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I know what your thinking. Another newbie, another Bradford (Park Avenue) update. Well for my sins, they are my local team, when I am not officiating myself I watch them and my father played for them in their first season in the Northern Premier League in the 70's. Given their recent demotion from the FM pyramid, this may be my first and only time I get to manage them. So forgive me if I'm treading an over familiar path.
FM2005 5.0.5 - All English leagues on huge database.
Bradford (Park Avenue) 2004/05 Conf. North
We know how it all starts, no players, no money, no wage budget (something which I always stick to). I sent the scout out around England , primarily raiding Harrogate Town. Signed a GK :thup: to plug the obvious gap in the squad as one of 9 signings throughout the season (all free) alongside 6 loans, the star of which was a young MC from Oxford.
Up until Xmas, the results were shared around, a win here, a draw there, and a loss to balance it up. A defeat to Canvey Island in the 3rd Round of the FA Trophy allowed me to concentrate on the league and was a catalyst for a run of good form, resulting in only two more defeats for the rest of the season. With three games remaining we had secured a play-off spot and sat in 2nd, 6 points behind Barrow, who we played away on the final game. The GD was in Barrow's favour so one more win would put them in the Conf. National.
Four points from our final two home games was enough to keep us in it as Barrow hit the self-destruct button and lost their next two. Clearly demoralised, Barrow made it three on the bounce and our 4-1 victory at Holker Street secured BPA the first ever Conference North title. Not bad for a team that game 13th in a lower league the season before.
W 23 D 12 L 7 F 58 A 26 Pts 81 Pos 1st
FA Cup BPA 0-1 Northwich 4th Qualifying Replay
FA Trophy BPA 1-2 Canvey Island 3rd Round Replay
Man Utd won EPL, Fulham beat Chelsea in FA Cup final, Real Madrid win CL, Leverkusen win UEFA
Bradford (Park Avenue) 2005/06 Conf. National
Despite promotion, there is still no money to spend, and the wage budget remains at £2,500 a week. The only frees found by the scouts are squad players who will primarily cover the injuries and pad out the Reserve side the we now have. We bring in 3 on loan, the DRC is the best defender, an AML that weighs in with 17 assists, and a SC who scores 23 in all comps.
The board, fans, and my assitant expect relegation - the bookies are more optimistic, quoting my chances of promotion at 33-1 and giving me an outside chance. It is the bookies that are right. In a game of footballing musical chairs, positions 2-12 are ever changing and with Woking running away with the title, ourselves and 10 others share victories over one another and its a case of who ever is in the play off places when the music stops.
A 5-0 home win over fellow promotion candidates Aldershot in late March, 3 days after they had hammered us 3-0 at the Recreation Ground in the 6th round of the Trophy put us in 2nd and seemed to secure a play off spot. However, 1 win, 4 draws and a defeat in the remaining 6 games means that a 89th minute equaliser in the West Yorkshire derby with Halifax allows us to scrape the final place in the play-offs, but we looked seriously out of form.
The cup format spurs us on, 3-1(H) and 1-0(A) wins over Aldershot book our trip to Stoke where we meet Stevenage and a 3-0 win puts BPA back in the league after a 27 year absence. :thup: Totally unjustified and carried by the three loans the scout found from across the Pennines.
W 17 D 15 L 10 F 60 A 46 Pts 66 Pos 5th - play off winners
FA Cup BPA 0-3 Norwich 3rd Round
FA Trophy Aldershot 3-0 BPA 6th Round
Man Utd won EPL again and add the FA Cup, Milan win CL, FC Bayern keep the UEFA in Germany. Poofland beat the Italians in the World Cup final.
Bradford (Park Avenue) 2006/07 League Two
I spend cash for the first time, £7k on a striker from Watford, but thats it. The wage budget only goes up to £3k a week so I trim the squad for the higher wages of the 4 frees I bring in. For some reason I am unable to attract the quality of loans available last season. All in all, it is a much weaker squad that starts our first league campaign since 1969/70. The fixture computer plays a blinder, our first game is at home to Cambridge, the team that replaced BPA in the league in 1970. Justice is served in a 2-0 victory. We win the first 3 games to sit second but thats as good as it gets. We battle our way to becoming a mid table side and despite having £1m in the bank, no extra transfer funds or wages are available. I feel we have hit our limit and in early March I accept the Luton Town job who are 4th in the same division.
In the time since the previous incumbent had left, Sunderland had raided the team (guess where he went ), leaving 18 players, £1m in the bank, and £2k over wage budget. I signed a couple of loans to pad the squad out and my first game was the Southern Area final 2nd Leg of the Vans Suck Ass Trophy, we drew 1-1 with Swindon, not enough to turn around the 1 goal deficit from thr first leg. Although I was unbeaten in my first 7 league games, only 3 of them were wins so the 2nd place Luton were in was too far away from champions Cambridge. Two defeats following this allowed Oxford to pass, meaning a 1-0 victory over Woking thanks to an own goal saw us limp into League One in 3rd. Honestly, I have never been so deflated by a promotion. The game didn't help either, the promotion was acknowleged by one line of news! It was as if it never happened.
Luton - 3rd promoted 82 pts
BPA - 10th 65 pts
FA Cup Reading 2-0 BPA 3rd Round
League Cup BPA 0-2 Hull 1st roung
Vans BPA 0-1 Barnsley Northern Quarters
Man Utd won the EPL again, Chelsea beat Derby in the FA cup final adding the UEFA later, FC Bayern the CL.
There are a few problems that I have come across in this save (one of which Mr.Hardy's better half has pointed out), that I am sure everyone else has as well at some point, and that has been comprehensively covered in the thread around here somewhere.
For the record, my main problems have been
- unrealistic loans (Premier League to Conference National/North/South)
- still part-time in League 2 although this is unrelated to training
- reputation not changing in line with division or progress
I'm sure this is nothing new to any of you and I gather at least one of them is being corrected for 2006. I suppose a lot of these problems are magnified in England with the 6 levels as opposed to other nations that have 2/3/4 stages. Its the first time I have started in England since very early CM4 days; Vaduz, Hjorring, Angloueme and Club Lobos gave kept me away since.
Its (Park Avenue)! /o\ 
update. Well for my sins, they are my local team, when I am not officiating myself I watch them and my father played for them in their first season in the Northern Premier League in the 70's. Given their recent demotion from the FM pyramid, this may be my first and only time I get to manage them. So forgive me if I'm treading an over familiar path.
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