You know the deal, I'm gonna post my signings, squads, season highlights etc and you're gonna tell me how good or bad my decisions and results are....

Having played for seven seasons as Chelsea manager and only achieved a modest three titles and two champions leagues (though in real life I'd be happy with that!) I was getting a little bored and thought I'd start something new...

So...

http://www.p2p4u.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/blackpool_p2p4u_net.png

Spent all my money on this guy but I think he may be worth it...

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/854/zakarialabyadoverviewpr.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/zakarialabyadoverviewpr.jpg/)

Also brought in Amdy Faye on a free for a bit of experience.

All in all there are a few decent players in my squad, Eardley in particular is very good on FM, also managed to get Grandin so sign a new contract even when Wolves made an offer meeting his release clause, so that was nice, no release clause in his new contract.

So yeah - my aim is to get Blackpool back to the Premier League and stay there. I have made a personal commitment of five years to Blackpool, unless they sack me first of course!

This is how I ranked up for my first game, and it was a good result, especially as Barnsley were favourites for some reason.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6714/blackpoolvbarnsleyblack.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/685/blackpoolvbarnsleyblack.jpg/)

Taylor-Fletcher's goal was an absolute beauty, so good I offered him a new contract right after the game.

Your images could be just a little bigger. If you're resizing please use 1024x768.

Cool tactic, as I've said in yoyo's thread I can never seem to come up with a decent, asymmetrical one.

I wasnt re sizing actually that's just the way they came out on image shack, I'll try to make them bigger in future, but you can read those ones ok, right?

There's an "image resize" option when you upload the pic on imageshack. Unless that's your screen's resolution, though.

Cool tactic, as I've said in yoyo's thread I can never seem to come up with a decent, asymmetrical one. Well we'll see how this works out, I didnt have much success when I tried tactics like this with Chelsea but I reckon it may suit Blackpool, I've also got them practicing a much more solid tactic loosely based on the old WWW2 formation and a 4-4-2 in case this tactic proves too 'leaky'.

Oh yes...... second game of the season, won 3-1 away at Nottingham Forest despite being massive underdogs. Another vintage goal from Taylor-Fletcher.

Also I've decided that I'm gonna get Charlie Adam back at some point, in my other FM game he was a flop at Liverpool so hopefully the same thing will happen and I can pick him up when\if I get promoted.

Alright so just reached the end of my first competitive month in charge and a decent start, one defeat at home to Crystal Palace but it was a fluke, we dominated the game, and otherwise all wins including away wins at rivals Forest, as mentioned already, and Leicester.

And I've drawn Chelsea in the League Cup!!!

Labyad has made an excellent start I think he will prove to be my Taraabt.

There's an "image resize" option when you upload the pic on imageshack. Unless that's your screen's resolution, though.

Yeah, I think the first time you go it might automatically be set at 840xwhatever

Typical bloody Blackpool...

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/6788/peterboroughvblackpooli.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/862/peterboroughvblackpooli.jpg/)

Right....... hit the January transfer window. Performing well above expectations (media prediction 13th) but as you can see it's still very close at the top and making the play-offs is by no means assured:

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/1149/npowerchampionshipoverv.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/715/npowerchampionshipoverv.jpg/)

Anyway, the board, impressed with our promotion chances, handed me a slab more money and I spent it all on these players:

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/7219/blackpooltransfershisto.png (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/857/blackpooltransfershisto.png/)

Also got Leigh Griffiths arriving on the 10th when he finishes his loan spell. Let me know if you want to see screen shots of any of those individual players, I'm guessing you're familiar with them all?

Also signed Abdoul Sissoko and Rhys Williams......... spent more in 6 months than Blackpool have in sixty years.

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/7967/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/862/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg/)

Haha! (H)

For a moment I thought he had a brother or something.

I declared my interest in him and he actually said he was flattered! What a nice guy!

Anyway, my new signings took some time to bed in, think I signed too many actually, and I had a bad run of form, but have turned things around in the last couple of games and am now currently fourth.

Also got knocked out of the FA cup by Man Utd in the sixth round, but only by one goal.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/854/zakarialabyadoverviewpr.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/513/zakarialabyadoverviewpr.jpg/)


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/9308/40259714.jpg

He's not one of my greatest performers though. But you know my sneaky scouting methods so he must be good. Unfortunately I don't have an AMC position so I play him at MC and sometimes AMR. I had him specialized in stamina training too.


edit: You're going to hate it when he goes to African Cup of Nations.

WTF why does mine have so much better natural fitness? It must be randomized for him because I don't think that's an attribute that increases too much (or none at all). Yours has higher aggression if that makes you feel any better (H) .

Aggression and Natural Fitness are personality stats, and are not affected by training. Aggression will go down if you punish a player for violent behaviour, for example.

Yeah he wasnt as good as I had hoped, unless he dramatically improves I am going to replace him before too long.

Anyway..... thanks to a couple of bad results at the end I didnt make the automatic promotion spots which meant I had the nerves of the playoffs:

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/165/xnpowerchampionshipover.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/683/xnpowerchampionshipover.jpg/)

I didnt know that in the playoffs there is no away goals rule, so I thought I won the semi final against Burnley on away goals and was shocked when it went to extra time, but luckily I managed to win on penalties:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7196/xburnleyvblackpoolblack.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/220/xburnleyvblackpoolblack.jpg/)

And I got lucky with the playoff final, it was against Peterborough who I beat comfortably both times in the league and I won again without difficulty, 3-1, so Blackpool are back in the big time baby!

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9201/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/843/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.jpg/)

I won manager of the year, and as you can see on the left Player of the Year and Young Player of the year were both won by my players... (admittedly ones who were already at the club, no my signings)...

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/9201/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/46/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.jpg/)

Demonstrating my usual tight financial control...

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/9201/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/209/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.jpg/)

This seemed like a good deal from relegated QPR:

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/9201/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/862/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.jpg/)

Board didnt give much money, so apart from him I could only sign James Hurst who had been at Blackpool on loan on a permanent basis, I guess its ok as I still wasnt able to attract most of the players I wanted, lets just hope I can stay up with what I've got...

And check these odds!

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/9201/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/408/xcalumnhamiltonnewsinbo.jpg/)

Alright I got those screenshots in completely the wrong order except for the first two, but you get the idea... cant be bothered to rearrange them...

Couple more cheap signings..... the fantastically named Gergely Rudolph, to bolster my strike force whilst the youngsters develop, and veteran Siaka Tiene from PSG who is 30 but I think will give me a couple of very good seasons.

Stop gap solutions but the board didnt give me much money so I just need to stay up!

How's this for a first game of my Premier League campaign?

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/7355/blackpoolvchelseainform.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/689/blackpoolvchelseainform.jpg/)

Sorry about my lack of updates - my first EPL campaign I came in 13th, which is quite good for Blackpool but I didnt think would interest anyone much!

Made quite a few signings, Vass, Polo, Jakobsen, Zongo, Kishna, Ake and a regen called Grant Rodwell.

Just past halfway in second season, again making slight progress, up to 8th. No real fireworks though!

End of my third season and really not a bad finish....

Check out how bad my goal difference is compared to the teams around me....

http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/541/englishpremierdivisiono.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/831/englishpremierdivisiono.jpg/)

Does 6th place really got get a EUROPA spot? That seems very harsh.

Man Utd, 99 points? :icon_spin:

Yeah and Arsenal 96, with a +70 goal difference.

Getting up there with those guys is gonna be hard!

At least two of Man Utd's draws were against me!

http://s1.jpeghost.ru/i2/000/051/i51497zz.jpg (http://www.jpeghost.ru/i51497zz)

If you want that strange post above us removed you will have to delete it yourself. And that's good success with Blackpool. I attribute it to buying Jack Rodwell's younger brother.

if you want that strange post above us removed you will have to delete it yourself.

Don't you ******* DARE!

An Estonian hacker probably bugged Calumn's computer, detected his internet activity and sold his pc rights to a political movements.

An Estonian hacker probably bugged Calumn's computer, detected his internet activity and sold his pc rights to a political movements.


Even Calumn's hackers are cool. Lucky ****er.

http://s1.jpeghost.ru/i2/000/051/i51497zz.jpg (http://www.jpeghost.ru/i51497zz) Hahahahaha! Of all the threads here, you chose this one for you anti-Putin protest. You got the right place, brother!

Alright...... so finally played another season. Made some pretty excellent progress considering this was only my fourth season in charge, third in the Premier League...

First up....

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/7967/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/684/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg/)

Admittedly I had the easiest cup run in history, didnt have to play one of the big teams, but still pretty impressive....

And this final game of the season....

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/7967/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/calumnhamiltonnewsinbox.jpg/)

Led to me finishing second!

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/1527/englishpremierdivisionom.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/716/englishpremierdivisionom.jpg/)

Only two games off being Blackpool Invincibles! Man City at home was my penultimate game of the season, had I won it I would have won the league, but I could only drawn.

But don't tell me you havent always wanted to see Blackpool in the Champions League!?

Zaha finally started banging in the goals that season. Also I cleared out a few players in January and brought in Jano and Kakuta, which really bolstered me at a time when I was losing form. Also bought Jack Robinson for 6m at the beginning of the season which is a steal.

Going into my fifth season in charge and I spent the entire budget on two big players - Vladimir Weiss (my personal favourite) for 9m and Kevin Strootman for 7.5m. So long as Zaha keeps scoring, hoping to consolidate Blackpool as a Champions League side.

You got Jack Robinson for 6m?? In my game his sale value is at over 30million or something and I'm in 4th season. He's probably the best LB prospect in the world.

Good job with the league finish. The signings seem decent too.

Yup........ I remember in my Chelsea game I had to pay almost thirty for him, but I think the good thing about Blackpool is clubs dont see us as a rival so they let us have players on the cheap. I actually could have had a lot more players on the cheap but my board wouldnt free up the funds.

The downside of Blackpool is that foreigners often dont want to come, even now that I offer CL football. Fierro still wouldnt even discuss terms with me, now he's buggered off to Roma.

I still need to get a better striker, as I dont think Zaha and Leigh Griffiths are quite gonna cut it in the long run.

The downside of Blackpool is that foreigners often dont want to come, even now that I offer CL football. Fierro still wouldnt even discuss terms with me, now he's buggered off to Roma.



I experienced the same thing with Cesena. I made it to Europe but players didn't want to come. However in my 2nd season in the CL, at the winter transfer I noticed a big increase in big names wanting to join, the likes of Cavani, Rossi, Hamsik etc... All I need to do is splash the money on them now. So just wait a little longer.

Yeah... unfortunately though nearly all the players I wanted have been bought by other teams by now....... I suppose I can still get some of them but I'll have to pay through the nose.

I hate signing regens, I lose interest when my squad starts getting full of names I dont recognize.

Yeah... unfortunately though nearly all the players I wanted have been bought by other teams by now....... I suppose I can still get some of them but I'll have to pay through the nose.

I hate signing regens, I lose interest when my squad starts getting full of names I dont recognize.

I like regens because they bring the unexpected. They can sometimes also have crazy attribute sets. And sometimes their faces are funny.

It's all about club reputation. It takes more than one season in Europe to significantly improve a clubs reputation. One you start to continually win leagues/cups etc and play in Europe every year, players will get interested

Calumn, did you say your tactic was a back 4 + a crucifix (3 AMCs) ?

Going into my fifth season in charge and I spent the entire budget on two big players - Vladimir Weiss (my personal favourite) for 9m

Chelmsford legend!