Horsham FC - A Journey Up The League's

[Sam91]

Horsham Football Club

Hello!!! I'm back, after not doing a story for a while I've decided to type up my Horsham save. After a couple of saves with Chelsea, Crawley and Southampton and just not enjoying it really I downloaded the English Pyramid Structure and took over my hometown club, Horsham!! In real life the club is in ruins, no stadium and with the local council having recently turned down plans to build a new stadium the club in in real trouble with no home after this seasons ground share with Horsham YMCA runs out the club could fold. You may remember the run they had in the FA Cup back in 2007/08 when they reached the 2nd round and drew Swansea, sensationally drawing 1-1 at home they got to travel to Wales and actually took a 2-1 lead!! We lost 6-2 in the end but both games were shown on Sky Sports for the first time in the clubs history.

Anyway I've already played all the way to 2022/23 season so I have plenty to type up. I'm going to do season by season recap posts showing our performances in the league and cups until I've caught up with myself then I'll probably do monthly posts.

 

[Sam91]

Season 1 - 2014/15

So our first season was upon us. We were mixing it in the English Isthmian League First Division South!! We had a whopping 35 season ticket holders and were renting a ground off a team 2 league's below us.... I had a job on my hands to say the least! The club had basically no money but the team was decent a littered with decent forwards so my approach was attack, attack, attack!! Tony Nwachukwu, Aaron Scott, Jamie Cade and Rory Hill were the key players for us. Anyway lets have a look at how we got on in the league:

Stormed the league with ease to be honest crashing in 122 goals with Jamie Cade, Aaron Scott and Tony Nwachukwu all banging in over 20 goals with ease. Rory Hill and Sam Baffour were decent on the wings too. We weren't too bad at the back but at this level it was all about firepower and we had tons of it. The only cup we were in was the FA Trophy South in which we crashed in the first round to Dartford!!


Best 11

Number of stand out players but my Player of the Season would of been Tony Nwachukwu with ease. The boy was electric and caused problem whether he was on the wing or up front.


Notable Events

Nothing really!!! Literally nothing. We won promotion, thats about it. But we needed to get moving up the leagues as our finances were pretty horrible!!
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[coolmcool]

how many leagues is it to the Premier League?

 

[Sam91]

how many leagues is it to the Premier League?

I believe it's 7 promotions needed, so one down 6 to go!!

 

[FreakDJ]

What is the skin you are using? Looks really nice. I'll be following this story! Seems interesting.

 

[Sam91]

What is the skin you are using? Looks really nice. I'll be following this story! Seems interesting.

Skin is called Kybeks, thanks man

 

[Sam91]

Season 2 - 2015/16

So we moved into our second season in which we were playing in the English Isthmian Premier Division!! To be honest its not all too different in terms of quality but still we needed to secure promotion to continue our charge up the table!! Lets have a look at how we done:

Smashed the league with ease yet again here. We kept the same front three and they absolutely terrorised defences, with Aaron Scott smashing in 40 goals in 48 games!! The new signings of ex Crawley centre back Louis John and Ali Fuseini really made a difference for us while Jack Dixon became a tidy little creative player while Fuseini done all the dirty work.


FA Cup Run

We had a stunning FA Cup run this year which sorted out our finances nicely. Shame we didn't get to meet a top division side but we done really well to reach so far in the tournament claiming scalps of Shrewsbury, Plymouth and very nearly Sheffield Wednesday!


Notable Events

Rory Hill became our new captain and Louis John his vice as I was eyeing up him as our captain in the future. We secured promotion to the Vanarama Conference South. Also our board finally started building us a new stadium which will be completed in 2017!!​

 

[coolmcool]

Incredible cup run and you dominated another league, Premier League just round the corner, i bet you have more money for winning a round in the FA Cup than Limerick get for winning the Irish League!

 

[jstewart85]

I can't seem to access your in game screenies mate, I can see the badge and the pics fine but not the screenies. I know I probably have the wrong browser settings but a wee nudge in the right direction from someone would be helpful. This has the makings of a top story, don't want to miss out

 

[Sam91]

I can't seem to access your in game screenies mate, I can see the badge and the pics fine but not the screenies. I know I probably have the wrong browser settings but a wee nudge in the right direction from someone would be helpful. This has the makings of a top story, don't want to miss out

Weird, I used Gyazo screen capture not sure why it wouldnt work... any one else having problems?

 

[Sam91]

Sorry no updates been busy and caught up finishing the current season which has been an absolute thriller!! Will smash out the updates tomorrow as I'm mega keen for you guys to see how far we've come

 

[Sam91]

Season 3 - 2016/17

So season number 3 and we were rocking it in the Vanarama Conference South!! Few ins and outs but the core of the team remained in Louis John at centre back, Jack Dixon and Ali Fuseini running things in midfield and Aaron Scott smashing in the goals up top. Lets see how we fared in the league:

Another league title and promotion wrapped up nicely!! It was once again a walk in the park really, Louis John is good enough to be playing in League 1/2 kinda standard to be honest. Jack Dixon was a superb little playmaker for us and Aaron Scott is just a natural goal scorer. Tony Nwachukwu also chipped in nicely from the right wing. Rhys Murrell-Williamson came in at left wing as we let Rory Hill go and played very well.


Best 11

Notable players were clearly Jack Dixon, Aaron Scott and Louis John. Mason Bush is a good little signing for us, the ex-Spurs midfielder rotated nicely with Burnell.


Notable Events

Louis John became our captain with Fuseini as his vice. We upgraded our facilities and secured promotion to the conference!!!
​

 

[Sam91]

Season 4 - 2017/18

Annnnnd so we're onto season 4!! So far we've managed to get straight promotion to the Vanarama Conference destroying teams and winning titles with ease. I felt this would be a tough season, I aimed in my head for around mid table... anyway lets have a look at how we got on

Alas we didn't get promoted it was a step too far for us this time. We managed to get into the play-offs but Forest Green knocked us out in the semi finals. We just simply weren't strong enough this year...

They deserved to beat us to be fair, over the two legs they were much better. You live and learn though!!



Best 11

So we had a bit of a shake up at the start of the season. Bagged a new keeper from Millwall called George Purdie who was a cracking yet wild keeper. Elliot Legg and Kiye Martin came in at the back, Charlie Higgins signed on a free the boy's an ex Southampton player. Tom Palfreyman in a brilliant little regen centre midfielder who's name you should remember as he's a real star throughout our growth for many years. Darren Ellis is a regen striker who has bags of pace and can finish good enough for this standard!!



Notable Events

We finally moved into our new stadium. We had two failed takeovers, good job too as the second one intended to sack me!!! Perhaps the biggest news was we finally turned professional!!!!
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[coolmcool]

Gutting with the very late goal, but you have done amazing to have so many promotions so quickly, my local team Truro City did something similar a while back

 

[Sam91]

Gutting with the very late goal, but you have done amazing to have so many promotions so quickly, my local team Truro City did something similar a while back

It's fine they were already 2-1 up from the first leg. Yeah it's been easy so far just poaching free agents every summer

 

[Sam91]

Season 5 - 2018/19

So after making the play-offs last season but getting knocked out in the semi's by Forest Green I was aiming for promotion this year for sure. This year though we were joined by oil rich Barnstaple who'd had a tycoon takeover and had signed some insane players for this league!! Lets see how we did:

Boom!!! Top by 4 points and automatic promotion to League 2!!! Barnstaple ran us close but we were always in the lead and won it with relative ease. Forest Green came up with us through the play offs which was nice for them after Accrington tanked them last year in the finals.

Also we won another trophy this year.. the FA Trophy!! Its basically the really **** one, but hey I'll take it:

Best 11

Not much of a changed eleven to be honest, couple of names like Gomes, Wiltshire and Nangle all improved the team a bit but we were just better this year I knew how to play against certain teams. Also the likes of Palfreyman and John had another years experience under their belt.


Notable Events

Not too much. A promotion from within, we won the FA Trophy and got promoted ​

 

[Sam91]

Season 6 2019/20

So we've made it to the football league!!! This is where the real hard work starts but to be fair its where decent players start getting released and you can start poaching them players on a free!!! Anyway lets have a look at how we got on in the League 2:

Well we weren't relegated!! But we hardly pulled up any trees either. 61 points was a nice total and pretty clear of relegation and not too far from the play-offs either!! Just look how bad Bolton did though as they drop out of the Football League.


Best 11

Quite a few changes as you can tell. No-one really shone in this bang average season, but Brody Carroll on loan from West Brom done well at the back and John Marquis on loan too. Russell Evans is a young lad from Brighton we got on a free and worth taking note of. Only Palfreyman and John were still in there from last season. Terry Buckingham came in between the sticks on a free and is a top keeper for this level.



Notable Events

Nothing to note other than stadium improvements.
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[lmooney95]

This looks great! cant wait to read more

 

[Sam91]

This looks great! cant wait to read more

Thanks mate more updates later can't wait to catch up with myself!!

 

[SamPeters]

Just caught up with this! brilliant so far mate!