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Like I promised, my burscough update. The last time I played the save was some time ago though, so I can only write down what I remember and what the FM archives tell me.
Season 2006-2007 unemployed
I holidayed a season because of the forbidden challenge. Shame on me and my family.
Season 2007-2008 Burscough Conference North
Burscough came up and I liked their team colours, their general carpness was also sure to give me a challenge.
A team of grays and no staff to speak of, it was like starting with a clean slate. I got in some players, hired some grays and hired some decent staff.
The whole season went better than I hoped and we even challenged for a playoff spot from time to time. We ended in a respectable 7th place.
12 players in for 4k (I had a transfer budget in conference north, how rare!)
9 grays out for 0k
We started 60k in the black, and lost 20k this season. On to the next!
Season 2008-2009 Burscough Conference North
With a 7th place last year I felt there was more to come from this group and promotion was possible this year. I tinkered a bit with tactics and players and the result was exactly the same as last year. However, the whole league performed worse than last year so I ended 4th and went into the playoffs!
We lost the first leg 0-1 at home to bedford and things were looking bad. I had a couple of key players come back from injury in the meantime and we thrashed them 3-0 away.
The final pitted us against altrincham and with more luck than anything we managed to win an even match by 3-0. Huzzah and PROMOTION!
cups sucked
6 players in for free
7 players out for free
We had half the attendances we had last year so our finances went down abit and we were broke. Anyway, a promotion should take care of that!
Season 2009-2010 Burscough Conference National
Hopes were low: stay where we were. Sadly, performances were even lower and we ended dead last with 16pts between us and safety.
Playoffs it was, and we had to go past Nuneanton first. I totally dominated my home leg, with 10 shots against 4 and 55% possession. The score however was 1-1. No worries, I would beat them away then. We also had the upper hand in the away game, but only slightly, and Nuneanton's luck continued. They won 2-1 and lost on penalties in the final, meaning they woudl still be in the same competition I was in. They were sooo gonna have it next season!
3 players in and 6 out all for free as I was balancing my squad.
So there were 2 objectives for the next season;
1) Secure promotion
2) Hamper Nuneanton in getting promoted at all costs.
financially the year was a disaster as well, losing 100k. Our average attendance was at a dramatic 280 folks.
Season 2011-2012 Burscough Conference North
Everything went well and I won the league. Nuneanton was 10th :devilish laugh:
I won against Petershead in League 2 and some Conference National teams in the cups, giving me that bit of confidence I lacked in my previous Conference National adventure.
2 transfers in and 3 transfers out, all on frees.
we lost another 40k this season, after our attendance picked up a little at about 450 people.
Media Prediction: 22nd of 24
Board and Fans: Battle bravely
Me: Avoid relegation
We had a great start, and were second after 4 games. It all went a bit downhill from there and while we were never really in danger of getting relegated, it looked like we were destined for lower midtable. Also notable was the fact that we were sh*te at home (18th), but great away (2nd). We also drew almost half of our games for some reason.
Because of the small database I was playing with (blame the forbidden challenge), it took me about 3 quarters of the season untill some decent players showed up. However, when I signed them my team propelled onward and we stranded in a good 8th place.
In the cups we held League One outfit Darlington to a draw, only to lose 4-0 away. Still made some money from it.
Transfers:8 in, 7 out as we strengthened our squad with some quality players and got rid of the conf north players that wouldn't improve, all on frees of course.
Only after the last match I noticed I had no Assman, probably the cause to my success. I went to the job centre and who applied? One of my own coaches! He must have been real shy not to say anything before, but he asked nicely via the job centre and I promoted him to assman.
Finances and attendance picked up too: we're now 60k in the black again (210k profit) adn the average attendance was a whopping 1061!
I hope to confirm my good place next season and maybe even compete for a playoff spot, who knows...
Oh yes, and we were also rated overachievers of the year and got second best signing. POTY was a left winger, same one as last year and also the only player to appear when looking at the conference national player stats screen. He is now second choice.
Media Prediction: 10th of 24
Board and Fans: Safe Midtable
Me: Playoff spot
Last seasen really got my hopes up, and even the media expected me to finish 10th (although we were one of the very few part-timers in the league, and had worse players than everyone else, they must have put managerial genius from my part in the equation ). Also when I look back at the run of wins we strung together last season once I finally got my team together, I was confident that we could get a playoff spot.
Not so. We started of under par, but that is always the case with me. However, for the larger part of the season we managed to do even worse, thanks to some of the better aquaplaning work on FM's part. For some unknown reason we seemed to leak goals at the back, despite a more than decent keeper and 'good' defenders. Up front everything was going splendid though, and we scored 3rd most goals of the league, but conceding 4th most.