Screenshot Football Manager 2014 Story - Sutton United

[Tryhard]

Since I picked up Football Manager 2014 recently, I figured I would do one of these playthrough/manager story things, I did some of them back when I was playing the 2008 version. I've always been fairly bad at these games, so I suppose it is an accurate simulation of actual Sunday League managers. Regardless, I've always preferred playing as the underdogs instead of starting in the Premier League with Man. United or such.

do people care about football here
I'll probably mirror it on an FM site but I'm doing this for my own amusement.

So we start out with glorious Sutton United in June 2013. They reside in the Skrill South league, the lowest playable league available in England, for reference there is the Skrill South/North, Skrill Premier, League 2, League 1, then the Championship and Premier League. The goal is to take them as far as I possible can with very minimal starting resources. They are predicted to finish 4th, and start with a pretty decent squad. They gave me the gracious sum of ~6k in wage budget and 5k to spend on transfers. Since I know I'm going to only sign free transfers, I reallocate the budget so I have a full 6.16k in wage budget. Finance is a problem at these lower leagues, and honestly compared to teams around us in the division, over 6k in wage budget is actually pretty good. Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a few signings for that. A short history on them from the game:

Found in 1898, Sutton United are a semi-professional English club currently playing in the Skrill South. Sutton United finished 6th in the Skrill South last season.

The club play their home games at Gander Green Lane and possess below average training facilities and very basic youth facilities. The club also has a fairly basic junior coaching and a basic youth recruitment network. The club is affectionally known as The U's and retains a fierce rivalry with Carshalton Athletic.

As a club which enjoyed its best spell of success during the 1980s and their last competition win coming as recently as 2011, The U's are a club with a growing history. Sutton United finished runners-up in the FA trophy in 1981, won the Conference League Cup in 1991, won the English 6th tier in 1967, 1985, 1986 and 1999 and finished runners-up on three occasions, and won the English 7th tier for the only time in 2011 and finished runners-up two times.



Approaching the board, I ask for the possibility for more physios first and foremost. We don't have a fitness coach, so I am going to get one. They accept. Next, I ask for a parent club so we can perhaps get some decent-quality players on loan from a higher league side, and get some income on the side from it, too. Once again, that gets accepted, good stuff.
I figure an upgrade to the youth facilities is probably a decent bet for the last thing that I could ask for. Don't get that one. Still, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Next, I'm gonna take a look at my entire squad. I'll put an image of each of them in spoilers, which I probably won't do for much longer, since it does take a while. Be aware that most of these players are being judged on a very low league standard, so don't expect Messi.

[spoiler=Players]
Goalkeeper - Jason Brown
[spoiler=Image]

Looks to be a great goalkeeper, at least for a very low league level. He's actually my highest valued player by a lot. He is pretty old, though, so I may have to replace him eventually. Absolutely great for now, though.

Goalkeeper - Tom Lovelock
[spoiler=Image]

Back-up goalkeeper. Aerial ability isn't great, but otherwise, he seems decent. However, he's got a decent amount on the wage bill, so I may drop him and get a goalkeeper with just an appearance fee, who probably won't be getting played unless Jason Brown gets injured or suspended.

Central Defender - Charlie Clough
[spoiler=Image]

Really good defender. His Concentration and Decisions are unfortunately low. Really good strength and jumping reach. Fairly young, too. He'll be getting played as much as I possibly can.

Central Defender - Simon Downer
[spoiler=Image]

Not as good as Clough, though he's still a pretty good defender. I may have to rotate him, if I do get another central defender.

Central Defender/Right Defender/Right Wing Back/Right Midfielder - Paul Telfer
[spoiler=Image]

He used to play in the Premier League by the looks of things, but he's probably coming to end of playing now at 41. He has barely any pace, appropriately. He's also a coach. That said, for a defender, his stats are very good across the board apart from the physical ones.

Right Defender/Right Midfielder - Emmanuel Akiotu
[spoiler=Image]

Pretty guff (bad), honestly. He's on a free contract, but since I don't have many right backs, I'll either keep him or get another one. Or two.

Central Midfielder - Lee Sawyer
[spoiler=Image]

His stats are pretty average across the board, I think he'll be decent. We need as many midfielders as we can get, so he'll probably be getting played.

Left or Right Attacking Midfielder/Left Midfielder/Striker - Gavin McCallum
[spoiler=Image]

Doesn't look fantastic, but he does have pace. I don't know how much I'll use him, though.

Left or Right Midfielder/Left or Right Attacking Midfielder - Damian Scannell
[spoiler=Image]

Looks fairly good - unfortunately I'm not going to be playing a formation with any sort of wingers, so I don't think he would be getting played unless I played him out of position, unfortunately. I might terminate his contract, since he is on £500 per week, which is quite high. Either that, or I'll set him up to train him as a central midfielder.

Left Midfielder/Left Attacking Midfielder - Dale Binns
[spoiler=Image]

Like with Scannell, he looks decent, but he probably won't be getting played in position. At least he is more comfortable playing as a central midfielder and left wing back. I might keep him. Once again, he's got a fairly high contract at £550 per week.

Central Midfielder/Central Attacking Midfielder - Dean Sinclair
[spoiler=Image]

A decent passer of the ball, with good physical attributes for the most part. Looks good enough to me. Probably a regular central midfielder for me.

Central Midfielder/Central Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Craig Dundas
[spoiler=Image]

Damn, that's a lot of strength. Good player overall with a few positions to play in, will keep. Since he has the possibility of playing in midfield, attacking midfield, or a striker for me, he'll probably get rotated between them.

Left or Right Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Marvin Williams
[spoiler=Image]

Once again, looks like someone that probably won't be getting played in any position that isn't striker, and honestly, he doesn't seem that great apart from the pace as a striker, finishing could be higher. We'll see.

Striker - Jamie Taylor
[spoiler=Image]

Pretty good striker. Unfortunately he is currently injured and will be for 2 months. Finishing is good and he'll probably be getting played after he recovers.

Striker - Jamie Slabber
[spoiler=Image]

Seriously, Slabber is a great name. He's a good striker, especially as a target man. Unfortunately, his work rate is only 3, which is very low. His finishing is the highest I can really find at this level at 15, so hopefully he'll be able to score a number of goals. Slabber.


I have a couple of people in the reserves, too, though two of them are out on loan.

Central Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder - Steve McKimm
[spoiler=Image]

The under 21s coach, but not that great in terms of actual stats. He's a decent defensive midfielder, I would say, and I might call him up to the first squad because I need at least one defensive midfielder.

Central Midfielder - Moon Hong
[spoiler=Image]

Not that great, his physical stats are good but doesn't really have any more important stuff. I guess he could be a decent passer, but I'd like to sign a better midfielder instead. Least he's on a cheap wage.

Right Midfielder/Right Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Ben Kudjodji
[spoiler=Image]

Well, he has better long shots than actual finishing. I doubt he's really going to do that much compared to the strikers I already have. Good pace, though.


And then we have our two reserve players on loan. They aren't really anything special enough to recall, so I won't bother.

Left Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Rhys Murrell-Williamson
[spoiler=Image]

Figured out that I would go over the two players loaned out in the reserve team. His stats are mainly pretty bad, but like most of the young players has good pace and acceleration.

Striker - Chris Benjamin
[spoiler=Image]

Once again, a lot of pace and acceleration, but not much to offer otherwise.

The tactic I'll be using is an edited 4-4-2 diamond (edited from someone else's tactic, it's not really so much my thing) sort of formation. Since defenses are pretty terrible in the lower leagues, I'll focus more on attacking than anything else. I'm gonna be using two complete wing backs, those will be my "wingers", really. It's a narrow formation for a reason. Otherwise, two up front, one attacking midfielder, two regular midfielders, and a defensive midfielder. It's probably still going to leak goals, especially since my defense is going to be pretty poor. Just concentrate on scoring more goals than my opposition. The Liverpool Way .



So, things I need:

• A left wing back. I have none. I may want a second one for rotation purposes.
• A right wing back, though Telfer and Akiotu can currently play there, but not that well.
• A defensive midfielder. McKimm in the reserve team is a decent one, but I probably want to sign another one.

And things that I'm probably going to get after:

• Another central midfielder with good passing.
• A good attacking midfielder.
• Another striker, possibly.
• And I'll probably terminate Lovelock's contract and get a cheaper goalkeeper.

The transfer window is open all season, though I'll have plenty of time to do everything before even my first friendly, honestly. Anyway, that's all I'm going to do for now, I'm sure it'll speed up when I actually get to some of the friendlies/league games. I'll give a brief description of each game, but won't go into tremendous detail for all of them.

Edited January 16, 2015 by Tangerine

[Parrhesia]

I approve strongly of the formation, but that's a lot of tactics. What are the others? Seems more or less similar to what I run though.

I've never played lower than League One - are there many loan options available? Any parent clubs willing to go with a Conference Regional team?

Edited May 29, 2014 by Parrhesia

[Tryhard]

I approve strongly of the formation, but that's a lot of tactics. What are the others? Seems more or less similar to what I run though.

I've never played lower than League One - are there many loan options available? Any parent clubs willing to go with a Conference Regional team?

This is what I'm using for now, I may change some of them around, such as get stuck in lads if I'm getting too many bookings or be more expressive. I also have a few player instructions for certain positions and set piece instructions set up, I tried I've already in a small test and it seemed to work alright, so hopefully it does alright. Mainly, most of the players are on More Risky and More Direct passes, which could either go well or horribly wrong.

Generally, it's hard to get loan signings from higher leagues because nobody wants to move to a pissant club, even if you have a parent club. Mostly I'd do it for a slight bit of extra income, but you never know. I might look through people up on the loan list, though.

Edited May 29, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

Isn't being more expressive and rigid kind of contradictory? Same with going for more direct passing into space that's also short and retaining possession. I'm no expert though, they could work different to how they sound (like how 'Control' is apparently high pressing in-game aka a thing I like when its description makes it sound like tiki-taka aka dogshit)

[Tryhard]

Isn't being more expressive and rigid kind of contradictory? Same with going for more direct passing into space that's also short and retaining possession. I'm no expert though, they could work different to how they sound (like how 'Control' is apparently high pressing in-game aka a thing I like when its description makes it sound like tiki-taka aka dogshit)

Rigid is about mainly sticking to positions, which is generally good for a low league team like mine which can barely play in their own positions. Be more expressive is quite different from a rigid style, but isn't completely contradictory. I've heard that it affects the types of attacks that a team will make - i.e they will stick to their own positions, but will attempt to pull off trickier attacking plays. I'm not entirely sure if it works the way I expect it to, either, but that's what I've heard.

The thing with retain possession and shorter passing is that it also depends on your mentality - with more defensive mentalities, defensive players will play more direct while attacking players will pass shorter while for more attacking mentalities the opposite applies. It seems rather counter-intuitive when you think about it in regards to regular football, but oh well.

source http://www.guidetofootballmanager.com/tactics/team-instructions/specific-team-instructions

Edited May 29, 2014 by Tryhard

[viyut]

To me the most important thing in this edition of FM is to manage your players. Always do a private chat with them when they have underperformed in the last 5 matches and if your team's morale is low you'll struggle on any match, so when your morale gets low you should schedule a friendly against a team much weaker than yours (which in your case is very difficult) to raise morale. Try to get a winning streak going and keep winning consecutive matches for as long as you can.

Edited May 29, 2014 by viyut

[Tryhard]

To me the most important thing in this edition of FM is to manage your players. Always do a private chat with them when they have underperformed in the last 5 matches and if your team's morale is low you'll struggle on any match, so when your morale gets low you should schedule a friendly against a team much weaker than yours (which in your case is very difficult) to raise morale. Try to get a winning streak going and keep winning consecutive matches for as long as you can.

Understood, I didn't know morale had that much of an effect, really. Though, obviously I'll try to keep winning, yo. Who do you take me for?

You know, I finally realize why your username was Yohan Kebab for a while, since I went back and listened to that Joe Kinnear interview. Hysterical. From that Newcastle guy before.

We get a reply from possible parent clubs - I chose Colchester because they seemed to have a lot of possible loans they could give me in their U21 squad, plus the added bonus of £13,663 in annual fees they would pay us.

I set Slabber up with the task of tutoring the young Cleaver. I'm sure they'll get along famously. Likewise, I set up Jason Brown to take care of Aaron Ibbetson, who is my new goalkeeper that I will show below in the transfers spoiler.

We let Lovelock and McKimm go - Lovelock because he's taking up some of the wage budget I desperately need for other positions and McKimm because he's a staff member - I need to let him go (or Telfer, but I wanted to keep him) in order to sign a fitness coach. Speaking of Telfer, he went on a coaching cource to get a continental B license, what a guy.

Then I go through looking for transfers that I need to bring in.

[spoiler=Transfers]

Fitness Coach - Kunle Odetoyinbo

[spoiler=Image]

We get our fitness coach. He has a decent amount of fitness and working with youngsters along with okay mental attributes, so I imagine that's all that matters.

Goalkeeper - Aaron Ibbetson

[spoiler=Image]

My new back-up goalkeeper. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a guy with just a straight appearance fee who was better than this guy, but this guy is only on £20 a week, so I'm not too bothered about his stats. His reflexes, handling and aerial ability are all decent, though.

Left Defender/Left Wing Back - Gareth Gwillim

[spoiler=Image]

Really good left wing back. Probably the best I could get from a free transfer. His corners, free kicks and crossing are fantastic for this level. The only thing he's lacking in is some pace, and the fact that he is 30, so on the older side, but I'll take experience in this case with those stats. He was actually at Sutton United in the 2012-2013 season before moving to Ebbsfleet, but we've got him back, now!

Right Defender/Right Wing Back - Josias Carbon

[spoiler=Image]

A pretty bad player, honestly. However, he's on a £0 contract, and he's got the best crossing out of all the right wing backs available on free transfers (there weren't many). I suppose I'll have to make do, I needed a wing back, this is what I get.

Central Midfielder - Marc Canham

[spoiler=Image]

Good passer of the ball, and seems like a generally good midfielder. He was on the expensive side, but I think he's worth it.

Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder - Jermaine Hinds

[spoiler=Image]

My first defensive midfielder choice. He's highly aggressive, though. His tackling and work rate are good enough for me to not mind. Just don't get yourself sent off, mate.

Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder - Qudus Bolaji

[spoiler=Image]

I figured I would need a second defensive midfielder. This guy is younger, and worse than Hinds, but he'll do as a rotation player.

Central Midfielder/Central Attacking Midfielder - George O'Callaghan

[spoiler=Image]

Very good attacking midfielder, he seems like he'll fit right in, and he can double as a midfielder.

Striker - Jacob Cleaver

[spoiler=Image]

Cleaver? We're gonna have Cleaver and Slabber up front. What a great duo. I might rename Slabber to Stabber after this. Why did I sign this guy? His pace is 18, and his acceleration is great too. His finishing and composure are shit, but honestly, at this level you can still score with these. I have enough strikers, but maybe he's a fast guy I can throw on every so often.

Loan:

Central or Left or Right Midfielder - Jordan Sanderson

[spoiler=Image]

Surprisingly, I got this guy on loan from Colchester. He isn't fantastic in terms of technical skills, but his mental and physical stats are very good. He was listed for loan, and I didn't try to get any of the other Colchester U21 players, so I don't think I would have been as successful.

To be honest, I wasn't aware that I had got too many midfielders until after the fact, plus I was thinking I might need another central defender. I was going to drop one of the midfielders to sign a defender, but I thought I'll leave it as is. My wage total is currently £74/per week over the budget, but that isn't so bad, considering.

I declare the squad win bonuses to be standard, when the option arises.

I then get a message that I've got a lot of contracts expiring at the end of this season. I won't negotiate them now, but I have to keep in mind if I don't renew them these guys will be gone next season. I signed everyone on a one year contract, in case I wanted to get rid of them, though.

Friendlies

Sutton United vs Aldershot

Final Score: 6-3

-----------------------------

Gareth Gwillim (10, 63)

Lee Sawyer (19)

Josias Carbon (37)

Glenn Morris own goal (46)

George O'Callaghan (84)

-----------------------------

Bradley Bubb (49, 66)

Matthew Patterson (73)

-----------------------------

Some first game, right? Aldershot are in the league above us, the Skrill Premier. The AI during friendlies generally doesn't play their best players, preferring instead to focus on fitness where possible, so this isn't a complete representation on how the actual season will go, though it is encouraging. Problem is, we also leaked three goals. I decided to give Jacob Cleaver a play in this game, and his shot lead to the own goal by their goalkeeper, and he did put in a good performance at 8.4, which was actually higher than his partner Slabber, who didn't manage to get on the score sheet. Gwillim is already showing his skill, getting a rating of 9.3 and receiving Man of the Match. Both of his goals were freekicks, which was nice to see.

To be honest, though, looking at the end of game stats, we were very lucky to get any result from this game, as they got more shots on target yet converted less.

Sutton United vs Banstead

Final Score: 3-0

-----------------------------

Jacob Cleaver (1)

Jamie Slabber (4)

Craig Dundas (13)

-----------------------------

We came out with three early goals, but the game eventually closed down. They barely got any shots on target, which is to expected, as this is non-league team. Cleaver got his first along with Slabber. Hopefully the form continues especially for Cleaver and then I could without hesistation play him up front.

Fleet vs Sutton United

Final Score: 0-6

-----------------------------

Jacob Cleaver (10, 24)

Craig Dundas (14, 79, pen. 90+2)

Dean Sinclair (73)

-----------------------------

Absolutely annihilation for this one. Once again, Fleet are a non-league team, so I didn't really expect much, but Dundas getting a hat trick was indeed surprising - I left Slabber on the bench since he was not fully fit after the last game, but I left Cleaver on, and he impressed with two goals. I really didn't expect that. Dundas, of course, got the Man of the Match award, but the whole team played well.

I will do the rest whenever I update next, I have five more because I set up additional friendlies for pre-season, so yah.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Tryhard

[Tryhard]

Since I picked up Football Manager 2014 recently, I figured I would do one of these playthrough/manager story things, I did some of them back when I was playing the 2008 version. I've always been fairly bad at these games, so I suppose it is an accurate simulation of actual Sunday League managers. Regardless, I've always preferred playing as the underdogs instead of starting in the Premier League with Man. United or such.

do people care about football here
I'll probably mirror it on an FM site but I'm doing this for my own amusement.

So we start out with glorious Sutton United in June 2013. They reside in the Skrill South league, the lowest playable league available in England, for reference there is the Skrill South/North, Skrill Premier, League 2, League 1, then the Championship and Premier League. The goal is to take them as far as I possible can with very minimal starting resources. They are predicted to finish 4th, and start with a pretty decent squad. They gave me the gracious sum of ~6k in wage budget and 5k to spend on transfers. Since I know I'm going to only sign free transfers, I reallocate the budget so I have a full 6.16k in wage budget. Finance is a problem at these lower leagues, and honestly compared to teams around us in the division, over 6k in wage budget is actually pretty good. Hopefully I'll be able to get quite a few signings for that. A short history on them from the game:

Found in 1898, Sutton United are a semi-professional English club currently playing in the Skrill South. Sutton United finished 6th in the Skrill South last season.

The club play their home games at Gander Green Lane and possess below average training facilities and very basic youth facilities. The club also has a fairly basic junior coaching and a basic youth recruitment network. The club is affectionally known as The U's and retains a fierce rivalry with Carshalton Athletic.

As a club which enjoyed its best spell of success during the 1980s and their last competition win coming as recently as 2011, The U's are a club with a growing history. Sutton United finished runners-up in the FA trophy in 1981, won the Conference League Cup in 1991, won the English 6th tier in 1967, 1985, 1986 and 1999 and finished runners-up on three occasions, and won the English 7th tier for the only time in 2011 and finished runners-up two times.



Approaching the board, I ask for the possibility for more physios first and foremost. We don't have a fitness coach, so I am going to get one. They accept. Next, I ask for a parent club so we can perhaps get some decent-quality players on loan from a higher league side, and get some income on the side from it, too. Once again, that gets accepted, good stuff.
I figure an upgrade to the youth facilities is probably a decent bet for the last thing that I could ask for. Don't get that one. Still, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Next, I'm gonna take a look at my entire squad. I'll put an image of each of them in spoilers, which I probably won't do for much longer, since it does take a while. Be aware that most of these players are being judged on a very low league standard, so don't expect Messi.

[spoiler=Players]
Goalkeeper - Jason Brown
[spoiler=Image]

Looks to be a great goalkeeper, at least for a very low league level. He's actually my highest valued player by a lot. He is pretty old, though, so I may have to replace him eventually. Absolutely great for now, though.

Goalkeeper - Tom Lovelock
[spoiler=Image]

Back-up goalkeeper. Aerial ability isn't great, but otherwise, he seems decent. However, he's got a decent amount on the wage bill, so I may drop him and get a goalkeeper with just an appearance fee, who probably won't be getting played unless Jason Brown gets injured or suspended.

Central Defender - Charlie Clough
[spoiler=Image]

Really good defender. His Concentration and Decisions are unfortunately low. Really good strength and jumping reach. Fairly young, too. He'll be getting played as much as I possibly can.

Central Defender - Simon Downer
[spoiler=Image]

Not as good as Clough, though he's still a pretty good defender. I may have to rotate him, if I do get another central defender.

Central Defender/Right Defender/Right Wing Back/Right Midfielder - Paul Telfer
[spoiler=Image]

He used to play in the Premier League by the looks of things, but he's probably coming to end of playing now at 41. He has barely any pace, appropriately. He's also a coach. That said, for a defender, his stats are very good across the board apart from the physical ones.

Right Defender/Right Midfielder - Emmanuel Akiotu
[spoiler=Image]

Pretty guff (bad), honestly. He's on a free contract, but since I don't have many right backs, I'll either keep him or get another one. Or two.

Central Midfielder - Lee Sawyer
[spoiler=Image]

His stats are pretty average across the board, I think he'll be decent. We need as many midfielders as we can get, so he'll probably be getting played.

Left or Right Attacking Midfielder/Left Midfielder/Striker - Gavin McCallum
[spoiler=Image]

Doesn't look fantastic, but he does have pace. I don't know how much I'll use him, though.

Left or Right Midfielder/Left or Right Attacking Midfielder - Damian Scannell
[spoiler=Image]

Looks fairly good - unfortunately I'm not going to be playing a formation with any sort of wingers, so I don't think he would be getting played unless I played him out of position, unfortunately. I might terminate his contract, since he is on £500 per week, which is quite high. Either that, or I'll set him up to train him as a central midfielder.

Left Midfielder/Left Attacking Midfielder - Dale Binns
[spoiler=Image]

Like with Scannell, he looks decent, but he probably won't be getting played in position. At least he is more comfortable playing as a central midfielder and left wing back. I might keep him. Once again, he's got a fairly high contract at £550 per week.

Central Midfielder/Central Attacking Midfielder - Dean Sinclair
[spoiler=Image]

A decent passer of the ball, with good physical attributes for the most part. Looks good enough to me. Probably a regular central midfielder for me.

Central Midfielder/Central Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Craig Dundas
[spoiler=Image]

Damn, that's a lot of strength. Good player overall with a few positions to play in, will keep. Since he has the possibility of playing in midfield, attacking midfield, or a striker for me, he'll probably get rotated between them.

Left or Right Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Marvin Williams
[spoiler=Image]

Once again, looks like someone that probably won't be getting played in any position that isn't striker, and honestly, he doesn't seem that great apart from the pace as a striker, finishing could be higher. We'll see.

Striker - Jamie Taylor
[spoiler=Image]

Pretty good striker. Unfortunately he is currently injured and will be for 2 months. Finishing is good and he'll probably be getting played after he recovers.

Striker - Jamie Slabber
[spoiler=Image]

Seriously, Slabber is a great name. He's a good striker, especially as a target man. Unfortunately, his work rate is only 3, which is very low. His finishing is the highest I can really find at this level at 15, so hopefully he'll be able to score a number of goals. Slabber.


I have a couple of people in the reserves, too, though two of them are out on loan.

Central Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder - Steve McKimm
[spoiler=Image]

The under 21s coach, but not that great in terms of actual stats. He's a decent defensive midfielder, I would say, and I might call him up to the first squad because I need at least one defensive midfielder.

Central Midfielder - Moon Hong
[spoiler=Image]

Not that great, his physical stats are good but doesn't really have any more important stuff. I guess he could be a decent passer, but I'd like to sign a better midfielder instead. Least he's on a cheap wage.

Right Midfielder/Right Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Ben Kudjodji
[spoiler=Image]

Well, he has better long shots than actual finishing. I doubt he's really going to do that much compared to the strikers I already have. Good pace, though.


And then we have our two reserve players on loan. They aren't really anything special enough to recall, so I won't bother.

Left Attacking Midfielder/Striker - Rhys Murrell-Williamson
[spoiler=Image]

Figured out that I would go over the two players loaned out in the reserve team. His stats are mainly pretty bad, but like most of the young players has good pace and acceleration.

Striker - Chris Benjamin
[spoiler=Image]

Once again, a lot of pace and acceleration, but not much to offer otherwise.

The tactic I'll be using is an edited 4-4-2 diamond (edited from someone else's tactic, it's not really so much my thing) sort of formation. Since defenses are pretty terrible in the lower leagues, I'll focus more on attacking than anything else. I'm gonna be using two complete wing backs, those will be my "wingers", really. It's a narrow formation for a reason. Otherwise, two up front, one attacking midfielder, two regular midfielders, and a defensive midfielder. It's probably still going to leak goals, especially since my defense is going to be pretty poor. Just concentrate on scoring more goals than my opposition. The Liverpool Way .



So, things I need:

• A left wing back. I have none. I may want a second one for rotation purposes.
• A right wing back, though Telfer and Akiotu can currently play there, but not that well.
• A defensive midfielder. McKimm in the reserve team is a decent one, but I probably want to sign another one.

And things that I'm probably going to get after:

• Another central midfielder with good passing.
• A good attacking midfielder.
• Another striker, possibly.
• And I'll probably terminate Lovelock's contract and get a cheaper goalkeeper.

The transfer window is open all season, though I'll have plenty of time to do everything before even my first friendly, honestly. Anyway, that's all I'm going to do for now, I'm sure it'll speed up when I actually get to some of the friendlies/league games. I'll give a brief description of each game, but won't go into tremendous detail for all of them.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

A pretty great run of friendlies - let's hope it continues. I for one have faith in James 'the Slabster' Slabber returning to fitness, scoring twenty goals, getting signed by Chelsea to fill their homegrown players quota and never appearing anywhere again.

[peener weener]

SUTTON WILL RISE UP TO AT LEAST THE CHAMPIONSHIP. YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH

[Tryhard]

A pretty great run of friendlies - let's hope it continues. I for one have faith in James 'the Slabster' Slabber returning to fitness, scoring twenty goals, getting signed by Chelsea to fill their homegrown players quota and never appearing anywhere again.

I actually took a look at Slabster's history, and he played one game for 'Spurs back in the 2002-2003 season. He then got demoted down to Swindon in League 1 after a few seasons at Spurs without playing before ending up at various Skrill Premier and Skrill South teams. He actually moved on to division team Bromley at the end of this season. Sutton United came second, but lost in the playoffs, if you're interested.

SUTTON WILL RISE UP TO AT LEAST THE CHAMPIONSHIP. YOU CAN DO IT IF YOU TRY HARD ENOUGH

#thedreamison

(I'll do my best)

Edited June 1, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

I actually took a look at Slabster's history, and he played one game for 'Spurs back in the 2002-2003 season.

wow you've got history playing in your team man

[Parrhesia]

to think the thin line that seperated slabster from gareth bale is 'being shit' #makesuthink

[Tryhard]

wow you've got history playing in your team man

ikr, watch out spurs slabber's coming back

to think the thin line that seperated slabster from gareth bale is 'being shit' #makesuthink

it's a thin line, indeed

I'm probably going to do updates in batches of around ~6 or so games at a time, I think.

It's the start of the season, and we've got to pick our captain and vice-captain for the team. I go with Downer and Telfer, as recommended.

I love the nickname feature. Slabster now has his true name.

We set up for the Eastleigh game, and Slabster unfortunately is not quite ready. Otherwise, here's what I go with.

Skrill South

---

Eastleigh vs Sutton United

Final Score: 0-1

A hard starting game, with Eastleigh, one of the better teams of the division and the ones who were expected to finish second, and we're playing them away. Neither team really got a lot of chances, but Williams managed to get the winning goal early into the second half. At the end of the game, one of their players tackled Dundas right outside the box which caused him to be injured, but he was fine right after the game. Their best player and striker, Stuart Fleetwood (who was valued at a sweet £90k) was pretty quiet in this game, thankfully.

[spoiler=Stuart Fleetwood]

Unfortunately, we have an injury to Jermaine Hinds. Thankfully, I do have replacements, so I sent him to the physio and he should be back fairly soon.

Slabster gets back to training, though it'll be a while before he's fully fit again.

---

Sutton United vs Staines

Final Score: 1-0

Once again, a 1-0 win. Are we just going to have 1-0 wins the entire season, because I would be okay with that. Carbon was extremely lucky to score, basically throwing in a cross to the box which the keeper extraordinarily fumbles, throwing it into his own net. What a guy. Otherwise, the match is fairly boring. Cleaver and Williams had some chances to score which they didn't take, but apart from that, pretty drab. I subbed the Slabster off after the first half because he was fairly tired after his injury recovery.

Downer gets onto the Skrill South Team of the Week, he's been playing well as a defender so far.

---

Sutton United vs Bishop's Stortford

Final Score: 4-1

Even though the score says otherwise, this was pretty nervous was quite a part of the game, we went into half time at 2-1, after Akurang equalised for them just before half time. Still, it ended up quite comfortable otherwise, with even Telfer getting on the score sheet playing as right back. Gwillim gets a goal from a freekick as he usually does.

---

Concord Rangers vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-3

Slabster scoring his first goal in the league for us. Otherwise, we pretty much dominated this game aside from a single run by their striker that was very poorly defended by us. They also had another "goal", but it was rightfully given outside. Jamie Taylor got his first game after recovering from his own injury, but failed to score.

Very unfortunately, Downer suffers an injury. Kind of a problem, since I don't have that many central defenders, and Downer was probably my best (or second best to Clough) one. Telfer is going to have to play in, I suppose. Once again, I sent to the physio as not to risk him being out for longer.

Otherwise, Telfer and Gwillim get put on the team of the week, nice stuff.

Hinds is coming back, though.

---

Sutton United vs Whitehawk

Final Score: 1-0

Slabster wins this one for us, which was going to be a hard one since Whitehawk are a pretty good team. Carbon unfortunately got injured and we found out how bad it is momentarily after the match.

We get manager of the month, we haven't done anything less than win every game so far, so it isn't surprising!

Carbon gets absolutely #rekt in the game against Whitehawk - he'll be out for a long, long time. My right back options are being taken away from me, and it's a shame because Carbon was quite in-form.

---

Tonbridge vs Sutton United

Final Score: 4-4

Yeah, this was some game. A huge emphasis on early scoring where we conceded first but immediately replied. 1-2, 2-2, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4 in the first half. Unfortunately we couldn't hold onto the narrow lead, conceding again the 69th minute and playing out the rest of the game for a draw. Without Jamie Taylor picking up a hat-trick, we would definitely have lost this game. The press seemed to be disappointed at the result, but Tonbridge did seem to be a decent team placing 7th in the table before this game. Our first non-win, but a perfect start to the season otherwise.

Here is the league table:

And our upcoming fixtures:

#suttonlyfe

Edited June 1, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

holy shit #suttonrising watch fucking OUT those are some SCORES

the slabster will rightfully claim his throne in time. all is right in the world.

Edited June 1, 2014 by fuccboi

[viyut]

Remember to warn your players when their match ratings get lower than 6.3 to increase their Determination and Work Rate (Determination is a key stat in this game and it's also crucial to the development of young players).

[Parrhesia]

The two Jamies, Slabster and Taylinho, are putting fear into the heart of all their equally semi-professional opponents.

How's the support Target Man working out? I've generally gone for TM-a and AF-a and it's been fairly consistent - but I've definitely been considering the switch.

[Tryhard]

Remember to warn your players when their match ratings get lower than 6.3 to increase their Determination and Work Rate (Determination is a key stat in this game and it's also crucial to the development of young players).

Thanks, there's a lot of stuff I don't know about this game.

The two Jamies, Slabster and Taylinho, are putting fear into the heart of all their equally semi-professional opponents.

How's the support Target Man working out? I've generally gone for TM-a and AF-a and it's been fairly consistent - but I've definitely been considering the switch.

The slabster is good enough as a target man on support since his passing isn't dreadful. It'll probably get him less goals in the end, but it does seems to work rather well as he's been getting a decent amount of assists. I may turn it over to an attacking target man on some of the next matches to see how it goes.

2 goals/3 assists in 5 apps, some of which he was subbed early. Average rating 7.24.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

I could grab some stats for my strike partnership for comparitive purposes. Supporting TM is clearly working, though. Was thinking of putting it on one of my guys who is a Proper Big Lad with 16 passing for some reason.

[Tryhard]

I could grab some stats for my strike partnership for comparitive purposes. Supporting TM is clearly working, though. Was thinking of putting it on one of my guys who is a Proper Big Lad with 16 passing for some reason.

Alright, I'll leave it as such. I'd imagine it'd work like a Andy Carroll hold the ball up and head it down to a speedier partner sort of deal, then.

Taking a look at the finances, it doesn't look fantastic. We'll need to definitely get some profits going, as the last months have seen bad losses in terms of profit.

I go and talk to my two defensive midfielders Bolaji and Hinds, which haven't been playing that great recently and give them a talking too.

---

Skrill South

Sutton United vs Farnborough

Final Score: 4-0

Taylor had a good 45 minutes, grabbing himself a goal before I subbed him off at half time for Cleaver, who completed the rout. Very comfortable against a team which isn't looking great in the league table right now.

Jamie Taylor gets himself on the team of the week, not surprising considering his recent performances.

We also have Bromley against us in the upcoming cup game, our first one! Bromley are a decent team in the same division as us, currently sitting third.

---

Sutton United vs Dover

Final Score: 5-0

The Dover away kit is in pink, by the way, and it is fabulous. I decide to start Cleaver, and he slams one in early before the Slabster gets a penalty which Sinclair slots away. I actually subbed out the Slabster at half time, and put Taylor in instead as the target man, and he done fine as well. Their player got sent off at the end of the game, and it was very easy for us, which is strange because Dover is a decent side that haven't been playing that well this season. (they were 10th before we played them, yet expected to finish ahead of us)

Cleaver was amazing in this game.

But he also got injured. Nothing too bad, though.

---

Havant & Waterlooville vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

We were fairly comfortable for the entire game until it got late, and they pulled one back. We were dominating the game, and luckily they weren't able to pull one back.

Wow, may as well be our entire team, right?

---

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

Sutton United vs Bromley

Final Score: 3-0

I decided to play Taylor up front, as his composure and finishing are much better than Cleaver even if he's on good form, plus this is a cup game. Sanderson managed to get a goal too, which was nice. Bromley were doing quite well in the league at third, so this was a good result.

Money for us, after beating Bromley.

I terminate McCallum's contract, freeing up £250 per week on the wage budget and getting rid of a player I was barely playing - I doubt I could've got rid of Scannell since he's considering a key player. Unfortunately, this is taking a hit to our finances, but hopefully we can go far enough with our cups in order to get a decent amount going.

I'll take that, thank you very much.

Yeah, the board are pretty disappointed by my change in philosophy to "direct" football, which I thought I was playing but I... guess not. Whatever, next time I can ask to change it, I will remove that. Otherwise, job looks good.

We get Billericay, a non-league team, for the next round. Sounds good.

And we also get Downer back, so our central defender problem hopefully isn't a problem any longer.

---

Skrill South

Sutton United vs Eastbourne Borough

Final Score: 3-2

This was a nervous game, and the Slabster gifts us three points after we concede twice. Funnily enough, all the goals except for Slabster's were freekicks. O'Callaghan's freekick was excellent, this guy is playing excellent pretty much every game.

I saw this headline, and honestly thought it was Joe Kinnear. Dover's manager got sacked for doing extremely poorly considering expectations. #YohanKebab

---

Gosport vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

I played Scannell out of position and I gave a debut to Ibbetson, considering Gosport were bottom of the table - wondering if I should have done that, as I conceded a clean sheet very late, which was disappointing. Luckily, we were one goal safe. Their goalkeeper pretty much passed it out to Slabber for his goal, it was pretty hilarious (incidentally, the goalkeeper got rated 5.8, poor guy).

The Slabster had a good goal gifted to him by their goalkeeper, and pretty much saved us a win.

Ibbetson makes his debut, and does decent. He did concede, but I think there was nothing I could really do about that. At least he's got one game, because I've barely seen goalkeepers get injured or red carded in this game.

Gwillim and O'Callaghan are great signings, hopefully we can keep them at the end of the season.

Scannell came to me to suggest that he wanted first team football before the Gosport game, and I figured I would say he could have it, but he went and got himself injured immediately. What a plonker.

---

FA Cup 3nd Qualifying Round

Billericay vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

Playing against a non-league side here, but we had issues. Slabster got a good goal immediately, but Brown made a bad fumble of a cross into the box, and they equalised. After that, we had a pretty shaky before Akiotu gave us our second goal and sealed the game.

We will take that money please.

Akitou's been playing well recently, I've noticed that even without this prompt.

Lastly, Canham got injured against Billericay, but it's nothing too serious.

Kinda disappointed we couldn't keep a clean sheet for the past few games, and we've just been edging games lately. Wouldn't want to push my luck too much more.

Ebbsfleet have dropped a number of points recently as our closest competitors - things are looking fantastic in the league so far!

The Slabster is currently sitting on 6 goals and 7 assists in 12 appearances, cup matches included, if you're wondering. Cleaver is doing well with 5 goals in 6 appearances as well.

#theresults

Edited June 2, 2014 by Tryhard

[Tryhard]

Slabster gets our quickest goal so far.


Jason Brown actually did surprisingly badly in the last game, I noticed.


And once again O'Callaghan is named in team of the week, the guys been playing great recently.

---

Skrill South
Bath vs Sutton United
Final Score: 0-2

Bath are a pretty decent side, and this result went our way, because they had a chance of winning this game.

Downer once again gets injured.


Frome are a non-league team, so that's very lucky. We should win this.


We have some back-and forth with the Bromley manager - I sent my assistant manager for the first conference, but we have beat Bromley 3-0 already this season.

---

Skrill South
Sutton United vs Bromley
Final Score: 4-1

Even though Bromley scores first, it eventually becomes pretty one-sided. Slabber manages to grab two, one being very late, but otherwise, very comfortable.

Goldberg over here is mad.


I allowed Ibbetson to be used in the Under 18s team for games, as it seems Jason Brown will be mostly okay as of right now - and it'll give Ibbetson some practice. I got this notication, which was nice to see.


Unfortunately, Akiotu will also be out because he got injured in the Bromley game. I sometimes wonder if the opposition bring lead pipes to the matches.


If you hadn't already noticed, Gwillim gets booked a lot, and now he's got a one match ban because of that.


Our goalie is still great. He has the most clean sheets in the league right now, and I'm surprised we have had as many clean sheets as we have - our defense is not great.

---

FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round
Frome vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-1

Yeah, this wasn't exactly the best result. We were playing away, but we didn't create as much chances as we probably should have against a non-league team. Luckily, we manage to draw, and so we're playing the replay at home, and we should win that.

We draw against competitors Ebbsfleet in the FA Trophy. Probably will be a hard game.

---

FA Cup 4th Qualifying Round Replay
Sutton United vs Frome
Final Score: 3-1

As expected, we finally beat these rejects. Sad times when you could have possibly lost to a non-league side. They did manage to get a goal against us, unfortunately, but not enough to get back into the game.

Taylor gets eight goals in eleven appearances, that's quite great.


And we receive a nice bonus for beating Frome.


Well, we've made it out of the qualifying rounds, and for the FA Cup first round, we're placed against Kidderminister - a Skrill Premier that are currently sitting in mediocrity.


Lastly I pick up another manager of the month award.

---

Skrill South
Sutton United vs Eastleigh
Final Score: 1-3

Well, here's our first loss. Eastleigh did only have three shots on target, the same as us, but they made them count while we didn't. Managed to get a penalty to leave things at 1-1, but not for long. Their third goal was a complete fluke cross that managed to go in, and Cleaver got a disallowed goal late on in the game for offside.

And thus, the unbeating run ends.

---

Weston-super-Mare vs Sutton United
Final Score: 3-6

Back to the huge goal number like that friendly against Aldershot. I have to admit, they countered us hard, but after half time is when we started to dominate and they had no way back after that.

Sanderson played badly in the last few games, and gave away the penalty against Weston-super-Mare, so I give him a talking to.

---

FA Cup 1st Round
Kidderminster vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-2

For this game I decided to go for a counter-attacking mentality, as I would probably concede a lot more if I left it on attacking from a side a league higher than us. A lot of shots we had, but very few were on target. Luckily, we managed to nick this one, Slabber getting one after their goalie fumbled, and Sawyer got a header later. They got a very late goal, and it was nervous for the last few minutes.

Now we're really getting somewhere, I think.


Another injury, and for a guy I was playing pretty regularly too, fortunately I have enough midfielders, so I let him sit out for 6 to 8 weeks.


Our opponents are Scunthorpe - a League 2 side that is doing fairly well in drifting around the playoff spots. I really don't expect to do well against them, so I'm going to say I expect my cup run to be over.

---

Skrill South
Boreham Wood vs Sutton United
Final Score: 0-1

Taylor gives us the three points in an otherwise dull match. They got a player sent off, but it was too late for it to actually make a difference, anyway. It is worth noting that Boreham Wood do have the current top goalscorer in Kudus Oyenuga with 12 goals, but they still sit in mid-table mediocrity.

And once again, a lot of our players end up on the team of the week.


The Slabster also manages to have the most assists in the league.

---

FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round
Ebbsfleet vs Sutton United
Final Score: 0-0

Our team really didn't play well in an attacking sense, but the goalies from both teams did well to keep this 0-0. Once again, we're playing away, so I'll take this result and hopefully we can beat Ebbsfleet at home. A lot of our players got booked, though.

Lee Sawyer gets another gashed arm injury.

---

FA Trophy 3rd Qualifying Round Replay
Sutton United vs Ebbsfleet
Final Score: 2-0

Was feeling pretty confident with Ebbsfleet at home, even if they are one of the more threatening teams in our league. Unfortunately, we could only grab a draw which results in a replay in the future. A good victory over them. Good penalty from Telfer and Taylor scoring before the end of the first half give us our way through to the next round.

And, as always, the league table:


And our next fixtures:

Edited June 7, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

Strikers who can score against Kidderminster: Slabber

Strikers who cannot score against Kidderminster: Jozy Altidore

#makesuthink

[Tryhard]

what kind of name is Kidderminster anyway

is anything below League 2 considered "non-league", then? Huh.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

I literally forgot Ba and Mavrias existed. That's what happens when you get A Literal Fascist to sign 14 players, none of whom he actually asked for.

Fucking Director of Football system. I like how in this game though they're basically your office bitch who you just get to throw away your worthless players.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Parrhesia

[bladescape]

Nice job so far. XD I haven't played FM since the 06 version, this looks very nicely polished.

I have no idea how much 14 is similar to 06, so I won't offer my advice except that probably the major factor a lot of people overlook in low leagues for Goalies is that Communication is really strong. Like you don't prioritise it to much but it's an amazing bonus, and that's the only real downside to your backup goalie, that he doesn't have much. Meanwhile your main man has tons which definitely contributes to his amazing cleansheet record. XD

This is fun tho and I'm looking forwards to more. I'm on the Jamie Taylor hype bandwagon. =P Only one goal short of the Top Goalscorers for the league right now. Tho you do have one or two games on a lot of people. I DON'T CARE HE WILL MAKE IT I BELIEVE IN THE HEART OF THE CARDS.

Edited June 4, 2014 by bladescape