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Hello to one and all. I confess that this is my first post here, despite being an avid reader for several years.
So, my first foray in FM LLM sees me picking my longtime "LLM Wishlist" team, Lancaster (Conf North). My excitement of a dream first season, ended up as one of the toughest seasons I've ever managed in any version of the game.
Scouts are quickly dispatched to the nether regions of England, and I give my squad an in-depth appraisal. I spot a few half-decent youngsters, 2 good defenders, 1 good striker and a solid enough keeper. The rest are makeweights and dross.
Friendlies out of the way I amke my first moves in the transfer market, first by ridding the team of some of the dross (free), then getting in a young keeper (free), who my scouts think is decent and I think can challenge for the number 1 jersey.
Big Mistake. In what can only be ascribed to a "momentary lapse", I sell my decent keeper to rivals Southport. To make matters worse it was a fee per appearance deal, worth a potential 10k (he didn't play all season). And the youngster I brought in to challenge him, turns out to be horribly inconsistent. Great!
We start the season in sparkling form, it takes 9 matches till I slip up and actually win, a point. We spend the entire first half of the season in the bottom two, winning just twice before the new year.
The next half a season goes better and with 5 games left we lie in 17th place, three above the drop zone. Two of the final games are against fellow relegation-threatened clubs. Mind games come into play, and we come out on top, and safety is assured with two games to go. Phew!
The most frustrating aspect to the first season was the amount of times we let our opponents score in the final minute or injury time. We lost out on 20 points in all, enough to put us in 9th.
Final position: 18th. W10, D13, L19, PTS 43
A much needed break for my youngsters and a crucial clear out of overpaid oldies is the order of the day in pre-season. Onwards to 06/07 and Lancaster's rise from obscurity!
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by iajafer:
Heyhey! Another lurker delurked Welcome to LLM, polygon-bloke. :thup:
KUTGW!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks for the welcome!
Just a mid-sason update. Jumped ship from Lancaster, despite leading them to the dizzy heights of 13th. Was offered a challenge by Wrexham.
They are adrift in League 1 by 20 points with 15 games to go. Massively in debt and well over the wage budget, so I get nothing to spend and have to reduce wages. The entire, very small squad has poor morale and half are unhappy (some with me before I've even picked a team!). League 2 here I come, me'thinks!
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by StanLaurel:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cobbler:
Lancaster :thup: <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Penny?
Fit bird, getting on a bit now though! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ewww.
I was of course referring to the Axemen. I oft watched them in my Uni days, when they had the fatest, oldest, baldest targetman in the Unibond First Division. I remember when Tom Finney came to open the new clubhouse (The Dolly Blue). What a truly dull man...
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cobbler:
I remember when Tom Finney came to open the new clubhouse (The Dolly Blue). What a truly dull man... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's Prestonians for you!
The Dolly Blue Tavern is quite a decent place, from what I've been told. Although I live in Lancaster, not had a chance to go watch the mighty Dollies yet (3 kids and a football hating wife see to that ). The local derby against Morecambe might be worth making an effort to see though.
Started season well with Lancaster, guiding them up to 13th The new batch of youngsters were gelling nicely with the retained 'old guard'. But, Wrexham gave me a chance in a higher league and the pull of the Dolly Blues wasn't strong enough, so off I went, feeling like I'd left a job unfinished. Never mind.
Wrexham, then. Debt-ridden, adrift at the bottom and a crippling wage bill. Oh, and a very small squad. To cut a short story even shorter, I bothced up at the Racecourse. Unable to attract any new staff or players before deadline day. So after a 4th loss on the bounce, Gretna enticed me with a large tranfer kitty and a relegation battle. I didn't think twice, after 51 days at Wrexham I packed my bags and left in the dead of night.
Up at Gretna, I had 7 games in which to pull them out of the relegation mire in Scottish Division 2. Lying in 9th and several points behind, we managed it with 2 games spare and finished 8th.
Looking forward to spending some of 1.2m transfer kitty! Can anyone tell me if this is normal for Gretna, or has there been a buy-out before I joined?
IRL Gretna are loaded. They used to play in England I believe but then some local big shot bought them, took them north of civilisation and inteneds to get them into the Premier League in some ridiculously short time scale.
The bit about moving from England to Scotland may be ******** but the rest is true.
Giant Axe, but no Vikings in sight... 
Welcome to LLM, polygon-bloke. :thup:
). The local derby against Morecambe might be worth making an effort to see though.
Linear Mode
