Made In The EFL

[FM_TNSSO]

Made In The EFL (English Football League)

So this is something I have been thinking about for a while. It's a new challenge that I have made up and will be attempting for the first time. It's called 'Made In The EFL'.

The English Football League (or EFL for short) comprises of three divisions, effectively tiers 2-4 of English football. The Championship, League One and League Two are made up of 72 football clubs at any one time, with the top tier (The Premier League) being it's own entity.

So what is the challenge I hear you ask. Well here it is in short...

* Start with any League Two club (effectively at the bottom of the EFL pyramid)
* Stick with this side throughout the entire save (if you're sacked, you're done)
* Guide your chosen League Two side to the promised land of the Premier League
* Win as much as possible (over as long as it takes) to get yourself on the Nationality and Nation Hall Of Fames. If you have the time and patience, aim to top both of these Hall Of Fame charts

Now that doesn't sound like much of an inventive challenge I know. But this is where the twist comes in and it relates to your transfer business throughout your whole career...

* You can ONLY sign players from any of the 72 EFL clubs at any point in the entire save.
* Players MUST play for any of the 72 EFL clubs at the time of signing them. For example, if Wolves were to get relegated from the Premier League and were in the Championship, then you can sign players from them. However, if they get promoted again, once they are back in the Premier League, you can no longer sign players from that club.
* The above two rules also apply to loan signings. You cannot at any time loan a player from a Premier League side or from a club in any other country.
* When signing 'out of contract' or 'unattached' players, you are only allowed to sign those that started their career at an EFL club. Basically, you need to look at their very first club on their personal history page and if they started off with a club that was in the Championship, League One or League Two in their very first year, then you are allowed to sign them (you'll need to keep an eye on this and double check which leagues teams were in when newgens were generated).
* There are no restrictions on player nationalities that can be signed, as long as they abide by the above rules.
* The cut off point for relegations/promotions is the official date on the game when it switches to the new season and clubs are officially shown in their correct divisions for the upcoming season.
* There are no restrictions on selling players. You can sell to whoever you want, but that deal cannot include a player swap coming back in your direction (unless the deal is with a club in the EFL).

So there you have it. Hopefully it's a challenge that other players might like the sound of and give it a go as well. When it came to choosing the side I start with, there are three teams that have been in the EFL Championship, League One or League Two consecutively every single season since 1958/59 and they are Gillingham, Walsall and Crewe, so any of those three made the most logical sense for me to do this challenge with. I opted to go with the club that was bang in the middle in terms of expectations this season...Gillingham are predicted to finish 4th, Crewe are predicted 20th, so I went with Walsall who are predicted to finish 18th.

 

[misterioBean]

Looking forward to it!

 

[tazz1966]

look forward to this challenge very much

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 1
Walsall Football Club
18th July 2023

So I have officially arrived at Walsall to take over The Saddlers and see in a new era for the West Midlands club.

Being based in the West Midlands, it doesn't surprise me to see that my new team enjoy a fierce rivalry with a number of clubs in the same area. However, bragging rights are far from being ours at this moment in time as all of our rivals reside in the divisions above us.

The retail chain, Poundland, that sponsors our shirts are also the main sponsors of the stadium which is now named after them. At just shy of an 11,000 capacity, it's a relatively decent size for a club lingering in the 4th tier of English football although the long term goal will be to either expand it or build a new bigger and better one (but that's likely to be some way off yet).

The facilities are every bit as basic as I expected them to be as we (hopefully) climb the English football pyramid, this is an area that will see vast investment.

With lots of English clubs struggling financially in the modern era, it's pleasing to see that the situation at Walsall is at least positive with a bank balance in excess of £1.5 million, which leaves me a very small transfer budget to spend.

The club does carry some debt, although it looks manageable and nothing to be overly concerned about.

In terms of domestic league history, the club's best performance was spending 4 of 5 seasons in the Championship between 1999 and 2004, although two of those resulted in relegation. After cementing themselves as a regular mid table side in League One over the course of the next 15 years, Walsall now find themseves going into their 5th straight season in League Two and rather disappointingly they have finished in the bottom half in all of the previous 4. It's fair to say life has been pretty grim for Walsall fans for some time.

They do have two League Two titles to their name, but other than that the trophy cabinet is left with plenty of shelf space.

There isn't a huge amount of ambition around the current ownership either, with the target being just to become an established team in the 4th tier. There doesn't seem to be any expectation to get promoted any time soon which should mean I won't come under much immediate pressure at the club.

The supporters are pretty much in line with the board on what they expect as well.

So let's take a look at what I've got to work with. First impressions are that this isn't a bad squad for a side expected to finish 18th in the division this year. There's a lot of youngsters with plenty of potential (according to my assistant manager's star rating at least) along with a few stand out talents to build the team around. There's a lot of height in this side, so setting up my set pieces to maximise this will be something I look into.

And there are none better than 23 year old midfielder, Isaac Hutchinson. He's likely to be our main focus through the middle of the park, transitioning defence into attack.

Up top, the responsibility to put the ball in the back of the net will largely lie with Danny Johnson. He's one of the more experienced players in the team and although his goalscoring record hasn't been fantastic at previous clubs, he is averaging a goal every 2 games for Walsall at least (12 in 22).

Donervon Daniels is the centre back to build our back 4 around. He has played most of his football at a higher level than League Two and will be one of our most important players this season for sure!

With the players I have available to me, this is the tactic I have created for us to try in pre season initially. It focuses on an underlap style of play focused through the middle of the pitch. However, with both centre mids and both strikers instructed to pull out wide as much as possible, we should still be able to widen the pitch enough to open up and exploit the opposition.

It wasn't long into pre season that I experienced my first frustration with my own rules of this save and realised it is definitely going to make things difficult. My scouting team came to me with the recommendation of free agent, Jamie Bowden (only on trial at Bristol Rovers), who would be a perfect addition to my team and would become one of my best midfielders immediately...however, he started his career at Tottenham and so by the rules of the save, he is off limits.

So this might just be a little tougher than I thought, but it adds to the intrigue and I'm very much looking forward to it.​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 2
A Decent Enough Start
5th September 2023

The draw for the EFL Trophy has handed us a tough group, but in all honesty this competition will be at the bottom of my priority list this season and this competition will mostly be used to rotate the team and give squad players a chance.

Pre season went pretty well with the highlight being a 6-0 victory over League One opposition, Cheltenham. A good draw against one of our rivals, Port Vale, was a good result too considering they are in the division above as well.

It's no surprise to see Hollywood club, Wrexham, as the favourites to win the league this year and three of their players make the media dream 11, whilst none of ours do. We are tipped to struggle and should be thinking more about avoiding relegation than getting promoted. Our first game of the campaign will be against Gillingham, who are tipped for a top half finish so they will provide a stern test.

I did feel that with home advantage on our side, we could get a result against the Gills on the opening day. What I didn't necessarily expect was for us to hammer them 4-0! Liam Gordon set the tone early on with a stunning strike from 25 yards to give us the lead inside 13 minutes and our left wing back went on to turn in a man of the match performance, adding an assist in the second half as well.

We immediately jump out of League Two and into Carabao Cup action and an away day at Championship side, West Brom, was going to present us with a really tough tie in my first ever cup game in charge. However, we came to within just seconds of knocking them out and it took a 93rd minute equaliser for them to take us to penalties. We were edged out in the shootout, but I'm incredibly proud of my players for their performance here and it bodes well for the future surely!

Incoming: My first signing for the club is finally here. It was in the right wing back role that I felt we were short of numbers and quality, so that was my primary position to address in the transfer market. I feel we have now done that with the £33,000 signing of Shaun Rooney from Fleetwood. A solid addition and someone that should become an important player for us from the off.

Back in League Two, we were dominant away against Wimbledon, but just couldn't find that second goal to take the points. Instead we have to settle for a single one, but it was great to see Shaun Rooney make an instant impact as our new signing scored just 15 minutes into his debut.

We followed that up with another draw against Doncaster, but this one had different feel about it that this was a good point against another of the sides that are predicted to finish in the top 10 this season.

Our first league defeat came at the hands of Sutton. They had started their season well and came into this game in 7th position, well above expectations for the early part of the campaign and their high level of confidence shone through as they came from behind to beat us. A tight game that could have gone either way though.

Incoming: My next signing bolsters numbers in the middle of the park as Doncaster's Harrison Biggins joins the club in a deal worth £18,750. It's another cheap purchase for a player that definitely improves our squad depth.

After losing to Sutton, I wanted to see a reaction from the lads against Accrington and playing one of the weaker sides in the division would present with an opportunity to get right back to winning ways. And we did exactly that with a 2-0 victory.

New signing Harrison Biggins didn't come off the bench until the 88th minute, but he was still able to make a name for himself on his debut as he hammered in this free kick in stoppage time.

For a team that is supposed to be battling relegation this season, we have made a positive start! However, it's very early days and we won't get ahead of ourselves!

Our first EFL Trophy game of the season ends in a resounding defeat against Swindon, as I rotate the squad as much as possible to give my first choice players a rest. This competition is a bit of a hinderance when you don't have a realistic chance of winning it as you have to play 3 pointless group games no matter what.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 3
A Solid Defence Is The Key Foundation
28th October 2023

Notts County are one of the best teams in this division, so a draw is most probably a good result. However, we have every right to feel hard done by as the penalty given to Notts was extremely soft in my opinion and the ref has literally handed them a point there!

A very good first half performance which saw Josh Gordon bag a brace was enough for us to get the 3 points against a struggling Crawley side that haven't won yet this season. We weren't as good in the 2nd period but we held out for the win.

It was Gordon who once again put us in front against Harrogate and his 3rd minute strike gave us the perfect platform to go on and get a big 3 points against a side that have started the season well (sitting 7th at kick off).

Our next game was going to be as tough as it gets against an MK Dons side that top the division after winning all of their opening 8 fixtures.

So what an incredible performance and result it was as we inflict their first defeat of the campaign on them! We were nothing short of brilliant from start to finish, all over the pitch and fully deserved the 3 points!

With our excellent run of form comes my first Manager of the Month award.

After beating the side that is top of the league in such convincing fashion, it was incredibly disappointing to follow that up with a bore draw against a side languishing in 20th position!

That would lead us back into the EFL Trophy and as before, I rotated as much of the squad as possible against Chelsea's youngsters, fully prepared to lose the game. However, the second strong shone through and we pick up a win in our second group phase game.

It means that a win against Bristol Rovers in our final game would give us an opportunity of going through to the knockout phase of the competition.

Then we received a major blow for the rest of the season as we lose key centre back Donervan Daniels for up to 10 months after he done his cruciate ligaments in a training session! This is a massive, massive blow!

Daniels has been crucial for us in these first couple of months of the season, recording a 7.20 average rating in League Two across his 9 starts in the competition! I fear losing him is going to really hurt!

Without my main man at the back, I have to admit I was concerned when we went 1-0 down to Grimsby. However, the lads rallied well and we came back to win pretty comfortably in the end. A couple of players kept their place in the side after the Chelsea U21s game and Ryan Stirk was one of them, who capitalised on his opportunity by scoring our 3rd goal and bagging the man of the match.

On the face of it, Bradford City are one of the stronger sides in the division, so this could be seen as a good point against them. However, their poor start has them lying in 23rd position in the league and based on that, it's more likely a missed opportunity for all 3 points.

We might not have firing against Bradford, but we sure brought our shooting boots with us to Salford as we smash 6 past them! We were 4-0 up when Joseph Foulkes saw a straight red card at the end of the first half for a totally unnecessary two footed lunge and I went slightly more defensive to just hold on to the points in the second half. However, we actually continued to threaten with only 10 men and added two more goals before Ryan Stirk also saw red late on as he too lost his head and threw in a ridiculous challenge. Discipline might be an issue, but it is another big 3 points.

Thirteen games of our season are now played and we are hugely overachieving as we sit 5th place with a game in hand on all the times above us. We've only lost one league game so far this year which is the least of anyone in the division. Our three centre back formation is clearly doing the business right now as well, as we have conceded less goals than anyone else too.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 4
No Way We Will Be Battling Relegation
25th November 2023

Our next League Two fixture would see us host a Colchester United side that topped the division and were on a run of 8 straight wins.

They made it 9 in a row by beating us, but the referee robbed us of a point as he handed United the softest of pens in the 89th minute. The referee on this occasion is most certainly a w****r.

The magic of the FA Cup is clear for all the English clubs, but more so for the lower league sides who hope every year for a profitable cup run. Our first round tie was against lower league opposition in Chelmsford and was a game I fully expected us to win, especially as I was putting out my strongest team and taking no chances. The lads did deliver the result with a dominant display and we are in the hat for the next round.

It's a home draw against Colchester for us in the Second Round...let's hope we don't get that same ref we got two games ago in the league.

We have to turn our attentions back to League Two first though and a successful away day at Newport results in another win, but a good margin. We'd created loads of chances but my strikers had failed to convert their chances right up until the 73rd minute when I introduced striker duo, Mo Faal and Jamille Matt, who both got on the scoresheet in the last 17 minutes!

I had 'given it the biggen' in a press conference early in the season that I thought Barrow were the worst team in the league and would be relegated. So far, I am being proved right as they prop up the table, but now my team had to go out there and beat them to stop any form of embarrassment coming my way!

With this result, there's only one manager walking away embarrassed today! What a performance!

We're firing on all cylinders at the moment and back up our big Barrow result by beating Bristol Rovers, a League One side, in the EFL Trophy.

Which means we have qualified for the knockout stage of the competition.

Where we will play Wycombe Wanderers.

Back in the league, we made hard work of it against Morecambe but did eventually get over the line with an 88th minute winner from Mo Faal, who has struck a little run of form scoring in each of our last 4 games.

I took my tired squad to title favourites, Wrexham, next and a solid performance saw us grab a very big victory in North Wales. This feels like a result that really shows we can mix it with anyone in this division this year.

Unfortunately, we could only 'mix it' with Stockport for 45 minutes though in a game of two halves. We were 2-0 up at the break and looking comfortable, but a lacklustre second half performance allowed them back in and the game eventually finishes in a draw. Again, on the face of it though it is a decent point against a side tipped to secure automatic promotion this year.

And we are back on another 5 game unbeaten run right now.

Which has lifted us to 3rd in the table after 19 games and one thing is for sure...even though it is only the end of November, there's no way we will be battling relegation this season as expected.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 5
Seeing Out 2023 On A High
31st December 2023

Mansfield became the latest club to fall to defeat against us as we continue to impress in League Two. It's another great result against another side that are destined to finish in at least the playoff positions according to the media.

We'd now turn our attention away from the league and to the cups. In the space of 4 days, we will play in both the FA Cup and EFL Trophy. The FA Cup Second Round game would see a clash between the two sides currently occupying 1st and 3rd positon in League Two.

There is no doubt we will need our best players to be at their best to get something from the game against Colchester. But we have every reason to feel confident as we have the three best players in League Two over the past month!

And that confidence shone through as we blew the League Two leaders away to progress to the 3rd round of the competition. Hopefully, we would get a home draw against a big Premier League side!

But we didn't! On the flip side, we did draw the lowest ranked team left in the competition and now have a good chance of making further progress.

We're out of the EFL Trophy though after losing to Wycombe. However, we gave the League One side a very good game especially when you consider we had some very tired legs in the squad and had to rotate pretty heavily for this one.

We got straight back to winning ways in the league against Tranmere, so it was a good reaction from my lads.

Our next game with Crewe was very much a back and forth battle and an emotional ride to say the least. We found ourselves 3-0 up and cruising within 37 minutes, only to let that lead slip and see our opponents fight back to level things up at 3-3. With momentum completely on Crewe's side, it didn't look good but Jack Earing had other ideas as he smashed in an amazing 25 yard strike to put us back in front. That definitely shifted things back in our favour and we finally put the game to bed when Harrison Biggins scored our 5th - glad to get over the line in the end even if we did make hard work of it.

Danny Johnson finally scored his first goal of the season as we beat 8th placed Swindon Town. Danny has been bitterly disappointing this year, but hopefully this goal will boost his confidence and see him kick on from here.

The Xmas period for us could be really tough although it could also be defining if we pick up a couple of good results. In the space of his 4 days, we will play both the sides in 4th and 5th!

The first of the two fixtures went very smoothly as we record a comfortable win over Mansfield. Danny Johnson opened the scoring making it back to back games he has now scored in after only netting for the first time this season against Swindon.

And if we thought the game against Mansfield was good, then the performance against MK Dons was something else! To beat two sides that are chasing promotion this year so convincingly in such a short space of time puts everyone on red alert that Walsall are not to be messed with this season! We are very much amongst it for a playoff spot at least, but in this rich vein of form we surely have to be considered for an automatic promotion spot, or dare I say it even title contenders!

After beating Mansfield and MK Dons, I didn't really have any doubts that we'd pick up another 3 points against Forest Green...and we did just that without too much trouble.

So we finish the year 2023 at the top of League Two and with a 3 point lead over Colchester. However, what's more important is the 12 point gap we have opened up to 4th placed Mansfield. There are still 20 games to play, but we are in a strong position for automatic promotion right now!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Chapter 6
Back To Back Manager Of The Month Awards
4th February 2024

The New Year kicks off in a nice way for me personally as I pick up my second Manager of the Month award of the season!

We kicked off the New Year alright on the pitch as well. An opening 26 minutes that saw us score 4 times simply blew Grimsby away.

I was expecting a bit of a walkover in the FA Cup against an Eastbourne Borough side that are two divisions below us. However, maybe an element of complacency kicked in and we just about laboured over the line. I suppose the most important thing is that we will be in the hat for the fourth round.

And we now get our wish of playing a big Premier League team in the form of Everton. It would have been nicer to have the tie at home, but we'll enjoy our day at Goodison.

Title favourites and Hollywood club, Wrexham, were next up for us in League Two. We'd already beaten them this year at their own gaff and we completed the double over them with another convincing victory here. The Wrexham faithful will certainly be disappointed with how their season is going so far, with their team sitting in 10th position in the league and looking like they only have an outside chance of making the playoffs at this stage.

Another team that are having an incredibly disappointing campaign is Bradford City, who find themselves in 19th position in League Two! And we didn't do them any favours here either as the pressure continues to heap down on the Bradford hierachy.

It was just another day at the office as we beat Salford City in our next match, with in form striker Aramide Oteh scoring another brace to take his tally this season to 18 goals in all competitions.

We look unstoppable right now as we extend our winning run to eleven straight games!

And then we pulled off the unthinkable and record a very special day in the history books for Walsall...yes we knocked Everton out of the FA Cup!! The Toffees underestimated us as they fielded 7 players aged 22 and under and at half time they found themselves 2-0 down and bring dominated. They introduced a couple of first teamers early in the second half and started to come back into the game, but VAR was on our side disallowing a goal for the home side and refusing them a penalty shout as well. They did manage to hit the back of the net in the 80th minute which left us a very nervy final ten to play out, but we held on to progress with a famous victory!

So our dream of drawing a Premier League giant at home was still very much alive as we awaited the draw for the last 16. However, again we didn't get our wish and no disrespect to Norwich, but this is not the draw we wanted at all. However, we have just beaten Everton on their own turf, so we can beat Norwich away right?!

Back in the league, it may have been deadline day, but with no new additions to the squad on my radar, it didn't cause any distraction from our fixture against Crawley as we cruise to another win.

As January comes to a close, it's back to back Manager of the Month awards for me!

Whilst Josh Gordon is named as the Player of the Month as well.

Gordon has more League Two goals than anyone else in the squad so far this season and the striker (on loan from Burton) is proving to be a vital member of the team this year.

Our run of 12 straight victories came to an end away at Notts County, although there's no shame in getting a draw at their place. They're 4th in the league and desperately chasing down an automatic promotion spot.

Those automatic promotion spots (top 3) are definitely ours to lose at this point. We have 14 games remaining and a 15 point buffer back to 4th position. Can we hold on to cap off an incredible season?!

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Before my latest update below, apologises for the month delay. I broke my laptop and have been waiting for it to be fixed.

Chapter 7
Breaking Records In Season One
14th March 2024

I reckon we need 8 wins from our last 14 games to gain automatic promotion and 10 wins would probably secure us the league title. We got the first of them with ease against Accrington Stanley!

Harrogate Town are down in 15th position and weren't expected to pose too many problems for us. They didn't pose any at all in terms of threatening our goal, but we were disappointing in attacking theirs and can only manage a bore draw.

It certainly wasn't the best preparation for our top of the table clash with Colchester.

It's fair to say we were pretty ****** awful against our nearest pursuers, but somehow still managed to walk away with a point! We'll take that!

After two 0-0 draws, I was relieved when Danny Johnson put us ahead just 13 seconds into the game against Newport! It set the tone for a bit of a goalfest and it was nice to get back to winning ways and put the ball in the back of the net a few times.

It was the fifth round of the FA Cup next for us and a trip to Carrow Road to play Championship side, Norwich. They are doing pretty well in the second tier and look set to challenge for a playoff spot this year.

They proved just too strong for us. Despite going out of the competition though, we've had a great ride this season and can be proud of ourselves. And of course, that Everton win will live long in the memories of our fans.

We were grateful for easier opposition back in League Two and took full advantage as we smashed 6 past Morecambe.

Wimbledon were the next side to fall to defeat against us. We were pretty poor in the first half and only managed 5 shots on the Dons goal. However, a kick up the backside seemed to do the trick at half time and we came out to create 20 chances in the second period, scoring twice to take the points.

It's a win that moves us to 90 points, which is a new record high for the football club...and we still have 8 games to play!!

When we played Barrow earlier in the season, we put 8 goals past them! So it was gutting to draw with them at our place! Really poor result against a side that looks destined for relegation!

Although that goal we scored against them did set another club record!

We bounced back from the disappointment of the Barrow result with an excellent win over 3rd placed Gillingham! It's a result that really cements our position as league leaders!

With just 6 games of the season remaining, we have a very nice 6 point lead at the top of the table and just 1 more win will see us secure automatic promotion! We look nailed on to finish an excellent season reaping our rewards for such an amazing year!

 

[leckuno]

Good to see you back, was wondering what had happened to you