The Red Devils - Not A Manchester United Story

[FM_TNSSO]

Congrats on promotion! Great to see my boys go back to back aswell

Well done on the promotion!!

Thanks gents! Looking forward to League One football next season

 

[FM_TNSSO]

END OF SEASON 2023/24 REVIEW

Sky Bet League Two = 3rd (automatic promotion)
Emirates FA Cup = 3rd Round (knocked out by Grimsby Town)
Carabao Cup = 3rd Round (knocked out by Southampton)
Papa John's Trophy = Southern Section 2nd Round (knocked out by Shrewsbury Town)

An excellent performance all round from my squad this year as we exceeded expectations to gain promotion to League One. Our strikers scored 41 goals between them, whilst the midfield were at their creative best and the defence was solid for the most part with a reliable keeper between the sticks.

It's fair to say the new arrivals proved to be great additions to the squad and all played their part. Rhys Bennett was an absolute rock at the heart of defence, whilst Charlie Wyke proved to be a goalscoring machine up top! Simon Eastwood was a cool head between the sticks this season and the experienced keeper was definitely the difference in some of those tight victories this season.

The Best 11...

The Awards...

Over the course of the season, we've seen the slightest shift in supporter profile with a small decrease in core and increase in fair weather. On a more positive note, we have gained over 37,000 followers on social media.

One of the big areas of our success this season was our shooting. Not only were we the most aggressive shooters in the league, but also the most clinical.

In fact, we had more shots than any other team in the division.

To be fair, out attacking performance all round was very impressive this season compared to the rest of the league.

The Commercials...

One thing is certain. I spent a lot of money last year with the budgets given to me and with investment in the club's facilities as well, there isn't a lot left in the bank, so the budgets for next season are minimal, with just £28k available for new players. I will have plenty of wiggle room in the wage budget though with more than an extra £10k being made available so the loan and free transfer market could be where I look for squad improvements over the Summer.

And moving into that loan market, may just be assisted by our new affiliation with Arsenal.

On the personal front, with my contract running down, the board were keen to sign me up for another couple of years after the success of this season.

​

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

The first of our final 8 matches saw us take on Carlisle who were in the bottom half of the table and should present us with an opportunity to chalk up another win.

A Colm Whelan hat trick saw us cruise to a comfortable victory.

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Whelan has been in scintillating form lately and 6 goals in his last 4 games was enough for him to lift the player of the month award.

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Sending offs have cost us a few points this season and that was the case once again as we suffered defeat to Northampton in a game we probably would have won had we not had to play half the game with 10 men!

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That defeat means that with 6 games remaining, we have now dropped 4 points off the automatic playoff spots and can't really afford to drop any more points.

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A tough away day was up next against 8th placed Colchester who were still hunting down a playoff spot.

We got off to the perfect start with Jack Powell putting us in front inside 4 minutes as he scored a cracking volley from outside the box to record his 11th goal of the season. However, we were only in front for a few minutes before Colchester levelled. What followed was 80 minutes of back and forth football with both sides creating plenty of chances but neither was able to find the back of the net again and it was a case of spoils shared.

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We had to get a result at home to Tranmere!

We weren't at our best but got the job done!

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Our own form of late has been a bit up and down, but Doncaster are doing their very best to help us out as they have now lost 3 of their last 4 games, which has enabled us to jump above them into the automatic promotion places with 4 games remaining!

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One thing we have struggled with in the first couple of years at the club is the youth intake. Last year's was terrible...this year's is even worse!

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As the season is drawing to a close, games don't get much bigger than this! We will take on 2nd placed Wrexham, who knew that a win against us would cement their place in League One next season.

So there is no denying this could possibly be our biggest win of the entire season!

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With our inconsistency recently, it would be just like us to go and beat 2nd placed Wrexham and then lose to 15th placed Bromley.

But not this time! Another step closer!

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Three wins on the bounce was enough for me to lift the manager of the month award for April.

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Now surely we wouldn't go and drop points in our penultimate game against bottom of the table, Newport County?

We nearly did!! At 2-1 down I was worried, but in the end the lads rallied and ground out a massive win under the circumstances.

View attachment 603046

Doncaster Rovers had only gone and lost away at Sutton, whilst Wrexham also lost at Stockport! It means that unless there is the most ridiculous final day goal swing, we will secure at least 3rd place and be going up automatically this season! And if we better Wrexham's result, we might even pinch 2nd place off them!

View attachment 603047

Our final game of the season...Walsall away.

And I won't lie...we were ****** awful!

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Luckily, the job was already done and it's a 3rd place finish for us this season and we'll be playing League One football next season! I'm absolutely delighted! Meanwhile, it's a title win for Exeter City and back to back promotions for Hollywood club, Wrexham. Gillingham drop into non league football as Bromley stay up, meaning there is a new king of Kent football for the first time in a fair few years.

View attachment 603049​

Well done on the promotion I see County aren't doing too well either just like I'm managing them in my save

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

END OF SEASON 2023/24 REVIEW

Sky Bet League Two = 3rd (automatic promotion)
Emirates FA Cup = 3rd Round (knocked out by Grimsby Town)
Carabao Cup = 3rd Round (knocked out by Southampton)
Papa John's Trophy = Southern Section 2nd Round (knocked out by Shrewsbury Town)

An excellent performance all round from my squad this year as we exceeded expectations to gain promotion to League One. Our strikers scored 41 goals between them, whilst the midfield were at their creative best and the defence was solid for the most part with a reliable keeper between the sticks.

View attachment 603054

It's fair to say the new arrivals proved to be great additions to the squad and all played their part. Rhys Bennett was an absolute rock at the heart of defence, whilst Charlie Wyke proved to be a goalscoring machine up top! Simon Eastwood was a cool head between the sticks this season and the experienced keeper was definitely the difference in some of those tight victories this season.

View attachment 603055

The Best 11...

View attachment 603056

The Awards...

View attachment 603057

Over the course of the season, we've seen the slightest shift in supporter profile with a small decrease in core and increase in fair weather. On a more positive note, we have gained over 37,000 followers on social media.

View attachment 603058

One of the big areas of our success this season was our shooting. Not only were we the most aggressive shooters in the league, but also the most clinical.

View attachment 603059

In fact, we had more shots than any other team in the division.

View attachment 603060

To be fair, out attacking performance all round was very impressive this season compared to the rest of the league.

View attachment 603061

The Commercials...

View attachment 603062

One thing is certain. I spent a lot of money last year with the budgets given to me and with investment in the club's facilities as well, there isn't a lot left in the bank, so the budgets for next season are minimal, with just £28k available for new players. I will have plenty of wiggle room in the wage budget though with more than an extra £10k being made available so the loan and free transfer market could be where I look for squad improvements over the Summer.

View attachment 603063

And moving into that loan market, may just be assisted by our new affiliation with Arsenal.

View attachment 603064

On the personal front, with my contract running down, the board were keen to sign me up for another couple of years after the success of this season.

View attachment 603065​

Nice getting Arsenal as your senior affiliate

 

[FM_TNSSO]

With a league promotion, comes a new skin

My first signing of the Summer was a promising youngster who is already good enough to feature in the first team.

NEW SIGNING: MALACHI BOATENG
Signed from Crystal Palace
Fee: Free Transfer

Boateng has spent a couple of seasons playing regularly in the Scottish Championship and League One for both Queen's Park and Port Vale, making 79 senior appearances, so he brings some good experience to the squad despite his young age of 21! A great signing on a freebie!

Unsurprisingly, the board are only expecting me to do everything I can to try to avoid relegation this season, whilst being competitive in the cup competitions. We're under no illusions as a club that the upcoming season will be tough, but we're all prepared for the challenge.

Two big names leave the club at the end of their contracts this Summer. Simon Eastwood was my number 1 keeper last year and had a good season, but he refused to sign a new contract with us so leaves after a season. George Francomb is 32 years old now and struggled to break into the first 11 last year, so I felt it was time for him to move on. But he deserves a mention as he's given a few years to the club and played around 150 games for Crawley.

With two big departures, come two big signings (or at least I hope they prove to be).

NEW SIGNING: JACK LANKESTER
Signed from Cambridge United
Fee: Free Transfer

Jack wouldn't sign a new deal with Cambridge, despite playing regularly for them last season and bagging 7 goals and 8 assists in League Two, so I was happy to snap him up on a free.

NEW SIGNING: JOSH ADAM
Signed from Manchester City
Fee: Free Transfer

Josh is yet to make a senior appearances after coming through the ranks at Manchester City. He has plenty of potential though, being only 20 years old, and I look forward to seeing what he brings to the table.

The departure of Simon Eastwood and the returning loanee Dylan Kelly, left me without a single keeper in the first team squad. Something I needed to rectify.

LOAN SIGNING: HARRY STONE
Signed on season long loan from Hearts

Harry Stone looks like a promising young keeper and could well become our number 1 between the sticks this year depending on which other keeper I manage to snap up.

However, it is likely that Harry will play backup to the keeper who followed only a few days later.

LOAN SIGNING: CRAIG MACGILLIVRAY
Signed on season long loan from Charlton

Craig plays second fiddle at Charlton, so they were happy to let him come to Crawley for the season and be number 1!

I only had 3 out and out centre backs going into the new season, so this was something I wanted to rectify and was keen to bring in a promising youngster with some good attributes.

LOAN SIGNING: LEWIS SHIPLEY
Signed on 6 month loan deal from Norwich

Shiply is just 20 years old and looks like he has a decent future ahead of him with a good profile already. He'll be rotated throughout the first half of the season for us and has the potential to become a first team regular.

Pre season could not have gone any better for us, winning every one of our friendlies.

The league campaign is about to get underway and it is no surprise to see that the favourites for the title are the three clubs that came down from the Championship. Bristol City, Stoke and Millwall will all prove a formidible force in this division I am sure and I won't look forward to those games. There are a host of massive clubs in this league nowadays though and this is a significant step up from League Two. The only thing I can't really work out is why the bookies really don't fancy Birmingham and have tipped them to struggle. As for us, we are expected to prop up the rest of the division and will struggle to survive.

Our season couldn't get off to a tougher start as our first game back in League One pits us against Millwall.

But we upset the odds on the opening day with a statement win! Colm Whelan comes off the bench to bag an injury time brace, but this wasn't undeserved at all after we had dominated the entire game!

However, there was some bad news to come out of the game as we lose one of our right backs for the next 4 months of the season!

Our second game of the season would be the first round of the Carabao Cup, taking on Sutton United...a side we have beaten in all of our last 3 meetings.

And we continued that trend to progress to the second round.

All in all, a positive start to the new season!​

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

So you keeping this save till you've gotten to your full goal than a new one? as I might carry on Stockport after it's released fully in a few hours/tomorrow

 

[FM_TNSSO]

So you keeping this save till you've gotten to your full goal than a new one? as I might carry on Stockport after it's released fully in a few hours/tomorrow

I absolutely intend on taking this save through to the full game. That was always the plan mate

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Our first away day in League One would be at Lincoln City.

And we return home with a decent point in the bag.

MK Dons had started the season brightly with 2-0 victories over both Portsmouth and Stoke already, so we knew we were up against it as we tried to keep our own unbeaten start to the season going.

We did just that as we record an amazing win that I really did not expect! Jack Powell was the hero of the day as he hammered home two strikes from outside the box to secure us the points!

Next, we were back in cup action as we faced off against Hull City in the 2nd round of the Carabao Cup.

It's fair to say that we seem to have made a decent early adaption to League One opponents this season, but Championship level proved to be just slightly above us in this cup tie and we are knocked out. Still, plenty of positives to take from this game and we weren't outclassed by any means.

Bristol Rovers presented us with much easier opposition back in the league and we took full advantage of that! Charlie Wyke enjoyed himself as he helped himself to a hat trick with a proper poacher's display, with all three goals coming from inside the 6 yard box.

As transfer deadline day came round, there was only one position that needed my attention. With the long term injury to Travis Johnson it left me short at right back, so I needed to address that.

NEW SIGNING: LIAM SHEPHARD
Signed on a free transfer

Shephard was released in the Summer by Peterborough, who won promotion to the Championship last year. He wasn't exactly a regular for them but prior to that he had a couple of years in League Two where he was a regular for both Salford and Newport County. He should be able to step in and do a job for us.

If Stoke don't win this division this season, I'll be shocked! They spent a whopping £10 million during this window which is incredible for a League One club! Meanwhile, Wrexham were the busiest club in the window, whilst Bristol City lost most of their best players to clubs in higher divisions after their shock relegation last season.

This season's Papa John's Trophy was about to get underway and our first game would be potentially our easiest on paper from the group stage as we went away to Solihull Moors. Charlton will prove tough opposition and we play against Aston Villa's youngsters as we did last year.

Easy win to kick things off in the competition.

League Two and Plymouth came into their game with us top of the league with 4 wins from their opening 5 games.

But we held them to a draw to pick up another valuable point. It was very nearly a win too if it wasn't for their last gasp equalizer.

Oxford United up next for us and they had also started their season well with 12 points from their opening 6 fixtures.

It's fair to say both sides put on a spectacle for the fans as we took another good point away from home!

And followed that up with an excellent win over Derby as well!

An incredible start to life in League One as we are unbeaten in our opening 7 matches and find ourselves 2nd in the table behind the only other unbeaten side, Ipswich.

​

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

Btw what is skin is that? might try it if I can find the skin link

 

[leckuno]

A flying start to League 1

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Btw what is skin is that? might try it if I can find the skin link

It's the Narigon skin mate. Nice and clean to be fair, with lots of stats on the match views.

 

[FM_TNSSO]

Portsmouth are a side that most will agree have spent far too long in League One now, with this now being their 8th season in the division. And they hadn't started this year too well with only 2 wins from their opening 7 fixtures which saw them come into their game with us down in 15th position.

It looked for a long time that they were going to inflict our first league defeat of the season on us. That was until Colm Whelan got himself on the end of Tom Carroll's cross to tap in a leveller in the last minute of the game. It was deserved though as we'd been well on top for large portions of this game.

From a side that has been in League One for a while to one that is back here for the first time in 20 years. Wrexham have achieved back to back promotions, but were struggling thus far up in the 3rd tier and came into this game in the relegation places.

A solid defensive performance was the foundation of another good win! Again, it was Colm Whelan who popped up with the winner.

Last year we played Aston Villa's under 21 team in the Papa John's Trophy and spanked them 4-1! I was hoping for a repeat performance this season.

Not so good this year, but we did at least get the bonus point by winning the penalty shootout.

Which is enough for us to qualify with a game to go.

In the league, we would take on a Port Vale side that I had previously tipped for relegation in one of my media interviews. So they would definitely have a point to prove.

And they did!

That'll teach me to keep my big mouth shut!

During both of the previous seasons, we have had a serious injury that has kept a first team player out of the team for majority of the season. It was Brandon Mason in the first and Jake Forster-Caskey last year. And it's happened to us again, this time Tom Carroll will miss up to 8 months! We must be the unluckiest team in the world when it comes to major injuries!

Now we would have the test of seeing how we react to our first league defeat of the season as we invited Swindon to Broadfield.

We reacted perfectly!

But we were then beaten by Barnsley as our excellent start to the season is threatening to even out a little with two defeats in our last three games.

Stoke up next...the side that spent in excess of £10 million in the Summer and my personal tip to win the league.

So this was a very good draw for us!

Although we followed it up with a terrible result against least year's League Two champions, Exeter. The only positive from this game was seeing Jake Forster-Caskey score his first goal since returning from that long term injury last season.

Our form has definitely taken a dive of late and we now only have one win in our last five league games. We need to improve on that or we could see ourselves fall down the table pretty sharpish!

We only took one point from our next two games as well against sides in the bottom half of the table. We didn't play well in either game and the lads are finding it tough out there right now.

The poor run of form we've been on has seen us slip to 10th in the table. Although it's difficult right now, if you'd have offered me 10th after the opening 16 games I'd have bitten your hand off for it so I can't complain.

The board are pretty pleased with our performance so far, as they should be. However, it's a little disappointing that the fans aren't more pleased. I mean, we were the favourites to go down this year and are currently punching well above our weight in the league, so I definitely feel they should be a little more on side than they are.

​

 

[MrTini23]

That injury seems to have had an effect on your form after a great start Such bad luck

 

[FM_TNSSO]

What we needed was a little respite from the league and we would get that with two cup games in 3 days. Our FA Cup first round clash with Doncaster Rovers would be up first and playing League Two opposition would provide the opportunity to get a confidence boosting win.

But we couldn't as we're held to a 2-2 draw. We looked shakey throughout and every time they attacked, we looked like we might concede. I've got to boost the lads confidence somehow or I see this downward spiral getting worse and worse.

My expectations for the next cup game against Charlton in the Papa John's Trophy were not high at all, as I sent the second string out with the game meaning nothing as we had already qualified from the group.

But the lads did an alright job to be fair and took it all the way to pens and despite losing the shootout, it was a decent effort.

Back in the league, we finally got back to winning ways against a struggling Birmingham side! Fantastic effort!

We really could have done without the extra game in what was already a busy schedule, but a replay was required against Doncaster to settle our FA Cup tie.

And to make things even worse, the game went to extra time meaning we had to play an extra 30 mins. It was worthwhile in the end as we came through the shootout, even if it was frustrating that we couldn't get the job done in normal time.

League One action and Shrewsbury town up next.

We played out a bore draw.

Ipswich Town are absolutely flying this season and have already opened up an 8 point lead at the top of the table. We were therefore not expected to get anything from our encounter with them!

But we were excellent and thoroughly deserved our best 3 points of the season to date! Colm Whelan's brace takes him into double figures for the season!

And his stunning performance earned him the player of the week!

We only went and followed up that Ipswich win with another victory away at Charlton as well! Have we found our form again after a slight blip?

In the Papa John's Trophy knockout rounds, we had been handed a tough away day at MK Dons who were just above us in the league. Fielding a weakened team, I was prepared to sacrifice the competition in order to focus on the league.

But the boys defied the odds again to progress to the next round and my second string seem to be enjoying themselves in this competition this year.

I even handed a debut to 18 year old Sammy Chandler so I could rest first team players. The youngster impressed, getting an assist on his first ever professional start.

We'll take on Premier League youth in the next round.

Another cup game up next as we went away to Barnet in the 2nd round of the FA Cup.

And again we'll have to play another replay after failing to get over the line in the first game!

Back to the league and I was looking for the lads to do better against 23rd placed Cheltenham.

Colm Whelan had a great day out as he helped himself to a hat trick on our way to a comfortable victory.

21 games into the season and we are approaching the half way stage. I never would have dreamed we would be in the playoff places at this stage of the campaign. Any pre season relegation fears are already well behind us and we will do everything we can to finish as high as possible this season. I'm not expecting playoffs or promotion at all, but if we could manage a top half finish, it would be massive!

​

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

What we needed was a little respite from the league and we would get that with two cup games in 3 days. Our FA Cup first round clash with Doncaster Rovers would be up first and playing League Two opposition would provide the opportunity to get a confidence boosting win.

But we couldn't as we're held to a 2-2 draw. We looked shakey throughout and every time they attacked, we looked like we might concede. I've got to boost the lads confidence somehow or I see this downward spiral getting worse and worse.

View attachment 603420

My expectations for the next cup game against Charlton in the Papa John's Trophy were not high at all, as I sent the second string out with the game meaning nothing as we had already qualified from the group.

But the lads did an alright job to be fair and took it all the way to pens and despite losing the shootout, it was a decent effort.

View attachment 603421

Back in the league, we finally got back to winning ways against a struggling Birmingham side! Fantastic effort!

View attachment 603422

We really could have done without the extra game in what was already a busy schedule, but a replay was required against Doncaster to settle our FA Cup tie.

And to make things even worse, the game went to extra time meaning we had to play an extra 30 mins. It was worthwhile in the end as we came through the shootout, even if it was frustrating that we couldn't get the job done in normal time.

View attachment 603423

League One action and Shrewsbury town up next.

We played out a bore draw.

View attachment 603424

Ipswich Town are absolutely flying this season and have already opened up an 8 point lead at the top of the table. We were therefore not expected to get anything from our encounter with them!

But we were excellent and thoroughly deserved our best 3 points of the season to date! Colm Whelan's brace takes him into double figures for the season!

View attachment 603425

And his stunning performance earned him the player of the week!

View attachment 603426

We only went and followed up that Ipswich win with another victory away at Charlton as well! Have we found our form again after a slight blip?

View attachment 603427

In the Papa John's Trophy knockout rounds, we had been handed a tough away day at MK Dons who were just above us in the league. Fielding a weakened team, I was prepared to sacrifice the competition in order to focus on the league.

But the boys defied the odds again to progress to the next round and my second string seem to be enjoying themselves in this competition this year.

View attachment 603428

I even handed a debut to 18 year old Sammy Chandler so I could rest first team players. The youngster impressed, getting an assist on his first ever professional start.

View attachment 603429

We'll take on Premier League youth in the next round.

View attachment 603430

Another cup game up next as we went away to Barnet in the 2nd round of the FA Cup.

And again we'll have to play another replay after failing to get over the line in the first game!

View attachment 603431

Back to the league and I was looking for the lads to do better against 23rd placed Cheltenham.

Colm Whelan had a great day out as he helped himself to a hat trick on our way to a comfortable victory.

View attachment 603432

21 games into the season and we are approaching the half way stage. I never would have dreamed we would be in the playoff places at this stage of the campaign. Any pre season relegation fears are already well behind us and we will do everything we can to finish as high as possible this season. I'm not expecting playoffs or promotion at all, but if we could manage a top half finish, it would be massive!

View attachment 603433​

So playoffs would be a bonus for you right now? given if you keep your players fit?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

So playoffs would be a bonus for you right now? given if you keep your players fit?

Mate, I would be over the moon with playoffs!! That would be a brilliant achievement in our first season back in League One.

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

Mate, I would be over the moon with playoffs!! That would be a brilliant achievement in our first season back in League One.

How much cash you got and board expectations?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

How much cash you got and board expectations?

Virtually no cash and the board only expect me to battle relegation so no pressure

 

[TheStockportHatter1883]

Virtually no cash and the board only expect me to battle relegation so no pressure

So basically got promoted with my side I had to remove some of players I was way over the FFP is that still a thing in the EFL?

 

[FM_TNSSO]

So basically got promoted with my side I had to remove some of players I was way over the FFP is that still a thing in the EFL?

Yea but I'm £15k per week under the allowed wage budget and the budget set by my board doesn't allow me near the limits.