"On a river where they used to build the boats."
Can't be arsed with a data update and starting with Jobe Bellingham has sealed being Sunderland.![]()
Went into the last 4 games in 17th, Arsenal (A), Villa (H), West Ham (A), Fulham (H).
Managed to keep it goalless for 70 minutes at the Emirates before snatching a goal out of nothing, however the lead lasted 60 seconds and they ran out 2-1 winners.
Villa were in the relegation fight so I hoped for 3 points but after being 1-0 down at half time a 1-1 draw was better than nothing. West Ham were mid table as always, set up with our 5-3-2 WB formation and looking to be defensive and waste time constantly as in the previous matches I had hoped to maybe nick something. However we absolutely shat the bed and were 4-0 down by half time. 2 late goals made the scoreline look slightly more respectable.
All came down to Fulham, who were safe but only just. I adjusted for this and decided to bin off time wasting altogether and be more positive. A boring goalless first half wasn't the end of the world, but we managed to scab an 87th minute winner. Immediately locked down into time wasting and fully parked bus to win the game. Thankfully despite Brighton winning their game we stayed up on goal difference. Villa and Forest also down.
Oh and the club was taken over but they aren't investing![]()
I can't tell whether this is the greatest player ever, or the worst.
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Very aggressive for someone so weak, he couldn't reach your chin even if he jumped.
Small man syndrome with quality technique. Reminds me of those lads now in their 40s carrying a lot of timber, but still very skillful at 5-a-side
I’ve just seen the 173cm / 96kg. Just trying to imagine myself (170) with an extra 20-25kg baggage :/.
Thats not far off Lee Trundle in the Welsh league.
2040/41, it's touch and go but I feel that if we keep momentum in the last month we can just about edge that ninth title in a row
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Time to leave for pastures new?
Maybe but not as part of this game, now the only names I recognise are the managers. I normally get the itch to start again long before this, might be on for my record.
After surviving relegation and bringing in some decent strikers and back up options my persisting with the 5-3-2 WB tactic, with a few tweaks, has started to pay dividends. It's now January and we're sat comfortably in the european places, which would be amazing given the objectives are still avoid relegation. The board did let me adjust but it wasn't worth it for an extra few hundred grand in transfer money.
Got the semi final of the League Cup, against Utd. Decided I would play the first leg last night then pick up again tonight, which was at Old Trafford. My wonderkid midfielder was given a straight red after 57 seconds and we lost 3-1![]()
21. Unfortunately, out of my price range.
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Had a mid season wobble, managed to recover form but finished just shy of the european places. Having made it to the league cup semi finals and the FA Cup quarter finals I was happy enough, but then due to the coefficient after the UCL final I squeaked into the Conference League
Jhon Duran and Jarrad Branthwaite were at relegated clubs so I immediately activated their relegation release clauses, going to try and hoover up some cheap wonderkids because the big boys are sniffing round my stars.
Annoyingly though the board have set me a minimum requirement of reaching the Conference League Quarter Final.
Right, after many aborted attempts I have finally made it past August in a new save and it's update time. All six English tiers loaded, with 130,000 players forced in through the customise database size option.
Season 23/24 - Bath City
Wanted to start at the bottom and not with a club that already had professional status, so after much perusing I settled on Bath City, for three reasons. Semi-Pro, expected to finish 14th and Bath as a place is fucking lovely.
This is the squad and as you can see it's wafer thin. I have no more players to add from the non-senior squads and with first window budgets turned off I'm stuck with it until at least January.
Batten has just got himself injured for 3/4 months, which is annoying.
I arrived at the above tactic by just sticking the best 11 players I had in their best positions, then plugged the gaps on the pitch with roles and it's working surprisingly well.
Raynes marauding down the right and crossing in for Cooke to score never gets tired it seems.
Very happy with start, but fixture pile up and a threadbare squad has cost us points. In two of those draws we were 2-0 up during the games.
Now to make it to January and then bolster the squad. Cray Valley up next in the FA Cup 2nd qualifying round.![]()
Conference South is my favourite division to manage in, pipping the North on the basis that I know where the places are. Meaningful FA Cup prize money is a great side quest as well.
Turns out I don't have to wait until January to sign players, must have been down to the first window option only covering the window for the major leagues and I can sign players until March in this division.
Next problem is we only have about £600 free on the wage budget and my dickhead board turned down my request for a senior affiliate. Loans and trials for the win it is then.
I think I'm amassing my favourite ever crop of newgens at Dortmund. Few more homegrown ones in the wings too.
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All that Montenegran lad is missing is a smidge more pace. That 20 composure.![]()
Probably the best finishing, composure, off the ball trinity I've ever had. He's playing second fiddle atm, though, to a 33-year-old Mitrovic, who is just bonkers good still.
2042 World Cup in Italy, a lot of new stadiums and not much in the way of naming variety
Fabio Cannavaro having two stadiums built in his name in the same year was quite the ego boost.
I wish they would at least localise it when they do that, i.e. Stadio Cannavaro or whatever. Really breaks the immersion.
Ji-Sung Park Park
I'm down the rabbit hole on it now to see what other new stadiums exist and it's a complete lack of effort. Obviously the James Maddison stadium is where all the main action happens, but there's a local derby with Leicester at Kasper Schmeichel Park and a longer travel to play Norwich at Wes Hoolahan Arena. In Spain Alaves, Almeria and Levante have gone really avant-garde with Alaves Stadium, Almeria Stadium and Levante Stadium. The best one is of course is Tony Macaroni Arena which thankfully is/was real.
If you can pick which foreign team you can flog merch to it should let you get involved in the naming of your stadium, even give a choice of suffixes or something.
It makes more sense to pull it from a list of corporate entities, really.