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Hi guys, inspired by BoroPhil and his exploits in Wales, Im aiming for similar progress in Northern Ireland with a premier division minnow and relegation favourite. The aim is to take this lowly NI club and make them into an established European identity whilst also hopefully bringing the standard in the local game with me
Background Information
Leagues loaded: English (all), Scottish (prem), Northern Irish (all), Rep of Ireland (prem), Welsh (prem)
Database size: Large
Club: Larne
2005-06
Firstly, Larne are a semi-professional club in the Northern Ireland Premier Division who play at Inver Park, a 5,000 capacity stadium with just 600 seats. The are around £2,000 in debt at the start of the game and have a large squad of 32 players. The media predicted us as relegation candidates and the bookies made us 2,000-1 for the title.
First objective I set myself was to clear out the deadwood at the club so managed to sell six first team members by the end of august for £60k - all bar one, moving to Scotland or England.
Without any money, I decided to search for young players from 15-20 who had perhaps been with top english or scottish club's youth academys. By August I had brought in seven such players with experience ranging from Everton to Dunfermline to Swindon Town - none with 1st team experience. These players all went into my 1st team to develop them ASAP - this proved to be a good ploy. I brought in two further free transfer youngsters in January as well a young Northern Irish player playing for another NI Prem club for nothing.
Competition Progress
CIS League Cup (which comes before the start of the league campaign) finished 3rd in group behind Portadown and Ards but ahead of Coleraine.
NI Premier League - finished a very respectable 6th (16 in the league) Linfield were crowned champions with a +48 goal difference and 67 points. I finished on 41 points.
County Antrim Shield - knocked out in 1st round 2-0 to Linfield
NI Cup - my saviour and passage to Europe, the All Ireland Cup and money!
5th round 2-1 win Institute (A)
6th round 2-0 win Glenavon (A)
1/4 Final 1-1 draw Loughgall (A) win on pens
1/2 Final 1-1 draw Ballymena Utd (N) win on pens again!
The Final Larne 3 Linfield 2 AET - 106th minute goal
A great first season, luck in places but the summer would see a huge clearout and basically a youth team take to the field in the UEFA Cup...
01-10-2006, 01:37 AM
Rising to the challenge - Northern Irish Progress Post #2
I decided to search for young players from 15-20 who had perhaps been with top english or scottish club's youth academys. By August I had brought in seven such players with experience ranging from Everton to Dunfermline to Swindon Town - this proved to be a good ploy.
No kidding. What's wrong with just searching for young free players?
01-10-2006, 11:01 AM
Rising to the challenge - Northern Irish Progress Post #8
Originally posted by mkus:
<BLOCKQUOTE>I decided to search for young players from 15-20 who had perhaps been with top english or scottish club's youth academys. By August I had brought in seven such players with experience ranging from Everton to Dunfermline to Swindon Town - this proved to be a good ploy.
No kidding. What's wrong with just scouting for young free players? </BLOCKQUOTE>
fixed your post
01-10-2006, 11:59 AM
Rising to the challenge - Northern Irish Progress Post #9
Originally posted by Nobby_McDonald:
Two things majorly wrong.
1. Larne are in the Northern Irish Premier Division and are therefore not LLM.
2. The three season before updating rule.
I suggest you have a read of the header and the guidelines before you try again.
So probably the most popular thread on this forum by BoroPhil is majorly wrong in your opinion and should be taken off???
And i am well aware of the 3 season rule - i have more than 3 seasons complete but wasnt going to add them all in one go as most people would stop reading - my 1st post as lengthy enough. There should be no problem with adding a season update each day as im about to do again rant over
Rising to the challenge - Northern Irish Progress 
my saviour and passage to Europe, the All Ireland Cup and money!
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