Lake Knot City - from nothing to something

Banashur

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Hello guys! I know FM22 is fast approaching but I decided to start one final save anyway.
This will be my 3rd and last save in FM21 although I havent played the game for ages before this (since FM13) .
The idea was to start at the bottom of the ladder so I loaded up a custom database and created a club in the Northern Alliance Third Division, which sits neatly at the bottom level of English Football's Pyramid, level 14.

The club, facilities, the stadium and chairman
BridgesColour.png
Located in Seaham on the Durham Coast just south of Sunderland, Lake Knot City is a newly formed seaside town club. Obviously, we start with an amateur status and a reputation of 50, just below a few other teams in the league who start with 75. I've also added U23 and U18 teams.
Stadium wise, we'll play our games at The Void, a newly built 1000 seater with training taking place at neighbours' Seaham Red Star FC's Ferguson Motor Repairs Stadium.
Training, youth, corporate facilities, youth recruitment and importance start with the minimim rating of 1. Morale of the team and supporter's profile is set right in the middle at 10. No club vision added and all staff contracts are set to amateur of course. I didn't add any debts , transfer, wage budget or sponsor income either but to make things a bit spicy/easier, I gave myself a sugar daddy owner with the ownership type set to Member-Owned (Elections).
That's pretty much it. I didn't want this to be a grind; just a fun little save.

On we go.

Club profile:

the kits.png ,

Media prediction has us at 7th place:

media pred.png

Stadium: for some reason the game messed with the corporate facilities, making them a 9 rating;

Stadium.png

Season odds; has to do with the fact that we have a sugar daddy; Morpeth look like the main threat in this league. There should be no excuses for missing promotion;

season odds.png ,

Club vision/culture, set automatically by the board:

club.vision.png ,

and finances; didn't add any balance in the editor but seems like Mr. Ian Thomas did that by default. I know it's unrelistic for this level but until I get to at least 8th or 9th level, money is irrelevant anyway as we're an amateur side;

finances.png

Tactic wise I think I'l stick with this 4-2-2-2 for a start, simple tactic, not too many instructions as players are rubbish;

tactic.png ,

I've been pretty active in the window but these look like the best players in my team:

Birkerlund- GK.png , Hornyik - CB.png , Irwin - DR.png , Healey - MC.png , Farkas -AMR.png , Neto - ST.png ,

That's pretty much it. I'l probably come back with an update mid-season.
Feels good beeing back here after 7 years, reading and posting stuff, thanks guys and FM Base for this amazing community!
 

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Mid-season update!

Halfway through the season we sit 2nd, sandwiched in between the two Morpeth sides.

table.png

Our sole defeat came at the hands of the current league leaders who can benefit from having players from their first team, which plays 7 levels above us. I've put a lot of emphasis on squad roation so far. Everybody got game time.

results.png , squad.png .

The board agreed to some improvements:

juniorcoaching.png , groundbuy.png , youth recr.png .

I don't think I'll be doing any business in January. I'll be back at the end of the season. Thanks!
 
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We did it !
We won the league on the last day of the season due to superior goal difference. Morpeth Town drew 2-2 on the final day!


champs1.png

seasonreview.png , fixtures.png , STANDS.png , SQUADD.png .

Analyst report and newly set club cultures:

new club culture.png , analyst.report.png .

In terms of quality the leagues are pretty much the same till about the 9th tier. From that point it should get harder.
I'll be back with updates at the beginning of season 2. :)
 
Season 2

Good news at the start of the season as the board decided we should go semi-pro. Training and youth facilities have also been upgraded. Our reputation increased significantly since last year (50) and is now at (300) according to the editor.

semi.pro.now.png , impr.faclts.png .

We are obvious favourites to win the league according to the odds. Morpeth Town favourites to go up with us. Elections are on the horizon as well on the 12th of November!

seasonodds.png , elections.png .

I have signed some experienced players this summer. Among them:

grusz.png , tom.tom.voice.png , phil.png , simon.says.png , callum.png , oli.png

hazel.png .

We had a decent start so I think I'll stick with this tactic.

decent.start.png , tacticc.png .

Be back mid-season! (y)
 
January update

We sit atop the league with Morpeth Reserves close behind.

league.table.png,

We have a new owner, Mr Kojo. Forgot to mention we're the only semi-pro team at this level.


kojo.png , staff.png.

I also reinforced the team with 3 players (2 will join later this month) :

faulkes.png , dixon.png , jarrett.png .

My game is very slow. I'll start removing the lower leagues as I go up the pyramid.

database.png .

Bbl.
 
We did it again!

Second promotion in a row. Joy for Morpeth Town Reserves who also achieve their 2nd promotion in a row and will join us in the Northern Alliance First Division (12th level).

champs.again.png , review.png , rating.png , lineup.png .


A new club culture has been added : sign high-reputaion players.

newculture.png .

I received a job interview from Ryan Reynolds' Wrexham :D, rejected of course.

job.interviu.png .

In other good news the stadium will receive an expasion of 500 seats.

expansion.png
 
Season 3

We begin season 3 as clear favourites again after a lovely little start. We're still the only semi-pro team in the division. We will also play in a cup competition this season, a cup which the board expect us to win.

preview.png
, comp.preview.png , decentlittlestart.png .

The new additions:


abid.png , sukar.png , evans.RB.png , raychford.cm.png , mike.cm.png , exton.png,

newell.st.png.

Back mid-season with an update!
 
Mid-season update!

Less than half of the season to go and we sit comfortably at the top. We also advanced to the cup semis after a nervy game in the quarters.

c.standings.png , standi.png , fixt.png.

The team has been strenghtened considerably this winter period although it will take time for the new additions to gel. Most notable:

astles CB.png , nugent CB.png , hawk.cm.png , doherty LW.png , hamilton ST.png .

Team depth: We now have 2 decent players on every position. I reckon with this squad we can handle even a Division 8 team. We look good!

team.depth2.png , TEAM.depth.png, report.png , depth.png .

Expansion completed.

expansion.completed.png , stadi.png

Back at the end of the season. (y)
 
Promotion !

3rd in a row! We also won the cup so it's the first double in the club's history.

champs.again2.png , cupaa.png .


Compared to previous seasons this one has bee a stroll. Morpeth Town Res. join us for the 3rd consecutive time up the leagues.

stantings1.png , fixts.png .

Performers.

performers.png , moments.png , line-up.png .

And job interview from League One side Bristol.

job.bristol.png .

See you next season!
Cheers!
 
Season 4

We're clear favourites again to win the league this year. But it is going to be trickier as only the top team wins promotion this time.


preview.png ,

I'm sticking to the same formation for now.

formationman.png ,

I did lose a few good players before the start of the season but I managed to strenghten with others. Most notably:

greenfield.CM.png , Gurung DM.png , tanner CB.png , the.mbeka.machine.png , wilsoon CB.png.
 
Update

Not long to go before the end of the season. We're hangin' in there.

results.png , stantings.png .

Brought 2 top players in:

denny.png , ali.omar.png .

Also received an offer from League 1 side Blackpool.

blackpool.png .
 
Promotion !

We secure another promotion, 4th in a row. It was pretty comfortable in the end. We also added another cup to our trophy cabinet.

end.game.png , fixtures.png , cup win.png , trophies.png .

Season review; line-up:
Simon Gray has been spectacular this season.

of.the.season.png , bit.of.history.png , lineup.png , gray.png .

Good news as the club has completed the purchase of the ground. Great news as they decided we should go pro from next season. It's a huge step.

purchase.completed.png , promaybe.png , we.re.going pro.png .
 
Season 5

Season 5 is underway with great news both on and off the pitch.
Firstly, out chairman decided we should go pro this season. This was was followed by great on the pitch performances. Scouting range was upgraded too. New contract for me as well.

predictions.png , tables.png , fixtures.png , aaaaah.now.png , range.png , Untitled.png.

New additions this season:

kasim.png , swift.png , aaron.png , charley.png.

We started with a foreground sugar daddy. I noticed in the editor that he's now "underwriter".


sugardaddy.png .

Forgot to mention that we are now in the same division with neighbours Seaham. So maybe a little rivalry there. :)
 
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I am back after a sabbatical. Pretty sure no one follows this thread anymore but I will continue this save and keep posting an update here and there.
So last time we left off at start of season 5, which we won comfortably. We also won the Carpets Challenge Cup for a 2nd time in a row.

cupps.png
,
league succes.png
,
acoolades.png
.

AFC Wimbledon offered me a contract which was rejected of course.
Some bad news is that the president is no longer a sugar daddy.

nmm.png
 
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Season 6

It was another promotion in S6. Again, we were given the best odds to win the league and we delivered. We also won the 2 domestic cups we played in although we were outclassed in the FA Cup by Sheffield who were 2 divisions higher than us.
(I'm currently in S7. The league table picture was taken later in the game cuz at the time, I forgot to take an ss. )

preview.png, league.png, table.png, fm26_mQH6UjmfBf.png, runnindowntheisle.png,brookssmilesonCUp.png,theFAVase.png .

It is worth noted that the FA Vase final was played at Wembley. Hopefully one of many more to come.

There were some quality signings at the start of the season. Among them:

aaron.png, forbes.png, tim.png .

How we lined up. Blackett was a monster of a player this season.
An job offer from Championship club (at the time) Peterborough came in mid season.

, awards.png, jo.offer.png, lineup.png .

By this time next weekend I hope I'll catch up with the current in-game day. Stay tuned...
 
Season 7

Promoted yet again. It's the 7th in a row, an amazing feat! Some records were broken as well.
We only won 1 of the 4 cups we played in, the least important one.

comps.png, accolades.png, inthemaking.png.

Among the top signings were:

zola.png, telford.png, LBCole.png, jacop.png, howey.png, gavin.png, cian.png, bruneian.png .

Unfortunately Zola, my best signing, was sold just 8 months later for 100k because of huge financial issues.

Even though we had 2 successful years in the transfer market the finances were deep in red by the end of the season. Which is why the president decided to take a bank loan before going into administration.
The wage budget was also reduced from 19k last season to 14k/week.

25-26.png, 26-27.png, administration.png, bank loan.png, payroll.png .

BBL.
 
Season 8

We're mid-way in Season 8 and sit comfortably top of the league. However, we were knocked out of the FA Cup by League 1 side, Cambridge.

hf.ss.std.png, FA.Cup.png.

Excited about the players that joined the club mid-season.

dele.png ,c.evans.png, fraserr.png, gran't.png .
 
S8 is over and an 8th consecutive promotion happened in style. Bury AFC stumbled too much in the final stretch so we won the league comfortably. I'm gutted about the loss in the Integro League Cup as we will never have the chance to win this competition again unless, god forbid, we go straight down next season.

comps.png,

My front 2 were outstanding this season, with loanee Pili breaking several records in the process. However he doesn't seem interested in another loan.

fntst.png, record.breaker.pili.png, WillJ.png, pili2.png.

Decent transfer business done although we're over 300k in the red again. Seems like a deep FA Cup run is the only way to raise some cash in the lower levels. News came in that we will have to leave The Void for now cuz it doesn't meet the requirements and there's no cash for an upgrade, obviously.

transfers.png. the.void.png.

I'm sticking with the very same tactic from the first season. It worked out well so far. However, I'm gonna need back-up at RB. There's no one else to play there when D'Amico leaves to play for Brunei.

depth.png, tactic.png.

Be back with season 9 updates. Cheers!
 
Season 9

Currently mid-way in season 9 and sitting top with a 7-point advantage.
For some reason the league started in October. Maybe some bug or issues with the pre-game editor or because of the database itself. It is the same story in Vanarama National.
So at the start of July we were favourites to win the league but the odds changed before the season started. AFC Telford not doing so well eh?
We reached the 2nd round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history but were lucky to only lose 1-0. League 1 Pompey were too much for us.

odds.end.July.png, rep.OCT.png, lg.png, recent.png.

I now have a 20 man squad with the GK position being the only one without proper cover.

squad.png.

Business was good in the summer. Loaned in some very gifted players.

inocentiu.png, cruu.png, zurch.png, waite.png, brad.pngjamie.png, luke.png, courtney.png, t.biniss.png.

As expected, last season's wonder Pili, did not want to join for another loan spell and remained in Argentina while Jones the 2nd best player was sold to Chesterfield for a bag of chips cuz we needed the money.
However, Courtney did his job perfectly so far making me forget about the aforementioned guys.
Back at the end of the season.
 
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