Screenshot Football Manager 2014 Story - Sutton United

[Tryhard]

... Danny fucking Graham signed for Leicester?

I've got no idea who that was, so at least there's that. Looking him up, worth the £5M amirite?

He was sold to Leicester for £2.4M, for reference. THE INVESTMENT.

Taylor is our latest injury, unfortunately.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Cheltenham

Final Score: 0-0

A game that created a fair amount of challenges, yet not any goals. Still a problem with bookings, Jamie Young being the Man of the Match and getting a bore draw at home.

I'm still messing around with tactics, turning off hassling opponents and using tighter marking, because there's no way 15 yellow cards in a season is ordinary.

---

League 2

Exeter vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

A pretty good performance away from home, despite it ending 1-2. Young had to save a couple other shots but their goalkeeper was doing well. Zurdo hit a rebound from their goalie for the first and in the second half Hearn hit across the goalkeeper to make it two. They scored a header from a corner a while after that.

And once again the youth candidates for the year come in - Andy Pigott is supposedly the best of the bunch here. Problem is, that it'll take at least a couple years for these players to be first-team material, and by then they may not even be needed then.

---

League 2

Morecambe vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

The same result, this one being a much closer win, Morecambe arguably being the better side despite Sutton having more possession (which is always the most important stat, confirmed). Jamie Young had a lot to save in this match, though, and he was excellent along with Paulinho setting up the goals.

Alan Smith isn't the most important player for us right now, so this isn't too bad.

I'm starting to think I should just play him up front. I've also noticed he's only 58kg and 166cm. That's something.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Barnet

Final Score: 1-2

Hey look, the same score. Not for us, this time, though. A pretty bad performance all around, even with Taylinho scoring a goal (and having a goal disallowed earlier on) it wasn't enough to stop Barnet sneaking the win in the 90th minute from a ball across the box.

That's the Telfer I know. He's actually a pretty decent coach overall.

While Young did still do well in that game, that is eight Torquay players managing to get on the list. They must have had a fantastic game. And by that I mean they won 6-0 against Bury.

I tried going to sign a certain Andy Broughton that plays for Torquay. Unfortunately, they wanted too much for him and the offer eventually say him going to Arsenal for £1.4M million. He was only 17, too, it's a shame I couldn't get him earlier.

[spoiler=Image]

---

League 2

Coventry vs Sutton United

Final Score: 0-1

My strikers aren't having as great a time this half of the season, but Taylinho is there to make sure we get the three points after a fairly dominant game against Coventry.

Howell's gonna miss the final for the Paint Trophy.

Taylor and Smith however may be ready for it.

Gash is finally back after a huge 3 month injury.

Looks like neither side have got to the final in the past.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy Final

Sutton United vs Sheffield United

Final Score: 0-2

Really disappointing to get this far and then lose, of course, considering that we did have some chances. However, Sheffield United were playing well. They are up the playoff spots in League 1, so they are indeed formidable. It was even up to the second half, though. A cross and shot left us one down before their top goalscorer went and got his 30th of the season against us. Unfortunately we couldn't muster any finishing to score at least one goal.

For us, though, we still need to pay out, unfortunately.

Despite letting two past him Jamie Young once again finds himself in the Team of the Week.

Scunthorpe have fought from the bottom of the table to end up mid-table. It's quite a comeback, actually. Their recent run of form has been good.

A contract is sorted for another year, bringing the transfer budget up to 14.5M, not that I'll need it currently.

We will see. #SuttonRising

---

League 2

Stevenage vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-2

A bit lucky to say the least to claim this one against one of the best teams in the league currently. Vaughan and Taylinho took their chances perfectly to seal the win, even if we conceded one goal fairly late. Vaughan was tripped in the box for the penalty, and that was that after a nervy end where we were desperate not to concede again.

Gash gets back but returns with another injury, unfortunately, but Howell returns.

I think both Vaughan and Zurdo have been good this season, but I can't really pick between them.

Well, the bottom team by a decent amount get relegated - since there's only two relegation spots, the other relegation spot seems to belong to Newport County.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Rochdale

Final Score: 0-1

We were a little unfortunate against Rochdale here. They got an early goal but the rest of the game was fairly uneventful even though we had some chances. Rochdale seems to be the ones who are going to go ahead and win League 2 now.

---

League 2

Newport County vs Sutton United

Final Score: 0-3

An easy game against a team that are probably in the Skrill Premier next season. Taylinho and Paulinho get on the scoresheet with Taylinho also giving an assist to Paulinho. I subbed him off to keep him fit for the next few matches after he gets his second goal and brings the match to 0-3.

Rochdale seem to be the ones who are going to top the table unless things go horrible wrong. They already have a play-off place.

Who else? He's pretty much on par with Hearn on goals despite playing behind him.

Andy Rose was also wanting a rest for the next match at least.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Accrington

Final Score: 1-1

We had to come behind in a rather boring game to get a result which we perhaps shouldn't have had, Accrington done very well for being a bottom half team.

A broken arm? You're kidding me. That's actually really bad, considering I don't have many strikers that are playable right now.

---

League 2

Port Vale vs Sutton United

Final Score: 3-2

A pretty tight game that Port Vale just managed to edge, which wasn't fantastic considering we're going into the last two games of the season. Despite being two up, they came back and scored three. Taylor, who's usually been great for me, played an absolutely terrible game. I was also playing a reserve player that I brought up because of the lack of playable strikers currently called Simon Taylor.

Newport County are the ones who are relegated like expected.

These are some of the competitors for automatic promotion. Rochdale have already been promoted.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to do much, and the top youth strikers that I had were also out with... you guessed it, injury.

At least we have one back.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Wycombe

Final Score: 1-1

Another game that we were frankly lucky to get a result out of. The lack of attacking prowess has been killing some results that we could have won recently, but Paulinho still gets the Man of the Match as we do pick up one point at least going into the final game of the season.

Here is the table going into the final league match. Sitting in fourth, we need a win to really bring it home against Mansfield if we want automatic promotion - if they win it's irrelevant unless we have a huge victory with goal difference, but if they draw or lose we can probably nick third place. Note the closeness of the entire league, really.

Portsmouth have found themselves as second place while Rochdale sit in first.

Zurdo won us that point in the last game that may be hugely important.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Bury

Final Score: 2-1

A pretty nervous and tense final game. Bury gave us a great match, evenly balanced. First came a disallowed goal for Taylinho before Taylor scored a goal in injury time just before the end of the first half from a corner. Lawless had a shot he didn't finish, and then Taylinho stayed calm to finish it just outside the box with a great strike. A Bury cross found a way past Young who otherwise played brilliantly. That said, it was a nervous last twenty minutes. Another thing worth noting is that after I've changed some things around I've been getting a lot less yellow cards at least.

Nice away colours, by the way.

Look at that result there, though. Manfield drew, which means we're in third place!

#SuttonRising

Here are the other playoff teams along with Mansfield, who will surely be disappointed that they just missed automatic promotion and will have to win two games to get promoted in the playoffs.

Taylinho, fittingly, gets the Man of the Match for the final important game of the season.

Seems like a bit of a drop in the ocean considering what I have.

The tally of stats for my first team - Hearn and Paulinho both finish with the same goal counts.

And lastly, the final team of the week gets both Taylor and Taylinho on the team.

Here's the overview of the latter games.

Finances for now - yeah, I still don't know exactly what to do.

Three seasons, three promotions. #LivingTheDream. I have to say, though, this season has been a lot harder considering I've had an amazing takeover with money to spend and I didn't have nearly as comfortable a time as in Skrill South or Premier. Unfortunately, the run dipped a little at the end with my strikers getting injured.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

I ACTUALLY FIST PUMPED I'M WAY TOO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN THIS

[BBM]

I feel like although you have the money to spend you're not really using it fully? I mean you're using only a quarter of your wage budget and you had more than enough of a transfer budget to outbid Arsenal for that player.

[Parrhesia]

The issue is status, and the bluntly small amount we have. I don't imagine us spending anywhere near our full budget until the Championship.

(I can't say as to that guy specifically, though.)

Our ancient squad might come to our advantage, I suspect - something I got really tired of in my first game, and a lesson for the future, was that it's harder to sell than to buy. A lot harder. Bloated squads are just annoying to deal with.

edit sutton legend (in this universe) JAMIE YOUNG has signed for BRISBANE ROAR, I will post updates of his progress (sitting on the bench because Michael Theo is one of the best goalkeepers in the league/maybe playing in the FFA Cup against literal amateurs Stirling Lions).

edit 2 ... then again it seems theo is 33, so who knows.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Parrhesia

[Tryhard]

I feel like although you have the money to spend you're not really using it fully? I mean you're using only a quarter of your wage budget and you had more than enough of a transfer budget to outbid Arsenal for that player.

What Parrhesia said. I doubt someone would want to come to Sutton United over Arsenal no matter what I offered, since I would have to offer him a better contract too. I just saw him late when looking at Torquay's players since they were doing pretty well recently. I could be spending more, but I'd like to keep within the realms of wage of teams in that league. £40K is actually higher than most League 2's starting wage budgets.

I ACTUALLY FIST PUMPED I'M WAY TOO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED IN THIS

a regular Sutton Soldier you are.

edit: Is it just me or are good Wing Backs the hardest position to come by?

I also forgot to mention that next season will likely have a lower wage/transfer budget anyway, since it does re-adjust it at the start of every season IIRC and because of the loss through tax etc.

Edited July 11, 2014 by Tryhard

[bladescape]

Wing backs are really hard to find I agree, I find it easier to find L/R midfielders and defenders. One tactic I found useful is to get a good defender, young, and train them for wing back, but that takes time so probably isn't the best option.

Also, congrats. That is an amazing run. I am feeling more and more sad that Taylinho is fading out of relevance as you climb, but FOR THE GLORY OF SUTTON.

[RJWalker]

Also, congrats. That is an amazing run. I am feeling more and more sad that Taylinho is fading out of relevance as you climb, but FOR THE GLORY OF SUTTON.

So Taylinho was the Jagen of this run? Carry the team in the early seasons?

Edited July 11, 2014 by Ranger Jack Walker

[peener weener]

So Taylinho was the Jagen of this run? Carry the team in the early seasons?

it seems like that. he was pretty good in league 2, but not the terrifying fucking presence he was in south/premier. he will probably be a good rotational option in league 1, but it's sad to see the legends fade like that ;__;

[Tryhard]

Also, congrats. That is an amazing run. I am feeling more and more sad that Taylinho is fading out of relevance as you climb, but FOR THE GLORY OF SUTTON.

So Taylinho was the Jagen of this run? Carry the team in the early seasons?

Unfortunately the legend that was excellent for both Skrill South and Skrill Premier, and good for League 2 must fade away eventually like all legends.

(Trust me, if there was some magic way to keep a 33-year old striker whos stats are deteriorating as he faces much higher quality opposition again and again in the best shape, I would)

Alas. NEVER 4GET. o7

(i guess this is the part where I tell you his real life self scored 15 goals in 44 appearances for Sutton United in the 2013-14 season before being loaned out to Eastbourne Borough in 2014... in which he's had 3 appearances and scored 4 goals.)

Edited July 12, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

real life no matter. only sutton universe now.

[bladescape]

real life no matter. only sutton universe now.

^This

[Tryhard]

real life no matter. only sutton universe now.

i understand no tears only dreams now Edited July 12, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

It's League 1, then the world now.

[MRDRHAWK]

this run is too amazing

o7

[peener weener]

oh btw i've read recently that if your players are getting way, way too many yellows/getting sent off you should really look to disciplining them. like, straight up fines. and then they all fall into line.

[Excellen Browning]

Yes you should discipline them. Toning down the agressiveness of your tactics can also help.

[Parrhesia]

You should defend them vehemently in the press against all attacks and get touchline bans.

[peener weener]

I think you need to headbutt someone for that to happen

[Parrhesia]

No, I can confirm I got a touchline ban from just telling the FA that their referees were shit and that that was never a penalty. Like five times in a row.

Referees do actually favour you if you bitch about them often enough in this game. I've been an abrasive cunt and it's gotten me banned one match in a 126-hour file with tactics set to get stuck in/hassle opponents. It is worth it.

[Tryhard]

oh btw i've read recently that if your players are getting way, way too many yellows/getting sent off you should really look to disciplining them. like, straight up fines. and then they all fall into line.

Yes you should discipline them. Toning down the agressiveness of your tactics can also help.

Thanks. I have taken off the three defending tactics and it seems to have worked well. While I hope that it doesn't lead to worse defending, it has seemed to tone down the amount of yellow/red cards (at least so far). I'll try the discipline if it becomes a problem.

No, I can confirm I got a touchline ban from just telling the FA that their referees were shit and that that was never a penalty. Like five times in a row.

Referees do actually favour you if you bitch about them often enough in this game. I've been an abrasive cunt and it's gotten me banned one match in a 126-hour file with tactics set to get stuck in/hassle opponents. It is worth it.

The Arsene Wenger way.

[spoiler=Pre-Season]STILL UNTOUCHABLE

I have no idea what this means but I'm going to assume it means something good.

After a few signings of wing backs, I let Akitou go finally since I'm pretty content with the wing backs positions.

Even though it is the pres-season so it doesn't really matter so much, Hearn has recovered from his broken arm now.

The playoffs commence in which Stevenage end up being the team that are coming up with the three promoted teams for League 2 this season.

Considering the team hasn't been higher than the Skrill Premier previously, I would imagine so.

And the new signing ends up being the best player in the whole of League 2. He has been pretty ridiculous with that average rating.

Rochdale have the highest goalscorer though, with 25 goals being the high tally. Their manager also of course gets the award for leading the team to a comfortable first place spot.

As well as Zurdo and Paulinho getting their own places in League 2's Team of the Year.

Tax hits seem to come in when a club gets a huge amount of money in a single year, to promote fair play. cough Manchester City

Speaking of that, the chairman still has enough money to spend.

Like I was saying before the budgets seem to be adjusted at the start of every season

This pretty mcuh remains the same, however.

I decide to renew all these contracts. While Hudson and Sawyer aren't particularly great anymore, they still could find themselves as backup players.

All the previous youth contracts are also expiring - really, even though they may have looked good before, none of these guys are really going to cut it in the end. It would probably be better just waiting until the Championship/Premier League before I rely on long-term buys.

This is pretty much an annual thing.

JUST TO LET YOU KNOW WAYNE SHAW WILL BE STAYING UNTIL AT LEAST 2021.

League 1 has four teams that are relegated in the bottom places (21st to 24th), while only two teams are promoted with four playoff places for a third promotion spot.

And thus Acuña and Canham retire from football. I keep Acuña on as the under 21's manager, while he didn't have any goals in the league, he did have 3 assists in 24 appearances. Canham on the other hand has turned to coaching. I didn't particularly want to take him on, so I left him as he is currently a free transfer. He has contributed towards 82 appearances for the club over the first three seasons, however, and done pretty well in those years as someone who has been there since the start where I signed him from Bath. A pity to see him go.

Chelsea manage to win both the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season. I haven't heard of this Salomón Rondón guy, apparently Chelsea signed him from Zenit St. Petersburg for the grand sum of £28.5M a few seasons back.

Once again this one isn't too shocking since Paulinho has been the most consistently great player last season that we had.

The best eleven for Season 2015/2016. Acuña gets his place for his only season while we see quite a few other players that are new taking hold.

As for the overall best, here is how it currently stands. I think it will be a while before Slabster and Taylinho do get replaced here.

Once again I take the humble goal of avoiding relegation.

Since I made no attempt to keep any of them, we release another batch of youngsters. Geraint Ingram was the only one I had any real hope for, and he isn't going to be able to keep up with current expectations IMO.

And of course we have another batch of expiring contracts to look through - Paulinho's and Rose's being pretty damn expensive right now since promotion, especially.

The pitch should be fine for the whole upcoming season, now.

Yeovil Town are a Championship team, so not exactly the best possible start.

Gash gets injured in pre-season, and he'll be out for three months. That causes me to just go and sign another striker for now.

how do i finance

The first televised game of the season will be against Preston.

I keep the pitch the same size.

Around this time, the 2016 Euro's are going on in my game. Del Bosque "leaves" Spain after crashing out in the quarter-finals to renowned team Turkey 4-1. It also has a strange final against Croatia and Norway. Chalk it up, it's happening.

Once again I take the standard win bonuses in this case.

And once again we find ourselves in the very bottom of the predictions.

[spoiler=Signings]

Left Defender/Left Wing Back/Left Midfielder - Tom Richards

[spoiler=Image]

Transfer Amount - £40.5K

A pretty good, young wing back that I found for a little sum from Scunthorpe. He seems like he'll be good, considering he pretty much outclasses Zurdo in most places.

Central or Right Defender/Right Wing Back - Joe Rafferty

[spoiler=Image]

Transfer Amount - £25K

Pretty much the same as Richards, but on the right side this time. He's a little worse so he'll be struggling against Vaughan for a spot in the main team but he'll do well enough I think.

Central Midfielder - Max Kretzschmar

[spoiler=Image]

Transfer Amount - £1.2K

I wanted another midfielder since Canham has left and this guy seems to fill in admirably. He may not be fantastic, but he should get a few games at least this season especially if some of my midfielders get injured.

Striker - Mark Beck

[spoiler=Image]

Transfer Amount - £350K

My biggest signing by quite a bit, he's the striker I ended up going with after Gash found himself injured. He'll find himself ahead of Hearn as my best striker, and at a young age, too.

Loan Signing:

Right Defender - Mandela Egbo

[spoiler=Image]

I got this guy in as a loan signing from Crystal Palace for no wages, pretty much. While he can't play as right wing back so well currently, I was planning to throw him in there if we had any trouble - unfortunately his crossing isn't that great. I may send him home early if he has no use in the team, but we may as well use Crystal Palace's generosity.

Here were the pre-season friendlies. That 6-0 demolition of the under 21 team saw four goals from Alan Smith playing up front. Interesting, to say the least.

Blackpool are a Championship team so I didn't feel too bad drawing against them, but our only loss came against Leyton Orient, our league competitors from an unfortunate own goal for newcomer Max Kretzschmar.

Here are the finances currently. You'll notice that the wage budget has been expanded a bit, but still rests around £30K under the maximum, which I think is good enough. Otherwise, I set up most of these friendlies as morale boosters, as always, and I would say that that would be a good run of results in this case.

[peener weener]

yessssssss, updatesssssss

also

It would probably be better just waiting until the Championship/Premier League before I rely on long-term buys.

that's a winner's attitude

[Tryhard]

yessssssss, updatesssssss

can of irn-bru: 39p

football manager 2014: £15

updating the sutton thread: priceless

(I was maybe thinking of doing a national game too, but I figure I may as well stick with this only right now. Don't know how hard it is to get a national job if you're a club manager in this game, though)

that's a winner's attitude

i am a winner i think Edited July 19, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

can of irn-bru: 39p

football manager 2014: £15

updating the sutton thread: priceless

(I was maybe thinking of doing a national game too, but I figure I may as well stick with this only right now. Don't know how hard it is to get a national job if you're a club manager in this game, though)

i am a winner i think

I was able to be Australian national team manager while also being Wolves manager in the Premiership. (They were going to hire the Belgian U-19 coach as manager. I couldn't stand by and let that happen.)

Though the best piece of advice I can give you is 'don't.' It's pretty dull and your players never have chemistry, and just... too much is out of your control.

[peener weener]

maybe if you're manager of one of the big nations, just so you can roll over people with sheer talent

i haven't tried actually getting a job that i didn't start a save with, though, so idk

[MRDRHAWK]

we're missing the big news

THE LEGEND OF THE SHAW CONTINUES