Screenshot Football Manager 2014 Story - Sutton United

[Tryhard]

[spoiler=Pre-Season]

We're going to have to train these tactics all over again with a pretty new squad. I'm sticking to what works, though.

Well, the season is starting soon and I'm having trouble signing new players to add to my squad.

I asked for a feeder team - I get the results back and choose Staines. They're still in the Skrill South, and I'll need to pay them annually, but it's nothing big.

They'll be one of our friendlies at least.

And thus our loan signings go back to their clubs. I don't think I'll bother signing any of them.

I'm trying to sign a Georgian forward called Alexander Iashvili, but he requires a work permit, unfortunately. Usually these don't go through.

I have a few contracts expiring, but as I said before, I'm okay with letting these guys go. FAREWELL TO SLABSTER o7

Speaking of going, we have a couple others retiring as well.

I think it's pretty hilarious that Southampton finished above Chelsea last season.

And our own little mention, here. Wow, 38 goals.

As if there was any doubt.

Here's our best 11 for last season. Looks like Lee and Ellison also managed to get on the bench.

And a few are getting added to the Best Overall 11.

Bonuses need to be paid out to some staff and players.

And so we receive our expectations - I stick with Consolidate, because I don't really need the higher transfer budget anyway, and the pressures off.

Well, I can't have too many loan players, anyway, which isn't that big a deal.

That's a big step up from before in the Skrill Premier.

We have a lot of contracts going up in wage %. Some of these are leaving quite soon, however.

Since we do have a training camp going, we are allowed to send 30 players there.

O'Callaghan is also (sadly) retiring. He was great for us.

And there go our players. REMEMBER

Not exactly that much compared to what we have now, but it's nice.

Unfortunately, no such luck with the work permit. A shame.

Here's what Alexander Iashvili looked like in terms of stats.

[spoiler=Image]

Looked quite good, even if he was rather old. Unfortunately, looks like we won't be seeing him.

I also tried to sign two other players, who also didn't come through with work permits. The first being an Australia 18 year old defender, Robert Hagell.

[spoiler=Image]

He looked to be a great defender even though I didn't know his complete stats, and could have even joined the first team perhaps, but unfortunately looks like it's not happening.

The other was Luciano Nequecaur, Argentine striker.

[spoiler=Image]

Once again, couldn't see all of his stats, but looked to be a good striker that wasn't expensive. Didn't come through.

Here's the contracts that are expiring this year, and it's mostly staff.

Some profits, huh? I wonder where they came from.

TELFER'S BACK.

Those win bonuses are a lot higher than the Skrill Premier. I suppose it is the second "tier" or so of football in the English leagues with League 1 and League 2.

Unfortunately people are getting injured already though.

Well, our odds of promotion are the same as last year. YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS.

Hewson has been a good coach for us as well.

Acuna gets injured and may miss the first league game, unfortunately.

[spoiler=Signings]

Central Defender - Martin Taylor

[spoiler=Image]

Experienced central defender to be alongside Lockyer. These two will be my two first-choice center backs for now. Clough may be getting some games in rotation, though.

Left Defender/Left Wing Back/Left Midfielder/Left Attacking Midfielder - Zurdo

[spoiler=Image]

Well, this guy can play all over the left side of the pitch. He's a good wing back, but his pace is not that great, which is a shame. Still, he was pretty much the best wing back that I could find. A SPAINIARD! Also Zurdo, what a name.

Defensive Midfielder/Central Midfielder - Andy Rose

[spoiler=Image]

He ended up being pretty expensive on the wage budget, but this guy can play well in both central midfield and defensive midfield. He'll probably be getting played in almost any game that I can.

Central Midfielder - Chez Isaac

[spoiler=Image]

Another good midfielder that will probably be alongside Andy Rose or Alan Smith for the majority of the season if all goes well.

Central Attacking Midfielder - Paulinho

[spoiler=Image]

Transfer Amount - £875K

This guy's gonna be a great first-choice attacking midfielder, I actually managed to pick him up a bit cheaper than what I originally thought I would.

Here's an overview of the friendlies:

Great performances overall, except against Corby. Unfortunately, we are leaking goals, hopefully we don't do so to such a degree in the actual League. The 4-0 victory over Chesterfield was the standout one - against a League 1 side, we absolutely dominated. Taylinho, Hearn, Gash, Paulinho, Zurdo, all managed to get some great goals in, those guys being the main scorers in pre-season. Lockyer I believe got a couple too from corners. Otherwise, looks good!

Here is our squad currently - I'm not sure if these strikers will do against League 2 sides, I don't know if I should try to sign one if I'm doing badly. Maybe in the January window. Otherwise, what do you think? Could I do to sign more, or do you think I pretty much have enough quality at this point?

Finances - we'll be taking a hit to the balance understandably because we can't really keep up with expenditure, but I'm at around a quarter of the wage budget.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

The squad looks just about alright.

Zurdo literally means "left-footed/handed" in spanish. Just saying

[Parrhesia]

So, uh... how's FFP looking... ?

new offer to the thread; i am content to make sutton united avatars to use, with the same consummate paint.net skills as in my own avatar

[Tryhard]

So, uh... how's FFP looking... ?

new offer to the thread; i am content to make sutton united avatars to use, with the same consummate paint.net skills as in my own avatar

I've checked, and the only thing I can see for League 2 is that you can't go above 55% of projected income on player wages for a transfer embargo, U21 players are excluded. Right now it looks like I'm spending £135K total, with staff wages etc, and I made an income of £272K so far. So it is pretty close, two ways I can see it is either I can do really well again and be able to afford everyone or I may have to let people go and bring in cheaper players next season. I am notably not as good at the finance part of this game.

This of course currently isn't helped that I spent a total of £1.15M of transfer budget, but sometimes you gotta splash the cash. If it's just a tranfer embargo, though, I'm not that worried.

Also confirming for sick skills.

Zurdo literally means "left-footed/handed" in spanish. Just saying

Appropriate. Edited July 1, 2014 by Tryhard

[Tryhard]

Zurdo's real name is José Manuel Muñoz Castaño. I'm just gonna stick to Zurdo.

Alan Smith and Tom Lockyer are pretty good candidates for being captains of the team, so they are my first two picks.


The weights are unfortunately too much for Taylinho. He'll be out for a couple games, but Hearn and Gash are the first choices, anyway. I actually think that's been one of the first injuries he's had since starting.


The financial fair play also states that I can't have player wages above around ~320K. Which I'm obviously far, far below.


Going into our first game, here is the starting team. Isaac is suspended for one game. There are three injuries as well but this looks like my first choice team if possible.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Gillingham
Final Score: 1-0

A very unconvincing win, but it's good that we got a win at all, considering Gillingham are indeed a good side. Both sides had their chances but it wasn't until I subbed Vaughan on for Comminges and he scored a goal relatively late in the 75th minute. Alan Smith was already on a yellow and got himself sent off soon after that, which was just unnecessary. The aggression may be a problem, but I should have subbed him after he got a yellow.

His aggression stat is 18, by the way. I'll probably be seeing this a lot more if he gets sent off in the first match. Probably go with Isaac mostly instead, will be safer.


Such an increase in season tickets. I do wonder exactly how you pick up a bigger fanbase, though.

---

Capital One Cup 1st Round
Sutton United vs MK Dons
Final Score: 4-0

And we were the supposed underdogs. Absolutely brilliant performance after an unconvincing opening game with Gillingham, we absolutely destroyed MK Dons, a team in League 1. They had only six shots on goalto our fifteen. Paulinho grabbed a couple and Hearn and Gash also got on the scoresheet. Well, some start to the cup games.

That about says it all. Clough even had a good game.



Isaac played a great game as well after missing the first. He looks to be solid in midfield, too.


I think we've got a great signing on our hands.


So the draw is made for the second round. We get drawn with Cardiff.


Tom Lockyer apparently gets international duties to contend with as well for Wales. He actually scored Wales U21's only goal in that game against Romania, ending 1-1.


Unfortunately, Clough is set to miss our next game. Again with the food poisoning.


And we're up against Portsmouth, and Jason Brown, our old goalkeeper, is still there. I was actually considering trying to sign him back, but decided to stick with Jamie Young.

---

League 2
Portsmouth vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-1

This was a game that was also evenly matched despite us playing away. We had a good amount of people booked in this game and I was afraid that I was going to get a player sent off. Unfortunately, after conceding in the first half with a goal that was defended poorly, a freekick in the second half set up by Zurdo was headed in by Paulinho.

Zurdo is injured for the next game, looks like Comminges will fill in for him.


And Hudson is back, even though I'm probably not going to play him much.


I'm also loaning out any youth player I can, this is an example.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs York
Final Score: 2-1

Isaac scored a great freekick before we hit the bar from range. Hearn then scored and it was late in the second half before York got a consolation goal. Despite that, the team played pretty distinctly averagely.

Maybe a little bit harsh, but yeah, a little lucky to get the three points.

---

League 2
Northampton vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-2

Northampton managed to get an equaliser pretty late in the match, but Hearn grabbed an even later winner. We did create the better chances and played better, overall, though.

I decided to actually try to get Andy Rose through the game with Cardiff, he'll be injured for a while after.

---

Capital One Cup 2nd Round
Sutton United vs Cardiff
Final Score: 2-2 (5-4 pens)

Well, well, well. The crazy thing is we actually went toe-to-toe with a Premier league side in a great game. We had more shots on target even if they had more chances. They scored a penalty first and I thought it was going to go very badly for us. Thankfully Comminges saved us by equalising soon after, before we were soon one down again. Paulinho saved us in the second half, and there weren't many chances created after that in the second half or then in extra time. We had five fantastic penalties even though our players don't have the greatest penalty scoring. Their fourth player missed, and Comminges sealed it to cause a great upset. Fitting that it would be him.



Like I said before, he'll be out for a while, which is a shame. We've been getting a lot of injuries early into the season.


And it looks like I'm seeing my goalkeeper injured, too. I said I rarely saw it, but this one is fairly serious. I'm gonna have to play Lewis for a while.



I'd say this was a top upset. League 1 side Fleetwood Town also managed to beat Hull City, so we're not the only ones.


Vaughan picks up a lot of yellow cards, himself.


Our youth facilites are finished. Coming soon are the new training facilities and then the expanded stadium in a while.


Another Premier League team (yeah, they're in the Premier League). They are in the relegation zone, though.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Oldham
Final Score: 1-1

Once again another even game and another point to revel in. Taylor scored his first goal for us before there was instant reply from Oldham. I went a little more defensively after that and no team was able to create any real chances past that point.

Isaac was the Man of the Match in that last game.


A little iffy on the finances, so I'm not going to be signing anyone else.


Taylor seems to be an excellent signing, too.


Port Vale have been fantastic so far, topping the league table along with Oldham.


We get a mention as second, but Port Vale are on some run right now.


Alan Smith is unfortunately turning out not to be the best signing. I'll give him some more chances, though.


We get the nod for spending the most in League 2 this season.


I'm sorry, but DING-DONG BATTLE!


The draw for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, which sounds like the worst name, is made and we get Gillingham who we've already beat 1-0 this season. This will be pretty much the FA Trophy for us, with only League 1 and 2 sides taking part.


Here's an overview of the Premier transfers, as well. Looks like Suarez is heading to Real Madrid, perhaps happening in real life, too?

---

League 2
Plymouth vs Sutton United
Final Score: 2-2

Yet another finely-balanced game. Hearn came back later to turn around a goal deficit we were facing before we conceded very late to take home one point instead of three. This might be considered disappointing, but I don't think Plymouth were an easy team to beat right now.

Hearn gave us that game, there.


Here's the current league table. Well, we haven't got beaten. Three wins and three draws is better than I expected for sure. Note that there is three promotion spots and only two relegation spots, which makes it easier to stay up, thankfully. Still a long way to go, though. Also notice Scunthorpe, favourites to get promoted, are sitting with one point on the table.


Here are the fixtures coming up, we actually are playing Scunthorpe next.


And our finances. The balance is dropping, unfortunately, but that is to be expected with the tax and the low income for the club - unfortunately that seems how it is when you're a lower league team that gets a takeover is that you can lose money after that at a rapid rate anyway. Hopefully the chairman is willing to invest more should things get bad.

[Parrhesia]

SICK SKILLS AVATAR 1 - CREATED

[Tryhard]

SICK SKILLS AVATAR 1 - CREATED

Had to look where that source image was from, and ha bromley. Jamie Stuart before he left Sutton had 20 Leadership & Determination. Pretty crazy.

but i'll take that one cheers, it's like I'm really there

Edited July 2, 2014 by Tryhard

[Tryhard]

Was looking back on my test save to see how the players were that I played for a while before starting this, and this happened:

injuries no

One of the proposed expansions has been finished, this one for the training facilities.

Hearn will probably be our closest to a top goalscorer this season I would imagine.

Offsides and yellow cards, not exactly great.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Scunthorpe

Final Score: 2-1

We scored very early and very late in order to win this one. Even though Scunthorpe should be doing a lot better than they are, we manage to have a pretty tough game against one of the current bottom teams.

Thankfully we finally get back Young.

And on the other hand, Hudson was injured right after he came back into the team, so he'll be out for yet another two weeks.

The youth facilities have been finished, and along with the training facilities these are now both listed as "adequate" which is about on par with some of the average League 2 starting resources.

Unfortunately Tubbs here is out of a job. I don't exactly know who (%person#3-) is, though. Oh, game.

Lockyer seems very inconsistent in terms of his performances, honestly. Zurdo's been really good, though, even if he hasn't been scoring much, which is fair enough as a wing back.

Gwillim even decides to talk about us.

---

League 2

Torquay vs Sutton United

Final Score: 3-2

This win actually took Torquay to the top of the table at the time. A bit unfortunate as we created as many chances, but my defenders Clough and Lockyer were both having terrible games. I thought Zurdo came back at the end to win us a point, but they took the lead again after. We got a disallowed goal right at the end, and that was that.

And once again, Young is injured.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Mansfield

Final Score: 1-1

Really unlucky to only get a draw out of this. Taylinho scored a goal late on, I decided to play him over Gash, before Mansfield's only chance on target was headed in near the end of the game. Mansfield are pretty high up the table, but I have a feeling this could have easily been won.

Rose is another that is back from his injury, now.

---

Capital One Cup 3rd Round

Leicester vs Sutton United

Final Score:4-3

Unfortunately a very one-sided first half domination leaves us three goals down at half time. We have an excellent second half in order to pull two goals back and start looking for a third, but it never comes. A pretty good performance on another game we weren't expected to win at all, being away too. Once again my defenders have a pretty bad game and unfortunately Jamie Young isn't great either.

Leicester are sitting in the relegation zone in the Premier league right now, but I would say that we performed quite well given the circumstances.

Howell is not my first-choice for defensive midfielder now that Rose is back, so I change his squad status.

I felt bad for Fleetwood here, they're even in League 1, too.

---

League 2

Braintree vs Sutton United

Final Score: 3-3

Another draw. It's not that the defense was bad this time, but their player, Toby Ajala, was really doing well. Their striker, Luke Varney, was also one I was thinking of buying on a free transfer at the end of last season, but I decided against it. At the very least, we took our chances as well to secure the point.

Scunthorpe get their manager sacked as they are doing extremely badly as opposed to their pre-season expectations.

Hudson is back, if only to probably get injured momentarily again.

I let Carbon go. He was on a free contract but he's not getting played right now anyway.

Matt Gill was the best assistant manager I could find, and he's doing pretty well as of now.

Right after I got rid of Carbon, Zurdo immediately gets injured, haha. Well, Comminges can fill in for now.

The injured man gets on the list along with Paulinho.

The chairman wanted me to sign a new contract, so I asked for a higher wage budget. Not that I'm hitting it, but it may help if I do get promoted into say the Championship or such and then start needing a bigger budget. It's not like I currently need a bigger transfer budget, anyway.

£205K a week is a lot.

Over a goal a game sounds pretty dangerous, indeed.

Paulinho does get a mention from the Youth Player of the Month, though.

The Torquay boss gets the Manager of the Month award with four wins and a draw, one win against us.

It seems every month I'm losing around £500-600k, which is a little worrying.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy South 2nd Round

Gillingham vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-4

A pretty efficient deconstruction of Gillingham, here. Vaughan likes to get those goals right outside the box and the wing backs crossed it for Taylinho's goal in this game. I stuck Hearn in the Target Man spot this time and he managed two assists. We seem to have a problem defending against set pieces, since this our conceded goal was a corner coming in.

This is really the worst name for a trophy, and there's also a "South" and "North" bracket. We're in the South.

Ouch, that game caused the Gillingham manager to be sacked.

Hearn seems to be good at getting assists as a target man or getting the goals himself. I might swap him between the two positions as the season goes on.

For the next round, we'll be facing Stevenage. They are a rather strong League 2 team, but at least it's not a League 1 team.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Morecambe

Final Score: 2-0

Hearn once again picking up the Man of the Match with two great goals inside the box. Aside from that, very little happened. A rather boring game apart from that.

Ten goals in sixteen appearance is not bad considering.

ALL MY YELLOW CARDS.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Exeter

Final Score: 2-0

Jamie Young made a couple of good saves to keep a clean sheet, and was Man of the Match. Otherwise, Alan Smith picked up his first goal after being subbed on after the first half, and once again Taylinho gets a goal being in that forward attacking position. Exeter are currently sitting bottom-half.

Sometimes players will get preferred moves through training - this one is "Tighter Marking" for Tom Lockyer.

---

League 2

Barnet vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-0

Not a very good showing as you can see. An injury, and numerous bookings leading to a sending off didn't help, but we got outplayed pretty substantially by a team looking to go top of the table. A shame, because they only had a one goal advantage for the vast portion of the match but we weren't able to do anything apart from Vaughan getting himself sent off.

Gash was on for that game against Barnet, but done poorly himself.

And of course Vaughan gets a one game ban for a pretty stupid challenge.

I figure we're one of the teams with the most yellow cards by this point.

A Skrill North team? I'll take it.

---

League 2

Cheltenham vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-3

Cheltenham aren't a very good side, so this was expected according to the game. Gash scored a goal in order to end his drought, and Comminges got a penalty which Canham put away. We dominated the game for the most part but we lost the ball poorly and then Young made a goalkeeping mistake to allow them to tap-in their goal.

#BetterThanJozy

Even though he personally didn't score, Comminges did well in that last match.

---

League 2

Rochdale vs Sutton United

Final Score: 4-1

A pretty sound defeat, and an especially poor game from our defenders, of course. Otherwise, we did create a few chances and were unlucky to score more, but our defense was so poor that it didn't even matter as we let four go past us. The game said that Taylinho scored his 100th goal for Sutton United, but counting his history it adds up to 73. Maybe it is counting friendlies? Not sure.

O'Hanlon was the one who scored against us, too.

Barnet's got a pretty impressive set of results, too. As in perfect.

We get a bit of a bonus from Bournemouth.

Clough started the season well but he's doing quite badly again.

Comminges is still making the runs up the wing even if we're losing.

I'll need to sign all these staff members on for the end of the season, again.

---

FA Cup 1st Round

Barrow vs Sutton United

Final Score: 2-6

We have a pretty blistering first half. Pretty much ever shot that we take goes in. Considering Barrow are a Skrill North team, it's not so surprising that they got overrun. However, after Zurdo scores a penalty giving him his hat-trick, they actually manage to get two goals back. Once again, a goal from a corner and a header seems to be the things we don't do so well defending against.

Quite a big victory, you gotta say.

And well deserving of the praise.

For the next round of the FA Cup, we get Tamworth, a Skrill Premier team. Considering most of the options here, that's pretty good.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy South Quarter Final

Stevenage vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-3

Stevanage are currently the top of the league, so this was a very hard game to win. Paulinho did excellently despite not scoring, though. To be honest, we played so well it was hard to image this team was at the top of the league. We did get a penalty first, though, before they pulled one back. After that, Rose scored his first goal for Sutton and we held out to claim a victory against great opponents.

The attacking midfielder in my tactic tends to be the one passing the ball for the goals while popping up with an occasionally goal themselves. He gave two assists in this game.

I'm not entirely sure if after the South and North Johnstone's winners are determined if they play each other? Not sure.

Unfortunately, Lockyer got hurt in the last match. He'll be out for at least a couple games.

I didn't really want to see this either, we'll be without Paulinho too. Luckily it's a pretty minor injury.

[Rehab]

I was about to ask about Scunthorpe's projections, too. "Haven't you beat them X times?" or something

[Tryhard]

I was about to ask about Scunthorpe's projections, too. "Haven't you beat them X times?" or something

Scunthorpe were predicted at 5-2 to be promoted, the highest out of any team in League 2 (I don't exactly know how they measure squad strength but there you go), so they were expected to win the title, pretty much (even from the start of the game they are predicted to come 1st). They did get promoted in the first season of the game, but got relegated back into League 2 in the second, and now they are sitting just above relegation in League 2, which, suffice to say, is not great for them.

They beat me first season, actually to knock Sutton out of the FA Cup after I drew with them away. So I've only beat them once, not counting the away game I still need to play this season against them.

(unless I'm mistaken)

unrelated: I got Mercenary Kings and it's cool and stuff.

Edited July 5, 2014 by Tryhard

[Tryhard]

The draw for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy is made, semi-finals. We get Exeter which is probably the weakest team there.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Coventry

Final Score: 3-1

Coventry aren't a bad team by any means, but Alan Smith plays his best game in order to score two goals with Hearn scoring a third. Coventry got a goal back soon after Smith's second, but never managed to take their chances.

Smith played his best game this season, and he hasn't even been played that much at that.

Andy Rose comes back just to get injured again. Seriously, some of these players luck.

Howell and Acuña are fine for defensive midfielders for now, though.

Zurdo has been a pretty good signing, I find. It was noted that Paulinho and Zurdo did have difficulties communicating since they are Brazilian and Spanish respectively, but they've seemed to be great for us so far.

The transfer markets are closing for now. I don't really care, since it's unlikely I'll be signing anyone else this season, honestly.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Stevenage

Final Score: 1-2

We may have scored first but Stevenage did boss this match. They were at the top of League 2 at the time so it wouldn't be easy to get a result against them, and unfortunately it could have been more than a one goal margin defeat.

There's no doubt that my team are one of the ones who do pick up a lot of yellow cards, but trying to play attacking football and also trying to win the ball back quickly would do that. Probably a lot of not-so-good tackles flying in, too.

Matt Gill notes the improvements in Paulinho's game.

As for his stats, you can see that he is improving. Stats in this game go up slowly, but younger players especially can really benefit from better training facilities and coaching.

Isaac has also been noted for improving his game.

Lockyer has returned from his thigh strain injury.

---

League 2

Accrington vs Sutton United

Final Score: 2-4

Accrington are a pretty mediocre team currently, but after we went two down it wasn't exactly easy to come back from that. Luckily, Paulinho decided that this game would be his and put in an absolutely excellent performance in order to score a hat-trick and ultimately make us win the match. Comminges got himself one, too.

One more game playing Comminges and he's with us for another year. Considering his performances, I don't mind that.

Conventry are the next ones to end up with a sacked manager.

Well, there was one man that stood out during that match.

Comminges and Paulinho were definitely the two best players in the match.

After a long time, the stadium expansion has been finished and holds enough seats for around 7000 attendence.

---

League 2

Wycombe vs Sutton United

Final Score: 1-3

Wycombe are in a relegation fight at the bottom of the table, and we went behind before they almost made it two with a shot that hit the post. After that, we got a little more into the game and started to domiante. Hearn got another two, and Paulinho got another one after his great performance last time.

While Hearn's goalscoring record isn't quite as impressive as Taylinho's was, it is still pretty good.

Comminges gets an extension of his contract until 2017.

Speaking of Comminges, he lands himself along with Paulinho and Hearn on the team of the week.

Paulinho was also a close second to the Player of the Month.

Plymouth have scored twelve in their last three matches. Quite impressive.

Sawyer is the one who is tailing off a little bit in terms of his performances, now. Notice that a main part of the expenditure is £438K for the tax that we unfortunately have spread over this year. (if you recall, it was £5.5M in total)

He's been decent enough at shooting already, but apparently Paulinho has learned the techniques of a curved shot. Well, he is Brazilian.

---

FA Cup 2nd Round

Sutton United vs Tamworth

Final Score: 2-1

It figures that despite being all over Tamworth that their one shot on target would result in a goal for them. Luckily for us, it was after we were two up and halfway through the second half. Luckily, there wasn't any other chances for Tamworth as we finished up with a comfortable win in terms of performance.

Tamworth were our path through to the third round of the FA Cup.

For the draw of the third round, there is still a lot of League 1 and 2 sides in the draw. We get placed against Hartlepool, a League 1 side.

Rose comes back after being injured again.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy South Semi-Final

Sutton United vs Exeter

Final Score: 4-0

A very comfortable win. Exeter aren't a great team in League 2 at the moment by any means, but great contributions from Vaughan and Paulinho caused us to win comfortably. Vaughan scored a goal on the right wing and gave Paulinho an assist for his second, getting the Man of the Match award in the process. Overall, a complete domination of a currently poor Exeter team, even more so than our 2-0 victory earlier.

Vaughan was excellent in this game, admittedly. He has had a good average performance so far overall.

And now we have a place in the Final. We'll be playing MK Dons, which I had a feeling we would. We had a great 4-0 result of them early on in the season, but they have found form and are hanging around the League 1 playoff spots.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Newport County

Final Score: 1-1

Even though Newport County are at the bottom of League 2, we struggle here despite domianting most of the game. While Vaughan does get his goal, we have a lot more chances that we didn't take. Late on to the game, they equalised before they got a player sent off for a bad challenge that left Gash injured. Otherwise, they were lucky to get a draw. Their keeper played well to stop so many shots.

Four months? Wow. It says that it was after he attempted a sprint, but it seemed to be right after that red card challenge in the Newport game. Regardless, we'll be without him for a while, so Taylinho will be getting more regular games I imagine.

After searching for a parent club again, we find a choice between Brighton and Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace are in the Championship right now, but they may have some benefits to give us.

A friendly against them might be an interesting affair.

I try to bargain for more scouting range - and succeed. Now we can scout people in Europe. I sent my two scouts out to go to Spain and more generally Central Europe for the other.

---

League 2

Sutton United vs Port Vale

Final Score: 2-0

Port Vale have fallen a lot since the start of the season's form. By the end of this update, they sit in 15th. Quite a drop since the start. Hearn scores two in order to seal this match as a fairly easy win for us, despite not many chances being made.

Hearn, of course, playing another great game. He's been excellent so far.

---

League 2

Bury vs Sutton United

Final Score: 3-2

While we seemed to be cruising at half time being two up, It all went bad in the second half. Jamie Young sent it into his own net before two crosses cause two goals in five minutes. For our comeback against Accrington, this was the same executed by Bury.

ALL THE YOUNGS.

---

League 2

Gillingham vs Sutton United

Final Score: 0-4

Well, there's just one man to talk about here. Paulinho decided that he hadn't had enough goals recently and decided to score FOUR against Gillingham. Hearn provided two assists and Taylinho provided another, but Paulinho played his greatest match and gained a 9.9 rating and a very well-deserved Man of the Match award. Young also played well, picking up a knock but also keeping out Gillingham's chances that they did have, and they did have a few.

Nothing more to say.

Our defenders also played very well, too in order to keep out Gillingham in the last match.

And of course as soon as I say I've never seen many goalkeepers injuries... yeah, out for the game against Hartlepool, which is a major loss.

Expiring contracts show that is mainly staff, but Hudson and Sawyers contracts are also expiring. Sawyer has been fairly average this season, so I may let him go. Hudson has been an okay backup defender.

While Paulinho didn't get the Player of the Month, he did get the Youth equivalent.

Cheltenham aren't doing great in the league, but these three wins and a draw are impressive results that will help them stay in the league.

---

FA Cup 3rd Round

Sutton United vs Hartlepool

Final Score: 2-1

Definitely not an easy game to win, but we managed it. While there weren't many chances from either side, Vaughan and Hearn make sure that we make it through to the FA Cup 4th Round with rather scrappy goals. One of their players sees red after pulling Taylinho back in a professional foul. They get a consolation goal in injury time from a corner to keep Lewis from keeping a clean sheet.

Reaching the fourth round again is a great performance from Sutton, considering.

We have the possibility of revenge against Leicester, provided they beat Burton to face us, of course.

Lastly, goals have been more spread out this season. Paulinho and Hearn lead, but Taylinho and such do have a fair amount too. (considering I haven't played Taylinho that much, either)

Our league table right now. As you can see, IT'S HAPPENING. Seriously though, still this form.

Some big games coming up.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

what the fuck

yeah i guess you picked out another club future fucking legend with paulinho.

Edited July 7, 2014 by fuccboi

[Tryhard]

what the fuck

yeah i guess you picked out another club future fucking legend with paulinho.

and he's better than the current Brazilian international Paulinho! (not really) Edited July 7, 2014 by Tryhard

[BBM]

Do you think it'd be worth it to change the field tactic to allow 3 players up front so that you can play Taylinho more often? Or would it require too long for the players to get used to the style? Taylinho gets around as many goals/points a game as Hearn and Paulinho even though you don't play him as much, which makes me feel like he'd still be able to be a good player at this level, if not quite as dominant as he was earlier

[Tryhard]

Do you think it'd be worth it to change the field tactic to allow 3 players up front so that you can play Taylinho more often? Or would it require too long for the players to get used to the style? Taylinho gets around as many goals/points a game as Hearn and Paulinho even though you don't play him as much, which makes me feel like he'd still be able to be a good player at this level, if not quite as dominant as he was earlier

He'll be playing even with two up front for a while with Gash out, but I was planning on playing him more in the second half of the season regardless. Three up front might be a little much, though. I don't have that many strikers, especially if one gets injured, Paulinho can't play Striker comfortably at least yet, though the amount of goals he's getting suggests otherwise. In the upcoming seasons I might swap to a 4-3-3 like you say, but I got a decent amount of attacking already, honestly.

It's funny though, the auto-picking suggests I play Clough up front instead of Taylinho sometimes.

[Parrhesia]

4-4-2 is the perfect formation and requires no adjustments.

That said, the idea of having wingbacks and a defensive midfielder is the part I probably like most; I intend to give it a try whenever I recover from my shattered morale and give a Sunderland game a shot.

necktie i have a really good idea for a fully sick avatar and i want to give it to you but i want to know that you'd ever consider accepting it first ;.;

Edited July 8, 2014 by Parrhesia

[peener weener]

Yes

[Tryhard]

4-4-2 is the perfect formation and requires no adjustments.

That said, the idea of having wingbacks and a defensive midfielder is the part I probably like most; I intend to give it a try whenever I recover from my shattered morale and give a Sunderland game a shot.

4-4-2 is forever greatest. I would just move the attacking midfielder up into a striker, though. Another possibility is the CHRISTMAS TREE (aka 4-3-2-1). But honestly, that would just be changing into more attacking/defensive versions of what I already have. You know, people criticised Fabio Capello for playing an "increasingly outdated" 4-4-2 formation when he was England manager.

at least it's not Craig Levein and Scotland with their wonderful 4-6-0 formation (they actually played this)

Edited July 8, 2014 by Tryhard

[Parrhesia]

4-6-0 just looks wrong as a formation. It's been used in the A-League on a regular basis by none other than Kevin 'voted the biggest cunt in football' Muscat.

If you do not know who that is, look him up.

But yeah, it just looks... wrong. Like it's missing someone. Given that they just bought Berisha, the best striker in the league, I assume they'll stop the madness, but I don't know for sure.

#SuttonRising

[Tryhard]

League 2
York vs Sutton United
Final Score: 3-1

Unfortunately it didn't go so well after two previous good results. Once again, suspect defending set pieces. It was 1-1 for quite some time before York scored twice in the second half. We conceded twice from corners.

I always get all the injuries, too.



Also the Semi-Final first leg had our new parent club, Crystal Palace, losing. Better luck next time. Unfortunately for them, they also lost the second leg, with Liverpool going on to beat Chelsea in the final.


Supposedly the Portsmouth game is going to be a big one. They are a good side.


I expected this to happen. A chance for revenge, then.


Hopefully going to stay healthy, this time.


We're going to be seeing a few players retiring. We're going to need replacement midfielders come the end of the season.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Northampton
Final Score: 3-1

Northampton do currently have a pretty poor run-of-form currently, sitting in mediocrity. All the goals scored were inside the box. Vaughan's one might have been counted as an own goal since the goalkeeper palmed it out to a defender who sent into his own net.

This guy impresses more and more, and he's currently only 21. Generally in lower leagues experience is more important than youth but this guy seems like he'll be very good even in the future. Worth the £875K I spent for him.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Portsmouth
Final Score: 0-2

This was pretty poor from us - I was resting my players since we have a game against Leicester right after this one, but we barely had any chances and it could've been a lot more than 2-0. The return of the pink away kit, as well.

And of course we couldn't get past this game without someone getting injured.


Well, that's almost a sold out stadium.


I suppose I haven't been using him or Alan Smith as much as I suspected, but the main midfielders I have have generally been good enough. Canham himself has pretty much got minimal games this season.


We have two legs against MK Dons to go through, and I did check and if we do win the final there is a game after that between the winners of the South and North brackets.

---

FA Cup 4th Round
Sutton United vs Leicester
Final Score: 2-1

Well, we got our revenge. Thankfully, I was able to field a full strength squad, and our current legend Paulinho was able to win this game by burying the two shots on the target that he got. Credit to Taylinho who assisted for both goals, too. The first goal and the equaliser were both from corners, while the last was a great shot outside the box from Paulinho.



We did get a huge amount of revenue from that game with Leicester.


Yeah, considering he only scored five goals for the Granada B team despite being a starter, this seems like a huge step up.


FURTHER THEN WE GOT BEFORE IT'S HAPPENING.




Oh. Okay. Manchester United.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Plymouth
Final Score: 2-1

After going a goal done because of a penalty, a pretty good performance to get back into this. While we were rather lucky in order to get a own goal, Hearn once again added a tally to his goal count.

---

League 2
Scunthorpe vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-4

Well, we won the home fixture against Scunthorpe before this season, and this one is another victory against them. They've got out of the relegation zone but still aren't looking great at 17th place currently. Hearn once again dominates and gets a hat-trick with a rather easy game. We did concede, but by that point it was 3-0 already.

Hearn now has over twenty goals this season.


Transfer deadline is up, but I don't mind. Like I said, I'm not going to be getting any other players this season.


Paulinho average rating in the cup games has been over 8 so far, by the way. In the league, it has been lower at around 7.5, but still very impressive.


Portsmouth have an almost perfect record for their last six games, including a win over us. They're ahead of us in the league, too.


Zurdo has unfortunately not been playing so well recently.


Hearn once again finds himself on this list.


Coming up is the MK Dons match - we've already beat them once this season, so let's hope.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy South Final Leg 1
Sutton United vs MK Dons
Final Score: 1-0

Well, right after Zurdo's latest performances haven't been so great, he comes back to score the only goal of this game. Honestly, there were barely any chances in the game at all, but Zurdo managed to put it across the goalkeeper into the corner from just inside the box in the second half, giving us an advantage for the second leg.

Well, a one goal advantage isn't the most possible, but Jamie Young did actually get Man of the Match for us, not that much actually happened.


And yeah, this game is going to be on TV. Of course.


Another preferred move, this time from Andy Rose.


Smith probably won't be getting full games because of his tendency to get booked, but I have used him as a substitute a decent amount.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Torquay
Final Score: 2-4

This one didn't go so well. Torquay are one of the teams that are challenging for promotion, but we ended up defeated comfortably here, even though both sides had about equal chances.

---

League 2
Oldham vs Sutton United
Final Score: 3-1

Another loss, this time against a team that isn't that far up the tables as well but may be challenging for a playoff spot. Our team just has a pretty poor game overall. While Hearn scored the goal, Paulinho assisted and was the Man of the Match despite us losing 3-1.

Well, even though he's not scoring, he's still the best player on the pitch.


Comminges hasn't been playing great either, and he's injured now, too.


Our favourite assistant manager wants to go for a coaching course too. Honestly, I don't know how these actually help.


Yeah, this would be a sell-out, of course.


I expected that too.


After their manager Laurent Blanc (RIP David Moyes) says how shit the pitch is, I actually decide to take action.



Next opponents would be Wigan, for reference.

---

FA Cup 5th Round
Sutton United vs Manchester United
Final Score: 1-2

Actually wasn't terrible for us! We never really looked like winning, of course, but Jamie Young had a good game in order to save quite a few chances and Paulinho even managed to score after we conceded an early goal, scoring a rebound. After that it was a long time before van Persie was able to score and kill the game for us.

And of course we set a new record here, too.


Paulinho has skills for scoring against Manchester United.

---

Johnstone's Paint Trophy South Final Leg 2
MK Dons vs Sutton United
Final Score: 1-2 (agg. 1-3)

Even away, we managed to get a win here. I thought it wouldn't be like that considering we conceded first and before that they even hit the bar. Their striker got a really good goal before Paulinho and Taylinho struck to win us the game and therefore the final outright.

The final will be held in Wembley. Though poor MK Dons, their stadium is called stadium:mk.


And another victory in the equivalent of the FA Trophy brings us to the 'true' final.



Taylinho hadn't scored a goal for some time, so this was nice to see.


Another major injury for Hudson, however. I had to substitute in that game.


Sheffield United will be the team we are playing in the final.

---

League 2
Sutton United vs Oxford
Final Score: 4-1

Another match we dominated, truly. Four different goals from four different players for us, even a defender managing to get on the scoresheet and the front three once again showing their reliability.

Hearn once again got crowned Man of the Match.


Also worth noting is that was actually Taylinho's 100th game for us!


Our pitch is unfortunately still not that high quality, as you can see.


I asked the board for a transfer revenue upgrade - but I thought it was 100% before, unless I'm mistaken? Oh well.

---

League 2
Mansfield vs Sutton United
Final Score: 0-0

A pretty boring game, but to get a draw against the current table leaders away is something. We got a lot of bookings in this game, still, even though I am trying to reduce them in terms of the tactics I'm using. Doesn't really seem to be working.

One man did keep that game at 0-0, though.


Paulinho once again narrowly misses out on the award.


Rochdale have had some high scorings wins recently. They're also challenging for playoffs or straight promotion.




League 2
Sutton United vs Braintree
Final Score: 1-1

Taylinho saves us a point... against the bottom team in the league at home. This was a disappointing result to say the least. Unfortunately, usually reliable players didn't perform so well in this match.

The league table. As you can see, it is very contested up until 11th place for a playoff spot at least. It's going to be interesting.


Upcoming fixtures. I hope to be able to finish this season off in the next update.


Unfortunately, we have also dipped to just under £20M in balance. It won't be a problem right now, but gotta keep an eye on it.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Tryhard

[peener weener]

le flying dutchman strikes again :(. you actually went 2-1 against man united. and beat leicester.

i think, it's safe to say

you've made it

fuck man united

Edited July 9, 2014 by fuccboi

[Tryhard]

they're sixth in the premier league gg moral victory

[peener weener]

oh yeah i think maybe losing Twenty Million Pound Dollars is pretty bad you should get that checked out

[Tryhard]

that's twenty more million dollars more than I had before

i don't know what to do I'm hemorrhaging money and I can't fight the taxman and expenditures. I was guaranteed to lose £5.5M over this season because of the tax but hopefully I can have a steady balance at least.

[Parrhesia]

... Danny fucking Graham signed for Leicester?

Anybody wanted to actually buy him?