The Rise of Wales - Carmarthen Town 2.0

March + April + May

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Some strong end of season performances secure us a rather comfortable 3rd place in the League. Unfortunately, I completely forgot that there was a playoff for 3rd - 6th for European places!

As Bala won the JD Welsh Cup, there is only one final Europa spot up for grabs... ****!


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On the Up side I managed to land myself a new one year contract with a whopping £10 p/w raise!

Confirmation of TNS winning the double and Bala's shock Welsh Cup triumphs.

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Now for the Playoffs...​
 
Euro Places Playoff

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A second half penalty from star striker, Liam Thomas booked our place in the final. Although the game was separated by just the one goal, we were by far the better side and on another day could have scored another couple.


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Carmarthen will be in the Europa League next season.... well qualifiers anyway.

It was squeaky *** time for the final few minutes as we managed to hold on to our slender lead. It was a pretty even game and ultimately the result may have come down to the home advantage, as we were spurred on by a few hundred fans.

End of Season Review next up...​
 
Brilliant. Congratulations on making the Europa League, it'll be interesting to see how you fair.
 
Thanks ScottT - Hopefully we can at least bolster the clubs finances!

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End of Season Review 2017/18


So the curtains have been drawn on the 2017/18 season following a rather successful campaign for the Old Gold. My ultimate objective was to reach the Europa League Qualifiers, which we managed to just about do.

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I was rather surprised to win the Manager of the Year Award, which must have meant that our 3rd place finish was even unexpected as I originally thought.


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Liam Thomas led our attack to a record breaking season in front of goal. We even topped the League for goals scored, just need to tighten the defence.

You cant say I don't entertain our 300 strong faithful.

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The reputation of the Welsh League has started to grow marginally... not through anything to do with me though. Some improved European performances must
have boosted the Leagues Rankings and Nation Coefficients. Hopefully I can add to this rise in reputation next season.

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We creep one place in the Welsh Rankings. We are a fair few trophies off catching TNS but its a small step in the right direction.

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We enter the Europa League at the earliest of stages and have to fight off Andorran side, U.E Santa Coloma for a place in the first qualifying round. Hopefully it will turn out to be rather straightforward...

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​
 
Europa League Preliminary Round


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As anticipated, we managed to cruise past our Andorran opposition with relative ease. Inevitably we looked a little rusty, having only just returned from the summer break but was a pretty pleasing performance on the whole.

The revenue brought in from this win alone, is enough to cover the entire teams annual salary! We also set a new attendance record as supporters come to join in on our European campaign.

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We got another decent draw in the First Qualifying Round, going up against Gibraltan side, St Joseph's. I'm very confident of reaching the next round and the money to go with it!


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Europa League First Qualifying Round


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St Joseph's posed a slightly tougher challenge than I had initially anticipated, but we still progress with a 4 goal aggregate victory. They controlled both matches, but our superior finishing proved to be the difference.

Another £90k to add to the clubs finances!


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The Second Qualifying Round is likely to be the end of the road on our first Europa League journey, having been drawn against Norwegian giants, Molde.


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Europa League Second Qualifying Round


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After a gutsy home performance, we threw the tie away following a hat-trick of penalties in the space of 20 minutes! It was a much closer contest that I had originally anticipated and had we not conceded 3 needless penalties, we may actually have gone on to tie.

Either way, we still managed to cash in a healthy pay cheque at the end.

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Here is a quick look at just how crucial qualifying for Europe is for developing the club. At the end of last season we were £43,000 in debt and after our European campaign we are now £433,000 in the green!

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Both Bagnor and Bala were knocked out in the first qualifying round...

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TNS did better than all of us and made it to the third qualifying round...

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Real good going in Europe, im finding even with my Truro save that cup matches in general are huge, the prize money, tv rights and extra revenue from gate receipts make me all my money for the following year, KIU
 
Thanks coolmcool, was disappointing to get knocked out by 3 penalties but was still a decent campaign for us. Yeah prize money is absolutely huge for growing small clubs and fortunately for me European games pay out very big!

Glad your enjoying it Verdanted and it is indeed alot of fun :)


Pre Season


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Our Pre-Season was mostly filled up with Europa Qualifying matches, so only ended up playing a couple of friendlies. The Liverpool U23's game was a huge success, attracting nearly 3,000 fans as we went up against the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and co. So not a bad result at all against a strong side.


Our odds of winning the League have remained exactly the same as last year, although are now predicted to finish a place higher in 6th.


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Not much change in the boards expectations, just a rise from a mid-table finish to top half which should be very achievable. We also have an extra £400 p/w to use in the wage budget to help strengthen the squad (finding decent players to spend the money on is the challenge as I still have £1,000 p/w available!).


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I released a load of players at the end of the season who weren't good enough to make the cut and have just brought in the 4 extras to help strengthen the squad. The only player of any real note is James Loveridge who's profile is below.


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Although he doesn't look anything special, he is a very good signing for this level of football. He has some International experience at youth level and will hopefully prove to be a leading player for us this season.


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Our recently boosted funds have already been put to use as the board have agreed to fund my next coaching qualification as well as increasing our Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching.

Small steps but progress none the less!

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August + September


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It's not been the best of starts to the new season, as we've really struggled to find any form away from home. The victory over TNS was obviously a big highlight but dropped points elsewhere has overshadowed the result. We are only 7 points off Bangor at the top, but we need to find some away form if we are going to re-qualify for Europe.

Fortunately the Nathaniel MG Cup has been much more successful as some kind draws have enabled us to comfortably cruise into the Semi-Finals. League high flyers, Bangor are bound to cause a much stiffer opposition but we know we have the quality to beat them on the day and make our first cup final.


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We have 3 home games to look forward to in October and a massive opportunity to begin climbing up the table.


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October


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A disappointing home defeat in our last game tainted a near perfect month. We have however, climbed back up into top half hunt as we'll be aiming to lock down a spot in Europe again next season.

November is a much busier month as we have games across all 3 domestic competitions, including our semi-final tie against Bangor City.


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November


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A strong end to the month moves us back into contention for claiming an automatic Europa League Qualifier place. The strikers have managed to rediscover some form and can hopefully help push us towards second place.

As anticipated we thrashed non-league side, West End in theJD Welsh Cup and have been given another kind draw for the Fourth Round.


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A dominant performance against a strong Bangor side has lined up my first Cup final with Carmarthen Town, where we'll have to overcome the mighty TNS. It'll be a tough game for sure, but we have beaten them once already this season so there is hope.

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A load of home games to look forward to in December and hopefully a load of wins to go alongside them.


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December


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A massively dominant month, surges us up into second place in the League. We've been lethal in front of goal, smashing in 18 goals across 5 games. A top half finish is now a certainty and can now realistically aim for a second place finish and an automatic Europa League Qualifying Place.

Unfortunately we also managed to lose our top goalscorer, Liam Thomas to a season ending injury. He's a massive loss, but the team has proven over the past few games that we can still find the back of the net.


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The club has funded the next step in my coaching qualifications, improving my reputation and presence on the training pitch.


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We have the last 3 games before the League split to look forward to before finishing off the month with my first ever cup final against the mighty TNS!


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January


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A strong end to the first stage of the Premier League moves us into a rather commanding 2nd place. With just 10 games left to play a top 4 spot looks all but certain, but hopefully we can hold on to our 2nd place and clinch an automatic European Qualification spot.

Another manager of the month award to add to my minimal list of personal accolades, following 3 wins out of 3.


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Unfortunately we couldn't overcome TNS in the MG Cup Final, falling to a late OT goal. Obviously the outcome wasn't the best but we have proven we can go toe to toe with the Leagues best side, who actually have an entire starting XI made of non Welsh players in comparison to our entirely Welsh side.

February is set to be rather busy as we look to make further progress in the Premier League as well as the Welsh Cup.


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Unlucky result in the cup final, but looking good in the league
 
Was pleasantly surprised to see you doing another Welsh story. Your first one inspired me to do my own save last year with Bangor City and it was hands down the best FM save I've ever done. Thanks, and good luck with this one!
 
Thanks Ninjaskill, was disappointing to lose a cup final but yeah the League's looking good so far!

Glad you like it Lovedoc1991! Hopefully this goes as well as my first attempt. How did you get on with your Bangor one?

February

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Our impressive League form continues through February, opening up a healthy 8 point lead over 3rd. Amazingly we have made some ground on TNS and we are now within striking distance of the title. With the form we are in at the moment, it doesn't seem too unrealistic!


A comfortable victory over minnows, Flint Town progresses us to the Quarter Finals of the Welsh Cup. Hopefully another cup final could be on the cards this season.


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Just the 4 matches to play in March as we near the end of the season. Lets hope for 4 more victories!

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I got them to the quarters of the Champion's League but as you've said before, it's really hard to motivate yourself to get through the league games and cup games when there's no real challenge. Hope you can smash it this time though!
 
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