bedford_marv
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I decided at the beginning to load six/seven leagues on a large database, including England (BS North and South), Italy (Serie C), Scotland, Brazil (3rd Div), Argentina (Whatever they're bottom league is called!) and the USA (MLS Only). I think i loaded Spain as well but not sure! The start date was to coincide with the beginning of the English league.
Anyway...
I picked my favourite side Luton to manage.
Plus selected one club at random... Chicago Fire
and started unemployed (My career!) for another, before promptly being offered the job at Santa Cruz (RC) in the Brazilian third division.
Luton Town
The club started the season with a draconian 30 point deduction thanks to some shocking Football League and Football Association decisions. I will not moan too much more about that on here however!
The first task was to try and get the squad in a state of readiness for the fight ahead. Sam Parkin was immediately offered to clubs and i gratefully accepted the offer from Cardiff City for 300k.
Loans were arranged to bring in Bowditch for three months, and Henri Lansbury from Arsenal for the season. Forward Steven Milne was purchased for 10k from St Johnstone, while another Scot also made the journey south, Bryan Prunty, another forward from Ayr, again for 10k. Denes Rosa was bought in from Wolves for 9k. Goalkeeper Anthony Basso was also acquired from Hearts, his price a costly 24k. Bryan Little completed the early signings, he arrived from US side Portland for 1k.
The season started poorly. A 1-0 home loss to Aldershot was quickly followed by a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Birmingham City in the Carling Cup. We picked up our first three points of the season when we smashed Lincoln 4-0 away the following game however, but were again beaten on home soil by Grimsby 2-0.
It wasn't looking good so far.
The real early season success came in the FA Cup where in Round One, League One side Brighton were beaten on penalties. The second round bought another side from a higher division, Leyton Orient, and again after two draws penalties saw the side go through. Enter the big boys. Luton Town v West Brom. The midlands side dominated us in front of the home support eventually winning 4-1.
The loss to the West Brom was however the only defeat within a run of 14 games, one of which saw a 5-1 demolition of Notts County away. The streak was ended by Wycombe at Adams Park when they beat us 2-1. January had seen the arrival of Miguel Rebosio, a Peru international with plenty of caps to his name. After a brief settling in period he quickly became a rock at the back, as our formation changed from 4-4-2 to a more attacking 3-4-3. Rebosio, Pilkington and Ed Asafu-Adjaye weren't bettered by many front lines.
We were out of the relegation battle long before the season end, and our final points tally would've won the division. 24 wins, 10 draws and 12 defeats, scoring 74 in the process. The -30 meant we had to settle for 16th.
The pre season for the 09/10 season has seen some more quality added to the side. Matthew Spring returns from his loan spell at Sheff Utd and he's accepted a pay cut from £5,000 p/w to a more acceptable 2,000. Makela and Sives join from Hearts while the biggest signing has been Aubanel from Marseille. Bowditch joins on a free while Lansbury has again agreed to join on a season long loan, seeing as we are now one of his favoured clubs.
The board want promotion this time around. I'm confident of delivering.
Chicago Fire
I joined the club mid-season and found a side low on morale and putting in plenty of poor performances. They were bottom of the Eastern Conference a good six or seven points adrift. My poor reputation in the game wasn't going to improve anything instantly however, and the day after my arrival we were dumped out of the US cup by a Charleston Battery side i'd never heard of.
This was swiftly followed by a loss in the MLS to Toronto, and most embarrassingly of all, a defeat to our feeder side Chicago (PDL) in a friendly. Signings were needed, and fortunately for us Dave Van Den Bergh was released onto the waiver list. We signed him up straight away and he was the signing of the season no doubt. The side was given a quick reshuffle and we ended up with a more 4-2-4 approach. Van Den Bergh playing in AML and Thorrington in AMR. Brian McBride was instantly benefiting from the improved service as he notched up goals eft right and centre. He was soon joined by Argentinian Martin Bravo who has scored a few himself. I'm expecting better things from him once he learns the language.
The first win was secured against Salt Lake. An impressive 4-0 victory to please the crowd. Form was never exceptional however, but we did rise up the table quickly. Finally finishing 4th, just outside the playoff places. Or so i believed. Turns out that we qualified for the playoffs due to our better record than our equivalents in the Western Conference. Two 2-1 wins against Kansas put us into the Easter Conf. Final against Toronto away. We went ahead early on 2-0 and i was more than happy to let the side keep attacking in the belief of a home leg to follow. Toronto hit two back and the game moved into extra time. ******. There was no second leg. We finally lost 4-2 AET. The board - i cant believe they were going to get rid of me after i took them from bottom to the conference final finally offered me a new contract which i accepted.
Marvin Angulo Borbon was the big signing made pre season for 775k (the only money spent so far) and he has settled in nicely at right back. Cantenhmo (something like that) Blanco was our designated player (the equivalent of L.A's Beckham.) but i've sent him packing as he was awful.
The second season has seen a great start. Dallas (5-1), Columbus (4-1) and Colorado (4-0) have been our biggest wins so far. The latter leading the Western Conference. We currently sit in 2nd, a point behind New England, but with three games in hand. The record so far sits at 10 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.
Disaster struck when Van Den Bergh picked up a broken leg leaving him out for a year or so. It could well have ended his career as he's considering retirement. We picked up Brad Davis to take up his role though and he could be another gem found through the waiver list.
If we fail to win the division i'll be disappointed.
Santa Cruz (RC)
I've heard of their bigger neighbours but the RC on the end means nothing to me. Formed in 2003 apparently and averaging a few hundred fans for home matches. A wage budget of £5k per week and not a penny to spend on players. The first job was trying to get the wages down. Something on which i failed for a while!
Another club joined mid-season and to be honest they were doing ok, sitting mid table in Group Five of the Brazilian Third Division.
There have been so many comings and goings that i'll not list them all. The better players bought in have included Rubem, Paulista, Beto, Neto and Izaias, along with some essential loans.
My first game saw a victory over Sao Raimundo (AO) 2-1 which we were 10-1 against according to the odds. We were pretty much odds on to lose every game. Something which i stopped following as we smashed sides home and away, including a 7-0 win against Coruripe and 5-0 at Genus. We finally qualified for the 2nd stage. Now we were promptly battered by everyone, managing only one win, a 2-1 victory at home to Campinese.
Between seasons in the national league comes the Portiguar State Championship where you playe every side just the once. We were predicted to come around mid table, but some quality performances saw us end up third, qualifying for the quarter finals. We qualifed for the semis easily enough where we met ABC. We surprised everyone, including myself by winning the home leg 2-1, their goal coming in injury time was a blow however and we were dismantled in the second leg 4-1. Not a bad attempt however and the board were delighted.
The third division has now kicked off again and we sit third following some inconsistent performances. I'm hoping to at least reach the second stage again however, but have no illusions regarding a promotion.
The club is haemorrhaging money despite me getting the wages within the allowed budget. This is my career manager however so hopefully something better may be offered soon - not likely as im still considered unproven!
Anyway...
I picked my favourite side Luton to manage.
Plus selected one club at random... Chicago Fire
and started unemployed (My career!) for another, before promptly being offered the job at Santa Cruz (RC) in the Brazilian third division.
Luton Town
The club started the season with a draconian 30 point deduction thanks to some shocking Football League and Football Association decisions. I will not moan too much more about that on here however!
The first task was to try and get the squad in a state of readiness for the fight ahead. Sam Parkin was immediately offered to clubs and i gratefully accepted the offer from Cardiff City for 300k.
Loans were arranged to bring in Bowditch for three months, and Henri Lansbury from Arsenal for the season. Forward Steven Milne was purchased for 10k from St Johnstone, while another Scot also made the journey south, Bryan Prunty, another forward from Ayr, again for 10k. Denes Rosa was bought in from Wolves for 9k. Goalkeeper Anthony Basso was also acquired from Hearts, his price a costly 24k. Bryan Little completed the early signings, he arrived from US side Portland for 1k.
The season started poorly. A 1-0 home loss to Aldershot was quickly followed by a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Birmingham City in the Carling Cup. We picked up our first three points of the season when we smashed Lincoln 4-0 away the following game however, but were again beaten on home soil by Grimsby 2-0.
It wasn't looking good so far.
The real early season success came in the FA Cup where in Round One, League One side Brighton were beaten on penalties. The second round bought another side from a higher division, Leyton Orient, and again after two draws penalties saw the side go through. Enter the big boys. Luton Town v West Brom. The midlands side dominated us in front of the home support eventually winning 4-1.
The loss to the West Brom was however the only defeat within a run of 14 games, one of which saw a 5-1 demolition of Notts County away. The streak was ended by Wycombe at Adams Park when they beat us 2-1. January had seen the arrival of Miguel Rebosio, a Peru international with plenty of caps to his name. After a brief settling in period he quickly became a rock at the back, as our formation changed from 4-4-2 to a more attacking 3-4-3. Rebosio, Pilkington and Ed Asafu-Adjaye weren't bettered by many front lines.
We were out of the relegation battle long before the season end, and our final points tally would've won the division. 24 wins, 10 draws and 12 defeats, scoring 74 in the process. The -30 meant we had to settle for 16th.
The pre season for the 09/10 season has seen some more quality added to the side. Matthew Spring returns from his loan spell at Sheff Utd and he's accepted a pay cut from £5,000 p/w to a more acceptable 2,000. Makela and Sives join from Hearts while the biggest signing has been Aubanel from Marseille. Bowditch joins on a free while Lansbury has again agreed to join on a season long loan, seeing as we are now one of his favoured clubs.
The board want promotion this time around. I'm confident of delivering.
Chicago Fire
I joined the club mid-season and found a side low on morale and putting in plenty of poor performances. They were bottom of the Eastern Conference a good six or seven points adrift. My poor reputation in the game wasn't going to improve anything instantly however, and the day after my arrival we were dumped out of the US cup by a Charleston Battery side i'd never heard of.
This was swiftly followed by a loss in the MLS to Toronto, and most embarrassingly of all, a defeat to our feeder side Chicago (PDL) in a friendly. Signings were needed, and fortunately for us Dave Van Den Bergh was released onto the waiver list. We signed him up straight away and he was the signing of the season no doubt. The side was given a quick reshuffle and we ended up with a more 4-2-4 approach. Van Den Bergh playing in AML and Thorrington in AMR. Brian McBride was instantly benefiting from the improved service as he notched up goals eft right and centre. He was soon joined by Argentinian Martin Bravo who has scored a few himself. I'm expecting better things from him once he learns the language.
The first win was secured against Salt Lake. An impressive 4-0 victory to please the crowd. Form was never exceptional however, but we did rise up the table quickly. Finally finishing 4th, just outside the playoff places. Or so i believed. Turns out that we qualified for the playoffs due to our better record than our equivalents in the Western Conference. Two 2-1 wins against Kansas put us into the Easter Conf. Final against Toronto away. We went ahead early on 2-0 and i was more than happy to let the side keep attacking in the belief of a home leg to follow. Toronto hit two back and the game moved into extra time. ******. There was no second leg. We finally lost 4-2 AET. The board - i cant believe they were going to get rid of me after i took them from bottom to the conference final finally offered me a new contract which i accepted.
Marvin Angulo Borbon was the big signing made pre season for 775k (the only money spent so far) and he has settled in nicely at right back. Cantenhmo (something like that) Blanco was our designated player (the equivalent of L.A's Beckham.) but i've sent him packing as he was awful.
The second season has seen a great start. Dallas (5-1), Columbus (4-1) and Colorado (4-0) have been our biggest wins so far. The latter leading the Western Conference. We currently sit in 2nd, a point behind New England, but with three games in hand. The record so far sits at 10 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.
Disaster struck when Van Den Bergh picked up a broken leg leaving him out for a year or so. It could well have ended his career as he's considering retirement. We picked up Brad Davis to take up his role though and he could be another gem found through the waiver list.
If we fail to win the division i'll be disappointed.
Santa Cruz (RC)
I've heard of their bigger neighbours but the RC on the end means nothing to me. Formed in 2003 apparently and averaging a few hundred fans for home matches. A wage budget of £5k per week and not a penny to spend on players. The first job was trying to get the wages down. Something on which i failed for a while!
Another club joined mid-season and to be honest they were doing ok, sitting mid table in Group Five of the Brazilian Third Division.
There have been so many comings and goings that i'll not list them all. The better players bought in have included Rubem, Paulista, Beto, Neto and Izaias, along with some essential loans.
My first game saw a victory over Sao Raimundo (AO) 2-1 which we were 10-1 against according to the odds. We were pretty much odds on to lose every game. Something which i stopped following as we smashed sides home and away, including a 7-0 win against Coruripe and 5-0 at Genus. We finally qualified for the 2nd stage. Now we were promptly battered by everyone, managing only one win, a 2-1 victory at home to Campinese.
Between seasons in the national league comes the Portiguar State Championship where you playe every side just the once. We were predicted to come around mid table, but some quality performances saw us end up third, qualifying for the quarter finals. We qualifed for the semis easily enough where we met ABC. We surprised everyone, including myself by winning the home leg 2-1, their goal coming in injury time was a blow however and we were dismantled in the second leg 4-1. Not a bad attempt however and the board were delighted.
The third division has now kicked off again and we sit third following some inconsistent performances. I'm hoping to at least reach the second stage again however, but have no illusions regarding a promotion.
The club is haemorrhaging money despite me getting the wages within the allowed budget. This is my career manager however so hopefully something better may be offered soon - not likely as im still considered unproven!
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