Yeovil Town - Started from the bottom

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2016/17 - Season 4


Our defence looked very good in the first third of the league season, we didn't concede many goals while both Toquero and Ings scored important goals in several victories. We kept our run going in the League cup through to the Quarter finals also.

We made hard work of our Quarter final tie against Championship Doncaster, but got through after extra-time to face Southampton in the Semis. Danny Ings went on an amazing run of goalscoring form, scoring 2 hat-tricks in 4 games including to help us see off Man City 3-1! We beat Southampton in the first leg of the Carling Cup Semis 1-0 and then 2-2 in the away game to see us through to the Final against a certain Arsenal, who we've already had some good results against. Our FA Cup run ended in the last 16 at home to WBA but we picked up some more valuable wins in the league such as a 2-1 at WHL against Spurs, 4-0 at home to Fulham and 1-0 against WBA at home. We also drew in the league 1-1 at home to our future League Cup final opponents Arsenal.

On to the Final and we came up against an Arsenal side in good form under Spalletti. We played a 4-4-2 on the counter, and Ings didn't disappoint, grabbing the first goal before Arsenal equalised. We carried on battling though and plucked away until Ings scored his and our second. What a predator! We're well versed in seeing out games with the disciplined, determined nature of the squad and the boys did excellent to see this Arsenal team off! Carling Cup Glory! And hopefully the first of many pieces of silverware in the Premier League chapter of Yeovil Town FC!

This cup result was the catalyst for another good run in the league, losing just 2 of the remaining 11 but only winning 4 of those 9! Still, we edged Derby into 7th! Our ever improving defensive record saw us concede only 40 goals in the league, 1 less than Liverpool who finished 14th!


Somehow Conor Thomas made the Best XI despite making 2 appearances!

Keep watching to see how we build on this great season, and of course in the small matter of Europa League football for next season!
 
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You are just too good at FM!


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
 
2017/18 - Season 5

Aims

​
  • To finish as high as possible in the Premier League.
  • Improve the level of quality in the squad with European Football on the horizon.
  • Keep improving the reputation of the club. The Europa League is a unique opportunity, can we go one further than Fulham and Middlesbrough have in recent years?
  • Keep upgrading facilities every summer, and stadium capacity.
The Board again sanctioned an upgrade to the Training and Youth facilities, and the improvement of our Academy status. Junior coaching and Youth recruitment expenditure were increased once more, and the stadium had a few thousand seats installed to take the standing capacity to 16,853 - more than 3 times 5,212.


Transfers - In
​

Due to my/Yeovil's in-game hatred of Stoke, I decided to wrap up deals for 2 of their best players very early on as they battled for promotion back to the Premier League. It took a long time for them to become interest but soon after winning the Carling Cup, we successfully negotiated the deals for them to join! (6) (6) Also, a Red Devil who had spent 2 seasons on loan at Celtic took my interest when he was transfer listed (6) Without further ado, introducing 3 fantastic players to the Yeovil squad ...
  • Jack Butland, the 24 year old England international goalkeeper agreed ?4m move with a 5 year contract worth 35k-a-week. Stech was doing the business for me, but I felt it was worth moving for this guy with the price so reasonable! A safe pair of hands.
  • Ryan Shawcross, 29, the ideal centre back for us. No nonsense, England international, experienced and just quality. With 19 determination, he will be a great tutor for younger players and also a real leader with 17 leadership. He joined for ?9m on a 4 year deal worth ?45k-a-week.
  • Angelo Henriquez, 23, a Chilean international striker named 2014 World Cup Best Young Player and he has some great attributes. I was delighted to pick him up for ?7.5m at Manchester United and the ?55k-a-week 5 year deal should be money well spent if he bangs them in. Hopefully Moyesy regrets selling me this one!
  • Thiago Casasola was brought my attention in 2015 by my scout in Spain, and I approached to sign him for 16/17 only for Real Madrid to use a clause to extend his contract and ruin my chances! However, I did it again a year later and they didn't have a clause! The 22-year-old Argentine centre-half has "star Premier League" potential and in Dawson and Shawcross, he has two great players to learn from!
  • Matias Ezequiel Scheletto joins Yeovil on a 4 year contract worth ?20k-a-week on a free transfer from Inter Milan. The tireless Italian right midfielder will add work-rate, desire and physicality to the flank.
  • Olivier Ntcham, a french central midfielder aged 21 ideal for the box to box role with his strength, joins from Manchester City for ?5.5m. His "star Premier League potential" makes him the perfect replacement for the departing Jon Williams.
  • Patrick Roberts, a prodigal 20 year old right midfielder from Championship Fulhams' brilliant academy. He joins on a 5 year deal for ?6.25m
  • Chris Solly was our last major signing this summer after a raft of big deals to improve our whole team. The 26 year old right back cost ?4.3m on a 4 year deal worth ?44k-a-week.
  • Francisco Jesus is the latest young Spaniard to join the U21s, with the talented if confrontational 16 year old left winger coming over from Cordoba Bs for ?800k.
Wow I'll get my breath back after that, and then get back to you on the departures, since there are a few of them too!

Keep watching!
 
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2017/18 - Season 5

Transfers - Out



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​

Onto the departures and with the quantity and quality of arrivals, there had to be a few from the first team which received the axe. Here they are:
  • Mark O'Brien certainly did a job for me, but never gave enough reason for me not to sell him for a reasonable ?2m, especially with Shawcross and Casasola coming in.
  • Jason Pearce spent last season on loan with his old club Derby and they activated the clause to buy him, which I was happy about for the same reasons as O'Brien!
  • Paddy Madden will never be forgotten by Yeovil fans for his 37 goals the year we went up, and it was only fair that we gave the old favourite a chance to get some gametime elsewhere when promoted Huddersfield offered us ?700k. I had a much bigger offer in 2014 for him but turned it down, luckily.
  • Also leaving to Huddersfield was right-back Luke Ayling for ?2.4m, following the signing of Solly. Conor Thomas was the 3rd to head up to Huddersfield when they offered a very reasonable ?1.1m for a young man who hadn't developed as much as I'd hoped.
  • Marek Stech was a reliable shot stopping No.1 every season but following Butland's arrival probably didn't want to hang around for cup games, so he became the fourth and final player to head to Huddersfield, this time for ?1.2m.
  • Following 2 arrivals in his position, Lee Chung-Yong left for Besiktas for ?2.7m, which was a good turnaround on a free transfer from 1 year ago.
  • Jack Robinson left on a free having made no progress, as did Mark Durnan.
  • Jon Williams had only been here for 1 season after his ?5.5m move and was mainly a substitute, so when Tottenham offered ?14m up front for him, I accepted it very swiftly and set about replacing him with Ntcham.
  • Paul McShane also fell victim to the revolving door after 2 years of good service in our backline but it was time for change. He joined Wolves on a loan deal until the end of the season with a small loan fee and wages paid.
  • Alan Judge was the last sale, joining Everton for ?2.6m (on 1/1/18) after failing to really impress at the top level. We paid ?4.5m for him but his value was only going to fall so I decided to cut our losses.
So do you guys think I've been too brutal?

Stech, Ayling, McShane, LCY, Madden!

I feel bad for letting some real Stalwarts go who have served me so well, but it was also time for change so I could put my own stamp on the squad. There's no room for sentiment in football! (6)

I'll post about our upcoming season shortly, stay tuned ...
 
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chrisstanley1987 said:
Good story so far mate, doing well! Could I see a screen shot of the players from Derby, Will Hughes please, lot to spend for your club!
Click to expand...

Here are the 2017 screenshots of Will Hughes, Jason Lowe, Ings, Toquero, Reilly, Bryan and the young Yeovil players unique to my game:

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I'll keep you updated on their progress!
 
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chrisstanley1987 said:
some cracking potential there fella!
Click to expand...

Swailes is possibly the pick of the lot at ?13k! As for the Spanish lads, I think I have so many because they demand less money for them over in Spain. In England you'd be looking at ?5m for players of similar quality.

The new season is coming soon, I'll post screenshots of the 2017/18 signings when I get a chance!
 
Great signings there!


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk
 
New post coming up in the next few minutes, get ready and read up if you haven't already!
 
2017/18 - Season 5 - Yeovil in Europe!

So having made the significant squad improvements very early on, we were ready to take on the friendlies. I booked far fewer this season as they had to sandwiched the two Europa League Qualifiers. We took on Gent in the qualifiers beating them 2-0 away and 4-2 at home, a 6-2 aggregate victory! We were drawn against Borussia Monchengladbach (sp?) in the play off for the group stage. With players such as Luuk De Jong, it was a much harder game than I had hoped for but a good challenge; if they're not good enough I'd rather go out now with there still time to buy players! Goals from Angelo Henriquez and Alfred N'Diaye helped us to a 2-1 aggregate victory. Close but we passed the first test!



We got drawn up against Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, PSV of the Netherlands and St. Gallen of Switzerland in the group stages and I was buzzing that we would go on a tour of Europe! Juggling the squad for League and Cup was something I relished as it simply meant game time for all although we had to be careful with important players to ensure they didn't get injured by managing training levels and resting accordingly. All a part of management! Our first group game didn't go to plan, as we lost 2-1 at home to Dynamo Kiev. A harsh lesson for us and meant we had to improve to stay in the competition.

The league and league cup went OK, and the league is always priority especially for the group stages. We put 5 past PSV and St. Gallen in Europe and then Huddersfield in the League so clearly had got to grips with juggling competitions. Despite another damaging result (1-1 away to St. Gallen), we beat PSV again and drew in Kiev to qualify narrowly as winners!



Our youngsters were victorious against Norwich in the last 16 of the League cup, 4-1 after extra time which was very pleasing and actually unexpected against Premier League opposition. The League cup, despite being holders, is the lowest of priorities this season so I stayed loyal to the youngsters against Arsenal in the quarter final re-enactment of last years final. This time, we were cruelly knocked out in extra time.



Here's a good time to review the new players and the team in general:

League Cup aside, we went on a 12 game winning streak in all competitions.We only conceded 2 goals in 11 of those (taking out the FA Cup game) and were pretty free scoring with Ings, Henriquez and Swailes all smashing in at will! Butland andShawcross really looked the part, and formed a formidable partnership with Craig Dawson with Mee and Solly protecting the flanks consistently. Scheletto and Bryan were the go-to men out wide shielding their full backs, and one of the best midfield partnerships I have ever witnessed on FM of Hughes-Lowe in that DLP-BWM combination tied everything together. Casasola has been a steady 3rd choice CB, bound to improve with time, while Reilly and all the other young players haven't put a foot wrong when called upon.

The only player I have been slightly disappointed with is Alan Judge, who is due to join Everton on 1/1/18 for ?2.5m. ?2m lost on this guy, but you win some you lose some!

I think it was the sheer momentum we generated that allowed us to ****** and grab a 3-0 away to Liverpool, with a hat-trick for 17-year-old prodigy Conor Swailes at Anfield! He struck away again at Tottenham in the next game as we won 2-1 and proved we are not to be taken lightly anymore!

Second half of the season coming very shortly, stay tuned ...
 
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This has been a really good story so far. You're just too good at football manager. Will definitely be following.
 
Cup Draws

jricketts96 said:
This has been a really good story so far. You're just too good at football manager. Will definitely be following.
Click to expand...

Thanks mate, I appreciate it!

The draw for the 4th round of the FA Cup:

We will play Liverpool away. A tough fixture indeed, can we recapture the form from the recent 3-0 in this same fixture from the league?

The draw for the last 16 of the Europa League:

We will play Fiorentina with the second leg at home. Given some of the teams in this competition, it isn't the hardest of draws and to play the second leg at home is a real bonus.

Simultaneously, the draw for the Quarter-Finals of the Europa League:

Yeovil or Fiorentina will play Granada with the second leg at home. Granada have probably made the most progress in Spain since 2013, with 4 consecutive 4th placed finishes and some very good players.

Stay tuned to see how we get on ...
 
Europa League + League fixtures

Our winning streak ended at Anfield in the FA Cup, losing 2-0. 3 big games saw a return of just 1 point before we drew away to Huddersfield in the run up to the Europa league match against Fiorentina.

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Our away leg was going very well, goals from Swailes, Bryan and a brace from Dennis who came off the bench saw us go 4-2 up. However, perennial yellow card accumulator and captain Jason Lowe collected a second booking, reducing us to 10 men on 78 minutes. Given we were using a 4-4-2, to lose the ball winning midfielder was a disaster and I put Swailes in the middle with Hughes. Despite going into our shell, Fiorentina scored 3 in quick succession and we lost 5-4!


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We were determined to put this right, and a strong lineup in the second leg saw them off 4-0! Conor Swailes is a legend in the making, and may be forcing his way into the England World Cup squad aged 18 at this rate!

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In the Quarter Final, we decided to go 4-5-1 and defend for our lives in the away leg. We went behind 3 times in the game, but managed to keep it to a one goal margin for the home leg.


Things looked bad when El Arabi scored for Granada, but Casasola's header and a classic poachers' goal from Ings saw us edge through to the Semi Finals on away goals where we will play Real Madrid. I don't know how a team with Ronaldo, Bale, Isco and Benzema could fall into the Europa League, but we have to show them respect while believing we can beat them!

As for the league, everyone chipped in with goals as we continued to win the majority of games. With 35 played, we were sitting 5th behind City, Chelsea, Arsenal and United

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Keep watching to see how we fared in the seasons' finale with some massive games to come for the club!
 
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The Semi-Final of the Europa League

We set out in the 1st leg not to get beat, with a defensive 4-5-1 the setup. Things didn't get off to a good start at the Bernabau when Dawson put it in his own net. We stuck with the defensive line-up hoping to keep the margin at 1, until Gareth Bale scored a second. It was at this point I changed to an attacking 4-4-2 to try and get an away goal rather than go out with a whimper. Alfred N'Diaye, or the wardrobe as I call him, was to be sacrificed from DM for a striker, and FM moved him up front as the substitute awaited. Amazingly, as I was screaming at my laptop asking why N'Diaye was making a darting run into the six yard box, Joe Bryan whipped it in and the Wardrobe scored! I later took off Ings to go back to 4-5-1 as we settled for a 2-1 defeat with the away goal.

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Wigan away was the league fixture sandwiched between the Madrid games, and I pretty much rotated the squad completely to keep us fresh and we settled for a 2-2 draw.

Next up, the second leg and with the tie finely poised at 1-2, we still had a chance however small against the Spanish champions 3 years in row. Angelo Henriquez was still out injured for a couple of weeks, so I went with Ings and Swailes up front in an attempt to get some goals. Will Hughes was stuck out on the left, while Ntcham came in for a box-to-box role with N'Diaye (the wardrobe) keeping his place as my apology for taking him off after scoring at the Bernabau!

Ings opened the scoring to my delight just before half time, allowing my to send the boys back out buzzing for the second half! Bale continued to torment us when he equalised, negating our away goal before Ings instantly put us on level terms at 3-3 (on aggregate). I found myself simply praying we wouldn't concede another away goal which would surely see us knocked out. With the tie heading towards extra time (and me checking the rules on away goals in ET!), Alex Sandro the left saw a straight red for hacking down Swailes who was clean through on goal! We couldn't convert the free kick but we went into extra time with 11vs10, and with 2 substitutes left. Conor Swailes, who started the game, scored a quickfire brace in the 95th and 97th minutes to put us 5-3 up on aggregate. We created countless more chances against a shaky 10 men of Real Madrid before Danny Ings completed his hat-trick and the rout with the score at 5-1! At this point, I brought on a 15 year old Craig Brough, an academy player who had made the bench through injuries in defensive midfield just to rub salt in the wounds of Madrid!

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So it finished 6-3, and against all odds we made the final! Here is Craig Brough the 15 year old given the unforgettable experience of playing the last 5 minutes of extra time against Madrid! He came through this year and is quite a prospect who I will fast-track to the first team setup:

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The Grande Finale

Onto the final where we met St Ettiene​. We had gone to the well against Fiorentina, Granada and Real Madrid and I genuinely wondered how much more we had left to give this season. Angelo Henriquez was thrown in some U21 games to get his match fitness back in time and started at the expense of the Hero Swailes. In fairness maybe I should have started Swailes as neither team scored in a fairly boring 120 minutes. The match went to penalties and although we didn't have our strongest takers on the field, Ings, N'Diaye (aka Wardrobe), Ntcham and Hughes all scored their penalties before Gerndt missed for Ettiene. Swailes smashed in the decisive penalty! Unbelievable!


The players were absolutely ecstatic with their Europa League success and rightly so. Morale was superb and they swept aside Cardiff 2-0 at home and relegated WBA 4-1 away to secure an incredible 4th placed finish in the league!


The Best XI really is our Best XI. What a team and Perch, Henriquez, N'Diaye, Dawson and Dennis on the bench all played their role as did Ntcham, Reilly, and Casasola who didn't make the team above.

A hugely successful season for what is still a small club, but you have to think our credibility not just domestically but on the continent is through the roof right now. It will be tough to keep this group together, with United circling Will Hughes for example, but is there any chance we can match our achievements of this season, let alone eclipse them?

Keep watching to find out....
 
Club Screenshots

I've been dying to post these screenshots but couldn't up until now. I will fill in any gaps since these screenshots are from August, but here are the squad overview of last season's squad and Scheletto's profile (he left, as I'll later explain)

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Here are other screenshots of the club:

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Feel free to request any screenshots I have missed!

Keep an eye out for how we prepare for the Champions League!
 
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