The Coventry Crusade

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MillerJA9

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Welcome!

To immerse you into real game time, this story will take us from 2016 and beyond. However, to get you up to speed there will be a little backtracking to begin with. It is the magical tale of me and my journey with Coventry City.

Originally, I never intended on doing a story as I was completely unsure how the save would pan out, but decided to share my experiences and see how it goes, and who knows it may be the start of a long one or the first of many!

A background

Coventry City, a team in financial turmoil. A ten-point deduction seemingly set the precedent for the 2013/2014 season, a season in which the team were expected to struggle. The team possessed some high quality home-grown players, and I was hoping this would carry me through to a respectable finish. Nevertheless, the team needed some additions as well as departures to ensure the club was competitive yet under it's limited budgets.

Transfers 2013/2014
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Piiroja, an ageing yet experienced centre half to shore up defence. Colsa, a talented, experienced and again, ageing midfielder to help dictate the midfield. Bowery, a back-up loan striker.

League table 2013/2014
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Yes, we did it despite the points deduction. A tremendous effort. Big thanks to Delfouneso who was superb up-front and will be for anyone who takes up the Coventry challenge. We found ourselves in the Championship against all the odds, could it get any better?

Well, yes. No screenshots available but Coventry were taken over by Valtteri Puranen, a Finnish investor who happened to pump a LOT of money into the club. My wage budget was increased from ?50k to ?350k which resulted in much transfer market manoeuvrability...

Transfers 2014/2015
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Originally I'd intended to be a manager who kept tight control on spending, but I admit I got a tad reckless (wait til you see the upcoming seasons...). I signed some players in line for the future and some to make us competitive in the Championship, as well as trying to sign domestic players. To summarise, Nathaniel Clyne, Harry Maguire and Rhys McCabe were inspired signings, as well as Stech and Katongo being first team regulars!

League table 2014/2015
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We did it! Back-to-back promotions was more than I could have imagined and I was delighted. The squad had a real togetherness and this team spirit inspired us to go marching on. We were in the Premier League... How would we fare?

Transfers 2015/2016
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An increased budget and Miller went a little wild. I was slightly disappointed in myself as I wanted to be a manager who prided himself on tight spending, however it was needed for the Premier League and we were still WELL within our budgets. To summarise the signings:

Cardozo: great target man
Sarabia: poor man's Eden Hazard
Fletcher, Hughes and Townsend: home-grown players with the potential to either tutor or develop well.
Gauld: well, he's British and got bags of potential!
Biraghi, Denswil and Ronnow slotted into the first team and Nilsson, a highly rated regen CB did so too!

I will provide screenshots of players and team details as we go into the 2016/2017 season. Firstly, how did we fare in our first outing in the Premier League?

League table 2015/2016
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An absolutely extraordinary season for me and The Sky Blues. We expected to finish just above the relegation zone (predicted 20th) yet managed to make it to Europe! If it wasn't for a last day hammering at home from Norwich we'd have tipped City to the Champs League! Miraculous. We also managed to reach the FA Cup final, yet lost to a talented Arsenal squad. Disappointing not to win the cup but no complaints as we did tremendous to reach it!​
 
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So now you're up to speed!

After three seasons we achieved back-to-back promotions and a European placed finish. I won manager of the year for both League One and the Championship, but despite finishing 5th as opposed to our predicted 20th, I only merited a runners up place in the Premier League manager of the year running, with David Moyes indeed being The Chosen One! :p

Time for Coventry to battle with some of the elite teams in Europe, with Premier League and European football on the cards for the Sky Blues faithful.

I have a few aims for this story. Of course, to bring Coventry as much success as possible. A secondary aim is to try and sign as many young/domestic players as possible. The obvious limitation to this is that talented English players command a higher fee and, despite improvements to youth recruitment, junior coaching and feeder clubs, I am yet to unearth one home-grown talent as a result of my youth team! I am a huge fan of saves which rely on HG players and youth intake, but so far I have struggled to do so! Yet, we march on and I will strive to bring my squad to an adequate level of domestic talent, though at the moment my primary focus is on remaining competitive.

Where we are now!
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Back to the Ricoh Arena for 2016! Fantastic! After a few years of low attendances, we are back in Coventry, hoping to bring more fans back to the club. There must be a limit on season tickets in this first season as I have had no updates and was certainly hoping we'd bring in more than 1,000. We'll see how our attendances come along. Here is some more in-depth info on our stadium and facilities.
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As you can see, the board have approved a number of requests and the facilities at the club have been improved consistently for the last couple of seasons. Soon I hope to have the capabilities to compete with the big boys!

View attachment 381684

Finally, here is a more detailed view of the club details. As you can see, I am already a legend at the club! Have I done enough to deserve this? I am not sure, but I am certainly going to do my best to earn the title!

Next post: transfers, squad details and pre-season!

EDIT: apologies if it isn't showing the images and just attachments... It is doing so on my end but hope it isn't a hindrance!​
 
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Bakestar said:
ummm how did you sign clyne for 2.5mil 2nd season?
Click to expand...

He was unhappy at Southampton (who had been relegated) and wanted a new challenge! Very surprised he wasn't snapped up by one of the bigger clubs. At this point I'd been taken over so had the funds to purchase him.

For the record, I have never used editor or cheated in any way. Had a lot of good luck in this save thus far and I'm hoping it continues!

EDIT: forgot to mention he was actually transfer listed, valued at ?5mill yet available for ?2.5mill. Bargain!
 
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Pre-pre-season/transfer round-up/squad details

The set-up

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Rangnick and Speakman

I operate with a DOF to assist bringing in both youth and first team players as they often spot players I don't and Mr Rangnick is one of the best in the business.

Speakman has been employed as my HoYD for the last couple of seasons. Despite us having established youth recruitment, we have yet to see any very talented players come through via youth recruitment.

Transfers 2016/2017
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I got carried away again! Hojbjerg on a free from Bayern was a must-buy and was likely to be our first choice CM, competing with McCabe and Fletcher.

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Hojbjerg

Cardozo managed 15 goals last term, and despite being 33 would still be a vital member of the squad, HOWEVER, some of his mental stats are limited (determination specifically) and I needed strikers to tutor the young bloods at my club. Step forward DIDIER DROGBA, the man, the legend. Issue is he is 38 and not likely to feature in so many games. In hindsight I should have left my striker buying at that but couldn't resist signing Kiessling (sp) due to his tremendous mental stats. I imagine he will be our main striker but we shall see!

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Drogba and Kiessling

Reyes was bid for by my DOF and last season this was a weak position for me, so I was happy he was able to spot him. At ?5.25mil he was a steal!

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Reyes

The other signings were mostly hot prospects, who I shall come to shortly. First off, here are some of the key members of my first team squad.

Defenders
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Biraghi, Denswil, Nilsson and Clyne

I picked up all of the above for cheap! Biraghi (?1.1mil) Denswil (?2.7mil) Nilsson (?2.3mil) Clyne (?2.5mil) plus Harry Maguire for ?800k. My DOF found Denswil was available for such a low price (somehow) and Clyne was unhappy at Southampton in 2014. These are my main back four with Maguire and the odd youngster operating as back ups. I have other players out on loan who could be recalled if necessary! Nilsson is one of my hottest prospects! 6'6 and a solid CB who can also play RB. Training up his heading to make him an aerial powerhouse!

Midfielders
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Sarabia, Hughes, Townsend and Gauld

These will be my main picks utilised across an attacking midfield three, Gauld is being trained to be my first choice AMR but is highly versatile, with new signings Reyes and Hojbjerg operating in DM and CM, with competition from Fletcher and McCabe

Strikers
View attachment 381766
Cardozo

Besides our new signings, Cardozo is the only other main striker at the club but we do have a few regens with good potential...

HOT PROSPECTS/REGENS
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GK - Magee
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DF - Quinn and Nissen
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MF - Kucera, Jensen, Weir, Sedgemore, Kuipers and Logan
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FW - Arensoe, Bruninho and Dovey

As you can see, most of the regens aren't HG and a lot of the talent came from Scandinavia. I loaned Sedgemore out as we have many CMs, as well as Weir back to Rangers, which I feel may be a mistake as I want to train him in England but at least he will get more first team experience.

So who's hottest? Kuipers is predicted to become a world-class midfielder, Weir looks a great prospect, as do Jensen, Arensoe and Dovey. I am also hoping Magee becomes a top-class goalkeeper.​
 
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Pre-season

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Here is the tactic I have adopted throughout my save (and previous saves) and will continue to do so unless I feel a change is necessary.

I employ a counter attacking philosophy with my players keeping their passing short and the tempo high, hassling the opposition and taking advantage of their errors. Sometimes this does lead to my full-backs being caught out and it may be something I look to change in the future (any tips?). For now, I will show faith in it as it has always served me well and hope it continues to do so!

How we did in our friendlies...
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I left these to my assistant manager as I see friendly games as more vital for fitness and player cohesion than me testing out any players/tactics. I trusted him and we got some good results. Slightly disappointed with the Olympiakos loss as we headed into the new season but hey-ho it's not the end of the world!

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After moving back to Coventry's own Ricoh Arena from Sixfields, I was hoping for increased revenue from season tickets due to a much larger capacity (32k up from 7k) as well as it ACTUALLY being in Coventry...

Despite European football on the cards after a brilliant season, the fans have hardly come back in their droves and we've had a poxy increase in season tickets (which are some of the cheapest in the league)... Will the numbers increase over the season or am I getting bugged on? We will see!

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Here is the Premier League preview for 2016/2017. As you can see, Nathaniel Clyne made the Prem team select last season and will be hoping to produce the goods again this year.

We are predicted 10th this season after defying the odds of relegation (and beyond) and finishing 5th last season. Will we be able to muster up the same this time round or will we run out of ideas?


2016/2017 aims​

  • [*=center]Euro Cup qualification
    [*=center]Develop youngsters through tutoring, training and game time (screenshot updates will be uploaded)
    [*=center]A good run in the Euro Cup this season
    [*=center]Ideally win a domestic cup but this is secondary to the league



It's almost time for the Premier League kick off. Stay tuned!​
 
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August 2016

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We opened up the season pretty well, above are the results and below will be slightly more detailed reports!

Coventry 4-0 Hull
Hughes x3, Denswil

We started off our Prem League campaign on fire, with Will Hughes taking the plaudits for a marvellous hat-trick!
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What the...?! Well, our lack of season ticket sales was backed up by a shocking attendance... Despite a fifth-placed finish, a cup final and now European football this season, our attendance has plummeted from our approx 7,500 average at Sixfields... This is bizarre as our stadium (The Ricoh Arena) is now back in Coventry... YIKES!

Nottm Forest 1-4 Coventry
Hughes, Maguire, Denswil, Townsend

4-1 up at half time and it stayed that way. Ward-Prowse was always going to be their danger-man and got a consolation goal from a free-kick, with us running out deserved winners.

Coventry 0-0 Stoke

Snorefest all round! Disappointing not to win! Good news was, despite being a TV fixture, our attendance increased to 4,180... Woooo?!


In other news, we drew West Brom away in the Capital One Cup Third Round and below is our group for the Euro Cup:
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I think the draw has been quite kind and we have a good chance of qualifying. We'll see how it goes!


Player of the Month
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Our player of the month was Will Hughes who bagged 4 goals in 3 games with an average rating of 7.62!​
 
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To anyone remotely interested, let me know if there's any advice you'd like to give, or any requests regarding my story etc! Thanks!
 
September 2016

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September was a mixed month for The Sky Blues. Some good results, some poor results.

West Ham 2-1 Coventry
Cardozo
One nil up to two one down. Poor.

SK Rapid Wien 1-3 Coventry
Biraghi, Garcia (OG), Gauld
One nil down to three one up. Poor start but good result.

Chelsea 0-2 Coventry
Khacheridi (OG), Denswil
Delighted with this unexpected result. Kept it tight at the back and took the chances that came our way.

West Brom 2-1 Coventry
Kiessling
Disappointing result in our Capital One Cup fixture. I rotated personnel to cope with fixture congestion and we didn't deserve to win. Maybe having this out the way will serve us well in the league?

Coventry 0-0 Newcastle

Very disappointing result. Should be capitalising on such fixtures.

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Nilsson (x2), Arensoe, Biraghi

Had to post a screenshot... Coventry welcomed Metalist in The Sky Blues' first European fixture at home in numerous years... Our attendance? 2,786. Wow, I mean surely there is a bug which is limiting my attendances! This was the same for my Premier League home fixtures. Really confused as to what's happening! Will attendances improve as the season goes on? Or next season perhaps? We'll see!

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I forgot to upload the Prem table last month and here is how it stands at the end of September. Decent start for us, but considering how a couple of results were disappointing, we'd hoped to be on a couple more points, however the result at Chelsea was better than expected!

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We are in a commanding position in group G and will have to continue to assert our dominance to progress to the knockout stages!

Player of the Month
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My Player of the Month goes to Nilsson! Some great performances and goals from the towering CB, who has also recently been filling in at RB for the previously injured Nathaniel Clyne.

October comes with some tough fixtures: Man Utd (h), Everton (a), Espanyol (a), Tottenham (h), Swansea (a).

Ideally I want to win at least three fixtures including the Euro Cup fixture, and normally I don't make predictions but let's see how accurate I am.
I predict: D-D-W-W-D. I do think Man Utd and Everton have the potential to beat me though! October coming soon...

​
 
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Very good story so far mate!

I don't know why your attendence stays that low. How many did you have last season in the premir league in your other stadium?
 
Mundo1996 said:
Very good story so far mate!

I don't know why your attendence stays that low. How many did you have last season in the premir league in your other stadium?
Click to expand...

Had around 7,500 last season average! Don't know if you've read about the stadium disputes with Coventry City but they were relocated to a stadium which was like around an hour away from Coventry and the fans were fuming. The Ricoh Arena is more at the heart at the fanbase so there should be MORE people attending this year. If Coventry were back in the Prem and competing in Europe, The Ricoh Arena would have AT LEAST 20,000 fans in attendance... Not 2,000! Haha.
 
Good read this mate, some ace signings in the championship and prem...looking forward to another update
 
MillerJA9 said:
Had around 7,500 last season average! Don't know if you've read about the stadium disputes with Coventry City but they were relocated to a stadium which was like around an hour away from Coventry and the fans were fuming. The Ricoh Arena is more at the heart at the fanbase so there should be MORE people attending this year. If Coventry were back in the Prem and competing in Europe, The Ricoh Arena would have AT LEAST 20,000 fans in attendance... Not 2,000! Haha.
Click to expand...

I think it is a problem in FM that the attendance is lower than it should if you promote.
I had a story with Bayern Alzenau in the Hessenliga (before my Wiesbaden story) and I had an average attendance of 600. The second season in the Regionalliga I expexted minimum 1.000 and we had 700-800...

I think you should have at least 10.000-15.000, so 4.000 is extremely low... Maybe it's a bug?
But it's normal in FM that the attendance is not growing that much with the years.
 
Mundo1996 said:
I think it is a problem in FM that the attendance is lower than it should if you promote.
I had a story with Bayern Alzenau in the Hessenliga (before my Wiesbaden story) and I had an average attendance of 600. The second season in the Regionalliga I expexted minimum 1.000 and we had 700-800...

I think you should have at least 10.000-15.000, so 4.000 is extremely low... Maybe it's a bug?
But it's normal in FM that the attendance is not growing that much with the years.
Click to expand...
I'm just hoping that next year it will increase... If not then I will be quite concerned!
 
MillerJA9 said:
I'm just hoping that next year it will increase... If not then I will be quite concerned!
Click to expand...

I hope that my attendances will increase also... In only 3 games I had an attendance of more than 15:
The DFB-Pokal game against Bochum and the 2 promotion play-off games.
In the league I have an average attendance of 4, sometimes 1 or 2... :p
 
MillerJA9 said:
He was unhappy at Southampton (who had been relegated) and wanted a new challenge! Very surprised he wasn't snapped up by one of the bigger clubs. At this point I'd been taken over so had the funds to purchase him.

For the record, I have never used editor or cheated in any way. Had a lot of good luck in this save thus far and I'm hoping it continues!

EDIT: forgot to mention he was actually transfer listed, valued at ?5mill yet available for ?2.5mill. Bargain!
Click to expand...

You lucky *******!!!
 
I like this story so far! I have a soft spot for Coventry! Since doing my own villa story I haven't followed any others but I will be following this!
 
October 2016

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Well here are the results from October! Was a bit of a poor month for us in the Premier League. Couldn't complain about the draw to United, but was disappointed with the attitude of the players approaching the Everton game. Good result in the Euro Cup however and glad we finished the month with an away win in the league! On the TV four times this month, are we a media darling now?

Coventry 0-0 Man Utd

Bore draw! But some good news came from this fixture...
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Wahayyyy! Imagine we actually got good attendances? But wait... There's some bad news from this fixture...
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Terrible news that Clyne is injured! Luke Shaw should be ashamed of himself. I hear he's off Clyne's Christmas card list. A consistent performer injured and this means Nilsson has to be moved out wide. Fluffs up my defensive plans and I am sure it didn't help the next fixture...

Everton 2-0 Coventry

Poor performance from the players! We move on!

Espanyol 1-3 Coventry
Hughes, Sarabia, Guaita (OG)
Good win for The Sky Blues! Only need one more win in Europe to all-but-guarantee qualification to the next round!

Coventry 1-1 Tottenham
Cardozo
Shame we didn't win this one. Spurs have a strong attack and punished us when presented with opportunity.

Swansea 1-2 Coventry
Cardozo, Hojbjerg
Good away win! Not much more to say, but hope this win spurs us on for November!

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Some worrying news! Nilsson is knackered (despite 18 stamina and 14 natural fitness) and as he's filling in for Clyne at RB we are looking scarce on that right side. Could have to draft in a youth player for some fixtures which isn't ideal.

So here's the league table...
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5th place! Solid!

And Euro Cup Group G...
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One more win and we're through me thinks!

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Some good news! The board are with me in my aims to make Coventry a youth recruiting force! So far we have produced just one three star regen in recent years so I am hoping for a better intake in March!

Player of the Month
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In what was a pretty inconsistent month of games, Nilsson was Mr Consistent. POM again this month, with no one else coming close! Hoping for a bit more from my midfield players in November!

Two Euro games and three easy-ish Prem fixtures next month... Hoping for a fruitful November! Bring it on!​
 
November 2016

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Good month yet the Leicester result was TERRIBLE and really angered me. Leicester are our only rivals and we barely mustered a chance until a consolation goal in the last minute. Dreadful.

Coventry 2-1 Espanyol
Sarabia, Denswil
I expected this result even though my fans were pessimistic. Denswil snatched the winner with a last minute free kick! Yay.

Coventry 1-0 Cardiff
Denswil
High-flying Cardiff was a tougher fixture than anticipated but a good win in the end.
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WE'VE GOT THE WORST FANS IN THE LEAGUE!

Leicester 2-1 Coventry
Denswil
Disgraceful from my players against a very poor Leicester team.

Coventry 3-0 SK Rapid Wien
Hughes, Nilsson, Arensoe
Solid win which was expected after the Leicester fixture.

West Brom 0-1 Coventry
Fletcher
Good result, but annoyingly Fletcher got a second bookable. Glad it didn't cost us.

Here's the league table!
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Happy to be 5th, but I am still disappointed with the Leicester result. Hope it doesn't come back to haunt us!

And Euro Cup Group G
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Easy peasy.

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Training facilities are now "Excellent" and youth facilities are "Superb". I want to develop our own players and so this is of course great news but...
IT GETS EVEN BETTER
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My chairman is a bit of a don. If this doesn't help us with youth development I don't know what will! Excited for this season's youth intake, but think next season's will be even better!
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Here is what we are now working with!

Player of the Month
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POM has to go to Denswil this month. Three goals in five games is better than any of my strikers can muster (all are doing poorly, is this due to their role being a False9?) so well done to Stefano!

Finally, a preview for December...
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Busy, busy! Some tough fixtures, especially at the back end of the month! Yikes!​
 
brilliant story, added in the fact im a coventry fan i will be following this!!

one question, what skin is that?! i love it!
 
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