Another season, another big slate of results. This is the first time ever that I have successfully earned straight promotions from the lowest to highest league in FM 2012. But if there's one thing I've noticed on my trek it's that the gaps in talent aren't quite so wide moving up the English divisions like they were in Italy and in South America.
Team: Eastleigh
Season: 2015/2016
League: Npower Championship
Final Position: 3rd (Promoted via Playoffs! Defeated Cardiff 3-3 on penalties and Wigan 2-1)
Cups: EURO Cup: 3rd in Group, lost head to head tiebreaker; FA Cup 5th Round (Lost to West Ham because I got screwed on being denied a penalty. Decided to go to the press about it. Did not get fined. HMMM); League Cup Champion (avenged last year's FA Cup Final L to Chelsea 2-0)
Average Attendance: 3495 (due to seating requirement in Championship -- highest all year was 7275)
Biggest Win: 6-1 vs Ajax in Euro Cup Group (if Friendlies count, beat Everton 6-0)
Biggest Defeat: 0-3 at Ajax in Euro Cup Group (funny how that works out)
Top Goalscorer: Nouha Dicko (30 goals; but League Top was Hasan Zengin with 18)
Most Assists: Nouha Dicko (17 assists)
Highest Average Rating: Oliver Nicholas (7.43 in 50 apperances)
Fans Player of the Year: Ryan TBD, but probably Zengin
At the beginning of the year I signed a TON of players. A ****-ton. I wanted to increase my squad's talent, finances be damned, and trim the fat later. Looks like I needed that depth though, because with the congested fixture list and crappy training facilities I have (they got downgraded at the end of the year) my team was ravaged with injuries.
Dicko lost a good portion of league play, especially in the 2nd half of the season.
Johnny Gorman was having a monster year before getting an injury that kept him out for 3 months, then another injury that kept him out for four months. Fortunately, he came back just in the to make one of the biggest plays in Eastleigh history.
Also, Oliver Nicholas complained at the start of the year that he wanted a transfer because he wanted to be at a club with a larger reputation. Hopefully nearly escaping the Group Stage in the EURO Cup, winning the League Cup, and getting Promoted to the Premier League is enough.
EURO Cup (which I qualified for as last year's FA Cup Runner Up) saw me in the 4th Qualifying Round where I smacked around Slovenian Side Koper. My reward was to somehow get a 3rd seed draw yet find myself drawn into a group of death. Every team was very good -- but an own goal by Oliver Nicholas near the end of in my 2nd game against RB Salzburg (who scored a 92nd minute goal a man down to break a tie while I was winning my last game in the group). Losing by two shut me out of the knockout round -- well, that and only getting 9 points and conceding 11 goals. But still.
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To win the
League/Carling Cup (what are we calling it here again?), I had to defeat Doncaster (3-2), Championship Winner Blackburn (2-1 in extra time), Machester City on the road (again! this time 4-1), Fulham (3-2 aggregate victory, had away goal advantage to boot), and finally Chelsea. And the Chelsea game was HARDLY a contest. Chelsea looked sucker punched the whole game, and we controlled the contest throughout.
Man City Win:
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Chelsea Win:
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Chelsea Winning Goal (@ Wembley):
[video=youtube_share;drNaWbgAb0M]http://youtu.be/drNaWbgAb0M[/video]
And then we get to the Championship. Yes, there were lots of injuries and yes I do have about 10k/week of salary that teams don't even want on free transfer. But my offense stayed strong and midseason additions of top tier fullbacks really helped me push myself up the league table. I also found some very promising prospects for the future who I can hopefully keep on my team now that I'm in the top division. The best signings were regens Hasan Zengin and Christoph Waa (pictures included below) along with young former Man U Youth Goalkeeper Perluigi Gollini.
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All in all, a strong climb up the Championship in the 2nd half of the sesaon brought me into the top playoff seed, and fortunately my team was able to take care of business against Cardiff (who I lost two both times I faced that season) and Wigan (who I beat handily both times but faced in the final without my top three strikers/wingers due to injury or suspensions).
But if was Johnny Gorman, who had been out the entire calendar year due to injury who was able to come back for the final. He wasn't match fit, but he gave it his all and sealed promotion for Eastleigh in the 84th minute in dramatic fashion.
[video=youtube_share;P4K1nIqcGtE]http://youtu.be/P4K1nIqcGtE[/video]
Required Tables/Transfers/Etc. Pictures:
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edit: next year's initial wage budget is 165k/week and the transfer budget is 18.87 million. Looks like I will have room to make some moves and stay afloat next year.
