Western Super-Mare - The Smallest Club in English football on FM

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WeArePalace

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Introduction
Hello and welcome to my latest Football Manager 2019 save. We are going to play as the team predicted to finish 24th in the lowest league in England, the Vanarama National League South. Western Super-Mare is this team and this will be one of my biggest challengers yet. Simply avoiding relegation in the first season will be a task, as the club has no budget and negative wages. Despite this, the squad is really young, yet small, but over time I think they can become decent at Vanarama National League level. I will do monthly reviews but won't individually review every single match.
Objective Overview
So in the 1st season at the club, my sole focus is to avoid relegation. Obviously if we don't succeed at this, I'll 100% be out of a job as the league below doesn't exist in the game. 2nd season I would like to push for promotion, hopefully we can really improve although by 3rd season I'd definitely liked to have gotten to at least the National League. Hopefully, by this time our squad will be too strong for a couple divisions, and then we can become a decent League One side. Overall, I think after about 15 seasons I'd like to be in the Premier League. Therefore, this is likely to be my longest ever save on FM, despite having some really extensive ones in the past.
Team Overview
Despite being heavily tipped for relegation, the team actually doesn't look that bad. There is some really good talent throughout the side and a few players with 5 star potential. All in all, no one currently at the club has more than 3 star ability, meaning that we will definitely struggle for the moment.
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Our first key player is Alex Byrne, who is currently a solid midfielder who I'll be using up the pitch as more of a CAM to play the goalscoring midfielder role. He will be a key part of our team if we are to avoid relegation.
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Next up is another CM in Jacob Cane. Depending on who plays better their, either Byrne or Cane may be used as the CAM. We'll rely heavily on our midfield to win games as we lack strength in attack.
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Loanee Matt Bower will be a huge defence presence for us this season. He has the ability to grow, is alright a solid starter and has the stats which I really appreciate in a player. Overall, Matt Bower is our key defender.
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Our last key player is Jason Pope, who is another CB, who can also be deployed at CDM. That could be quite useful if I decide to use both Byrne and Cane further up the pitch.
 
July Preview
Our pre-season fixtures look like pretty decent matches to get an understanding of the squad. In the transfer window, we signed a total of 72 free agents! All of them look ok, a few will jump straight into the first team, with the majority filling up the reserves who can grow into potential starters or reliable back-up. We also scraped a little bit of money, enabling us to sign CB/RB Percy Kiangbeni for 6k.
July Review
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The team did very well in pre-season. Despite not playing any recognisable sides, the squad had good unity about it and ST Gethyn Hill, who is a key player this season, scored a bucket load of goals, as did back-up ST Jamie Lucas.
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We went into the loan market for deals and found 2 from Charlton. Jo Cummings and Ashley Maynard-Brewer both look pretty decent. Cummings was the better deal as he slots straight into the starting line-up, although we are starting to overload in the CB area, but a few are loanees so we need a little more back-up.
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Kiangbeni will be deployed at RB as we lack cover in that area. He is a really decent signing and at just 19, already looks a solid player.
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But the deal I'm most excited about is nabbing free agent Oli Lynch. This lad already looks really good, has 5 star potential, and is only 17! He could be a decent player for a few years to come. Have the feeling he could make it until League Two!

Also, thought I would just take the time to say that I won't be able to attach League Tables as I'm having an issue with that. Apologies!
 
August Preview
Our start to life at Western Super-Mare wasn't as bad as it could've been. Fellow relegation threatened Truro are amongst them and we don't play the very top sides in the division for the most part. Hopefully, we can make a positive start and from the 7 games, we should hopefully be able to get around 5 points or so.
August Review
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WHAT A MONTH WE'VE HAD!!!! This was beyond my wildest dreams and we're 2nd in the league! This was probably the points total I expected in the entire season, but the team has been simply brilliant! I cannot believe how well we've done. Alex Byrne and Jacob Cane's combination play is amazing so far!!!
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Our opening match, albeit not a bad result, was purely disappointing as we conceded with what was like the last kick of the ball. The squad fully deserved to win as well, but with our current form, I won't complain too much.
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The other highlighted match was our best result of the month, purely because of how good we were all round. The defence was solid and Byrne was simply amazing in the match as well.
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Our best player was down to the CM duo of Byrne and Cane, but purely for his goalscoring exploits with 4 goals and 2 assists, it has to go to Alex Byrne. The midfield duo is the heart of the team and without them we would be nowhere near where we are now.
 
September Preview
September doesn't look too bad judging by our current form. I don't want to get too ahead of myself but I'd really like to think we can get a decent points tally from this month as well. We also begin our FA Cup campaign, obviously not a competition I mind about for the time being as we won't be going anywhere near winning it.
September Review
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IT COULD NOT BE GOING ANY BETTER!!! This is truly dreamland as we cruise through September, winning every single match. We're at the opposite end of we were expected to be - we're top of the league!
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Super solid result here as we ease past promotion hopefuls Dartford. Our possession play is top quality at the minute and our attack is on fire!! Unbelievable!
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This, however, was the result of the month as we absolutely tore apart one of the best sides in the division. I expected to be losing by this margin!
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Player of the month goes to winger Ben Swallow. As we change our formation due to Jacob Cane's injury, he's really stepped into the first team really well and taken a starting spot away from fellow winger Naby Diallo.
 
October-January Preview
So I'm hugely enjoying this save at the moment, and I am going to do two massive updates until the end of season rather than month by month. I hope that's alright with all of you. Anyways, I'm going to be really optimistic and hope so much that we can still be in the play-offs by the end of this period of the gameplay. Overall though, we've almost avoided relegation and that was my sole objective first season.
October-January Review
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AND WE ARE STILL IN THE PLAY-OFFS!!! Form dipped slightly in parts, but on the whole, the squad is doing amazingly well! Everyone is coming together really well, and the free agents are really playing their parts as well! Finishing in the play-offs with a club like this would be one of my best achievements so far! Simply amazing!
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This was a really quality match which could've even been somewhere along the lines of 5-5 if everyone took their chances. Neither side cared about defence, but in the end no one could find a winner! I was particularly gutted when Cummings missed an easy header on goal in the 93rd minute!
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Our first defeat comes against opposition who, in our current vain of form, aren't that great. They played really good football though and fully deserved to win the match.
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This is a much more positive result for the club as we ease past top quality opposition in Woking! They never troubled us here and despite a small injury, one of our best matches so far!
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The man of the moment is hot prospect Oliver Lynch. He has been absolutely on fire for the club and is single handedly preventing us from dropping further down the table! Amazing stuff from the young gun.
 
January - April Preview
The run-in to the end of season and our chances of play-off football are looking really likely! We've past through our main difficult matches and just making the play-offs would get us tons of extra funds.
January - April Review
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WE'VE MADE IT!!! We're into the play-offs as the next few months go even better than expected. We only lose a few times, notably 3-4 on the final day disappointingly. Dulwich Hamlet are also our first opponents in the play-off semi-final, so hopefully we can redeem ourselves and get revenge.
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Chelmsford are our weakness and they dominated us again here. They've gone up to the National League where we can hopefully join them. View attachment 18473
This was a really impressive win as we didn't let them have any of the game and managed to come out on top on one of the league's biggest disappointments this season in Billericay, who've even failed to make the play-offs.
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This is the easiest win we'll ever get as Wealdstone were restricted to no shots in the entire match! A double from Tristan Plummer made the win easy.
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A final day match where we disappointed in the end. Losing 4-3 was really upsetting but I'll take it if it means getting past them in the play-offs!
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Lynch was amazing again!!
 
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