Dan - Barnsley FC; Leicester City FC

[Dan+]

Probably about 4 for the first team and another 4 for the squad.

I'm not normally one to fawn over 17th but we really are so up against it this year. Smallest budget in the league by a mile and probably weakest squad too. I'd snap your hand off for 17th this year.

From there I'll really build something.

I've found a really good young AMC from Australia. He's 17 and playing in the A-League and my scouts reckon he's already as good as Tom Lawrence. I may take the plunge and get him signed and starting already.

[Dan+]

YES!!!

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

''My client is not interested in negotiating with you - he does not believe Barnsley would be a good career move''. 

 

*Barnsley's stature in the game isn't big enough to match my ambitions*

[Dan+]

2019/20 - The Summer
 

Transfers:

IN

- Alex Smithies (QPR, £2.3mil) - I indentified Smithies as someone I wanted to sign over a year ago should I go up, and sure enough QPR beat me in the play-off final meaning he got himself to the PL anyway. However, we've gone up and passed QPR on the way, and with his relegation release clause being so surprisingly low it was a no-brainer.

- Matthew Jones (FFA COE, free) - 18 year old Australian attacking midfielder (not the same one I mentioned further up), agreed to sign him a couple of years ago but he's only just turned old enough to join us. He's promising, and it's risk free.

- Emil Astvaldsson (Knattspyrnudeild KR, £90k) - 17 year old Icelandic midfielder. Highly rated by the scouts again and peanuts fee.

- Adam Armstrong (Newcastle, £3.2mil) - It's taken three season long loans, but finally he's our player. 

- Sheyi Ojo (Liverpool, loan) - Come off the back of a very good season at Ipswich and has been our best player in pre-season. He's looking exciting.

- Adam Smith (Bournemouth, £2.4mil) - He's an upgrade on Yiadom. I see Yiadom as steady at PL level, but Smith is a cheap upgrade and you've got to do it when you have the chance.

- Ryan Gauld (Sporting CP, £1.3mil) - This is an absolute steal. Although he hasn't hit the heights expected of him as a youngster, he's still a talented player and well worth a punt at that price.

- Jordan Rossiter (Rangers, £3.2mil) - Was linked to the likes of Stoke and Leicester, but I've sneaked in and signed him for yet another decent fee. He is yet another I'd expect to make a profit on if I sold.

- Peter Arnett (Blackpool, £230k) - 18 year old forward who I tracked in the Championship. He's got potential to make it at this level.

- Simon Svendsen (Real Madrid, loan) - Danish international centre half at just 20 years old. We did need another centre half so I was happy with this.
 

OUT

- Released youngsters

- Stephen Quinn, George Moncur, Adam Jackson, Cole Kpekawa, Alex Mowatt and Azbe Jug on frees

- Rurik Gislason (Charlton, free) - Never really cut it for me and he was on £15k a week so he needed to go.

- Christian Santos (Girona, £625k) - He had a poor season last time out, he's ageing and like Gislason, on decent wages, so it made sense to sell.

 

The competition:

 

That is who I'm up against. The biggest rivals for us are likely to be the two we came up with (Hull and Forest), Leeds, Norwich, Burnley, Bournemouth and West Brom. They are the sides we really need to be beating at home for me.

Stoke have become a very decent side on this. They're taken Everton's 7th place.

Leicester are also good on the game, although I think player for player Stoke have surpassed them. Everton just aren't all that on this.

Annoying news for us is that Ryan Williams has broken his leg in a friendly and I'm now a bit low on wingers. I haven't got loads of money left but I'm aiming to get one signed. I'm looking at Lazaro.

It's a trip to Bournemouth first game. It's their first ever game at a new 20,000 ground.

[R-D]

Terrific end to your last season . Looks like you've stretched your £20m budget well with a bit to spare.

What's your board expectations this year? Avoid relegation and maybe progress a few rounds in the FA Cup?

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, R-D said:

Terrific end to your last season . Looks like you've stretched your £20m budget well with a bit to spare.

What's your board expectations this year? Avoid relegation and maybe progress a few rounds in the FA Cup?

"Attempt to avoid relegation" so I think I'd actually survive going down if that happened. Think Burnley 2014/15.

Not that I'm trying to go down of course, but I think I've set it in such a way that I would hold onto my job even if I do.

I'm very happy with the summers business really. Could probably have done with another forward but they aren't cheap and Bradshaw hit an absolute tonne of goals last season, he deserves a go at least.

I'd like to think I'll see a bit more money in January.

I have just signed Robert from Huddersfield. Spanish winger. He's not bad, only £675k. As stated I needed a winger after the injury to Williams.

Got quite a nice set of youngsters at the club now. Will post a few up later. Nothing too eye catching but it's a bit of progress at least.

[Toony]

I think you've made some good signings there, improved both the first team and the squad whilst also releasing some dead wood.

It's going to be interesting to see how to fair in the big league - will be some tough spells but hopefully you can keep them up.

[Dave]

You've made some good additions there. Sheyi Ojo for one is class on my game, and getting Ryan Gauld at that price is an absolute steal. Smithies should be able to do a job, as can Adam Smith, whilst Armstrong for whatever reason just fits and makes sense for all parties.

[Dan+]

Yep I'm quite satisfied with how my summer went as well all things considered. I went for Milivojevic from Palace who went down but I was quoted £14mil and it's things like that that make you realise £20mil isn't that much.

We're still a weak side for this level but we've got a system that yields goals and we've definitely bought players for less than they're worth. Gauld hasn't actually been that good yet but ability wise he's a solid Premier League player and possibly even more if he reaches his potential, you can't not take that for £1.3mil.

First update to come in the November international break.

[Guest]

Can't say I'm too familiar with the signings you made but I've always rated Gauld and Rossiter on this. Good for the future, and its interesting to see mostly English players too.

[Dave]

Jordan Rossiter used to always be a future England International on the old games, but on the last two it's as if the researchers think his career is going the way of Jay Spearing and Conor Coady.

[Dan+]

On 5/5/2017 at 8:55 PM, Aaroncpfc said:

Jordan Rossiter used to always be a future England International on the old games, but on the last two it's as if the researchers think his career is going the way of Jay Spearing and Conor Coady.

When you put it that way I feel like I've just blown three million.

[Dan+]

AUGUST 2019
PL 1 - Bournemouth (a) - This is the first ball Barnsley will kick in the top flight since 1998. It's the first ball anyone will ever kick at the new 20,000 Bournemouth ground, imaginatively named "The Bournemouth Stadium". The sun is out and the Barnsley fans make their longest trip of the season to the seaside in the sun. 90 minutes later, we have our first point. The game finishes 2-2, a good result in my eyes, yet frustratingly we had a perfectly fair goal chalked off after five minutes and Bournemouth equalised with 5 left with a deflected shot from distance. Good, but could have been even better.
PL 2 - Arsenal (h) - What an opponent for us to have in our first home game up. I expect defeat, but we surprise me. We turn in a very respectable performance and pick up yet another 2-2 draw. The optimist says 2 points from 2 games that easily have been lost. The pessimist points out we have thrown away 4 leads already.
PL 3 - Liverpool (h) - Yet another one of the giants came to town. I expected us to lose, but we were fantastic and we picked up a shock 1-0 victory through a late goal from Scowen. We have started absolutely brilliantly.
EFL Cup R2 - Rochdale (h) - Changed nearly the entire XI for the visit of now Championship Rochdale and won 3-0. Encouraging stuff.
PL 4 - West Ham (a) - Our first reality check since coming up, Moussa Dembele absolutely tortured us with a first half hat-trick in a 5-1 loss. He's in absolutely unbelievable form, and went on to hit 14 goals in West Ham's first 6 games, extraordinary.

SEPTEMBER 2019
PL 5 - Leeds (h) - We've started positively, but these above all are the games we need to win. Games at home to the expected strugglers. This turns out to be one of the worst games I have ever seen and it ends goalless.
PL 6 - Everton (a) - Our first TV game of the season, surprisingly, sees us make the trip to Merseyside on a Friday night. We show the country that we will offer nothing to this league. We lose 2-0.
EFL Cup R3 - Bournemouth (h) - We locked horns with Bournemouth again, and I thought I'd go with a full strength side in order to boost confidence. Bournemouth did the same though. However, we won the game. A pretty poor game looked to be heading a 1-1 draw with about 20 left but it sprung into action and we ended up winning it 4-3.
PL 7 - Man City (h) - Yet another big boy came to Oakwell, yet another failed to get a win. Man City took the lead through Aguero but Lawrence equalised from distance and it ended 1-1. We're still unbeaten at home and given who we've played that's really impressive.

OCTOBER 2019
PL 8 - Newcastle (a) - This was a tricky one and we ended up well beaten unfortunately. 4-1 it ended. We were pitiful and it was a sure sign that our home form is going to be massive for us this season.
PL 9 - West Brom (h) - Following on from that, we had another home game we needed some points in. We got all three. We fully deserved it as well as the game ended 1-0. Our second win of the season.
PL 10 - Southampton (a) - We looked to be holding out for a very respectable point but totally crumbled at the end and somehow managed to lose the game 3-0. Considering it was goalless after 85 minutes, this was an embarrassment.
EFL Cup R4 - Bristol City (a) - We don't have too bad a record at Bristol City, but we normally come off the back of some confidence and it's nowhere to be seen this time. We turn in a pathetic performance and lose 4-1, it's five straight defeats away from home, and an absolute thrashing from a team in a league below to add to it.

NOVEMBER 2019
PL 11 - Tottenham (h) - Leaders Tottenham turned up. I'd have taken a point. We got even more. One of the most extraordinary games I've seen on FM17. Spurs were playing well but we somehow raced to a 3-0 lead after half an hour. Spurs got one back just before half time and another shortly after, and I really did fear the worst, but we hit a 4th on the counter to about seal it. Spurs did add another consolation but the unbeaten home record stood and we ended up winning 4-3. What a win.
PL 12 - Hull (a) - Despite all of the big names we had to look forward to, this was a fixture we had an eye on. Hull stole automatic promotion from us in the last second of the season and it would be nice, despite eventually coming up too, to get one over them. We did. Hull took the lead in the second half but we turned it around and won the game 1-2. An absolutely brilliant win, and a huge boost in terms of our survival hopes.
PL 13 - Stoke (h) - Strange one this. Stoke have a very good side but have been nothing short of a disaster this season, and only have 3 points, sitting bottom of the table. I had a feeling I'd lose, but we didn't, we played very well again and won the game 2-1. Three straight wins and the bottom three being left for dead.
PL 14 - Nottm Forest (a) - We have an exceptional record in this fixture, recording 4-6, 1-5 and 1-4 wins. Forest got their own back this time though, Zach Clough ran the show and hit a hat-trick in a 4-1 win. We get battered on the road far too often.

DECEMBER 2019 (PART ONE)
PL 15 - Chelsea (h) - We seem to be playing all of the big sides at home. This time, unfortunately, we lost the unbeaten run. Chelsea went ahead early in the second half but we pegged them back immediately, only for Angus Macdonald to get a straight red. We tightened up but Chelsea found a way through us, and after going down to 9 men through injury late on they added another on the break. 1-3. Shame.
PL 16 - Man Utd (a) - My record here on all FM games is appalling. I fully expected us to take a slaughtering, but to my amazement we held out for an hour. Sadly a Thomas Lemar free-kick gave them the lead and I fully expected a Southampton away-like capitulation. However, five minutes later we tossed a free kick into the box and de Vrij fouled one of our players - it's a miracle in itself, Barnsley have a penalty at Old Trafford. Bradshaw steps up and smashes down the middle. 1-1. Unbelievable. I usually push for another in these situations and I did for a few minutes, but they started getting all over us and were firing shots at us from everywhere. They never found the winner though. What an unbelievable point. 1-1.
PL 17 - Burnley (h) - We backed up that confidence boosting draw at Old Trafford in style, and by style, I mean the style of complete losers. It was Chelsea all over again, 0-1, red card, end up losing the game 1-3. For me, our worst result of the season, and it puts pressure on us as Burnley sit 17th.
PL 18 - Bournemouth (h) - Our third meeting with Bournemouth this season and it's not even Christmas. It's a big game, a win for us will climb us right up a very tight bottom half, but a loss will give the bottom sitting visitors a boost, and after that Burnley result it's exactly what we don't need. We turn up though, we go 2-0 up fairly early on, but then we go and pick up yet another fucking red card - worst of all it's to Marc Roberts. We have an awful problem with centre halves now, we have one available in the entire squad and it's fifth choice Dan Burn. I'm a bit stuck, and end up playing Burn, Smith and Yiadom in a back three, totally expecting a comeback, but we go and add a 3rd. Of course we blow the chance of a clean sheet late on, but it ends 3-1 and it's our first win by over a goal this season. A very big, and needed win.

It is very tight in the bottom half, but I think all things considered, we are doing very well, and are surpassing expectations. We have taken a lot of points from the top teams this year. In-fact, only Chelsea of the top five have beaten us.

I'm hoping for some money in January as we're still a little thin in some areas, but I have faith in us to beat the drop now, and that's all I wanted.

 

[Dan+]

That's a bit harsh surely.

 

[Dave]

Seems quite reminiscent of my first season. One more good spell of form should keep you up given the way the bottom three have played.

[Dan+]

DECEMBER 2019 (PART TWO)
PL 19 - Norwich (h) - This kind of fixture is the sort we need to be winning. We didn't. It was a 1-1 draw which we lead up until fairly late on, not a disaster but a bit frustrating, and it could add pressure later on. We could've done with another win here going into a run of away games.
PL 20 - Leicester (a) - The final team I would come up against for the first time just would be Leicester wouldn't it? It felt very weird to manage against Leicester. We lost the game 1-0 through O'Connell turning a low cross into his own net. Lawrence missed a glorious chance late on against the club who released him.

JANUARY 2020 (IN: Ko Tae-Jin, Incheon United, £110k)
PL 21 - Arsenal (a) - Another away game. Another defeat. There's no shame in losing to Arsenal, and yet again we came close to getting something from the game. Iwobi struck early on and Arsenal held on for another 1-0 defeat for us.
FA Cup R3 - MK Dons (a) - Rested a few and sneaked past them with a late goal. 1-2 it finished.
PL 22 - Liverpool (a) - Not a great deal to say about this. Guedes gave Liverpool the lead, Gauld equalised in the second half but Dolberg scored straight after and added a third late on. 3-1 it ended. Three straight defeats, 1 point from 5 away games. Precarious.
PL 23 - West Ham (h) - West Ham I consider to be the median of the Premier League. Pretty much the definition of midtable. As a result I think games against them are a good marker of where you're at. We dominated the game but Moussa Dembele, the fucker, scored a 20 yarder with just ten minutes to go. We threw everything at them late on, and Ojo equalised in injury time. 1-1 it ended. Happy given the circumstances, unhappy given we probably ought to have won.
PL 24 - Leeds (a) - This was a massive game, and for me, a must not lose. Leeds sit 18th and we're 15th, the worst thing we could possibly do is lose to Leeds. We absolutely dominated early doors and how we didn't go ahead I have no idea. Leeds grabbed the lead late in the first half, totally undeservedly, through Kemar Roofe. We came back out for the second half and kept attacking them, and on the hour we got our reward as Yiadom slammed one in from a scramble from a corner. Leeds piled bodies forward and left us all the space in the world time and time again to break, and with 15 minutes to go, we punished them through Marley Watkins. We saw the game out and it ended 1-2. Our biggest win of the season for me, and a massive step towards survival.
PL 25 - Everton (h) - Everton are struggling (shock) so it would be nice to back the Leeds win up with something similar. We fell flat. A Marc Roberts own goal in the second half gave Everton all three points.

FEBRUARY 2020
FA Cup R4 - Leyton Orient (a) - Another weakened team, the draw favoured us as we got the lowest ranked side left, we were 2 up within 15 minutes and that's how it stayed. Last 16, on our way.
PL 26 - Man City (a) - Expected nothing. Deserved nothing. Got nothing. Defensively weak and going forward impotent, for all we tried. 2-0 it ended.
PL 27 - Newcastle (h) - I decided to set up with my 4-3-3 rather than my 4-2-3-1, I usually use the latter at home and the former away, but I knew they'd come at me through the middle so I wanted to close that off and hit them on the counter. To say the tactical move failed would be an understatement. A drab first half saw Newcastle go on a mini rout late on and they went in 0-3 up at half time. Ojo got a goal back in the 64th minute but Azmoun ran up near enough from kick off and made it 1-4. Pathetic by us. 78 minutes on the clock and a corner scramble sees Ojo prod another in. This goal seemed to totally crush the Newcastle defence, the lot of them lost their heads and started doing their best Benny Hill impressions. All over the place. I really fancied this and threw everything at them, and in the 86th minute, Armstrong scored from an angle to make it 3-4. Surely not? We keep going and shortly after that Ojo goes through, he makes no mistake. 4-4. The most extraordinary game I have seen all season by a mile, what had happened? We kept going and going, and we ought to have won it, but that was everything. I'd be absolutely sick if I was Newcastle manager, their defending was astoundingly bad. All considered, that is one hell of a point.
PL 28 - West Brom (a) - Didn't expect much from this but I was pleasantly surprised. Gauld gave us the lead with a free kick in the 4th minute that deflected in, and after a bit of home side pressure, he stuck another straight in just before half time. Sure enough, us being us managed to gift them a goal straight after that and I expected an on slaught, but we were brilliant in the second half. West Brom were absolutely useless and I couldn't believe how easily we controlled it. It finished 1-2, another very big result that saw Pulis moved from manager to director of football. I've never seen that on FM.
FA Cup R5 - Leeds (h) - Interesting cup draw, and one I fancied us. We made no mistake, we controlled the game from start to (nearly) finish and won 2-1, with Leeds getting theirs with the last kick. We're in the quarters. I want Forest at home. We get Forest at home.
PL 29 - Southampton (h) - This was a bit of a nothing game to be honest, but I'd just turned Southampton down (and I really did think about this one) so they're managerless, and to be got at. We scored a belter free kick courtesy of Dack, but Austin equalised late on. We've not won at home in the league for a long time. 1-1.

MARCH 2020
PL 30 - Tottenham (a) - Tottenham are looking good for the title. It's between them and Man Utd (who ironically have Kane up front) and I think Spurs will go all of the way. I expected us to get a pasting in this game, but we gave a very good account of ourselves. Spurs won the game 2-1 through a late goal. We'd made the likely champions sweat no end.
FA Cup QF - Nottm Forest (h) - Struggling Forest looked a great draw for us. It was a cagey game, but Williams pinched it for us late on. Barnsley are going back to Wembley. We've made the semi finals. A great effort. We get a choice of Man Utd, Stoke or Burnley (the latter two both pulling off shock wins), we get Man Utd. Ouch.
PL 31 - Stoke (a) - Stoke are the shock strugglers. Such a tidy squad on paper yet such a disaster on the pitch. They sit right at the bottom. I am wary, however, that they have a new manager in in Brian McClair and he's so far won three games without conceding, though two of them were in the cup. I'd probably take a point all considered. We get more than I bargained for. We score a freak opener through Shawcross clearing the ball at Armstrong and double it through yet another Ojo goal, his signature move is prodding in goal mouth scrambles. We see the game out with total ease and even more encouragingly, 19 year old right back Ko Tae-Jin, signed in January, gets man of the match on his Premier League debut. 0-2 it ends. A professional performance, and from here, it would take a very poor run to down, although it isn't out of the picture.
PL 32 - Hull (h) - The FA Cup quarter final saw this game moved to midweek. I was expecting us to win narrowly and near enough see off survival. What happened was a disaster. Yiadom sent off early on and Hull absolutely murdered us. The fights we've put up against the big boys of the league yet it's these cunts who have smashed us at Oakwell. It's ended 1-4. A total disaster from start to finish, complete embarrassment and probably our best remaining fixture blown.

You would fancy us to survive as the gap between us and 18th is enormous, although Stoke have picked up a bit and I can see them probably being a bigger threat than the other two. We have Forest at home in our next game and if we win that, we sit 15 ahead of them with 5 to go. We will stay up, but I do think we will probably drop to 17th because our run in isn't the kindest. We've got to go to Norwich, Burnley and Chelsea, while playing at home to Forest, Leicester and Man Utd.

If we beat Forest it's as good as done. Lose it, we're making it tough for ourselves.

But ultimately, in the bigger picture, we have had a great season. The smallest budget in the league by a mile, predicted to finish bottom and we look like we could survive fairly comfortably.

[Dan+]

This is far from over.

[Dan+]

This is heading for disaster I'm afraid. I can see it a mile off.

[Dan+]

33 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

I cant be the only one that enjoys a good FM meltdown from Dan?

If we get relegated from here, does it top what happened on the final day of last season? Quite possibly.

[Dan+]

April 2020

PL 33 - Barnsley v Nottingham Forest
This was a massive game. Win it and we're as good as safe. Draw it we're probably safe. Lose it, we're opening up the chance of being caught as our run-in is pretty nasty. We've got Chelsea, Man Utd, Burnley, Leicester & Norwich after this. Not one of them is easy. The latter three have all become quite established at this level now and going away to sides like those is a big ask.

What happened was the disaster I feared. We lost 0-3 and had ANOTHER red card. Our discipline is an absolute disgrace, how do you even sort it out? I can live with yellows (granted they need to sort the algebra out) but how many fucking times do our players go in two footed? That's six red cards this season. The amount of times we go 1 down and then go down to ten is absolutely ridiculous.

It looks very precarious from here. While Forest still need to have a great run, they have gone about it exactly how they needed to, and we have turned in our two worst results of the season on the spin. The two fellow promoted teams at home, and they've both murdered us. I can forgive being well beaten by the top sides. Not by shit like that.

 

PL 34 - Chelsea v Barnsley
So now, I'm pretty worried. This is exactly the kind of fixture you want to avoid when you need a win.

We actually played quite well in the first half, and we matched them. It was goalless at half time and I started thinking we'd manage to actually get something from the game. More fool me, Chelsea get a penalty early in the second half, controversially, and Ricardo Rodriguez makes no mistake. Not a lot else happens until the 66th minute where Morata doubles the lead. Ojo pulls one back five minutes later but Chelsea get a 3rd straight after, and shortly, a 4th. Watkins pulls another back but Chelsea add a 5th in injury time. A worrying performance, a complete capitulation for the third game running. Forest also beat West Ham. I'm genuinely starting to panic. 5-2 it ends.

 

PL 35 - Barnsley v Manchester United
The rehearsal for the FA Cup semi final at the weekend. I expect a comfortable loss. Rossiter's final game of his suspension and I think it's become quite clear that he's my best player. He's developed no end and is being touted for a possible call-up. I expect nothing. I get nothing. We hold them out for a while, but Van Dijk gives them the lead on the stroke of half time, Lemar doubles it, Ojo gets one back (we need him permanently so badly) but Man Utd add a 3rd in injury time. We're in big trouble for me. Forest play their game this weekend and they're away at Leeds. I'm not worried about Leeds or Stoke anymore. It's all on Forest, so we need Leeds to at least hold them to a draw. We're 6 ahead of them with a slightly better goal difference, but we'll lose that at this rate as we've been soundly beaten four games in a row.

[Dan+]

Noooooooooooooooooo Forest have won at Leeds. From 2 down as well.

We're going. I'm convinced.

[Dan+]

Cup semi final lost. A valiant effort, we lost 1-0, missed a late penalty.

This season is turning into absolute agony. We need 7 points to be sure of safety. I don't think we're gonna do it.

We have Burnley away, Leicester at home, Norwich away.

Forest have Everton at home, Man City away, Newcastle at home.

I think they'll win their two home games and send us down. I think we'll draw at Burnley, draw with Leicester and lose at Norwich.

Burnley have just made the FA Cup final after beating nearly relegated Stoke on penalties, but their league form is as bad as ours.

I think the fact we put in a credible performance against Man Utd is a helper. It's actually boosted morale. I've had to play the small-time "good effort" in the dressing room and it's lifted spirits.

Forest v Everton is up first though. Now, if Forest are going to beat anyone, then these or Bournemouth are the ideal ones. Bournemouth are away at Norwich.

If we win at Burnley I think we will survive as at least one of Forest or Everton is dropping points, and I expect Bournemouth to lose at Norwich.

Worst case scenario is Forest win, we lose, Bournemouth win.

It's our away form that's a bit better these days. We've actually not won at home since before Christmas which is a disgrace, and very weird given our home form before that.

[Dave]

I think one win will do it.

[Dan+]

Forest 3-2 Everton

Norwich 1-1 Bournemouth

Absolutely shit. We have to win for me.

Fucking Forest. How on earth have they done this?

[Dan+]

Absolutely sure we're going now.

What an absolute disaster of a capitulation.