. losing 2-0 and drawing 1-1 respectively. On the other hand we had a thrilling 4-3 win against promotion-favorites Reading and a dominant 4-1 victory over Swansea(with a hattrick for Vignet), both away from home.

Norwich tend to be hard, and a great job against Reading (Y) Liking the signings, hope you can take us where we deserve to be! (H)

I can't wait to see what happens when we get to the Premiership. Hopefully the guy that takes over sells all of the players who got us there and then cheats with FM Scout to get a bunch of brilliant 18 year olds.

What is the stadium situation, btw? Capacity, quality of stadium and training facilities, etc.

I remember they were upgrading something when I was on, tried to ugrade something more but they refused...

I tried to get the stadium upgraded but the board said something about not having enough space in the area around the ground or something like that quite pathetic really playing in the Championship with a puny stadium.

Bad news I'm afraid, guys. We're going through a bit of a tough spell. Things were going pretty well up until October, when we were up in the first places. But then first playmaker and in-form Merida got injured for a month, while at the same time our topscorer Vinet(9 goals in 10 games) went away to the U-20, where he would pick up a torn hamstring and he's now out for 3 months. That thrown together with a couple of unluckily lost and drawn matches makes for a bad team morale. Now in November we're in 14th place with 5 points behind the playoff-spots. Still fighting for it, but I'm not sure we're going to make it.

Unfortunate, but expected. I've been expecting non-promotion for years. League 1 to Championship is by far the biggest jump in competition we've ever faced, so it's understandable.

Good and bad news. The good news is that after having a very hard time, we're now beginning to pick it up a little and are going on a nice unbeaten run. Thanks to this the gap with the 6th play-off spot is now only 4 points away, while it was at once 9 points in November. Even better news is that Vinet is about to return, which will give our squad a huge quality boost. Maybe I can make a few quality signings in the winter (even though we don't have much money left, hoping the board will be so kind to give me more funds), we can extend this run and we can still go for promotion. I still believe.

Bad news is I'll be away until Monday, so I won't be able to continue the game. Hope you bare with me, I'll try to finish the season as soon as possible when I'm back.

It's okay, don't worry about it.

As far as the game goes, you definitely might get more money. I gave our owner a 20 for resources, which in hindsight was probably overkill. I started up the game and had over 5M to spend in the Blue Square South and thought "hmmmm... that's an awful lot of money".

Alright, I'm back. Meanwhile we're in March and won't you look at this:

http://i37.tinypic.com/160wshz.png

As you can see we've moved up to the 4th spot, with only 1 point behind the second spot which would give us direct promotion. The play-offs seem to be within our grasp, even though we're only 3 points clear, and who knows, if we can continue our good form, we can even get to that second place. Fingers crossed, guys.

In other news, I wasn't able to strengthen my squad in the January transfer window, because the board refused to give me more transfer funds. Guess the current squad will have to do than.

Woohoo! We did it, guys! Premiership, here we come!

http://i36.tinypic.com/e1s2w.png

It was a crazy finish where all the main promotion contenders dropped points, including ourselves. This is best illustrated by the final matchday where we lost to Hull, but despite that managed to get to that second spot and get promotion. This was definitely one of my favourite seasons in FM ever, being down to 14th in November but getting back all the way up and to promotion. Awesome.

Now the challenge of the Premiership will come. To my successor I'd like to say:
-Try to off-load all the players that aren't good enough anymore for the Premiership level and replace them with fresh and quality players. There were alot of players that didn't want to come play for us, because of our reputation but I'm hoping this changes now that we're in the Premiership. I already made a little start with this by signing Marcus Berg on a free from HSV.
-Keep a hold of Vinet, cause he's absolute gold. He finished as topscorer of the Championship with 27 goals and a bunch of assists. And that while being out for a big part of the season with an injury. Incredible!

Succession_Game.fm - 58.83MB (http://www.zshare.net/download/79675220e80ae70b/)

WOW! Awesome job. And the pressure is off the next manager to secure promotion. Of course the pressure to not get relegated will be pretty high.

Wow, well done Zlatan.

Thanks.

Oh BTW, I forgot to mention that just after the promotion the board finally decided to expand the stadium. It will grow to 9500 seats. Still not very impressive, but it's better than the 3000 we got now.

Well done, the next manager will have a tough task of keeping the team in the Premiership.

Nice to know Vinet is flourishing.

No one to take over?

If it's all right with you guys, I can take over for a season. My personal Barca save is at an impasse, and I could use a challenge.

Awesome! Enjoy the Premiership.

Great! Downloading the save now. I'll keep you guys updated.

Looking forward to the updates, good luck.

good luck (Y)

The season is underway. The summer was quite lively, as sugar daddy gave us a 31,5M transfer kit and a wage budget of little over 3M to avoid relegation. Also, to the merit of the previous managers, Aston Villa made Pablo Castro an offer to coach their team. Pablito declined.

The transfers I made with a 4-3-3 tactic in mind. (4-5-1 in FM, the midfield: DM-MC-MC-AML-AMR)

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/6545/transferse.png

Unfortunately Marcus Berg arrived with a 3 month injury. To add more Preier League experience to the frontline, I purchased Berbatov, who had been in Man Utd's reserves. Even though his transfer sum is little, he makes 350.000 euros a month.
Chris Kirkland is brought in to replace Ole Soderberg, who is now our 2nd goalkeeper.
Eke Simon is a talented Nigerian RB. He's only 19 years old, but a regular in Nigeria's NT.
Ezequiel Munoz is a 23yr old CB from Bari. He's a familiar face in FM.
Michael Johnson only played 7 Premier League games for Manchester City in 5 years. Quite pathetic, but a decent midfielder for Chelmsford.
David Alaba's story is similar to Johnson's. Alaba spent 2013-2014 playing for FC Bayern's second team, but at Chelmsford he shall rise from the flames.
Shaun Wright-Phillips is brought in for depth on the wings, for which I also bought Menezes from Internacional, who spent one season on loan at Levski. He's only 18yrs old, but together with Kevin Drysdale he should light up the flanks for years to come.
Leandro Somoza is our veteran starting DM, brought in for a small sum as I was out of transfer funds aswell as wage budget.

The rest was sold to create budget space and because those were the players I could get rid off.

We play in a different stadium for the season, because our actual home is in progress of an expansion (an extra 9500 capacity seat terrace). We play our home games at Fossett's Farm, a 22,000 capacity all-seater in Southend-on-Sea. We rent this stadium by paying 5% of our gate receipts to the owners, Southend United.

Opening Day was against none other than Chelsea. Unfortunately I had to miss Kirkland, Fontaine, Johnson and Berg to injuries. I decided to go with an offensive line-up, starring Merida and Dos Santos in midfield. These were the Opening Day line-ups:

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1568/openingday2.png

Over 20,000 attented the home game, a new record. It ended in a 0-0 draw. Vinet lit up in the second half, but couldn't score his two clear-cut chances. But man, he's fast!

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/8074/openingdaystats.png

This is it for now. (Y)

After a loss at Stoke, our first Premier League win:

http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/6214/firstpremierwin.png


[Update] Just like that Mr. Wallace injects another 40 million ...Unfortunately after the transfer deadline.


[Update - 2] First beautiful win!

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/6878/arsenalwin.png


Menezes is incredible. He's also the tiniest player in the league ...

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/1907/menezes.png

EPL, lucky bastard. (H)

Yay, the Chelmsford fairy tale continues!

Cool signings by the looks of it. Too bad you sold Mesa, he seemed pretty promising to me. Anyway, good luck in the EPL.

Just found this after a long absence from SG. I'll take over for next season, if no-one is in line for it.

January 1st update:

I'm not doing great at all. Currently one place above relegation, but hopefully Wallace will grant me more transfer budget in the january transfer window.

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/5568/leaguej.png

The young talented players have yet a lot of developing to do, and they're very inconsistent. The same could be said for the older players, unfortunately. It was bound to be difficult.

I did record, however, another great win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. It compensates for all the other beatdowns.

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4249/stamfordwin.png

Surviving relegation is the key, though (Y)

Awesome win over Chelsea. No one said this was going to be easy, 5 years ago Pablo was walking off a banana boat in London with Tony Montana, and Chelmsford were in the Blue Square South.

BUT SURVIVE!!! It would be AWESOME if you could survive!

Currently 18th... It's getting tight. Menezes and Vinet both out for a month. To help our cause I signed Henri Lansbury from Shakhtar for 8M euros. To sign him I had to sell Marcus Berg to Aston Villa for 6M, but I never played him anyway. The midfield needed improvement badly.

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/9314/lansbury.png

Lansbury provided new dynamics to a midfield struggling to create chances. We went on a decent streak, winning a game here and there, which resulted in the following standings with 3 games to go.

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/3285/3gamestogo.png

Nerve-wrecking.

After a loss vs. Blackburn Rovers, we recorded an absolute CRUCIAL win AT Everton. A MASSIVE achievement, which saw us get into 15th place. Vinet is truly a great talent.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/1002/crucialwin.png

Our final and deciding game of the year came at home against Birmingham City. Chelmsford was 3 points clear off relegation, but were mathematically not safe yet. With a victory Chelms would pass Birmingham and finish in an above expectations, mid-table 14th position... And that's exactly what the guys did!!

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/6041/lastmatchday.png

FINAL STANDINGS:
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/562/finalstandings.png

Protaganists:
- Ezequiel Munoz: Despite struggling to feel at home, he played in every game.
- Fran Merida: Playing in each game, provided 6 goals and several assists.
- Eke Simon: Our new RB developed into one of the best right backs in the Premier League. He's wanted by several Europeans top teams, Chelsea being one of them.
- Henri Lansbury: Only signed in late January, but was the key to avoiding relegation. He provided stability and balance in midfield, dishing out several assists on the way.
- Menezes: Started out great, but became inconsistent and struggled with injuries. However, having natural talents on the right flank AND the left flank, a great fixture for Chelmsford.
- Kevin Drysdale: Continued to develop and is now one of the great talents of the Premier League.
- Jean-Claude Vinet: Regularly came off the bench to provide a spark, scoring some crucial goals.
- Dimitar Berbatov: Our goals (7) and assists (8) leader in the Premier League. His veteran presence turned out to be crucial aswell.

For the 2015/ 2016 I was able to sign George Forsyth, a 32yr old goalkeeper from Napoli on a free. Soderberg couldn't cut it as a back-up for Kirkland, and has an expiring contract. I suggest to let him go, as well as the other expiring contracts (some Championship leftovers).

Another tip: When you receive your transfer kit, try to sign Ryan Shawcross from Stoke. After their relegation and financial trouble, he was offered to me, but I couldn't finalize his deal due to funds in May. He'd be an awesome partner for Munoz.

Well, that was that. It wasn't always an enjoyable experience due to the beatdowns, but the results were satisfying in the end. (Y)

THE SAVE, JUNE 1ST 2015: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BVUZPM8X

Massive achievement there. Going down would have been a big setback. I'm sure next year will be difficult as well, so we're not out of the woods yet.

Well done. (Y)

Who knows, if the next manager develops the squad even further and brings in some quality players, we might be able to look higher up the table next season.

Nicely done and you completed the season real quick.

So, who's going to take over next?

I want to, but my FM doesn't work. That wolf guy was gonna do it.

You could also just restart the cycle with Dan.

I want to, but my FM doesn't work. That wolf guy was gonna do it.

You could also just restart the cycle with Dan.

I'm not really interested in doing it at this moment.

Anyone continuing? I've enjoyed reading this thread, so far.

How about you?

I'd love to but I hardly have any time. Plus the last version I got was 09. I manage about 2-3 matches a week.

C'mon guys, we can't let this die. We still have to win that Premiership.

I'd love to takeover, but I already took over two seasons ago.

i would but i have exams so im stuffed for time

Alright... I'll do it.

First impressions: It might be difficult to hang onto Eke Simon and Menezes, which would suck. We have a bunch of mediocre CMs that can't really do much, and I see Vinet more as an Ozil type than a striker. I'm going to plan on playing a 4-2-3-1 with DMs, so I need to buy DMs; 17 year old Sam Constable looks excellent, but not quite ready.

I now notice I forgot to mention the signing of Sam Constable. Excellent youngster and already had to fill in for Somoza quite a few times. But you're right, he isn't ready to feature on a regular basis in the Premier League.

Good luck!

As far as signings go, I felt that the squad was on the verge of top half of the table or UEFA Cup even, so I went for Quality over Quantity:

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/4929/26007880.jpg
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/2649/31045556.jpg
http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/3600/52804479.jpg

And a couple veterans who could be useful at some point:

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/5387/65401743.jpg
http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/5296/65259245.jpg

I have also had Vinet, Menezes, Munoz, and Drysdale sign new contracts to stop some of the interest in them. Eke Simon is upset about not being allowed to leave, but his asking price is 19M and I'm going to try my hardest to keep him for at least another season.

Roderick Miranda (H)

Nice. (Y)
How much did you get to spend?

39.5M on those three players.

Got 2M for Carroll, and it looks like I'll get 1.5M for Billington. If Billington leaves I will bring in a 34 year old Ashley Cole to backup Alaba at left back.

EDIT: Ashley Cole has arrived (H)

First game... YEAH!!!!! Menedes, Drysdale, Lansbury, Ozdemir, and Munoz were ALL INJURED! Vinet.... oh my god. And Fili, your boy with the first goal of the season (H)

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/3454/26768289.jpg

Haha (Y)


This has been really good people, despite the fact we did have a solid, rich board. We should make a new one in FM11(not right away, after everybody's got a taste of it), but even more challenging! :D

Even better (H)

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8586/28444454.jpg

6 points from the first 2 games!

VINET!!!!! :(

Blew two clear cut chances in the 90th minute to draw Arsenal at the Emirates. We lose 1-0. Also lost 1-0 to City a week ago. How about these first 5 fixtures: Chelsea, Liverpool, West Brom, Man City, Arsenal. 7 points... not too shabby.

EDIT:

16 points through 9 games on October 24th. 6th place on the table. 18 goals scored which is most in the Premiership, but that was helped by the 6 we just put past QPR. Doing very well now that the entire first team squad isn't injured; had to start Fat Frank for our first two games, although he did score a potential goal of the year. Vinet is growing into his Trequartista role after looking a little awkward initially and Simon is finally starting to dart up the line without regard for defense like I want him to. Also, I've been trying to throw the League Cup, but the backups have kept us just barely advancing.

EDIT2: Vinet gets capped for France and then gets a brace in his second cap. We crush Wolves and their manager is instantly fired. 19 from 12.

February is ending, here's the Table, Stats, and First Team

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/8122/tablechelms.jpg
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/5770/statschelms.jpg
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/9472/formationchelms.jpg

Cashley has consistently outperformed Alaba all season, so he has won the left back spot. Drysdale has not really done much IMO, so he has been relegated to the bench. Both Befodil (who I forgot to tell you guys I signed at the deadline) and Ozdemir are scoring well and our boy Vinet is leading the Premiership in assists. My only problems with him are that he seems to drop a little too far deep to get the ball (it's not a PPM), and he dribbles through entire teams only to shoot a weak shot at the keeper (he won't learn "shoots with power").

We're on 39 points, which is the same amount we had all of last season; and I think we should start making a move in the table because the schedule was very front loaded. I've stopped playing conservatively except against the bigger teams, I realized sometime in January that this is a good team and I should just let them go.

Forsyth has been okay this year, but I have signed Sergio Romero on a Bosman from AZ Alkmaar. He is phenomenal, 28, and should arrive on July 1. The defense needs a lot of work, but the midfield and attacking players are quite good.

Good job, Nimreitz. It's good to see a positive goal difference even though the defense needs work. I was way into the minus. It's really fun to see how the team develops. Next year Europe should be in reach, although it may become impossible to keep Simon, Munoz and Menezes.

Vinet average rating: 7.71. :icon_spin:

And that while playing for a team that's 14th in the league. Incredible.

Vinet average rating: 7.71. :icon_spin:

And that while playing for a team that's 14th in the league. Incredible.

And leaving goals on the table too. Probably 4-7 goals where he dribbled past the entire defense and then duffed a shot at the keeper.

We could run into a problem because I raised expectations to "top half finish" so I could get more money. Hopefully that doesn't happen. If I recall correctly I set the chairman's patience to very high.

EDIT: I think we can hang onto Vinet for a year or more. I've named him captain, his favorite club is Chelmsford, and Señor Pablo is one of his favorite personnel.

Vinet is well on his way to becoming a legend at the club.

Result of the season

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1145/69101394.jpg

Final Table. Not the greatest, but at least some improvement.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/7310/57607422.jpg

Vinet wins an award

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/733/72361363.jpg

And another (EPL Team of the Year)

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8907/totyd.jpg

Kinda cool...

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/4022/71209116.jpg


For the next manager:

1) All of the promising youngsters have recently signed new contracts, so you should be able to keep them all. I'm talking about Menezes, Vinet, Ozdemir, and Eke Simon who is now happy at the club.

2) Drysdale wants a new contract, and his wage demands are staggering. I told him to wait until the end of the year, so it is not my problem. For my money Merida is a better left wing. I would seriously consider selling him despite his excellent attributes, but maybe you can get more out of him than I could. I think it's definitely possible.

3) Benhamou is phenomenal, but I just don't think there's anyone else who can play in center midfield with him; Lansbury perhaps, but I don't know.

4) Seriously, you're going to have to buy an entirely new defense. EDIT: Just to clarify, Simon and Alaba are probably fine. Simon definitely is. I'm talking central defenders.

5) Don't be too cautious. I didn't start attacking until January and I'm positive we missed out on a handful of points in the first half of the season because of defensive play. With that said, don't attack like you're Man U.

6) Finally, don't set the expectations too high. I tested their patience a little this year, but luckily Pablo has brought them this far, so we have some goodwill built up.



BUT WAIT!!!! THERE'S ONE MORE THING!

I have saved on May 27th. Why a few days early? Because Juventus has just offered Pablo their manager position. Should we stay at Chelmsford, or move abroad? I feel like this is a team decision, not just for one manager.

I think Pablo should stay at Chelmsford, he could go even further with the team, into Europe.

Nah, stay at Chelmsford. There's still things to achieve with this club. It would be a shame to go somewhere else.

Damn wish i had the time to take this on for a season :(

are juventus still in serie a? thats a pretty big offer then considering in game reputation and such, we should be proud (Y)

Definitely stay at Chelmsford until we win important silverware! (at least an FA Cup) :D

Soon the battle of glory will be between Mansell Wallace and Sheikh Mansour. We have to win a prize!

They must still be in Serie A, I'm sure I didn't add Serie B to the game. I agree, stay at Chelmsford. Rejecting Juventus will be the next manager's first task. Oops, forgot to upload the thing, two seconds.

http://rapidshare.com/files/418634081/Succession_Game.fm.html

Hm, I don't think there will be any new takers. Perhaps we should just continue the cycle. Sean Denny, Fili? I'd love to see this go forward.

I've actually been considering playing another season, but that's not in the spirit of this thing. I know University has just started guys... that means there should be plenty of free time to continue the rise of Chelmsford. We're on the cusp of Europe!

I'll do this season guys. I'll see what I can do. I'll do it as quick as possible, but it may take a little longer than usual.

First order of business will be to reject Juventus' offer.

Will update again when I've done a few days.

1 day in and 3 players have requested transfers. This is going to be an annoying transfer window I fear.

Lampard is retiring at the end of June as well. Screenshots to follow when I start signing people.

Berbatov is also retiring at the end of June.
2 further players have requested transfers.

I think I need to rattle some cages.

Heh, it's unfortunate, but inevitable. I assume you're talking about guys like Simon and Vinet. Hopefully you'll be able to ask the maximum for those type of guys. The money gained from transfers and Wallace's money should add up to a massive transfer kit to soften the pain.

Small suggestion: If you indeed have to sell Simon, I remember a young guy from Manchester United called Halford. I think he'd serve as an excellent replacement.

Good luck!

Alright guys, had a chance to get the ball rolling. We have a nice squad, but I felt we needed some players that have been there and done that, whilst at the same time have enough quality to get into the team.

I have gone for a top half finish. We have the players to do it.

Here are my signings:
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/5369/transferhistory.jpg

Romero was a previous signing, so I'll leave him out. Here are the attributes of the newcomers:

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/4594/adebayor.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8307/barrye.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/940/ceyhun.jpg

http://img826.imageshack.us/img826/9909/eboue.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/2836/gibsonn.jpg

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/4227/hennesseyr.jpg

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/6987/lescott.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/9769/maiconf.jpg

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/1486/vidic.jpg

Despite the age of some of the guys coming in, I think they still have the quality to make an impact, specifically to see out games and win tighter games.

I haven't decided Vinet's backup yet, but Merida is playing there in pre-season after Vinet got injured.

I have spent a lot on wages, which is a calculated risk.

This team should be aiming to get top 8.

Does anyone have any concerns or requests?
I am using the same formation as Nim, with a few alterations.

Good news, bad news, and horrendous news my friends.

I lost to Blackburn (a) and Arsenal (h) after conceding goals on the counter. I beat Tottenham (a) 3-1 after altering some tactics. I beat Histon (a) in the League Cup 4-1 after wasting an ungodly amount of chances.

Now for the horrendous news:
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/2886/injury.jpg

Why was one of your best players playing in the League Cup?

He needed match practice. I thought it would be an easy enough match. Sad thing is I tried to sub him just before it happened, but the ball didn't go out of play.

Ouch. ******* ouch.

To be honest I am in complete disagreement with your transfer policy as I didn't think we needed any of those old relics, but Maicon should be useful and that Turkish defender looks like exactly the kind of player the team needs. 11m VERY well spent. Hopefully Romero is first choice keeper; Hennessy is okay, but the Argentinian is in a class by himself. 15m for Gibson? Ehhhhhh..... Not sure about that one. Anyway, hope it all works out.

That Vinet injury could well be a massive blow to our European aspirations this season.
Come to think of it Vinet is quite injury prone. I believe so far there hasn't a season gone by where he didn't get injured for a long period. But 7 to 8 months is really disastourous. Hope you got some decent cover. :(

Concerning your transfer policy I'm with Nimreitz, I don't think experience is what we need to get forward. I would've handled it differently. But as said, if it works, then I'll be the last person to complain.

Yeah, I agree with Nimreitz and Zlatan. 15 million pounds for Gibson is just silly... Goddammit, Sean!! :mad: (I keed, I keed :tongue:) It seems like you underestimated what we already achieved. Surprise us. (Y)

Pablo Castro has come a long way in Chelmsford, though rumours start to grow he may be related to Fidel. Fortunately that doesn't bother the mayor of Chelmsford and his lovely wife.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/1794/pablocastro.jpg

I certainly think that Gibson is a risk, but I think he will step up in Vinet's absence. He's a type of goalscoring midfielder that doesn't come along that often.

I haven't spent much money at all on veterans really. They have been good so far to be fair. Maicon in particular has looked lively. Romero is my number one. Hennessy is just to add depth.

Don't forget I lost Berbatov and Lampard. I think the oldies will be invaluable at holding onto leads.

This is my big result so far:
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/4343/cityq.jpg

I rarely played Lampard and Berbatov except for League Cup matches, but whatever.

Vinet is definitely injury prone. Real shame. He's our captain!

Sean, who do you prefer as striker, Ozdemir or Belfodil? I liked the Turk, but Belfodil seemed a lot more consistent; I noticed Belfodil scored in this game, so just wondering who's first choice.

Belfodil is at the moment. He has scored 5 in 5 so far, and from only 2 starts. Ozdemir will get a chance at some stage though. Bilfodil just picked up Player of the Month.

I have a 2-2 start in the EPL and lie 7th in the table. It's looking up though. Confidence is creeping in, and as the defence gels, I'd expect improvement.

This sounds fun. I'd be interested to take over the team for a season. Are there still places to fill in? If so, let me know when can I take over.

You can take over when Sean finishes, I'm not interested...

I should be done within the next 2 days.

I'm very frustrated at the moment. I think my management is holding the team back. I will stand up and admit my summer signings haven't been good enough. Gibson, Maicon and Ceyhun are the only ones making any kind of an impact.

I lost Simon, Miranda and Munoz is the January transfer window (on the last day of the transfer window now). I tried to keep them as long as I could, but the morale on the team is very low.

Here is the current table:
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/9866/tablefp.jpg

Fantastic man, great job :D

As I mentioned previously, I lost 3 players, for a total of £31m. My summer transfers were a disaster, so I was determined I would strike good this time.

Our center back Ceyhun recommended an international team mate to me. I am using him as his center back partner, although he can fill in at right back if needed. His name is Toprak. Gladbach were using him as a rotation player, which he was unhappy with and requested a transfer after my initial bid.

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/9652/toprak.jpg

I also needed to replace Simon. Halford was recommended to me on this thread as a replacement. He had moved to Panathanikos in the summer transfer window, but didn't settle in the area.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/8240/halford.jpg

Ashley Cole and Alaba have been sharing LB duties so far this season. I feel I have a new starter for this role. Nieto is his name. He is a young Argentine, who it was a nightmare getting a work permit for, but it came through on the last day of the transfer window. Napoli played a 3-5-2 formation so very rarely played the lad. He made only 4 starts for them, and left to get first team football.

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/479/nieto.jpg

There was also a few minor signings I made.

I signed a DM as backup. His name is Prager.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/7188/prager.jpg

I also made some loan signings to improve the quality of our backups.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/7703/ruiz.jpg

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/7941/longa.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/4539/oftedal.jpg

This is how the transfers have looked:

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/2803/transfersj.jpg

Some of you had doubts about my Gibson signing. I will admit he hasn't been as good as I hoped, but he is starting to find his feet at the DM position. I'm still hopeful that he is up to the task.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/2836/gibsonn.jpg

Toprak signing is a stroke of genius and Halford should be great too. I'm worried about Nieto's pace, but I doubt Cole is any faster at this point. Kevin Long looks like someone I wouldn't mind signing outright and Ruiz should offer some great flair on the left flank. Good transfers.

Munoz, Miranda, and Simon aren't big losses IMO. Simon has all the talent in the world, but never quite lived up to it, while the central defenders just aren't as good as we need them to be. Simon was probably the biggest disappointment of my season last year, usually my tactics see fullbacks with close to the highest average ratings in the squad and I even allowed Simon a LOT of attacking freedom, but he was pretty average.

Can you post the tactics and starting XI? I'm curious what you're throwing out there.

I played 2 formations throughout the season. I regret going with the first one, as I feel I lost points going this way:

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5655/formation2.jpg

Towards the end, I chose to revert to a Nimreitz style:

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/8455/formation1.jpg

In regards to team selection, it was very hard keeping the same 11 back to back. Drysdale is very injury prone. Same with Simon.

Obviously Vinet was out for most of the season.

So I have finished the season. I'm very disappointed with myself and I definitely feel I should have been better. Underachieved big time. Although I got 11th, I didn't get as many points as Nim.

I waited far too long to get the defense sorted. I think I have left a decent back 4 behind for the next manager. It will definitely be a good foundation.

The team's morale is shocking. A lot of the younger players are unhappy and want to move to bigger clubs. They are always hounded out of it by the big clubs.

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/5206/finaltablem.jpg

I made one last signing before I go as a gift to the next manager:

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1884/ochoa.jpg

I will upload the game shortly.

I have uploaded the game now. I'm interested to see what someone else can do with the team. I know I didn't maximize the potential. A better manager than me can push on for Europe.

http://hotfile.com/dl/71881207/3c5a6df/Succession_Game.fm.html

I played 2 formations throughout the season. I regret going with the first one, as I feel I lost points going this way:

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/5655/formation2.jpg

Towards the end, I chose to revert to a Nimreitz style:

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/8455/formation1.jpg

Hey man, that one is on you. I said very explicitly that we had a ton of talent and were capable of playing attacking football. I made the same mistake the past season.

Oh it's big time on me. I think I underachieved big time.
I hesitated for too long without Vinet.

I take full responsibility for being disappointing haha

Does anybody mind if I take over again?
I'd love to try my hands on this team, see what I can achieve with them.

Be my guest (Y)

Does anybody mind if I take over again?
I'd love to try my hands on this team, see what I can achieve with them.

You can't be worse than me (Y)

Haha, don't be too harsh on yourself, Sean. I really like your January signings, and they should enable Zlatan to build further on a very solid squad to qualify for Europe.

Good luck, Zlatan!

That's true. Your January signings were fantastic. It now looks like we finally have a defense worthy of a spot in Europe. I know morale might be low, but if we can hang onto Vinet, Menezes, one of the strikers, and Benhamou, plus obviously the the defense and keeper, I think we'll be fine. Anyone else is expendable IMO.

Looking back at this, Sean I still can't believe you spent so much money on old players. Adebayor is earning £110k per week! And you signed all of them except one on 2 year deals! If we weren't filthy rich those moves could have ruined the club. And Gibson... I'm still furious about that one.

But I guess that's the magic of the succession game. Now that we're in the Prem and the stakes are so high everyone is going to have their own way of doing things.

Zlatan, seriously, do not play defensive football. We can beat almost every team in the Premiership by attacking. Away against the big clubs, okay defend, but we have a team capable of scoring a lot of goals.

To be fair, I got some of the guys on 2 year contracts to sign another contract so their deals would expire at the end of the season. It was their only route out as they were unhappy :D.

Alright guys, summer transfer window is over and I must say I'm pretty pleased.

The best news is that all of our star players have stayed. And relatively easy too. Although there was a lot of speculation and praising going back and forth between interested clubs and player, there didn't come in a single offer for players like Vinet, Drysdale, Menezes and Benhamou. Only Romero, Halford and Toprak got in an offer, which I rejected. Romero and Halford didn't seem to mind, Toprak is now a little unhappy 'cause I didn't let him talk to Roma. But his morale and performance so far don't seem to be bad because of it. So no problem there.

Then our own transfers:
http://i55.tinypic.com/261bx5g.png

As you can see I more or less went for quality over quantity. I started out desperately needing a quality defender. I decided to try and spend most of my budget on this. I'm therefore most proud of our capture of Liam Williamson. He was a regular at Man Utd, English international and his stats are amazing plus he's only 23 too. I was actually a little surprised he wanted to come. I know 21,5m is the most we've ever payed for a player, but I think it's well worth it.
Another signing I'm pretty content with is Insua. He's 28, comes from Monaco and I think with him we got the left back position reasonably well covered. Nieto is a promising left back, if a bit slow. With Insua, I think we've got a more secure defense. Nieto will be a back up to both the DL and AML position.
I also decided I needed a backup winger. I found him in Nani, who was transfer listed at Barcelona. He'll be able to stand in for both Menezes and Drysdale, if they get injured or anything.
Finally I signed Andre from Shaktar on a free. Don't expect too much from him, he's decent but he'll just be a backup striker.
Alot of the oldies retired/left on a free (Adebayor, Barry and Kirkland retired from the game, which is why they don't show up on the screenie) and I sold Hennessey 'cause he was unhappy and we had far too many goalkeepers.

That as far as transfers go. I've told the board I'm going for European qualification. I know that's ambitious, but I feel that's something we can, if not should, be able to achieve with the current squad we got. We've started the season pretty well, we notched up two wins versus Southampton (away, 2-1) and Wolves (home, 2-0) before getting a rather lucky 0-0 draw away to Chelsea resulting in an early 4th position. A squad largely made up from reserves also managed to defeat Rotherham in the league cup, where we'll face Everton away in the next round.

Concerning tactics, I'm opting for a 4-2-3-1, although I'll change positions a little depending on the opposition we're facing. As it stands now I play with 2 DM's, Benhamou as a DM in support and Gulselam as a defensive DM (in sort of the Mascherano-role) and 3 AM's with Vinet as Trequartista and Drysdale and Menezes as wingers. One lonely striker up front (either Belfodil or Ozdemir). That leaves us with a pretty seperated first eleven with 5 defensive minded players and 4 attacking minded players. To link the two together I envision an important role for Benhamou, who kind of has to be the one switching the play from defense to attack. I think he has the stats to be able to fulfill such a role. But this is all subject to change of course as the season progresses.

Attributes for the players you brought in?

Looks like you guys are getting more out of Drysdale than I ever expected, so I'm glad I didn't sell him; he was a big disappointment for me, never quite looked like a natural winger. I always envisioned Menezes on the left flank as an Inside Forward cutting in on his right foot, but clearly he's great on the right flank as well.

Anyone from my time still on? Perhaps someone I bought? (3rd season)

Attributes for the players you brought in?

Looks like you guys are getting more out of Drysdale than I ever expected, so I'm glad I didn't sell him; he was a big disappointment for me, never quite looked like a natural winger. I always envisioned Menezes on the left flank as an Inside Forward cutting in on his right foot, but clearly he's great on the right flank as well.

Andre:
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9904/andreuo.png

Williamson:
http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/1436/williamsonr.png

Insua:
http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/3347/insua.png

Nani:
http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/9564/nanix.png

Oh and I use Drysdale as a pure left winger, his only job is to supply the striker with crosses as far as I'm concerned. His corners are mostly pretty dangerous too.

Anyone from my time still on? Perhaps someone I bought? (3rd season)

For as far as I can see only Fran Merida (who's sort of a backup AMC).

Quality over quantity is the way to build this team from now on. I love the Williamson signing. He looks like he could be the captain of a Premier League winning Chelmsford in the future, and he's English. (Y) Great, great signing.

Williamson is a great capture. Nani should be a good backup too.

Okay guys, beginning of December and this is how the table looks. Hold on to your hats 'cause this could be a shocker.

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/8619/chelmsfordtabledec2017.png

Yes sir, that's right! Top of the table, unbeaten and 6 points clear of number two Chelsea. European football: surely. Title: who knows...

Surprising, you say? I can see why, with our three struggling mid-table seasons behind us. Then again it always kind of surprised me how we had such a great squad with so many world class players and never managed to perform.
Why are we performing better now? Well I think there's a few reasons:

1. And this one is the most important: we heavily underestimated ourselves. At least that's what I think. We had a way too low self-esteem. It seems like we didn't realize how good of a squad we had. I must admit at first I was a little hesitant too to play our own attacking style of football against the bigger names in the competition. Yet once I tried this, it worked so well. I now found out that this Chelmsford team can literally beat any team that's out there and we've proven it.

2. We stayed clear of injuries (knock on wood). And I mostly mean Vinet here (again, knock on wood), who didn't miss a match and now well and truly is the star and leader of our team.

3. Our defense got a lot more stable. Williamson and Toprak are two quality defenders, with Halford and Insua doing a great job as well at the wing back positions. We conceded only 10 goals in the 13 games we played. The least goals any team has conceded behind Chelsea (who only conceded 6 goals).

4. Vinet is not, and I repeat, is not a Trequartista. I admit at first I let myself be fooled by his amazing all round stats too. But Vinet, my friends, is an out and out striker and with that I mean in the poacher role. It is true the guy can pass the ball pretty well and his creativity is pretty good too, but his main weapons are his dribbling, his pace and his finishing ability; perfect stats for a poacher. That's where he's deadly and that's how he should be used from now on, in my opinion. Have somebody deliver the ball to him (hello, Drysdale!) and he'll finish it time and time again. He scored 12 goals in 14 games and I'm convinced he would've scored more if I would've let him play in the poacher role from the start.

I know I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself too much, this unbeaten run of ours can end any time soon. But I'm hopeful we'll still be able to achieve a very good position in the Premier League. Fingers crossed all the important players stay in January and who knows we might even make a run for that title.

I'll leave you guys with some of our best results:

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/1969/mancitylpoolarse.png

Wow, hopefully the good run continues.

Wow, indeed!! GREAT job, Zlatan. 6 points clear of second place is incredible. What does your 25-man squad and starting line-up look like? I'm very curious.

Interesting observation about Vinet. His pace and dribbling certainly are world class, but he is also quite good at creating for others. I suppose he is probably best used as a poacher, but it seems so... unsophisticated? I don't know. Either way, AWESOME!!! I realized we needed to abandon defensive football around January in my EPL season and the results got a lot better (until then I was playing with 2 DMs and grinding out results), but never had enough time to devote an entire season to attack. With a Dutchman at the helm we had no choice (H)

Thought I'd update you for a moment. We've had a bit of a difficult time. The team's form started to get in a little slack at the beginning of the new year, after which we had a bit of a difficult period. Vinet stopped scoring, our defense became less solid and reliable. But we're now in the beginning of April and guess what? We're still in the lead!

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/6989/chelmsfordtableapr2018.png

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/2742/chelmsfordmatchesjanfeb.png

And that while at a certain point I really thought we were slipping out. We fell down pretty hard after suffering our first defeat of the season in FA Cup and then a wacking 3-0 loss at West Ham. Then came a more or less disastrous February which started with a loss to relegation candidates West Brom, after which we lost the 6-pointer versus Man City away (where we lost our lead position for the first time since about October) and only managed to scrape a somewhat fortuitous draw at home versus Liverpool.

Then came the vital match away versus number three Arsenal. I'm certain that if we would've lost this one, we probably would've been out for the title. It was a tough battle and frankly we didn't at all deserve to win the match, but what a moment it was when Ozdemir headed in the 1-0 five minutes before the whistle from a Drysdale cross. I literally screamed and cheered out loud when he scored. It was for me certainly the defining moment of the season.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7486/arsenalx.png

I'm actually very proud of our boys, they showed they were a world class team before January and they showed they are a tough team with character after. Because even after this win we didn't by far get to the level we were on before January, but still we grinded out the results, which resulted in 4 straight wins coming up to April. This makes that with only 6 matches to go we still have a good chance to win that title. And while our goal was to get European football, now that we are this close I want that title too.

I'm going to bed now. Will try to finish the season tomorrow.

Chelmsford in the Champions League (H)

Next season will be a big one with all the extra matches and the pressure of expectations.

Oh yes, guys! The premiership is ours!

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4583/chelmsfordtablemay2018.png

Amazing. I still can't believe it. Man City only won once in their last 6 matches. While we only dropped points at home to Villa (1-1) and away to Man Utd (0-2). Our first silverware guys, nine years after starting in the Conference division! Wow!

Big part of the success this season was the amazing performances by Drysdale and Vinet. They finished second and third in the award for player of the year (which was in my biased opinion undeservedly won by Agbonlahor). Vinet also finished second as goalscorer (again behind Agbonlahor) and I won the manager of the year award.

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/9392/foty.png
http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8461/topscorers.png
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/7986/moty.png

I think what we need to consolidate this success is by increasing our squad's depth. We were frankly pretty lucky we stayed out of bad injuries all season. Our bench is in my opinion not strong enough to maintain our position at the top. This is something the next manager should work on, I think. I already started this by signing Bassong as backup defender from relegated(!) Tottenham. Other then that we have a squad with amazing talent and mentality, so I think we definitely will be here, at the top, to stay.

Succession_Game.fm - 69.52MB (http://www.zshare.net/download/81074811b6e2dd92/)

Oh, BTW, I now see I forgot to mention my winter transfers. I sold Andre for 9,5m to Dortmund and bought from that money two talents (Thorpe 17-year old English striker from Ipswich and Grieco 18-year old Italian DR/DMC from Siena) plus I also loaned 19-year old midfielder Jamie Williams. He seemed to be pretty talented, could turn out to be a pretty good midfielder. We had the opportunity to buy him for 20m (agreed price) but I decided not to lift that option because I'm not sure wheter he's worth that money yet, plus he just got injured for a long time. Still a guy to keep an eye on.

Incredible! Congrats on the great achievement. Obviously the sugar daddy helped us out a great deal, but what a run we've had!

I'd like to take over from Zlatan like last time, if that's okay?

EDIT - Sorry, nevermind, on second thought I won't have much time this month.

Wow Champions League football for Chelmsford, i remember reading the stadium being upgraded what's the capacity of the current ground would be a joke to be Premiership champions and playing Champions League football with measly attendances.

Vinet looks to be quite a steal than at 4 million pounds, i would like to take credit for that. (H)

Our stadium got an upgrade right after the season of something like 8000 seats. If I'm not mistaking we'll have a capacity of about 22000 seats once that upgrade is done.

Oh, the board also upgraded the youth facilities BTW.

Been quietly following this thread for a while now, incredible achievement, Zlatan.

What I really want to know is how Barry won player of the year 3 seasons in a row.

This sounds fun. I'd be interested to take over the team for a season. Are there still places to fill in? If so, let me know when can I take over.

Go ahead bro, it's all yours.

HOLY****! What a fantastically engrossing thread!

It's gonna take me a while to get through it all, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Vinet looks to be quite a steal than at 4 million pounds, i would like to take credit for that. (H)

Yeah, hats off for that. What a player he's turned out to be.

As far as that goes I'd like to take credit for Kevin Drysdale, whom I signed in my first season in charge when we were in the Championship and can be considered, perhaps to a lesser degree than Vinet, as a steal as well. (H)

Anybody taking over, guys? I'd love to see how we'd do in the CL with this team.

If no one does, I will at some point. My laptop isn't working, but when it's fixed (when I have the money to fix it) I'll fire up the game.

I'll have a crack if no one minds?

Can I have until next Friday though? I've got a Bucks Party (AU term for Bachelor Party) this weekend, so will be busier than I would usually be, but am really keen to have a go before the side is going for their billionth win in a row...

Before I even get started with the players, I'm going to do a full backroom clean out...

The guys have done great to get us here, but they're not Premiership standard. I'm looking all through Europe for some quality coaches, and even a new Assistant. Gaz just isn't up to the task I'm afraid.

You're definitely right. Glad someone upgraded the coaches because it was way too boring for me to bother with.

So I've come to Mutual Agreements with any coach who doesn't get at least 4 stars in one area of coaching..

So quite a clean out. 6 guys (including Daz the Assistant Manager) gone. Now I'm staff searching based on one specialist coach for each skill needing a coach.

Here is the guy I've offered the new Assistant Managers position...You may have heard of him. Has all the attributes :) Not much in the way of experience, but I want to give him a crack. He impressed me in his interview :skip_e:http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4155/assistanti.jpg

We won the Premiership last year, so I don't want to make wholesale changes to the squad. But Jorge agrees with me, that we need to strengthen LB and defence in general.

So I'm looking into that. Insua really isn't my style LB either, so I might look to sell him.

I'm desperately trying to bring in some talented CBs and LBs. But with the transfer budget we're given (even though we're rich..I guess we're waiting for the clubs rep to catch up to it's success) it's bloody hard. Especially to get players that are interested, that will actually improve the squad.

As much as our depth needs improving, I don't see this year as a year where we can realistically challenge for the Champions League title. I think it will be about consolidating our position near the top of the table, and qualifying for Europe again next year...Improving the depth of the squad on the way. I don't want to bring in players that don't add anything to the current squad.

Fan's player of the year... Vinet..No suprise.

And http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/8707/best11.jpg

Told the board my goal is Title Challenge. I think that is fair. I see top 4 (Champs League) as challenging for the title...Continental Qualification goes down lower with UEFA Cup.

Which means they gave me 60 Mill pounds, plus lots of wages (I'll turn some into more transfer funds I think)...Time to spend!

Obviously one of the first things I've got my new scout doing is scouting Australian youth (I promise you won't end up with the Australian National Side when I hand the squad over) :)

I'm buying this guy for 500k!! Looks like a superstar in the making...My scout says he'll be a decent premier league player in the future...Not much to look at now! Wonder if he is a Kewell regen or something...Though I read they don't just use the regen model now, it's all changed since the old days! I just like that acceleration, first touch and dribbling! Strength is a worry, but he's a baby...Nowhere near the first team yet I don't think...But might give him some Cup games...

EDIT: OOPS!! Image:
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5862/munoz.jpg

Thinking of flogging Insua for about 9-10mill, and getting Clichy in for a tidy profit. Clichy is more my type of player. And whilst he is old, it leaves me with change to try and find a good LB prospect.

Hey Alex, good thing you gave the backroom staff an upgrade. When I left I already was thinking about changing assistant manager etc. Well done. (Y)

Improving squad depth is a good plan I think. We got a first eleven that can win the title (we've proven that), but out backup squad isn't of the best quality. Like I said before we wouldn't have been able to get the result we got last season, if the star players would've gotten injured. 60m should be enough to bring in some quality players who can be a backup or even a rotation player (depending on your preference) to the starting eleven.

Not too sure about that Australian guy, if the scout says he's a 'decent' premier league player. I guess 500k is not that much of a waste anyway and I must admit his stats look pretty good for a 16 year old (namely his pace and acceleration). Maybe a star for the future. I wouldn't sign Clichy BTW, we've had a somewhat bad experience with signing old relics in the seasons behind.

Pace and Acceleration were exactly what I was excited about...

Clichy is only 31, not exactly ancient...And I've just bought him for 6.75mill pounds, and sold Insua for 10mill...I only put Clichy on a two year contract, so I think makking 3mill for a like for like (I actually prefer Clichy-his stamina, fitness and pace are great for a fullback) is a good deal...

Damn...Forgot about those stupid work permit rules. Signed two aussie guys, work permits approved, but they don't arrive until 2020 :(

I forgot you didn't get them in your youth straight away like in the old days :(

I really want Silvinho for the centre of or defence, to go alongside Williamson..

Just don't want to be suckered into spending too much, just to 'win' and get the man...

I don't like Toprak. Not sure why

Built a link with some polish club, just for work permit stuff in the future.

I'm realising how hard it is to analyse your squad when you haven't played much...I'm really not sure what our weaknesses are etc, apart from what I can see straight away, and what my Assistant tells me.

I'm going to keep Zlatans formation (at least to start with), and work my way from there.

I paid 52million :( Sorry guys. But it's not like money is really an issue, and I think he is the best (on paper) CB in the world..Well under valued at 12.5mill.

Averaged 7.44 for Roma in Serie A last year. He isn't likely to improve, according to scouts, but he won't get worse for a while yet at his age!

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4494/silv1.jpg

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/8562/silv2c.jpg

I managed the 2nd of our friendly matches (it had been on Assistant Control), just to get an idea of how we're going... bit of a concern, we only won 1-0 against Dundee Utd :( .

But I just beat Valencia 4-2 :) (3-0 at half time, then brought on the 2nd XI)

At that, it's back to my assistant controlling friendlies, and I'm getting ready for the season ahead..I'll post transfers in/out, then I'll not comment til later in the season..Sorry got carried away!

Sorry, one more update.

We won the Charity Shield!! 1-0

But really struggled to be honest. 6 shots to 19. But to be fair, 10 of their shots were long range, and we had 1 CCC each....And possession was 51% in our favour.

Menezes out for around 6 months though!! :( Might look into buying a Right Winger before the window closes.

trophies trophies trophies (H)

What the hell? 52 million pounds for a GOOD defender? The guy isn't even capped for Brazil's first team yet. I can't believe it! FIFTY-TWO MILLION! This has to be the silliest transfer I've seen... OF ALL TIME. Haha.

That's a **** transfer. You don't like Toprak, but you're going to approach an English transfer record (actually, it might be the record) on a guy who's not even 6 feet tall and can't jump? Alex, Alex, Alex. What am I gonna do with you? Those are my absolute LEAST favorite central defenders. I won't touch a CB under 6'2'' or with jumping under 15. Not at that level. I've seen them exploited in the air too many times; and frequently I'm the one doing the exploiting.

Maybe it's just a personal preference; to be honest I don't really like anyone in my squad to be under 6' unless they're a fullback or winger. I can also make an exception for a creative AMC.

I like it (H)

I'm pretty sure height gets calculated into the Jumping attribute.

:) Thought everyone would love that. I love strong, pacey central defenders that are gun tacklers and markers...

The jumping is my only concern, because the heading is great. So when he does make it off the ground, he'll be fine. And he is strong enough to hold his own.

And look, now we're into the season, he is full fit, and he's started training with us (was quite unfit in preseason), his jumping has improved out of site!! Off the scale now...

Ok, so maybe 10 to 11 isn't that big a change :(

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/2669/silvin.jpg

I hate games like this...We didn't have as much possession, but we made loads of good chances, and just didnt finish...And suprise suprise...Vinet got injured.

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/5779/mancityr.jpg

Still 15mins left, we're down 1-0, and we just had another CCC

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8716/uefadraw.jpg

Good group, think we should at least get to the knock out stage.

I requested more transfer funds...

Chairman said no...

Then two days later he released more (without me asking)...And 70million (or something) more...

So I decided to make one last swoop before the window changed...for a world class playmaker...only cost 50mill too! "Only"...But I think this time you guys will be happy with the money?

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/6664/coutinho.jpg