So here comes my final dance with FM20 as I look to take my previous story "Foxes Become Lions" one step further and replicate this with Welsh side Newport County! Having lost interest in my previous story, I'm hoping this will regalvanise me and create a truly challenging save.
Essentially the aim of the save will be to take over at Newport County and eventually win the Premier League and Champions League by signing only Welsh players. I will also be looking to take over the Welsh National side in this save, but need to focus on establishing a Welsh core in Newport before doing so.
So here is my starting squad and as you can see only contains a very small percentage of Welsh players, some of whom are only teenagers. So plenty of work is going to be needed to overhall this team.
Key Players
Josh Sheehan - A playmaking central midfielder that looks to be a core player to build our team around. Having made a number of international appearances at youth level he failed to break through into the National Side but looks set to be a leading player in League 2 and hopefully play a key role in taking the club forward.
Ash Baker - Looks set to be another star player in League 2 and a very handy asset for the right-back position. He is another player to build the side around and hopefully a prominent player for Newport for seasons to come.
Tom King - Goalkeepers can sometimes be a tricky position to fill but King looks like a decent prospect. Well suited to this level of football and still expected to improve substantially in the seasons to come so expect to see him between the sticks for some time.
Ryan Hiller - At only 16 years of age Hiller looks to have the most potential from the academy. He may have only just finished his GCSEs but will likely get game time for us this season as we look to bring the Welsh prospects into the starting XI.
As expected we have very little to work with in the transfer market financially. To add to my pains the scouts have only managed to compile a list of 101 Welsh players that are within our scouting range and have some level of interest playing for Newport. So is going to be a mighty struggle improving this side.
Facilities are pretty basic as expected. The main area I need to improve is the youth recruitment. If we can get high potential players coming through the youth systemI will be a very happy man!
With very little funds to work with it isn't surprising to see more players departing the club than coming in (my transfers were July onwards). I managed to offload 4 senior non-Welsh fringe players for a pretty decent return and bring a couple of new faces into the club.
Craig Morgan (CB) - My first bit of business was to pick veteran centre-back, Craig Morgan up off the free agent list. He has 23 International Caps to his name and brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the team. Although he is 34 I can hopefully get a couple of seasons out of him and he has instantly been instated as the Clubs captain.
Luca Hoole (RB) - Having offloaded our backup rightback I needed to bring a new face in to fill the void. Hoole is only 17 and an exciting young prospect that can hopefully develop under my guidance. My only concern will be if our first choice RB gets a long term injury then it's a lot of pressure on the youngster.
So we find ourselves top of the table as we pass the first third of the season.
I cant say we're playing attractive football by any means scoring just over a goal a game and conceding around 0.3 goals a game but gosh it's been effective. We are controlling most games and looking resolute at the back but really struggling to create in the final third. Fortunately we have managed to convert the few chances we've had to scrape a lot of 1 goals games!
We managed to pull off a couple of upsets in the EFL Cup, including a memorable victory over our Welsh rivals Swansea City. Unfortunately Wolves put an end to our Cup run but we really didn't look massively out of our depth, albeit a against a slightly rotated side.
So a draw in our final game of the EFL Trophy against Coventry will progress us through to the knockout stages. Although it's a very low priority tournament and promotion is the key objective it is a chance to win some silverware and grow the clubs stature.
I thought a draw against Coventry would be enough to progress us through to the knockout stages of the EFL Trophy but completely forgot the group games went to a shoot-out. Not entirely sure why that is but either way we held our nerve and managed to progress through to the second stage.
Unfortunately we were met by a very strong Arsenal U23 squad in the 2nd round boasting the likes of Saka, Nelson and Willock all of whom have been breaking into the senior side.
The fixture congestion also meant I had to field a weakened side so was really like lambs to the slaughter....Not a pretty game to watch from the Newport dugout.
After a good win over League One opposition, Oxford in the 1st round of the FA Cup we were eventually beaten in a shootout with Port Vale after 210 minutes of football couldn't separate us. Unfortunately this is alway the worst possible outcome, picking up the loss and having some extremely fatigued players going into the next fixture...
We continue to turn out gritty performances in the League and are proving to be an extremely difficult side to beat. Unfortunately we have dropped far too many points in the way of draws for my liking we still find ourselves in a very good position in the League.
However, the closing pack have made up a lot of ground on us front runners and the automatic promotion spots are going to be highly contested. We have just passed the halfway stage of the season and is time to kick on and get that winning mentality back.
We managed to go on an incredible 8 game streak of not conceding a goal! Unsurprisingly we have the best defensive record in the League conceding just 0.46 goals a game on average.... Not too shabby.
I have also been rewarded with a new contract with the club. Always a pleasing sight to see as I continue to work on my all Welsh vision for the club.
I haven't had as much free time recently but have eventually managed to work my way through the first season, hence the very broad update.
Incredibly we have managed to not only secure promotion to League One but also win the Title by a 6 point margin!
We have proved ourselves to be an extremely well organised side this season and extremely well disciplined in defence. This is something we are definitely going to need to carry over to next season if we are to have any chance of staying in League One.
Our promotion to League One has also come 2 years ahead of schedule issued in the boards long term plan.
We finished the league with the best defensive record in the League conceding just 0.7 goals on average across the season. As well as our good defensive work we were greatly assisted by our ability to hold on to possession and control the game.
The main area to work on for next season will likely be the chances created. We had the second most possession in the League but were 19th in chances actually created. Not a great return. Having said that we managed to convert the few chances we created but would like to add some creativity to the game if possible next season.
So just 1 season down and I have already become the 9th most successful Welsh Manager of all time....Not fully sure I agree with that but I'll take it!
Unfortunately the Youth Academy has failed to produce any potential prospects this year. I highly doubt any of these players will ever feature in the first time and will likely be released unfortunately.
Only 4 Welsh players made it into our team of the season - Fortunately one of these picked up Player of the Season, Josh Sheehan.
I pinpointed him at the start of the season to be one of the clubs key players moving forward, so am delighted to see him living up to the hype and has been instrumental in taking the club forward.
It was a pretty routine pre-season, no high profile fixtures but a chance to get the new recruits up to speed with the tactics and the style of play i am developing here at Newport.
We do have quite a lot of new faces in the squad this season.... 9 to be precise.
Neco Williams (RB) - Our highest profile signing and Premier League Winner (Although not in Football Manager) joins us on loan from Liverpool for the season. I thought he may reject coming to League One but am delighted that he accepted the offer and can hopefully have a massive impact for us this season.
Liam Cullen (ST) - Another Loanee but another young Welsh prospect with bags of potential. He definitely has the ability to have a massive impact in League One and will be shocked if he doesn't end the season as our top goalscorer.
George Williams (RW) - We managed to pick Williams up on a free transfer after he refused to extend his contract with Forest Green. He is a very versatile player that can cover a large number of positions and already has 7 senior caps to his name.
Here is the first team squad at the start of our second season - The Welsh presence is considerably higher with only 7 non-welsh players featuring.
So the bookies have tipped us to be relegated at the end of the season although our odds to win League One are only 45/1 which doesn't seem that bad considering we just got promoted.
Here are the results from Euro 2020.
Wales failed to make it beyond the Group Stage whilst Italy went on to win the tournament against Portugal.
Ryan Giggs position as Wales Manager is still secure and find themselves ranked 23rd in the World.
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