The Replacements And Fairy Tale Ending

The transfer window was opened and I needed to get new players quickly for our promotion push. I figured I would need to replace the midfielders that were going back to their parent clubs and ineffective players for my formation.

Just to mention a bit on the formation. The formation was gotten from fm-base, and the details on how to use the formation are explained in detail down to the types of players to get. It has so far worked well for me. Credits to Koflok's Goals Galore 2012.

Here's the players that I got during the transfer window. Jake Fowler and Daniel Philliskrik were re-loaned. Hatem Trabelsi, Tom Kilbey, Pablo Counago, Nicky Travis, James Gray, Daryn Hennessy, Jordan Lodge, Krisztian Timar were brought in for the senior team.

Hatem Trabelsi

The former Ajax wingback will be an asset to the team with his experience. He will be backup for Paul Arnison. I see this as a capture as he was on a pay-as-you-play basis.

Tom Kilbey

He was a much sought after attacking midfielder and definitely a piece of my jig-saw puzzle. I got rid of Marc Bridge-Wilkinson for free to Accrington so he was going to be the main play-maker for the team.

Pablo Counago

He was the best free transfer player available for me (due to my reputation) and I just had to get him. My strikers (Liam Hatch and John Campbell) were misfiring and I simply asked them to leave. He will be the first choice striker.

Nicky Travis

After Smaji had returned to Stoke, new central midfielders were required. Nicky came with a big reputation and Darlington had to pay 900 pounds per week for him. Big expectations for this creative central midfielder.

James Gray

After John Campbell and Liam Hatch were released, James came with also a big reputation. However his contract was a pay-as-you-play contract with 1K appearance fee. He will be a big hit scoring many goals as you can see later in this post.

Daryn Hennessy

Another central midfielder to increase our squad depth. This youngster will be backup to Tom Kilbey.

Jordan Lodge

Another to increase the squad depth. Backup to Reggie Lambe / Adam Rundle.

Krisztian Timar

I was getting sick of Adam Quinn. He has good stats but always performing poorly. My assistant even asked me to drop him. But I have no one good enough to replace him yet. So Timar was signed and he should not take long to blend in England as he boasts playing history with Plymouth and Oldham.

Results : League and Cup Double Winners!

The new players needed blending into the system. I noticed I kept leaking goals (was in fact the poor performance of Adam Quinn) and tried to switch to a Mourinho style defensive formation. It did not work, as shown in the 2-3 lost to Wrexham. So back to Goals Glaore. Here are the results of the remaining matches.

In addition, due to involvement in 2 competitions (league and FA Trophy), my players condition were not so good. I moved all of them into Conditioning training instead. My training facilities were not going to train these players into overnight world beaters so might as well make them fittest machines in the league.

Pablo Counago is simply the goal machine i expected of him. He averages almost a goal a game and he's our star player for our eventual league and cup double. Besides Pablo, I had James Gray, who was simply fitted into our playing style like a glove. He was expected to be backup to Pablo, but has stepped up when asked to and even scored 2 hat-tricks and braces!

I have also asked the board to invest in junior coaching as I signed several players on youth contracts. Dainius Normantas was recommended by my scout and I saw potential in this Lithuanian.

We are going up but its time to re-invest in the squad again. My finances are in a terrible mess even after receiving prize money for our league and cup win.

Turn Our Season Around!

After the Gateshead win, morale was boosted. We had to keep the winning mentality. Here's the results for the next 14 matches. A series of must-win matches followed and I think we did fairly well. 2 4-0 scorelines against minor opponents was great for the eye. During this time, my capt Ian Miller scored several goals with his head from set pieces, showing my strikers the way to do it.

First piece of bad news arrived during our winning streak. Arsensio got injured and was going to be out for 8 weeks! He's going to be missed in the center of defense.

Some movement in the transfer market. I got Reggie Lambe and Devlin Conor. And Lambe was an instant hit. He came on against Stockport and scored in the 85rd minute with a brilliant solo effort to give us a 2-1 lead after Jonathan had scored an own goal. But we could not hold on and they scored in the 88th minute. 2 points dropped! You can view the silly own goal and solo effort of Lambe on youtube. I slammed Campbell for his performance in the Stockport match afterwards.

After the Stockport match, we won against Bath 2-1, I was biting my fingernails when the score was 2-1 and Bath had several chances near the end.

Then came the 4-0 trashing of Brentford. I felt that we had to rest players and fielded a inexperienced side as I wanted to concentrate on our promotion push. Plus the fact that on loan players were ineligible for this match. We conceded 3 in the first 10 minutes! I quickly switched to contain strategy and defend deeper. That stopped the rot somehow and we conceded another one in the last 10 minutes to send our embarrassed fans home.

I was looking for response and I got it in the victories against a tough Forest Green and lowly Guiseley. Then another stupid 2 points dropped at home against Fleetwood. I was again holding on to a 2-1 lead when they scored in the 87th minute. I was furious and let the team know. We kept a clean sheet after against Tamworth with numerous chances but failed to put away. Then our first lost against league leaders Lincon. We had the upper hand in the whole match but our strikers were not able to score. I feel like strangling Rundle as he missed some great chances!

2nd piece of bad news arrived when I just found out the loanees were not on a season long loan but only 1/2 a season! !@#$% Now i have to find their replacements! My central midfielders that were spine of my team were going to back to their team. Jonathan also refused to sign a new contract extension and I had to let him go for free to Castilla.

Meanwhile I established a link with Leeds United but they do not have any players i could loan. Their reserve squad had a promising striker but he is out of action long term, furthermore he was not interested.

Next few months will be crucial. I have to find new players, release deadwoods and try for a promotion push. We are still out of the promotion places, and Lincon is very strong in first position, the best we can probably hope for is a promotion chance as theres only 1 team that can get promoted in BSP.

First Signing and Matches

I joined the Darlington Football Club in mid Oct and it certainly needs some work to be done if we are to fulfill the media prediction of 2nd on BSP. Darlington F.C. suffered relegation from League 2 in 2010/2011, and so the board is definitely looking to bounce back to League 2 ASAP. With a good ground like Darlington Areana, it can almost sustain us until we reach the English League Championship.

Mark Cooper was sacked after some unsatisfactory results. Some problems were identified when I analysed the club as a whole (including the first team squad) and it certainly needs addressing.

1) No assistant manager. My predecessor took the assistant manager with him. I would require one for handling some of the media to handle some of those annoying reporters/journalists/critics. Quickly employed Johnny Quinton.

2) Training staff were generally poor. I mutually terminated 1 Coach and 1 Physio. Moved to employ a fitness coach David Peachey.

3) Only1 true first team goalie Sam Russel was injured leaving the last line of defense to 17 year old teenager Jordan Nixon. Hope to find a good goalie on a free.

4) Too few wingers/inside forwards. There are only 3 wingers (1 of them is on the youth team). The formation I use heavily relies on wingers/inside forwards to complement the forward to get those vital goals.

5) Graeme Lee, a central defender highly paid but already 33. Tried to mutually terminate his contract but he was pissed off, so I simply transfer-listed him.

6) Cash flow problems. I am almost at my wage budget. Have to clear some players and staff to be able to bring in good quality players.

7) Squad morale is low, team meeting was organised to increase morale. Just look at the above results, it makes Darlington look like relegation candidates instead of promotion chasers.

I have some short term objectives worked out which I feel is a must should Darlington improve their club stature.

1) Get a parent club of good reputation, that will be able to provide us with some cash and we could also loan some good youngsters.

2) Improve the playing staff, and adequate squad depth.

3) Improve results so as to get the fan's trust back. Right now only 2k fans at our 20k seater. This has to improve.

Now lets get to the playing staff. The previous manager has actually signed some promising loanees. I wonder how did he manage get sacked.

Daniel Philliskrik

The former Chelsea youth team player. Although Chelsea's youth team was not famous or anything, he will definitely inject some quality to our play. I intend to use him in the first team as a deep lying playmaker.

Smaji Suljevic

A Swedish sensation from Stoke! Smaji joined on loan from Stoke and can play as a defensive midfielder, striker or attacking midfielder besides his natural position of central midfielder. But I will place him along with Daniel Philliskrik in the middle of the park.

Chris Atkinson

Yet another central midfielder. Chris heralds from Huddersfield. Will probably be backup unless i play Smaji as a anchor. The training staff seems to have high hopes for him giving him 5 stars for potential.

Jake Fowler

Fowler is from the famed Middlesbrough youth academy. He is able to play on both wings or as a striker. Has good pace and acceleration. I hope he can do 1/2 of what his namestake Robbie did for Liverpool. Will use him as one of the winger/inside forward.

Arsensio Halfhuid became my first signing. This youngster from Holland is a central defender who can also play on the right. He has good heading, tackling and workrate (could you ask for more?) and he's only 19! Arsensio was originally signed by Cooper on trial but I took the chance to sign him for Darlington. He is currently the 2nd highest paid player in the squad so I am expecting loads from this kid. High hopes that he will be a rock in our defense.

Below are some notable players which I think will also form the spine of the team this season.

First up is the ever impressive Left back Jonathan from Spain. He has very good stats and he's young at 21 only!

Our main goal getter will be Liam Hatch. He's currently injured at the moment. I probably will hunt for someone when the winter transfer open, but for now he will be top dog. Meantime I will be relying on John Campbell and Ryan Bowman on for goals.

I held a team meeting to boost morale. I told them passionately that things have not been going our way recently, but its time to change. Team capt Ian Miller rallied on. The team seem to agree and morale was raised. Good!

Now on with the debut match. The match was against Gateshead at home. The media was predicting a draw between Darlington and Gateshead. I answered most of the questions from the media in a calm tone, and predicted Lincon to win the league to take the pressure off our guys. Our first choice goalie Russel was going to recover in time for the match so phew!

I had to play some reserves as some of the first choice were injured. Smaji was unfit so he had to sit out. Chris Atkinson was on the bench. I put my trust in the original squad members with better stats - Marc Bridge-Wilkinson with Daniel Philliskirk in the center and transfer-listed Michael Brough as a anchor. Arsensio was still on trial so I had Ian Miller and Adam Quinn in the center of defense. Jonathan was on the left back while aging Paul Arnison was right back. Fowler and Adam Rundle will attack from the flanks. John Campbell to spearhead the attack in the 4-1-2-2-1 formation.

19th minute, Gateshead defender took the legs off Rundle after a good pass from Jonathan inside the box and we were awarded a penalty! Borough took it and scored! Is he trying to prove a point? Later on, more cause for celebration when right back Arnison crossed low for Bridge-Wilkinson to score our second, 2-0! During half-time I told the lads I was pleased with their performance so far, shouldn't have done that because the 2nd half would be a more tense affair, with several chances going for Gateshead. Then the inevitable happened, Gateshead got a goal with a piledriver of a shot.

Another goal was required to calm the Darlington faithful, so I told the lads to exploit the flanks as my wingers and wing backs were performing well. I also brought on Atkinson and Bowman for Bridge-Wilkinson and Campbell. Bowman immediately repaid me with the 3rd clincher goal after some fine counter attacking. See it here!

So 3-1, MOM Paul Arnsion our rightback. We did not exactly dominate the match but our finishing proved superior. We created more chances and deserved to win the game. The fans were able to go home happy and i praised my team. Morale was slowly but surely recovering! Will update again after i play 5-10 matches and the much awaited Jan transfer window reopens!

First Job and the Gunner's 911

I started my first FM 2012 game with only England as the playable nation. Understand that we can still add playable nations as we go along but have to wait for a new season before the player can manage in that nation.

Anyways I went on holiday, leaving my personal assistant to help me apply for jobs in all positions and get back from holiday when a job offer came along.

While on holiday, Arsene Wenger stepped down on 11 Sept 2011 to take over as France's manager. ROFL, the gunner's own 911. Pity as they were doing quite well and 3rd in the premier league. Well I had my manager set to having international experience, but did not expect my name to be mentioned in the list of candidates to replace him. In the end the favourite Van Gaal got the job.

Anyways Darlington sacked their manager Mark Cooper and the Chairman offered me the job. Look at the offer, Darlington had no money to spend on players, and the current wages were still within budget. But the big thing about Darlington was they already have a big stadium while playing in the BSP. Below is the background of the club.

I will post the squad changes after a thorough analysis of the players and staff.

Introduction

This blog is about my football manager life in the fantasy football world of FM2012. I have played the first ever series of football manager games, dating back to CM'94 to the revolutionary CM2 and of course FM.

My favorite team is Manchester United, but when it comes to managing clubs, its always nice to manage a small club and make a giant killing. My playing style usually is the same, start unemployed, go on holiday and apply for all jobs, until the one lucky club hires me.

Well I look forward to playing FM2012, so the adventure begins.