Lincoln City - Stobdog's journey through England

stobdog

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Lincoln City [2013-2014]
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So after my Stockport County save file corrupted after a few month of ingame action i decided the best course of action was to just start a new story with a team i literally knew nothing about. After much perusing over Conference, Conference North and Conference South teams i decided to go with Lincoln City.


Here's my team report:
View attachment 356163(Maybe a little hard to see so if you want to see a certain players stats just ask.)


Mainly i'll be looking to strengthen my wingers and maybe bring in a few youth players for the coming seasons. But if i get the chance to bring in a few strong players to fit into the first team i'll be strengthening via that way too.

Hopefully i'll be be able to have a strong pre-season as i'll be leaving my friendlies up to my assistant manager so i have more time to deal with transfers and stuff.

I'm predicted 13th in the league so i think a strong mid table finish / playoffs will be my goal in my first season.
 
Tactics & The season ahead

So after playing around with the tactics board for a solid 30 minutes i decided to go for a very basic 4-2-2-2 tactic employing two wingers and two central midfielders. This formation suits the Conference well in my opinion as it is very versatile and can be tweaked at a moments notice.

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I've gone with standard defender roles in defence as i feel limited roles restrict the link up play between Defence and Midfield. In midfield i have went with two Box to Box midfielders to link defence to attack and to cover at the back also. In AM i have an AML & AMR in attacking winger roles to provide support to my two forwards. Up front i have gone with the classic Target man & Poacher to open play up a bit more.

Hopefully, the strength of forwards i have will help me bang in quite a few goals this season as i feel i have one of the strongest front lines in the league based on my assistants reports.
 
Transfer movement & Pre-Season Report:



Transfer Budget - £0
Wage Budget - £14, 806 (£2,650 available)



Transfers in:
Tommasi Trani (GK) (Age - 19) : Free Transfer - £500 pw
Mamadou Gomes (D/WBL) (Age 20) : Free Transfer - £250 pw
Mark Wright (M/AMR) (Age 31) : Free Transfer - £1k pw


Transfers Out:
None as of yet




I currently have former Aston Villa legend Bosko Balaban on trial and i'm toying with the idea of giving him a 1 year contract however his £1.5k a week demands are pretty high for my current budget, we'll see how it plays out.



Pre Season Friendlies:
Lincoln City vs Lincoln City U21's: 1 - 1 (Alan Power 84)
Lincoln City vs Aston Villa: 0 - 4
Lincoln City vs Rokycany: 3 - 1 (Mark Wright 24, Mamadou Fofana 34, Waide Fairhurst 45+2)
Lincoln City vs Buxton: 1 - 2 (Ben Tomlinson 28)
Lincoln City vs FC Bayern II: 1 - 4 (Bosko Balaban 41)
Lincoln City vs Paris Saint Germain Reserves: 3 - 0 (Bosko Balaban, Jake Sheridan 59, Mark Wright 81)
Lincoln City vs Wolsburg II: 2 - 0 (Andrew Wright 7, Waide Fairhurst 27)
Lincoln City vs Jong FC Twente: 3 - 2 (Bosko Balaban 17, Jordan Thomas 69, Mark Wright 90)
Lincoln City vs Hucknall: 3 - 2 (Jordan Thomas 57, Conner Robinson 79, 88)
Lincoln City vs Sunderland: 1 - 3 (Dan Gray 49)


Overall a pretty eventful pre season, picking up wins against Wolfsburg II and FC Twente's B team were probably the highlights results wise. Winning 5 out of 10 games, especially against mainly much stronger teams, is a sign of good things to come hopefully. In regards to transfers, bringing in a couple of youth players (Trani and gomes) as well as the signing of Mark Wright, who already looks like an excellent bit of business as he had a very strong pre season, seems like i've done a reasonably good job. I'm still trying to negotiate with Bosko Balaban as my marquee signing for the season and veteran striker to lead the line. Hopefully in August i can offload a few players and bring a bit more quality in as i continue to wheel and deal my way through this transfer window.
 
End of August short update


First of all, Bosko Balaban agreed a move to stay after his trial was successful, the 34 year old poacher from Croatia agreed a 1 year deal worth £950 per week. If he plays 20 games this season his contract is automatically renewed for another year, which is an added incentive for him to play a bit better.


Secondly, IT'S SEASON TIME. As explained in my first post i'll be happy with mid table, anything over that is all gravy.



WIthout further ado i give you the rest of Augusts results:


Woking vs Lincoln City : 2 - 1 (Waide Fairhurst 68)
Going down 2-1 on the opening day is a bit disapointing. Especially to an own goal and a fluked free kick. We played really well but were just a bit unlucky in terms of the final result.


During the gap between matches i agreed a deal to take young AMRL/ST Tyrone Marsh from Oxford United on loan for 5 month with the view to extending it to the end of the season. I'll be using Tyrone as backup / sub for the wingers to compensate for my sheer lack of competition in the AMR/L positions.


Lincoln City vs Macclesfield: 5 - 1 (Ben Tomlinson 38, Tyrone Marsh 45, Jake Sheridan 51, Jon Nolan 55, Bosko Balaban 67)
WOW. Totally dominant display from us today, 5 goals from 5 different players is fantastic. We were too strong in every area, 69 % possession & 26 shots being the standout stats from today. Good to see Balaban getting his first league goal, i reckon he's going to go on to fill his boots now. Brilliant display from literally everyone.


Lincoln City vs Forest Green: 4 - 1 (Jake Sheridan 35, Ben Tomlinson 48, Sam Russell (OG) 53, Charlee Adams 61)
Another good result and another good all round team performance. We created a ton of chances and the midfield really impressed. Potential goal of the season from Charlee Adams for our 4th goal, a curling effort from the sideline just inside our own half, amazing.


Cambridge United vs Lincoln City: 2 - 3 (Bosko Balaban 36, 67, Luke Foster 40)
Went 2-0 down after 32 minutes but Cambridge were reduced to 10 men allowing me to get back into the match and eventually get a winner. We continued to play well throughout despite going 2 down to goals on the counter attack. Pleasing fightback and another 2 goals for Balaban.


Lincoln City vs Wrexham: 2 - 2 (Jake Sheridan 25, Waide Fairhurst 77)
Bit of an even match, however, disappointed i squandered a 2 goal lead to draw. We're playing really well defensively despite conceding two late, late goals. I'm pleased to be scoring relatively freely in the first few games and i hope the current goal glut continues.


Dartford vs Lincoln City: 4 - 2 (Jake Sheridan 30, Arnaud Mendy 57)
Really furious with this result. Dartford's Danny Harris scored 4 past me. Absolutely shambolic defensive display and disappointing to end such a positive month in such fashion. Dartford had much less shots than us and still ended up on the right side of lady luck. Looks like a bit of a shuffle in the defence is needed.



Player of the month:
Bosko Balaban
Bosko was in amazing form this month, scoring 3 times and providing 4 assists at an average rating of 7.40. A close second was AML Jake Sheridan for his 4 goals in 6 games.


With that i come to the end of August. It's been a really good month and i've managed somewhat of a coup in signing Bosko Balaban. We've pulled off some impressive results and we look to be in a healthy position (8th) after 6 games.
 
September: The Opposite of Autumnal Blues? Nope.




Lincoln 3 (Ben Tomlinson 33, Mark Wright 57, Waide Fairhurst 88) vs Salisbury 1
Very good display from both attack and defence. Conceded one on the counter attack but came back with two fantastic goals which i cannot complain about. Disappointing match from last months man of the month, Bosko Balaban, who was subbed after 54 minutes. All in all a good performance.


Barnet 1 v Lincoln 0
Very even match, despite Barnet having a player sent off after 26 minutes. Both teams had lots of chances but in the end Barnet got the winner with a very scrappy goal from a corner. Barnet were favourites going into this so i can't complain with the result much.


Lincoln 1 (Newton 72) v Southport 2
Really disappointing match and one we really should have won. Southport had 2 shots on target and scored 2, i had 13 on target and scored 1, sums up these past two matches too well. Not pleased with my lack of form in any area in these past 2 games.


Luton 3 v Lincoln 1 (Fitzsimons o.g 23)
I don't even know what to say about this match. We bossed the game and got hit on the break 3 times. All 3 goals were stupid amounts of offside yet weren't flagged, we had the ball in the net 6 times only to be ruled out for offside. Really frustrating for me and now 3 losses in a row.


Lincoln 1 (Balaban 80) v Hyde 2
Shocking result. Beyond a joke now, cannot even buy a bit of good luck this month in terms of refereeing decisions. Hyde's winning goal was a clear 10/15 yards offside and not a thing was done. Weird. Furious with this result.




And so concludes september.
If anyone has any tips on lower leaugue management in terms of tactics i'd love to hear it right now because i'm close to just clarting my laptop off a wall and using the fragments of plastic to ram through my eyes. Nothing is working, tactics i've won leagues with multiple times are just not showing any results at all.
 
Having both of your midfielders pushing up the ground will leave you horribly exposed on the counter which is when you're conceding most often. Perhaps change one of the box to box midfield roles to a deep lying playmaker (defend) so that at least one of your midfield stays back more often, and if you're dominating games a playmaker role is a necessity. This will also help link the defence and midfield too. And maybe consider setting your poacher to a deep lying forward (attack) if you have strikers suited to it, the deep lying forward will make forward runs coming off the target man and his knock downs/passes and the attack duty will make sure he pushes up to act as the poacher too.
 
October: A continuation of Autumnal Blues or Sunnier skies?

Nuneaton 2 v Lincoln 2 (Sheridan 48, Tomlinson 50)
Just a slight change of tactics as suggested by someone on here was enough for my team to seem like a completely different team. Despite the 2 - 2 result, which i was happy with given we were huge underdogs, we played a million times better to the past 5 games. Hopefully i can use this result to turn a corner and push on this season.

Lincoln 1 (Newton 51) v Tamworth 0
Changed around the lineup a bit and brought summer signing Trani into the first team in a move that paid dividends as he was the difference between us and Tamworth. We attacked well and defended even better, brilliant display and 1-0 didn't do us ustice at all.

Lincoln 2 (Balaban 24, pen 42) v Aldershot 1
Another fantastic performance where we could have scored 6 or 7 goals had it not been for the opposition keeper. A brace from veteran Balaban was enough to see off Aldershot, with his opening goal being ultimate route 1 football and an assist for my keeper Trani.

Kidderminster 1 v Lincoln 2 (Balaban 25, Sheridan 65)
Excellent performance against top of the table Kidderminster and despite going 1 - 0 down very early on we held it together and came out with all 3 points . We controlled the majority of the game and took both our goals in good fashion. This month is the kind of month i need every month!


After this match i decided to look for a couple of youth players for my youth team as we currently only have 4 players in our U19 squad and i feel i need a bit more youth in my squad. Joining me in January is full back Jonathon Bateson and striker Alex Salmon, both of whom sign on free transfers and will more than likely be in and around my first team from the get go. I'll go into a bit more detail in January when they actually join up with the squad.

ALSO I KNOW THE LAYOUT IS MINIMILISTIC AT THE MOMENT BUT I'LL TRY MAKE IT MORE DETAILED STARTING FROM JANUARY. IF YOU WANT TO SEE ANY PLAYERS STATS, LEAGUE TABLES AND OTHER STUFF JUST LET ME KNOW.

Lincoln 2 (Balaban 8, Tomlinson 11) v Corby 0 (FA Cup 4th Qualifying round)
Routine win against lower league opposition. Good performance from everyone and i'm surprised we didn't win 20 - 0 the amount of chances we had. Good to see Balaban back in scoring form after a mini drought. Unbeaten all month and in the first round of the FA cup.

Player of the month: Bosko Balaban
With 4 goals in the 5 games we played this month Bosko was a clear winner. His brace against Aldershot won us the match and his two goals in the last two games have been a huge help. He's looking like my main man this season and a real bit of business for the club.

What a month!
Unbeaten all month, back to winning ways and the lads firing on all cylinders after a disappointing september. Coupled with the joy of getting into the FA cup proper, which will be a bit of a boost to the income) we also catapulted ourselves back up the table. With this good run of form the morale has also been a lot better amongst the team meaning we're performing a lot better.Hopefully we can keep it up and carry on this unbeaten streak.
 
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November: The month after October


A huge amount of games this month (8) means i have to ensure the squad gets a bit of rotation to counter fatigue and burn out. After last month's strong showing i'm hoping i can follow it up with an even stronger November. I'm intending to trim the squad down in terms of shifting the dead weight (players with less than 3 star potential) in order to free up wage budget for January and beyond.


Welling 1 v Lincoln 2 (Foster 7, Fairhurst 76)
Straight forward win for us that wasn't helped by Balaban getting injured just after half time. We played relatively well and controlled possession but i've noticed we're a bit weaker than most in the air and i feel we're suffering a bit in that department. Fairhurst coming off the bench and grabbing a goal was a real life saver however as Welling had just hit the post and the subsequent attack led to the winning goal. This win pushes up to 10th and into our target position for my seasonal expectations.


Apparently, the board are in the process of selling the club to a member of the board. If i get sacked i will take the first English job i can get and continue from there. I'll still be continuing this story regardless.


Lincoln 2 (Fairhurst 45+1 , Tomlinson pen 77) v Sheffield United 2 (FA Cup 1st Round)
I really don't expect much from this match so i'm rotating the squad and giving some fringe players a bit of a chance to rest up my main team.
Well...i did not expect to get even a goal in this match but we played so well and more than earned our replay. Coming from 2 - 0 down is never an esy feat but to do it against a team who are leading a league two above our own is even sweeter.


Southport 2 v Lincoln 1 (Sheridan 64)
Really disappointing way to end our unbeaten run, we just didn't show up and our tiredness realy showed as we were beaten in every area of the pitch. We defended well enough to keep the score to 2 - 1. On to the next match, eh.


Forest Green 2 v Lincoln 0
We were awful. Just awful. Managed 1 shot, and it wasn't even on target. To rub salt in the wounds, the goal to put Forest Green 2 - 0 up was the last kick of the game and was scored by their keeper Sam Russell. Sums up my luck in the past two games really.


Sheffield United 3 v Lincoln 1 (Mendy 60) (FA Cup 1st round replay)Brad
They were 3 - 0 up after 25 minutes then we had them all over for the remainder of the match. I can't be too disappointed at all as we were 40-1 to win and we were on a two game losing streak as it was. HOWEVER, it is another mini losing streak and morale is starting to drop and i'm picking up quite a few injuries.


Lincoln 3 (Foster 12, Yussuf 48, Tomlinson 75) v Hereford 2
A good win to end the 3 game winless run and another good performance from Tomlinson. Evenly matched game and Tomlinson really was the difference maker with a goal and two assists he's making up for Balabans absence really well.


Lincoln 0 v Gateshed 0
Boring draw, not much to say apart from that. We created very little chances, neither did Gateshead. Yawn.


Bradford PA 3 v Lincoln 1 (Tomlinson 77) (FA Trophy 1st round)
I don't even know what happened here, we got caught on the break 3 times. BPA had 3 shots, 3 on target and 3 goals. We had 25 shots, 1 on target and 1 on goal. Out of a trophy i'd have hoped to have gone far in. At least now i have the league as my sole focus now, the only plus side from this really.


Player of the month: Ben Tomlinson
3 goals and 4 assists this month puts Tomlinson at the top of the pile this month. Balaban is out injured but Tomlinson is fitting into his boots really well. He's really coming into his own as a Deep Lying Forward and is getting a lot of shots on target in most games.




This month was a real mixed bag. A huge draw against higher league opposition then being knocked out of a cup by lower league opposition. We picked up a lot of injuries and our squad was really tested to the limit, with an u19 player being called up for 2 games. The squad strength is something that really needs looking at. This board takeover situation is really worrying as i think new owners will bring in a new manager, according to a news article i received after the second Sheffield United match. Like i said earlier, if i get sacked i will continue the story and will try to get another job in England asap.
 
December: The winter of discontent?


Lincoln 2 (Tomlinson 65, 70) v Alfreton 1
50/50 game with nothing much in it. Tomlinson yet again proving to be the difference, another man of the month performance and more goals. Good come from behind victory and a real show of our attacking prowess.


Macclesfield 1 v Lincoln 1 (Yussuf 7)
Bit of a boring match with very few chances and no real attacking intent from either team. Not much to say other than another point on the board. Next match, please!


Lincoln 3 (Marsh 14, Fairhurst 33, Newton 81) v Nuneaton 2
End to end match that was settled by a late winner, excellent attacking performance however conceding 2 goals was a bit of a kick in the balls as we played really well and were hit on the break twice and conceded twice. We're playing some good offensive football right now and hopefully it continues.


Chester 0 v Lincoln 1 (Yussuf 62)
A defensive masterclass from our lads, we literally took care of every single attack and didn't allow Chester a single shot at all. We scored our only goal as a result of a huge passing move that entailed pretty much every player passing the ball at least once. Another solid result.


Lincoln 1 (Marsh 16) v Grimsby 2
We played awful and we deserved to lose. The team was tired and not fully fit causing us to not be able to compete with a fresh Grimsby side who ran us ragged and we were lucky to not lose by 5 or 6 goals.


Halifax 0 v Lincoln 3 (Marsh 7, 21, Wright 25)
A first half assault on Halifax sealed all 3 points for us and Halifax were lucky we didn't bang 10/20past them as we had 27 shots in the match. We went through Halifax like a hot knife through butter and the gulf in class between us and them was obvious. Nice way to end the month!


Player of the month: Tyrone Marsh
3 goals and an assist in two games from my loan star stole the man of the month award from under a couple of players nose. Despite him playing a bit part so far he really stepped up to the plate in the last two games of the month


Another high quality month and another good couple of wins under our belt. We have some new arrivals in January and hopefully i can do some wheeling and dealing to improve my squad and maybe bring in a few youth prospects.Also the board takeover was successful and we'll just have to see how that plays out (hopefully in our favour).


AND ON THAT NOTE WAVE GOODBYE TO THE OLD TEXT BASED FORMAT AND SAY HELLO TO SCREENSHOTS AND MORE PLAYER INFO (HOPEFULLY).
 
January: I can't think of a witty sentence...


First up, my club was the subect of a board takeover which was finally completed late December. I fully expected to be replaced as manager, as a news item said they were considering replacing me. However, to my delight, i was offered a 1 year contract extension which i gladly signed.


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Transfer news


Transfers In:
Alex Salmon - Free Transfer
View attachment 349846


Jonathon Bateson - Free Transfer
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Yassin Moutaouakil - D/WB (R) - End of season loan


Future Transfer:
Joel Bradley- M(RL),AM(RL),ST -Coleraine - Bosman

Bit of a versatile youth player and looks a good bit of business on a free transfer. Predicted to be a leading League 1 winger in the future so hopefully he fills his potential and goes on to be a brilliant footballer. I'll cover him in a bit more detail when he arrives at the club though.

View attachment 349838




Transfers Out

Mamadou Gomes - Worksop (End of season loan)




Team Results
View attachment 349843




Two wins, two draws and a solitary loss, January was fairly average in terms of performance and results. We at least drawing rather than losing though so that could be a good thing in the end as 1 point is better than 0. I can't really pick out a single player to praise as the full team is playing well and working well as a team. Hopefully we can turn a few more draws into wins though.




League Table
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Player of the month:
Arnaud Mendy
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I couldn't really pick out one player this month but one who did stand out a bit more than most was our centre back Arnaud Mendy. He's been an absolute monster this month and was the difference between winning / drawing and losing in a couple of games.




This month has been pretty good in terms of results and league position being maintained. We're really performing as a unit now and sitting in 7th i hope we can push on and grab a playoff place come May. Exciting stuff at Lincoln!


If anyone has anything they'd like to see or leagues they'd like to see the situation of just let me know.
 
February: Not Fabruary, More like Averaguary


I was pleased when my board allowed me to have a parent club to garner a bit more income to the club so you can imagine my surprise when all bar 1 club recommended didn't offer me money to be a parent club. However, the one that did, Watford, was a strong team who has plenty of good loan prospects.

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Results:

View attachment 349232

A 50/50 month in terms of results. 4 games, 2 wins, 2 defeats. We're showing a bit of fatigue so hopefully next month i can rotate to avoid the fixture backlog caused by a couple of postponements in December and January.

League Table:
View attachment 349231

We dropped from 7th to 9th just on goal difference. Shows how tight this season is looking now!



Player of the month:
Ben Tomlinson

View attachment 349230
4 goals in 4 games from our main man Tomlinson, he's just unstoppable recently. He's looking like a massive player for us this season.


Not much to say other than a 50/50 month that could have went either way, disappointing to lose two games in a row but i know we'll bounce back. Our youth intake is due next month so i'll be doing two updates in the next 24 hours for it. If there's any silent readers out there or even a few new readers, let me know how you think i'm doing this season and any input is accepted.
 
Hey guys, i can't carry on this story because my laptop containing the save file was stolen about 4 days ago.

I didn't back anything up to cloud data but i've got a new laptop and stuff so i'm fully expecting to start a new story in the next few days.

Any suggestions on what English team to use as a starting point would be a huge help.


Sorry, guys :(
 
Hey guys, i can't carry on this story because my laptop containing the save file was stolen about 4 days ago.

I didn't back anything up to cloud data but i've got a new laptop and stuff so i'm fully expecting to start a new story in the next few days.

Any suggestions on what English team to use as a starting point would be a huge help.


Sorry, guys :(

Sucks that your laptop was stolen mate.. the times we live in, eh? Hope you're well though.

As for teams, what kind of challenge are you looking for?
 
Sucks that your laptop was stolen mate.. the times we live in, eh? Hope you're well though.

As for teams, what kind of challenge are you looking for?


I was thinking of either Skrill N/S or League 1
Preferably a team that was once pretty successful but have fell down the leagues.
 
I was thinking of either Skrill N/S or League 1
Preferably a team that was once pretty successful but have fell down the leagues.

For successful teams that have dropped try Coventry and Plymouth. For a general fun game play as Tranmere, good team with a few wonderful youngsters.
 
For successful teams that have dropped try Coventry and Plymouth. For a general fun game play as Tranmere, good team with a few wonderful youngsters.

I'm going with Plymouth i think, dude. Cheers for the kind words and i'll be starting monday night i think!
 
That sucks, I was just getting into all the screenshots! I think the biggest fall from grace would of been Portsmouth.
 
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