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Career objective: Rise up through the English leagues managing only sides in red & white stripes (Hayes, Brentford, Southampton, Sheffield United, Sunderland off the top of my head).
Version: 5.0.5
Leagues running: England (All), Scotland (All), Spain (Second Division and above)
Season 2004/2005
Conference South: Hayes
Started life at my hometown side Hayes. No one special amongst the squad (including no keeper of any form) and a basic set of staff, boosted quickly with two scouts who were immediately sent out to find any fools/talents willing to play for me with miniumium wage. Sold my highest valued asset early on but didn't use the money until January, half of it going on a player I was sure I'd tried to sign for free!
Finally signed a keeper just over a week before the season kicked off and I was well on my way...to the bottom 3. Got my first win after 8 games but didn't repeat this feat until January which left me bouncing back and forth between the dizzy heights of 20th, 21st, 22nd for much of the season. Kept fiddling with my tactics which probably caused more trouble but I eventually went on a run in my final 7 games that took me to 20th and level on points with 19th (with a far worse goal difference unfortunately).
We were both at home on the final day, both going in winning as well (I was leading 1-0, they were leading 2-0). Carried on and went looking for goals which came with a 3-0 win at full time. Eventually braved the table after a long 5 minutes to find they'd conceded 2 in the final 20 minutes to draw. Safety secured by a whooping 2 points but then the wait to see whether the board saw this as a success like I did.
Fortunately they did, obviously 19th somehow being a respectable league position in their eyes. Onward to a quiet season in midtable, please?
Final League position: 19th
FA Cup: 3rd qualifying round(4-2 away defeat to high flying Alfreton in the Conference North, after I lead 2-0 at half time!)
FA Trophy: 3rd round (2-1 away defeat to Conference national Exeter)
Players In: 13 (£11k spent) & 7 loans in
Players Out: 4 (£12k received)
Premier League winners: Chel...yawn
FA Cup: Liverpool
League Cup: Chelsea
Champions League: Inter coming out on top of an all Milan final
Worth mentioning: One of the bigger English sides sacking their manager in March and replacing him with one of their coaches (Mr Surprise from now on for future use)
Had a busy pre-season shipping out some of my poorer signings, exchanging two of them to bring back 2 impressive loans from last season on
permanent deals. Also had to wear down a recently released "Red & White striped" player my scouts had rated highly, flatly rejecting me early on in pre season only to eventually realise no one else was interested in him and so he arrived on a 2 year deal. Hurrah!
Started the season off back in my usual form, only 1 point from my opening 7 games left me back in the bottom 2 and included a 4-2 humbling to "A Lower Division" side Thame in the opening FA Cup qualifying round. Fortunately, I had yet another fiddle about my tactics and found myself going on a bit of a drawing run, eventually recording my first win in November and adding a few more in December. Taking myself out of the bottom 3 for the first time that season in January.
Rest of the season panned out incredibly inconsistent with a few runs of wins/defeats here and there helping to take me a few points clear of the relegation spots but still close enough to get a bit itchy. Went for a total revamp of my formation which seemed to pay off as I again went on an impressive run at the end of the season and kept a few clean sheets in the process which was a sparse rarity last season. Ended the season in 13th place and feeling quietly confident following my latest set of changes.
Final League position: 13th
FA Cup: 2nd qualifying round (4-2 defeat away to Thame)
FA Trophy: 1st round (3-0 defeat away to Conference North Gainsborough)
Players In: 10 (£0 spent) & 4 loans in
Players Out: 6 (£5k received)
Premier League: Special Ones XI
FA Cup: That football powerhouse that is...Crewe Alexandra (beating the red half of Manchester on penalties after a 2-2 draw)
League Cup: Aston Villa
Champions League: Milan making up for last years loss by beating Barcelona
World Cup: England brushing aside Italy following a first ever win over Germany in the semi's, in normal time unfortunately.
Worth mentioning: Brazil needing penalties to end Belarus' surge for the World Cup in the Quarter finals.
Ivory Coast finishing top in a group that also contained Germany & France.
Mr Happy sacked from another "big" English side in April.
Had a more quiet time in pre-season attempting to bring in 2 loan strikers from the previous campaign but finding the more "prolific" to be unwilling to sign up on a permanent basis, settling instead for the less impressive one. With hindsight it proved to be a far better signing then I expected.
Sold on a few more players to try to ease the debt of 100k that had somehow accumulated, despite being barely into half of my salary budget for the past two seasons and unfortunately out went one of the stars from my first season who hadn't featured much in the final months of last season anyway.
Started the campaign better then I usually do, a run of draws with my first win coming at the end of September once more. Before I could build up a run though I found myself pretty much playing 2 cup games a week courtesy of replays that eventually took me into the 1st round proper of the FA Cup and an away tie at League 2 Oxford. Cha ching!
Didn't fair too badly against League opposition for the first time but went down 2-1 and found myself finally back with just the League to play for thanks to a early exit in the FA Trophy. Got a few wins under my belt and plenty of draws yet again that took me away from the bottom 3 in December and looking shocked to find I was only 12 points away from the current leaders which seemed to change every other week.
Went on a good run in the second half of the season, losing only twice in the New Year but still remaining the draw specialists of the division. Every time I seemed to get close to the playoff spots though a run of draws followed and with other sides above dropping points at the same time I was left kicking myself. Fortunately I went on to steal into 5th place with 2 games to spare and end the league campaign with 2 wins to hang on to the spot.
Playoffs went by rather well knocking out 2rd placed (and regular play off contenders) Margate 3-1 in the semi's before taking a 2-0 lead in the Conference South Final against Cambridge City. Collapsed in the second half and clung on to a 2-2 draw in the end and penalties which I managed to grind out a 2-1 win from courtesy of them blasting countless penalties wide while mine were repeatedly saved. Jumped the gun and thought I was promoted until I saw I had another match left against Wakefield & Emley in the North/South Final.
Found myself taking an early 2-0 lead and getting a strange feeling of deja vu, especially when it went to 2-1 with 10 minutes remaining but I stuck away 2 goals in injury time to leave me with a flattering 4-1 win and a promotion finally secured. Losing to some former League sides and being in a relegation zone with some familiar faces looking likely for the next year.
Final League position: 5th (promoted via playoffs)
FA Cup: 1st Round (2-1 loss away to League 1 Oxford, missing a penalty in the second half when it was 1-1)
FA Trophy: 1st Round (2-1 loss away to the mighty Dulwich Hamlet)
Players In: 2 (£0k spent) & 6 loans in
Players Out: 8 (£16k received)
Premier League: London's Russian Empire
FA Cup: Double for the Russian (Manchester United improving on last years exploits by losing 5-0)
League Cup: Arsenal
Champions League: Deja vu, Milan beating Barcelona once more
Worth mentioning: The Swedish casanova resigning at the end of the season and being replaced by Mr Surprise as national boss.
Mr Happy's replacement being sacked in November, only for the next manager to have his job "very insecure" by the time the season ends.
Who loves red and white stripes? 
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