Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 Never done a save like this before. From the dark depths of non-league (National League South) and trying to get my team up the pyramid in to the Football League. Most saves have always been Leicester City and the closest I've come to something like this is Luton in League Two trying to get them back up in to the Championship or even further in to the Premier League. Safe to say I didn't last long with Luton! This first post will be an overview of the squad - notable players, transfer budget, wage budget from the start of the game - June/July 2016. Any tips on players/staff to sign for this level are greatly welcomed! Transfer Budget - £0. Wage Budget - £6,500/w Notable Players - Jamie Cureton, 40 years old! This is the tactic I will be trying out and it's worked in my Leicester save I've been playing since the game came out: Media predictions for the Vanarama South: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 Friendly - St Albans 1-1 Luton Town An encouraging, yet fortuitous, draw at home to big boys of Luton Town. Took an early lead through Jamie Cureton (think he'll be a handful for other teams in the league this season) but then faced an onslaught from Luton and my keeper played a blinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 Transfers (2 weeks in, 16/07/16) Had to sign many players on frees and couple of loans from Wolves & Portsmouth. Squad was too small and the rate they play games in the non-league divisions meant bigger squad, where possible, was required. Matthew Aldred probably my best signing, so far. Vences Bola has good stats for finishing as a striker. Only had 5 defenders as well so had to sign more! Business is not done yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 Friendlies: Northwood 1-0 St Albans City - This time it was my turn to be on the unlucky side. They scored a breakaway goal on the counter after I had too many men forward for a corner. Then it was all Saints. Hit the woodwork twice, couple of other shots cleared off the line. Then I think my players just ran out of steam. Have to be more clinical!!] Harlow 2-3 St Albans City - if this game is anything to go by, there's gonna be lots of goals scored and conceded . It's all about pace in this league and 3 of the 5 were scored from balls over the top. Entertaining game and the winner came from my striker with a volley from the edge of the box. Love it. Aldred, the new boy, looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 St Albans City 0-1 Burton - Despite a defeat, proud of the side to restrict Burton to just the one goal. Considering the difference in quality and stature of the sides, we gave Burton a good go. One more friendly then we get in to the adventures of the new season with Stan at the helm of this fine club... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 Played a couple more friendlies before the season begins. Aylesbury 1-3 St Albans - Again, a striker gets put through on goal for them and they go on to score. I went attacking though and then dominated. Easy victory in the end. Biggleswade 0-2 St Albans - Good to get a clean sheet in the bag. Even after 6 friendlies, players match sharpness is a concern but I've got depth in my squad now so I think I'm ready for the season! CLUB OBJECTIVES Priority is the league, for me. Hoping to get a good start and then the cup competitions are simply a lottery considering I could play relative bigger sides like Tranmere or Lincoln in the league above in the FA Trophy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 22, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 22, 2017 THE 2016/17 ST ALBANS CITY SEASON Game 1 - St Albans 4-1 Concord FC Comfortable victory, never in doubt. Go 1 up. Concede shortly after. Encourage the team and the new signing Matthew Aldred scores 2 on debut. Hopefully he continues the way he's started. Obviously only one game but he's hit the ground running. Jamie Cureton, in all his experiences, missed an open goal right at the end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Palace Fan 3,334 Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 Jamie Cureton absolute assassin in the football league for what felt like ever. I'm looking forward to getting in to this diary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 An indifferent start to the season. Kicked off with a couple of wins to begin with and then a bit of inconsistency creeping in. The 2 losses coincided with Aldred being injured. Sadly, Jamie Cureton isn't playing much because my other striker, Louie Theophanus, is scoring regularly. However in the last game, he was absolutely terrible . Spurned many of the 15 chances I had to score. So maybe Cureton will start the next game against title favourites Whitehawk who are 14th. Table after 5 games... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Palace Fan 3,334 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 A lad in my year at school played for Hampton and Richmond when we were eighteen. He scored a brilliant free kick against Chelsea U21s with Ben Sahar, Jack Cork etc and made FM2008. You can tell the person who did the research for non league only watched that match because he had something like 14 for free kicks and the rest were all 2's . They always seem to be lurking around the top of that league. If I remember rightly, Maidenhead have a bit of dough behind them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 3 minutes ago, Aaroncpfc said: A lad in my year at school played for Hampton and Richmond when we were eighteen. He scored a brilliant free kick against Chelsea U21s with Ben Sahar, Jack Cork etc and made FM2008. You can tell the person who did the research for non league only watched that match because he had something like 14 for free kicks and the rest were all 2's . They always seem to be lurking around the top of that league. If I remember rightly, Maidenhead have a bit of dough behind them too. what's his name?! Is he still on the game do you know? I've just seen that Kevin Lisbie is knocking around in this league too with Whitehawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Palace Fan 3,334 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 He didn't make the next version. A lot of the players that played for AFC Wimbledon that left in 2009 were on the game until about 2012 version though even though they had stopped playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 Having a poor time of it now, dropped away a bit from the play-off spots, 5 points from them now. I hate losing games when it's been a competitive match, but I hate even more losing at home. Not being able to control teams irks me and heads seem to drop when we go a goal down which is disappointing. Hard group to motivate! Got the FA Cup coming up in a couple of games. The mighty Wingate & Finchley . Hopefully get some confidence from that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 The FA Cup run continues with a battling 3-1 victory over Concord FC. Twice I've beaten them this season now. League form needs to improve sharpish though! I have Gosport who are in 20th at home so a good chance to get the confidence flowing and to find some form. I like this little touch though. Don't really see it in the saves with bigger teams. The other thing I love about non-league football is the regularity of games and not having to take a break for international games. On the flip-side, there was a few weeks in a row where I played Saturday & Monday. The bad news is that one of my best players Matthew Aldred got injured in the cup game and is now out for 3 months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Palace Fan 3,334 Posted April 23, 2017 Share Posted April 23, 2017 What are your staff like Stan? Origami had a touch by signing a really good fitness coach at Concord Rangers which changed his teams fortunes drastically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 7 minutes ago, Aaroncpfc said: What are your staff like Stan? Origami had a touch by signing a really good fitness coach at Concord Rangers which changed his teams fortunes drastically. I have a fitness coach, physio, scouts and that's it. One of my players is also Assistant Manager too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 never knew this was a thing either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 Got sacked from St Albans. Didn't even get a chance of an ultimatum or target to reach before the board making a decision . Thought it was a bit harsh as I'd changed formation and started winning a few games. Ah well. Interviews for other teams going ahead now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 So I've taken over at Tranmere Rovers now. 8th in the Vanarama National League. Objective is to make the play-offs. Just won my first game against Macclesfield. Have settled on a 4-3-3 narrow formation. As you can see, not too far off the play-offs after winning that game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 Just now, Cannabis said: Mad that you've been deemed surplus to requirements at St. Albans but walked into Tranmere. went for the interview and bigged myself up. denied all sense of failure with some of the answers I gave. Still think it was quite harsh that I've been sacked at St Albans. Would rather have carried on that adventure and challenge than be in a higher division with Tranmere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 23, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 23, 2017 Good start to the Tranmere career... This is how the table shapes up. Anyone from 1st to 11th could possibly win the league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 24, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 24, 2017 Hitting the closing stages of the season and still anyone's guess as to who's getting promoted or will make the play-offs... I went on a 10-match unbeaten run to establish myself in that top part of the table but then lost to Wrexham. My final fixtures: 3 of them are bottom half and Maidstone are in 9th. Will definitely go right down to the wire! Gateshead have to play Lincoln and Wrexham are to play Dag & Red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 24, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 24, 2017 Oh and I managed to seal free transfers for Dany N'Guessan and Marcus Tudgay who are definitely good enough for this level. Good timing as well as my other main striker just got injured for 4-5 months with a broken foot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Stan 18,089 Posted April 24, 2017 Author Administrator Share Posted April 24, 2017 it's fucking tight here. Lincoln have sewn up the title, incredibly with a game to spare despite how close it is. Maidstone vs Tranmere Gateshead vs Bromley - probably a home win to seal their spot. GD is key if they lose though Dag & Red vs Woking - big game because both teams still have a shout. an away win could be huge Eastleigh vs Wrexham - home win please! York vs Forest Green - anything but a home win please! Barrow vs Dover - hard to call because Barrow in good form but Dover chasing the play-offs and have more to play for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toony 95 Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Very tight indeed. Good luck - get in those play-offs then win them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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