retired_kswansonwoolf

Hit the glass ceiling already?

Nevermind, KUTGW! :thup:

retired_mrsjb

Good Stuff :thup:

KingsbayYHPE

TooOld? Where've ye' been, my man? Good to see you back

KingsbayYHPE

FM's good, has a bit of that "can't put it down" feel to it, and I'll wager that the patch improves on it even further

retired_sara maria

Is that a blind wager or an educated guess?

KingsbayYHPE

I...ahem...have no idea what you mean, Devon *whistle*

retired_sara maria

Good answer. :thup:

retired_dawnyyy1

2012/13 Barrow League One

6 more freebies arrived at the Furness of football (had to do that at some point), including our first foreigner, from Malawi (don't worry, he came via MKFranchise), which left us with depth but £1k over our wage bill of £26k. However, we did seem very light up front but unto the breach.

After 11 games, we were top and although we slipped away, this was the first season where we dominated matches regularly, even if we couldn't finish the opposition off. The highlight was finally beating Carlisle (who were relegated, hurrah).

Once again, the standard of scouted loan players and potential purchases was poor, so we spent only £90k, out of £1.4m, on bringing in some kids for the future. At the end of the season, a cheeky request for a capacity request was rejected due to lack of funds.

League 1: Pos 16th W15 D14 L17 Pts59 (new record by 1 place)
FA Cup: 2nd Round replay lost 0-1A Huddersfield L1 (missed out on home game with The Rags)
League Cup: 2nd Round lost 1-3(aet)A West Brom EC (a League 2 team made the final!)
Vans Trophy: 1st Round lost 3-4A Bristol Rovers L1

Amazingly, the board put up the max wage to £2.2k, which meant that I could re-sign all the players (i wanted) whose contracts were up. £370k has been spent on 3 new strikers and I'm quietly optimistic about next season (which should lead to sacking by Xmas).

I'm pleased I started with a small database, as it's stopped the market being flooded with a million free youth players. I know this isn't entirely realistic but then neither is the way in which FM (and predecessors) overrates Premiership kids. Most L1 teams in RL rely on journeymen, rather than being full of kids who could play in the top flight. Really enjoying not being able to freebie my way into the Championship.

retired_dawnyyy1

2013/14 Barrow League One

Vague notions of expectation were enhanced by odds of 40-1 and fans expecting mid-table obscurity. The newbies took the payroll £4k over budget to £32k, so 3 lags were sold before the season commenced. However it was the return of "weird season"...

We started with 4 defeats without scoring (ouch), which we then broke by defeating EC opponents for the first time (ex-European Cup holding trees) in the League Cup. 2/3 of the strikers I bought in were flops but sold them on for a loss of £80k and replaced them with the £16k re-purchasing of our top scorer from 2010-2012 seasons, who was tempted south of the border once again.

Until March we were in the play-off hunt, when we hit a 6 game losing streak but still finished just 4 pts off the pace. Sadly, the board still lack finances to increase the stadium but I'll keep asking.

League One: Pos 11th W20 D5 L21 Pts65 (no draws until February!)
FA Cup: 5th Round lost 0-2H Wigan Prem (a very kind draw, no giant-killing involved)
League Cup: 2nd Round lost 1-3A Chesterfield L2
Vans Trophy: 1st Round lost 0-1H Leyton Orient L1

A definite step forward, which led to me considering if I would stay on if I could beat my initial target of beating 8th in L1. 10 years in charge, time to go to the party (the assistant manager is in charge of celebrations- check manager options) and see if I can get sacked for chatting up the Chairman's wife!

retired_mrsjb

Nice work :thup: