Describe your finest non-League journey?

[Thestaggy]

This is just more of a chat thread than anything else and does not really have to relate to FM11, but tell us about your best game/career with a lower league side?

Mine was on FM07. I loaded up all the Irish, Welsh, Scottish and English leagues and got stuck in. I selected the mighty Sulphurites of North Yorkshire, Harrogate Town Football Club. Home ground, Wetherby Road with a capacity of 3,300 and 500 seated.

My journey began in the Conference North.
2006/07 - Conference North Champions (promoted) - Absolutely hammered the division. FA Trophy winners. FA Cup 2nd Round

2007/08 - Conference Nationl playoff winners (promoted) - After leading for almost the whole way, the goals dried up but I managed to squeak into the playoffs in 4th place and duly proceeded to win promotion via the playoffs. FA Cup 2nd Round.

2008/09 - First Stadium upgrade; they added a few more seats. Due to a complete lack of money in both transfer funds and wages, I scoured the lower leagues for bargains adn raided the relegated League 2 teams. League Two Champions (promoted) - Completely unexpected. I started slow but rocketed up the table. More amazing was that the guy who had finished top-scorer back in the Conference North finished top-scorere in League 2. Johnstone's Paint Trophy winner. FA Cup 3rd Round.

2009/10 - Another stadium upgrade; larger capacity and more seats. Continued hunting in the basement for talent, bolseterd by some loanees from the Championship. Started receiving my first job offers from League 2, League 1 and even a few Championship sides. Finished 5th in the league, yet another shock. Solid cup runs too. Retained the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, made the quarterfinals of the League Cup, beating Aston Villa en route, and played my first game against a Premiership side in the FA Cup by making the 4th Round where I was walloped by a high-flying Wolverhampton.

2010/11 - More stadium upgrades. Decided to stick with my squad, improved by my first batch of pretty good youth players. Spent 100k for the first time on a player, a GK, forget his name off-hand. League One Champions. Nearly made it a hat-trick of Paint Trophies, but tanked in the semi. Nothing special in the bigger cups again.

2011/12 - I was expecting to see my ****. Nope. Promoted as Championship Runners-up. Little Harrogate Town, Premiership side. Wetherby Road was now a massive 6,750 seater stadium. Cups went to **** though, nothing special.

2012/13 - Still could not afford much. Had very little hope for the new season. Amazingly, 3 first team players had started the journey with me in th Conference North. After 13 games I had managed a solid 4 wins, 3 draws and 6 losses and was 4 places clear of the drop. Then I walked out on them. I took charge of Aston Villa, who were 2nd from bottom and had just sacked their gaffer. Ended up mid-table with them and won the League Cup. Harrogate Town were relegated. I played one more season with Villa but lost interest after missing out on a top-6 spot on goals and subsequently retired, a legend at Town. Sadly, in my absence Town were relegated for the second straight season.

Honours:
League Cup winners 2012/13 (Aston Villa)
Johnstone's Paint Trophy winners 2008/09, 2009/10 (both Harrogate Town)
League One Champions 2010/11 (Harrogate Town)
League Two Champions 2008/09 (Harrogate Town)
FA Trophy winners 2006/07 (Harrogate Town)
Conference National playoff winners 2007/08 (Harrogate Town)
Conference North Champions (2006/07)

 

[boro141]

Similar story for me with BSS side Chelmsford. Consecutive promotions until the Championship, where I spent 4 years before promotion. First season in the PL came 7th, a few months into the next season I took over Liverpool. Chelmsford have remained a mid/lower table \PL team since.

 

[Wilko]

great read mate

 

[fuelledbypassion]

Can't believe you walked out on Harrowgate! On FM10, I had a mammouth game with Stalybridge Celtic, with back to back promotions and a Johnstone Paint Trophy win in the first two seasons. Within 3 more seasons, I had made it to the Championship and signed players like Scott Parker and Areola along the way. Ended up as a mid-table premiership side but abandoned the save when FM11 was released. It was easily one of my favourite fm saves ever

 

[Thestaggy]

Can't believe you walked out on Harrowgate! On FM10, I had a mammouth game with Stalybridge Celtic, with back to back promotions and a Johnstone Paint Trophy win in the first two seasons. Within 3 more seasons, I had made it to the Championship and signed players like Scott Parker and Areola along the way. Ended up as a mid-table premiership side but abandoned the save when FM11 was released. It was easily one of my favourite fm saves ever

I regretted walking out on them almost instantly. That's also why my game only lasted a season and a half longer. I totally lost interest and I felt pretty bad that Harrogate were tumbling into League One while I had just missed out on European football with Villa. In hindsight I should have stuck around for two more seasons and stablised Town before moving on. It was also pretty weird to negotiate the transfer market with money, as I had gotten so used to scouring the basement for talent. How did you manage to sign high-level players? For some reason I just could not get the funding, especially wages. I lost a few of my players because I could not offer them bigger deals when their contracts were up.

---------- Post added at 08:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------

Similar story for me with BSS side Chelmsford. Consecutive promotions until the Championship, where I spent 4 years before promotion. First season in the PL came 7th, a few months into the next season I took over Liverpool. Chelmsford have remained a mid/lower table \PL team since.

Nice job! I should have stayed with Harrogate for a while longer and left them in a better position.

 

[fuelledbypassion]

I regretted walking out on them almost instantly. That's also why my game only lasted a season and a half longer. I totally lost interest and I felt pretty bad that Harrogate were tumbling into League One while I had just missed out on European football with Villa. In hindsight I should have stuck around for two more seasons and stablised Town before moving on. It was also pretty weird to negotiate the transfer market with money, as I had gotten so used to scouring the basement for talent. How did you manage to sign high-level players? For some reason I just could not get the funding, especially wages. I lost a few of my players because I could not offer them bigger deals when their contracts were up.

---------- Post added at 08:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 AM ----------



Nice job! I should have stayed with Harrogate for a while longer and left them in a better position.

Managed to get players like Parker on free transfers in their twilight years. He wasn't that great to be honest, but I made money from him and from a lot of other youth players like Jack Werndly and Andre Wisdom that I poached from premiership sides. Then I continued to sign cheap/free players and pumped all the money into wages

 

[boro141]

I regretted walking out on them almost instantly. That's also why my game only lasted a season and a half longer. I totally lost interest...

Not so with me! I enjoy playing the game years in the future. 4 years with Liverpool winning the Champs League was followed by a disastrous 10 months at top team Spurs. 3 days after the sack Man City hired me and I'm still there. 3 consecutive league wins and a few cups, but the Champions League eludes me. Currently 2028.

Oops I should've mentioned before that this is on Fm2010.

 

[BenditoLFC]

Currently in my best save, though admitedly it isn't non-league. Started unemployed as Sunday League footballer, after year and a half I finally got a job offer for Stevenage Borough, halfway through 2011/12 and in the relegation zone. No transfer funds and a low wage budget but had some decent players. Managed to get up the table and finished around 10th I think. During the summer I managed to get some decent and young free transfers (Kyle Ebecillo Arsenal, Brice Ntambwe Birmingham, Kevin Long Burnley, Benjamin Siergrest Aston Villa - i think). The next season i finished in the the playoffs but went out immediately but the team was starting to play well. After another productive end of season I finished in the play offs again but won both matches and was into League 1. Again, no transfer budget and minor increase in wages. Resorted to loan signings but only a few and picked up some more free transfers, mainly youngsters released from prem clubs.

In league 1 it was a similar experience, took me 3 seasons but got promoted via the playoffs. Enterting the Championship it was a big step-up as transfer budget was still minimal and wages werent great so had to scour the transfer list for young players on low wages. picked up some very good youngsters and with my scouting network enhanced i signed some 16 and 17 year old croations and portuguese regens. they were able to contribute right away but i still had a similar squad to my league two team. a few players i was forced to sell due to the board accepting offers of 2.5mil for Michael Bostwick etc but I managed to replace them with 2 or more youngtsers. Again it took about 3 seasons to get promoted but it was brilliant. 1 game left i was in 3rd position, blackpool top by 3 points, sunderland 2nd and 2 points ahead. I won my final match, blackpool lost and sunderland drew and by virtue of goal difference I'd won the championship, my first trophy in my career \o/.

Enter the Premiership, and of course I thought I was screwed. With the revenue pouring in i was given £14mil for transfers and a vastly increased wage budget. Picked up a young goalkeep from everton for 3mil and a couple of midfielders but I didnt have high hopes. I was struggling in 17th even though my defence was playing well, think i'd only conceded the 5th least amount of goals but i just couldnt score enough resulting in numerous draws. At the winter transfer window i had to address the problem and managed to find a dutch regen who had a buy-out clause of 2.7mil. he joined and on his debut he scores 2 brilliant solo efforts against arsenal to give me my first win for a while. I managed to survive, finishing in 16th which brings me to my current season.

Think it's 2023/24, February, and i'm currently sitting in 7th position, was knocked out in the semi-finals of the league cup by chelsea (3-2 agg) and still in the 5th round of the FA Cup, but my best result is undoubtably smashing Man Utd 4-1 at Old Trafford, very proud . What makes me feel a sense of achievment is that the players i've bought have grown to become premiership standard players. The 17y/o czech defender I bought for 170k is now 20, a full international and is wanted by Barca, Man Utd, City, Roma etc but with an asking price of 20mil I can fend them off, even when he's on wages of 4.7k until 2027. The goalkeeper i got for 3mil is now one of the best in the league and only 22, Spanish DMC who is employed as an Anchor man bought for £650k is perfect, another striker who i got for 6mil via the buy-out clause is now wanted by tottenham. i continue to buy young players and currently have a reserve squad with 17/18 y/o's touted as next Maicon and the like.

Anyway i'm rambling, but i don't think i could ever leave Stevenage now, even with a lowly maximum attendance of 15,000. The club is making £2mil profit every month, work to improve the training and youth facilities is underway and the future is looking bright!

My squad wages are currently £185k per week (the same as most the top teams pay for one player) with a wage budget of £250k and come the end of the season my defence will need an overhaul but hopefully, i'm striving to win the premiership and get Stevenage into the Champions League, hoozar!

 

[fuelledbypassion]

Currently in my best save, though admitedly it isn't non-league. Started unemployed as Sunday League footballer, after year and a half I finally got a job offer for Stevenage Borough, halfway through 2011/12 and in the relegation zone. No transfer funds and a low wage budget but had some decent players. Managed to get up the table and finished around 10th I think. During the summer I managed to get some decent and young free transfers (Kyle Ebecillo Arsenal, Brice Ntambwe Birmingham, Kevin Long Burnley, Benjamin Siergrest Aston Villa - i think). The next season i finished in the the playoffs but went out immediately but the team was starting to play well. After another productive end of season I finished in the play offs again but won both matches and was into League 1. Again, no transfer budget and minor increase in wages. Resorted to loan signings but only a few and picked up some more free transfers, mainly youngsters released from prem clubs.

In league 1 it was a similar experience, took me 3 seasons but got promoted via the playoffs. Enterting the Championship it was a big step-up as transfer budget was still minimal and wages werent great so had to scour the transfer list for young players on low wages. picked up some very good youngsters and with my scouting network enhanced i signed some 16 and 17 year old croations and portuguese regens. they were able to contribute right away but i still had a similar squad to my league two team. a few players i was forced to sell due to the board accepting offers of 2.5mil for Michael Bostwick etc but I managed to replace them with 2 or more youngtsers. Again it took about 3 seasons to get promoted but it was brilliant. 1 game left i was in 3rd position, blackpool top by 3 points, sunderland 2nd and 2 points ahead. I won my final match, blackpool lost and sunderland drew and by virtue of goal difference I'd won the championship, my first trophy in my career \o/.

Enter the Premiership, and of course I thought I was screwed. With the revenue pouring in i was given £14mil for transfers and a vastly increased wage budget. Picked up a young goalkeep from everton for 3mil and a couple of midfielders but I didnt have high hopes. I was struggling in 17th even though my defence was playing well, think i'd only conceded the 5th least amount of goals but i just couldnt score enough resulting in numerous draws. At the winter transfer window i had to address the problem and managed to find a dutch regen who had a buy-out clause of 2.7mil. he joined and on his debut he scores 2 brilliant solo efforts against arsenal to give me my first win for a while. I managed to survive, finishing in 16th which brings me to my current season.

Think it's 2023/24, February, and i'm currently sitting in 7th position, was knocked out in the semi-finals of the league cup by chelsea (3-2 agg) and still in the 5th round of the FA Cup, but my best result is undoubtably smashing Man Utd 4-1 at Old Trafford, very proud . What makes me feel a sense of achievment is that the players i've bought have grown to become premiership standard players. The 17y/o czech defender I bought for 170k is now 20, a full international and is wanted by Barca, Man Utd, City, Roma etc but with an asking price of 20mil I can fend them off, even when he's on wages of 4.7k until 2027. The goalkeeper i got for 3mil is now one of the best in the league and only 22, Spanish DMC who is employed as an Anchor man bought for £650k is perfect, another striker who i got for 6mil via the buy-out clause is now wanted by tottenham. i continue to buy young players and currently have a reserve squad with 17/18 y/o's touted as next Maicon and the like.

Anyway i'm rambling, but i don't think i could ever leave Stevenage now, even with a lowly maximum attendance of 15,000. The club is making £2mil profit every month, work to improve the training and youth facilities is underway and the future is looking bright!

My squad wages are currently £185k per week (the same as most the top teams pay for one player) with a wage budget of £250k and come the end of the season my defence will need an overhaul but hopefully, i'm striving to win the premiership and get Stevenage into the Champions League, hoozar!

That's quality. The beauty of LLM is that you can keep raising the bar and increasing your targets, with the ultimate goal of winning the champions league. Always makes for very long saves if you can really get into them

 

[BenditoLFC]

Think it's the furthest i've ever gone, i'll post some screenies when I get home tonight to see if i can give an illustrated account of my rise to the top...almost

 

[despughreferee]

For me it was guiding Tamworth to the Premier League on fm2010, it took me ages and i felt like quitting first tamworth and then the game but i stuck at it and finally got there and stayed there for several seasons until fm11 came out.........


2009-10: 1st Blue Square Premier
(P:42 W:22 D:13 L:7 PTS:79) Top Scorer: C.Little (24)

2010-11: 19th League 2
(P:46 W:14 D:11 L:21 PTS: 53) Top Scorer: A.Webster (19)

2011-12: 14th League 2
(P:46 W:14 D:17 L:15 PTS: 59) Top Scorer: A.Le Fondre (14)

2012-13: 10th League 2
(P:46 W:20 D:10 L:16 PTS: 70) Top Scorer: C.Donaldson (9)!! (Had a total of 14 injurys to my squad at one point!!)

2013-14: 1st League 2
(P:46 W:26 D:9 L:11 PTS: 87) Top Scorer: C.Davies (33)

2014-15: 11th League 1
(P:46 W:17 D:11 L:18 PTS: 62) Top Scorer: C.Davies (12)

2015-16: 6th League 1 (Lost in Play off Semi to Millwall 2-1 on Aggregate)
(P:46 W:22 D:10 L:14 PTS: 76) Top Scorer: C.Davies (27)
*WON JOHNSTONE'S PAINT TROPHY 3-0 AGAINST WALSALL*

2016-17: 4th League 1 (Lost in Play off Final to Sheffield United 3-2 After Extra Time)
(P:46 W:22 D:17 L:7 PTS: 83) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (34)
*MOVED TO NEW STADIUM (25,000) CALLED THE NEW LAMB*

2017-18: 6th League 1 (Lost in Play off Semi to Derby County 2-1)
(P:46 W:19 D:18 L:9 PTS: 75) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (11)

2018-19: 10th League 1
(P:46 W:16 D:16 L:14 PTS: 64) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (15)

2019-20: 1st League 1
(P:46 W:29 D:13 L:4 PTS: 100) Top Scorer: B.Murray (43) - 20 year old regen who came through the academy

2020-21: 7th Championship
(P:46 W:18 D:17 L:11 PTS: 71) Top Scorer: B.Murray (15)

2021-22: 2nd Championship
(P:46 W:25 D:12 L:9 PTS: 87) Top Scorer: P.Holt (44) - 20 year old regen signed from wigan for 400k

2022-23: 10th Premier League
(P:38 W:15 D:6 L:17 PTS: 51) Top Scorer: P.Holt (7) had 9 players all on 6 goals that season.
*LOST IN CARLING CUP FINAL TO ARSENAL 4-0*

2023-24: 17th Premier League
(P:38 W:10 D:8 L:20 PTS: 38) - Stayed up on goal difference at expense of Aston Villa - Top Scorer: P.Holt (22)

2024-25: 14th Premier League
(P:38 W:10 D:10 L:18 PTS: 40) Top Scorer: P.Holt (17) Agreed to Join Chelsea for 15.5 Million in the summer.




RECORDS WHILST AT TAMWORTH:
League Games Managed:
P:708 W:299 D:188 L:222 win percentage: 29.51%


TAMWORTH RECORDS SINCE 2009 TO 2025

Record League Victory: 7-1 vs Shrewsbury (League 2 - 2010)
Record League Defeat: 1-9 vs Manchester United (Premier League - 2024)

Highest Attendance
The Lamb Ground: 11,054 vs Everton (F.A. Cup - 2015)
The New Lamb: 25,153 vs Manchester United (Premier League - 2022)

Appearances:
Youngest Player: C.Sharp, 16 Years 154 Days - 2011
Oldest Player: C.Kirkland, 43 years, 236 days - 2025
Most Appearances: D.Allen, 317 (2010-2021)


Goalscorers:
Most Goals in the league: P.Holt (91) (2021-25)
Most league goals scored in one season: P.Holt (44) (2021-22 season)

 

[Thestaggy]

For me it was guiding Tamworth to the Premier League on fm2010, it took me ages and i felt like quitting first tamworth and then the game but i stuck at it and finally got there and stayed there for several seasons until fm11 came out.........


2009-10: 1st Blue Square Premier
(P:42 W:22 D:13 L:7 PTS:79) Top Scorer: C.Little (24)

2010-11: 19th League 2
(P:46 W:14 D:11 L:21 PTS: 53) Top Scorer: A.Webster (19)

2011-12: 14th League 2
(P:46 W:14 D:17 L:15 PTS: 59) Top Scorer: A.Le Fondre (14)

2012-13: 10th League 2
(P:46 W:20 D:10 L:16 PTS: 70) Top Scorer: C.Donaldson (9)!! (Had a total of 14 injurys to my squad at one point!!)

2013-14: 1st League 2
(P:46 W:26 D:9 L:11 PTS: 87) Top Scorer: C.Davies (33)

2014-15: 11th League 1
(P:46 W:17 D:11 L:18 PTS: 62) Top Scorer: C.Davies (12)

2015-16: 6th League 1 (Lost in Play off Semi to Millwall 2-1 on Aggregate)
(P:46 W:22 D:10 L:14 PTS: 76) Top Scorer: C.Davies (27)
*WON JOHNSTONE'S PAINT TROPHY 3-0 AGAINST WALSALL*

2016-17: 4th League 1 (Lost in Play off Final to Sheffield United 3-2 After Extra Time)
(P:46 W:22 D:17 L:7 PTS: 83) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (34)
*MOVED TO NEW STADIUM (25,000) CALLED THE NEW LAMB*

2017-18: 6th League 1 (Lost in Play off Semi to Derby County 2-1)
(P:46 W:19 D:18 L:9 PTS: 75) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (11)

2018-19: 10th League 1
(P:46 W:16 D:16 L:14 PTS: 64) Top Scorer: K.Boyd (15)

2019-20: 1st League 1
(P:46 W:29 D:13 L:4 PTS: 100) Top Scorer: B.Murray (43) - 20 year old regen who came through the academy

2020-21: 7th Championship
(P:46 W:18 D:17 L:11 PTS: 71) Top Scorer: B.Murray (15)

2021-22: 2nd Championship
(P:46 W:25 D:12 L:9 PTS: 87) Top Scorer: P.Holt (44) - 20 year old regen signed from wigan for 400k

2022-23: 10th Premier League
(P:38 W:15 D:6 L:17 PTS: 51) Top Scorer: P.Holt (7) had 9 players all on 6 goals that season.
*LOST IN CARLING CUP FINAL TO ARSENAL 4-0*

2023-24: 17th Premier League
(P:38 W:10 D:8 L:20 PTS: 38) - Stayed up on goal difference at expense of Aston Villa - Top Scorer: P.Holt (22)

2024-25: 14th Premier League
(P:38 W:10 D:10 L:18 PTS: 40) Top Scorer: P.Holt (17) Agreed to Join Chelsea for 15.5 Million in the summer.




RECORDS WHILST AT TAMWORTH:
League Games Managed:
P:708 W:299 D:188 L:222 win percentage: 29.51%


TAMWORTH RECORDS SINCE 2009 TO 2025

Record League Victory: 7-1 vs Shrewsbury (League 2 - 2010)
Record League Defeat: 1-9 vs Manchester United (Premier League - 2024)

Highest Attendance
The Lamb Ground: 11,054 vs Everton (F.A. Cup - 2015)
The New Lamb: 25,153 vs Manchester United (Premier League - 2022)

Appearances:
Youngest Player: C.Sharp, 16 Years 154 Days - 2011
Oldest Player: C.Kirkland, 43 years, 236 days - 2025
Most Appearances: D.Allen, 317 (2010-2021)


Goalscorers:
Most Goals in the league: P.Holt (91) (2021-25)
Most league goals scored in one season: P.Holt (44) (2021-22 season)

Wow. Great write-up. The playoff heartache in League One must have tested you.

---------- Post added at 09:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 AM ----------

I've decided to try this again, but this time I'm going to start even lower.

I downloaded Roonaldinho's lower league addon, activating the Ryman, Southern & Northern Premier Leagues, the Ryman, Southern & Northern First Divisions, the County League Premier Divisions & the County League First Divisions. I then also created and activated the FA Vase and the Ryman, Southern & Northern League Cups, for that extra bit of authenticity. And for that final touch I downloaded StuW's logo megapack, giving almost all of the non-League teams badges.

My journey will start with Scarborough Athletic Football Club. Founded in 2007 from the ashes of Scarborough F.C, which was one of England's oldest clubs before it was wound up. Scarborough Athletic start off in the Northern Counties East Football League Premier Division, the 9th tier of English football. My ultimate goal is to take them to the Premier League (time and patience pending), but seeing as I am 5 promotions away from the Football League alone (nPower League Two), I may settle for that as that will be one helluva achievment on its own. And along the way I'd like to bag a trophy or two, hence I created and activated a few minor trophies.

 

[despughreferee]

it was a huge test..... i thought about resigning from tamworth and then the season after thought about quitting the game...

glad i didnt though as i eventually got tamworth there

 

[Aidzzzzz]

I'm Alfreton.

First season got promotion to blue sqaure prem, went unbeaten the whole season only drawing 4 times, got to 2nd round of FA cup and got to quarter final of FA trophy.

Second season, won the league yet again. Lost 5 or 6 games this time though, but got to FA cup 4th round, beat Bury 3-0, and Hartlepool 4-0. Then got beat off Spurs 7-0 LOL. Anyway, won FA trophy though so all good.

Just about to start third season now, three promotions in a row?