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Career Scratch: Second Chances (DONE) & Armstrong 1KC (DONE)


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14 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Bradford City? Oh gosh.. I remember playing them in the Challenge Cup. You're deep in this career now tho so maybe you find yourself a much better squad to work with :D solid going, mate!

Thanks mate! I'm definitely going to have a better squad to work with. I have pretty deep pockets in this save... 

It makes this totally unrealistic (but I guess this challenge was never realistic), but when I turn up Bradford, I will be saying goodbye to all the current players and bringing in players from several levels above. The real challenge is to not buy too many players!

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13 hours ago, Ashez said:

So much going on here! It is really remarkable what you achieved at Coventry and I hope you can replicate that with Bradford :).  

Reputation wise it's so annoying that the game almost forgets who you are and what you've achieved and I see no reason for it. 

Thanks mate, but can't really take any credit for winning anything in this save. As I said to Bati, I have deep pockets (I am literally carrying £1B around with me) and I'm using them. Totally unrealistic and not worthy of any praise! But sort of fun totally rebuilding a club. 

I guess the Copa America was me rather than the money though, so I'll take the credit for that! ?

As for reputation, yeah, totally annoying! Luckily, with my budget, I'll probably win a cup every year or two. 

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13 hours ago, mcandrew003 said:

What an enticing read! Great to see you back at this, and a great year! Seems I need to catch up a bit....

Thank mate! Was a super slow season (so many games, so many transfers, and I'm caring about how the team functions for Armstrong) and not getting much game time at the moment. Could take me a LONG time to finish. Yo'u'll be done well before me! ?

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13 hours ago, Idol said:

It is annoying but it's also exactly what happens IRL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Di_Matteo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/André_Villas-Boas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Mancini

Just some examples off the top of my head! 

Excellent work Scratch, did you manage to get Armstrong up the road without too much difficulty? 

I get what you're saying @Idol but at least those guys have Wikipedia entries. I think mine was deleted! ?

Thanks though mate. Yeah he came quickly enough. He knows he will always be the star of the show in my teams. He did want £160K though, which is higher than he ever asked me in the Celtic career... Not sure how it will play out in a few years / clubs...

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Another really good read there mate so much detail to get into, looks like having all that money had made you pretty unstoppable. Its amazing who's actually willing to join your club when you got millions in the bank, I got neymar to a league 1 club lol. Looking forward to your next update already.

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On 6/8/2017 at 19:50, Mikee1984 said:

Another really good read there mate so much detail to get into, looks like having all that money had made you pretty unstoppable. Its amazing who's actually willing to join your club when you got millions in the bank, I got neymar to a league 1 club lol. Looking forward to your next update already.

Thanks mate (and sorry for the delay in responding). Yeah, the money does make you unstoppable. I think the balance is off to be honest, I shouldn't be able to get some of these players in Division 1 no matter how much I offer. Maybe the odd player would accept in real life, but not as many as do in the game. 

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Uh oh, Armstrong is still adapting to the team's playing style after 11 games:

secondchance-season05a-02.png.1e6ba0e89ba79e51c3c9dac2ec1b417d.png

And it's really affecting his performance:

Spoiler

secondchance-season05a-01.png.4a8bc6a13eb18912e467d585a8972df6.png

Can't wait to see how he goes once he settles in! 

LOL, FMM, he's playing for the same manager he did at Coventry for 3 years before moving to Bradford, using the same system that was used there (its even called the 4 3 2 1 Armstrong). I know FMM doesn't track these things, but ... I guess I find it quite funny. 

Just for the record, this is what Armstrong is looking like now (this one is better than my Celtic one and definitely way too good for League 2):

secondchance-season05a-03.png.56859f0f9cc6b05f4c06323798c06f4b.png

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10 minutes ago, Taff said:

Hell he does develop into quite the talent mate, like you said if that's his form now, can't wait till he settles in :D

Yeah, I'm loving he turned out like this in this career. He did well in the Celtic 1KC, but this is the best he ever got in that career:

armstrong-at-his-peak.png

This career's version has hit the steroids or something! 

added 0 minutes later
Just now, Jens said:

This is becoming more than a man-crush...

Yeah, I'll admit that! ?

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7 hours ago, scratch99 said:

Yeah, I'm loving he turned out like this in this career. He did well in the Celtic 1KC, but this is the best he ever got in that career:

armstrong-at-his-peak.png

This career's version has hit the steroids or something! 

added 0 minutes later

Yeah, I'll admit that! ?

Somebody needs to message Armstrong on twitter or something, let him know he has a secret admirer/stalker :laugh::P

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2 minutes ago, mcandrew003 said:

Somebody needs to message Armstrong on twitter or something, let him know he has a secret admirer/stalker :laugh::P

How do you know it isn't Armstrong doing the stalking?

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4 hours ago, samhardy said:

How do you know it isn't Armstrong doing the stalking?

That would be some plot twist! Always wondered what the chances are an actual player has stumbled onto these forums. 

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Damn, you guys are onto me, will have to start again with a new account! Did you work it out because I played myself too often? Is that what gave it away?

LOL!! ?

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Update - Season 5 - Bradford City
 
No Premier League move for me. I bid farewell to my high flying Coventry team and headed north for life in League 1 with Bradford City. 
 
 
Targets
 
I didn't set any targets at the end of last season, but here's what I was aiming to achieve this season:
  • Promotion to the Championship for Bradford City
  • Getting Oldham Athletic and Blackpool out of League 2 by pulling some strings (trying again!)
  • 100 goals for Armstrong (given he should find League 1 pretty easy)
As always, I didn't hit all of those targets, but I actually did hit more than 1 this time...
 
 
Transfers
 
The most important transfers took place immediately after I accepted the Bradford job (£1B incoming!):
secondchance-season05-04.png.03857d58d2d8de51cf3f1bb627d40444.png
 
The next most important transfer happened not long after that (the 1KC can continue!):
secondchance-season05-07.png.bec9ea9cef6e93f48cbc87cd0b4a2380.png
 
After that, we went crazy again, buying a team of players that should be playing well above League 1, while at the same time shipping good players off to other second chance teams. I did try a new strategy, with a smaller core of players on high salary for my team and loads of good players and promising youngsters on low salaries to be farmed out.
 
Here are our transfers out:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season05-132.png.b01be7a1d32e4070d9065298bf36c396.png
 
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secondchance-season05-135.png.471b5f02652edb987faa23b53639e658.png

 

 
And here are our transfers in:
Spoiler

 

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secondchance-season05-131.png.d510ab8cf42d8a7e179c4ac981b41f43.png

 

 
We bought a few trusted players from Coventry, who seemed to be selling players off at a very low rate. They weren't bankrupted, but I guess they had way too many players on their books. They lost a lot of their best players (to me and others), but I'd left them with a bunch of first class free agents coming in (Gotze, Douglas Costa, etc), so they weren't short on talent.
 
 
Charity
 
Once again, I exchanged quite a few players on to second chance teams. I manage to ship a couple of good players to Blackpool and Oldham Athletic in order to try to get them out of League 2, but I also shared them far and wide. Here are some stories:
 
Have A Keeper
 
Early on I noticed that Birmingham had lost it's first 4 games, while shipping 11 goals. 
secondchance-season05-18.png.57bb4d87452ec912b1756e4cf884140b.png
 
When I looked at their squad, I found the answer: they had no keeper!
secondchance-season05-19.png.5598b5aea689052d8bc86712c7d42d51.png
 
I immediately shipped them a promising young keeper and quality forward (and they ended up comfortably in mid-table):
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season05-23.png.1187a8d4932ec2749f4a9bf85bcc65c2.png
 
secondchance-season05-20.png.f231f09b372d353fe6d3fbffdf062b3d.png
 
 
But Give Me Yours
 
In the January transfer window, I had a close look at where all the second chance teams were and identified some areas of priority. The first one was Sunderland:
secondchance-season05-43.png.3a862782357a98cfa7538e27d8411519.png
 
I really wanted to push them aside somehow and let MK Dons or Sheffield United through. So I left it to just before the window closed and bought all their keepers! I also had to sign one they tried to get in on a free transfer. 
 
They still won some games, but they started losing a lot more:
secondchance-season05-69.png.071c3f53bd2573d33f3f78a89e5a214a.png
 
Their record got even worse near the end of the season and, as you'll see later, they ended up missing the playoffs. I tried this in a few other places, with varying degrees of success, but this was the one that worked the best. I ended up with a lot of keepers though!
 
Here's something strange:
Spoiler

 

When you looked at Sunderland's squad, you could see they had two grey keepers:
secondchance-season05-78.png.2b5e7c064ec828f39502a4b17234e7b9.png
 
But when we played them, they had a different player in goals (Kieron Hopper). 
secondchance-season05-76.png.f39a60262d56cc0cddf3d186f7ade626.png
 
Those screenshots were taken at the same time! And when I did a search for Hopper, neither of the found players were our mystery goalie!
secondchance-season05-79.png.44acec46aca83d4ef3ed983d9bce52aa.png

 

 
 
Not On My Watch!
 
Vincenza decided to try and buy one of the stars I'd sent to MK Dons:
secondchance-season05-48.png.ba77a1c03164647230c10e3422ef5d5c.png
 
Umm, I don't think so!
secondchance-season05-49.png.0c3c0f66226e71e9207687169a7fd095.png
 
I dragged negotiations out as long as I could and then backed out of the transfer and MK Dons got to keep their star. They'll thank me later...
 
 
Interesting Games
 
In most games that we throw, we try to get Armstrong to score for most of it, then try to lose it at the end. There was one exception this year, where we rested Armstrong and went out with a team in a 'throw it' formation. We got a hammering!
secondchance-season05-38.png.f01e0cd558ef2709d40824eb61f83c47.png
 
This game was crazy. 4 to Armstrong in the first half, but we left it a little late to throw the game. They got level 2 minutes into extra time, only for us to go ahead again, and then they scored again to snatch the draw... 3 goals in extra time!
secondchance-season05-16.png.e76f563b2a71d64be36ddb54b0115676.png
 
Another crazy game, and once again, they could only manage a draw, thanks to Martinez scoring after we'd opened the floodgates. Read the script son! Also, if things had gone right for Armstrong he could have had 5 in this game, but he ended with only a hat-trick.
secondchance-season05-88.png.89762d38f8541a5be63f4fd87958b16e.png
 
 
Job Opportunities
 
Nothing tempting during the season, but there was a nice one at the end of the year... I'll talk more about that at the end of this update!
 
 
Colombia
 
Nothing exciting happening on this front, just qualifying and friendlies...
 
 
Results
 
Once again, our team was far superior to any of the others at this level. There are only a handful of teams at the top of the Premiership that are better than us.
 
We won the Checkatrade Trophy easily enough, beating Northampton 3 -1 in the final.
secondchance-season05-85.png.6635d07066e3b7dbb3875a6360092c0f.png
 
We did well in the League Cup, beating teams such as Man Utd on the way to the Semi Final. We fell at that stage, going down 2-3 to Man City over the two legs.
secondchance-season05-56.png.d4e4c6a163ffe7478df41189df49b8cc.png
 
We once again beat Man Utd on the way to a date with Man City in the Semi Final, this time in the FA Cup. Unfortunately we had the same result, losing on penalties with Thorsby shooting over the bar with the last kick.
secondchance-season05-89.png.cfef7f8e33efb903d1a41f3b5b6bc96b.png
 
Great results to make the Semi Final of both competitions, but I really wanted to bring one of them home. Damn you City!!
 
In the League, we were in total control of things. No mistakes with dropping too many game this year (thanks to there being only 5 other second chance teams in League 1). 
secondchance-season05-table.png.5b7f0639962474764e160bd4ac28cf9b.png
 
 
Accidental Armstrong 1KC
 
Armstrong is too good for this league. He hit 4 goals four times this year:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season05-16.png.e76f563b2a71d64be36ddb54b0115676.png
 
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secondchance-season05-32.png.29657ce82592e63388c5d8e7a8a6da8e.png
 
And he had 62 goals by New Year's Eve. I was thinking he'd score at least 120 for sure, based on the first half of the season:
secondchance-season05-28.thumb.png.2b285b34c91b2d68d6473294419c13e6.png
 
However, he faded in the second half of the year:
secondchance-season05-63.thumb.png.a21688d4a404b94cdf9864df60c1b3ba.png
 
He had to be rested occasionally, there were less games, and for the first couple of months he just lost his mojo. I put it down to lack of freshness. The Slightly Tired message was only triggered a couple of times, but our boy had just lost the bounce in his step. He had lots of games like this, where he kept shooting, but they weren't going in:
secondchance-season05-64.png.ad266de03fa75bf07149ae5629bc93ba.png
 
I've seen this before - my strikers always seem to perform better when they are fresh, especially at the start of the season. Anyway, he recovered towards the end of the season, but still wasn't scoring as often as in the first half of the season.
 
He fell short of the 100 goal target, but not by much. He finished with 95 goals in 59 games and now has 272 goals total under my management.
secondchance-season05-100.png.da62bd9e388626b33e785603d3f2891a.png
 
He's 24 now and coming into this prime. It's going to keep on raining goals!
 
 
League Tables
 
Here's the top and bottom of all the English leagues:
 
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season05-118.png.affef4a761e12d86103cbc3d6ff6fbea.png
 
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Chelsea won the Premier League again, no bonus points this time around. Coventry finished 14th, well clear of relegation, but not doing as well as I'd have liked. I guess their new manager, Alan Pardew, is not quite as good as their last manager! 
 
In the Championship - Disaster! None of the 3 promoted teams were remaining second chance teams... In fact Wolves were the only one in the top 6 and they bombed out in the playoffs. So we didn't cross any teams off this time around... At the other end, Sheffield Wednesday went down with after a terrible season, while Swindon escaped on the last day of the season (they were a point behind leading into the last weekend). Derby have already been back to the Premier League so they are a red herring team (and it's getting harder to keep those straight in my head). 
 
In League 1, Portsmouth join Bradford in getting promoted, with Bolton and Sheffield United missing out in the playoffs, while at the other end, no second chance clubs were relegated. 
 
In League 2, both Blackpool and Oldham went up, clearing the division of second chance teams (not counting AFC Wimbledon, as my focus has to be on MK Dons instead at the moment).
 
 
Past Winners (3)
Spoiler
  • Manchester United
  • Arsenal
  • Chelsea
  • Manchester City
  • Blackburn Rovers
  • Leicester City


Completed (9)
Spoiler
  • Aston Villa
  • Blackburn Rovers
  • Coventry City
  • Derby County
  • Fulham
  • Newcastle United
  • Nottingham Forest
  • Norwich City
  • QPR


Remaining (18)
Spoiler

Championship (11)

  • Barnsley
  • Birmingham City
  • Bradford City
  • Cardiff City
  • Ipswich Town
  • Leeds United
  • Portsmouth
  • Reading
  • Swindon Town
  • Wigan Athletic
  • Wolves
 
League 1 (7)
  • Blackpool
  • Bolton Wanderers
  • Charlton Athletic
  • MK Dons
  • Oldham Athletic
  • Sheffield United
  • Sheffield Wednesday
 
League 2 (0)
  • AFC Wimbledon

 

 
So, none promoted, but we're pushing teams upwards. 
 
 
Looking Ahead
 
This happened just after our last game:
secondchance-season05-96.png.bce7e2d66c4b81deb210287fae94cde0.png
 
Bolton were about to face Port Vale in the two legged playoff semi final. I hadn't been planning on jumping ship this early - I was planning on seeing Bradford City all the way to the Premier League - but here was an opportunity to directly influence the chances of Bolton going up! I have a soft spot for Bolton and Bradford have a squad that should see them be right in the promotion race next year, even without me (might be deluding myself on the AI's ability).
 
I was faced with a difficult question: Stay or Go. What would you have done?
 
Well, I applied. Of course, by the time they offered me the job, Port Vale had beat them 7-1 on aggregate and they were consigned to League 1 for another season - but by this point I'd made my mind up and I'd decided to take the job anyway.
secondchance-season05-106.png.12a601f9432e5891041a77ec7883d66d.png
 
I was sad that I left Bradford without winning a major trophy, but I got them the Checkatrade Tropy and the League 1 title and leave them with a fantastic team that will hopefully take them up (I'm counting on that!). And we're leaving them with a bunch of great players coming in:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season05-136.png.3b2e3d43e504668ea9d677f403cffe0a.png
 
secondchance-season05-137.png.bba669ba445e3e3f1c40b65179763949.png

 


So see you next year back here in League 1 with Bolton! Hopefully Armstrong can break the 100 goal barrier then (if I can sign him!). 

 
 
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I'm actually really bothered by your title. There's simply no way you can convince me that this 1 KC iw accidental. You planned this from the start-ish!

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Great update, love the detail. Some fantastic signings there I have to say, and another great year. Enjoying having some competition on this, can't wait to see how we both do in 10 or so years time. I personally would have stayed at Bradford, but I think that's because I love a promotion on my CV ;)

Great read, good job!

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18 hours ago, Jens said:

I'm actually really bothered by your title. There's simply no way you can convince me that this 1 KC iw accidental. You planned this from the start-ish!

Haha. Of course it was accidental, or I would have had him at Barcelona in the first season! I am wondering if I should follow the same approach (lots of money, playing in the lower divisions) and go for a 2KC with him, but I'm not sure that would be sporting...

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16 hours ago, mcandrew003 said:

Great update, love the detail. Some fantastic signings there I have to say, and another great year. Enjoying having some competition on this, can't wait to see how we both do in 10 or so years time. I personally would have stayed at Bradford, but I think that's because I love a promotion on my CV ;)

Great read, good job!

Thanks mate. It was tempting to stay and I'm wondering if it will end up being a mistake, but I don't regret it. I will admit that a preference for Bolton's colours (in game) helped sway it! As did the probability that Armstrong would score more in League 1! I've got to start taking this seriously... ?

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7 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Just remember FMM has decided to retire all players at 32 now. Goodluck :) you're doing top mate!

Thanks mate! We all know that Armstrong likes to retire at 42 and he's probably going to reach 1500 goals - better get used to that idea! :P 

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Progress, even without ticking any teams of the list. I am intrigued by your early move to Bolton though... Are you going to take a lot of your money with you? In my experience, teams can fall apart once you've taken a few players and the money. I know you'll be balancing it, but I'm very interested to see how the AI does in your place...

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On 6/17/2017 at 20:23, Ashez said:

Wow so many developments in there! Armstrong did excellently as expected under your management ;). 

Thanks. Yeah, there's a lot going on, so slow with all the transfers. I'll have to swap back to Pina Colada soon for a while. It's quite crushing to find a young gem only to have to sell them to a second chance team rather than keep them and develop them... 

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28 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

Progress, even without ticking any teams of the list. I am intrigued by your early move to Bolton though... Are you going to take a lot of your money with you? In my experience, teams can fall apart once you've taken a few players and the money. I know you'll be balancing it, but I'm very interested to see how the AI does in your place...

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll regret it. I tried to take most of the money with me, but I ended up 1 transfer short, so they have at least £150M plus a bucket load of stars (I took 1 star and the backup keeper and they sold Success as well).. In real life they'd be a good bet, but in FMM they'll probably assemble a crack squad of left backs.

Actually I have noticed that they are playing some of the £150M players I bought just before leaving. These are the worst players Bolton had when I moved, but I guess they think they must be pretty good if they payed that much for them.

Anyway, they are in the playoff positions at the moment (in October) and we'll have to see how it goes. 

It was just one of those things, where I planned to stay, but then got excited by the opportunity (and it has to be said the chance for more goals for Armstrong). 

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Update - Season 6 - Bolton
 
Sorry for the long delay - very little time to play right now. Also apologies to everyone else on the site - I haven't had time to read how everyone else is going. ?
 
Anyway, the story picks up with me leaving Bradford City to fend for themselves in the Championship, while I take the reigns at Bolton down in League 1. 
 
 
Targets
 
I didn't set any targets at the end of last season, but here's what I was aiming to achieve this season:
  • Promotion to the Championship for Bolton
  • Get a couple of the remaining second chance teams promoted to the Premier League (after last season not getting any crossed of the list)
  • Sign Armstrong and get him to 100 goals this season
You know what they say - two out of three ain't bad! You'll have to read further to work out which two.
 
 
Transfers
 
Once again, I transfered a lot of money over to my new team, but this time, I left Bradford City with at least £150M to continue on with. Wasn't easy letting go of that, but I've still got more than £600M and will top it up by pulling Bolton apart once I've got them to the Premier League (but shhh, don't tell them that yet).
 
I was successful in signing Armstrong, so the 1KC can continue:
secondchance-season06-18.png.9eed120587143a8e2e84bd13e3e6673b.png
 
And then I embarked on the now familiar plan of buying a team of players that will crush League 1 (and compete in the cups), while at the same time shipping good players off to other second chance teams. That resulted in a lot of transfers.
 
I've said it before, but I'm enjoying this challenge less and less. I love the team building part of FMM, but this challenge is a step too far. It takes way to long to find enough good players to sell on, and then I have to part with signings I really want to keep. I also spent a lot of time trying to stop other teams buying good players I'd previously shipped to second chance teams (not always successfully). 
 
Anyway, here are our transfers out:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season06-109.png.bd10056fafa31224695ce5dbf57d3352.pngsecondchance-season06-110.png.3864be5a38c468c68078af1eb6fb81a4.pngsecondchance-season06-111.png.16610224bd90994adc7c83f5195bc47f.pngsecondchance-season06-112.png.20b12743c2ccb7eb24ee3648ba10e451.pngsecondchance-season06-113.png.3d927eef4587e053e0d46c2f84864408.png

 

 
And here are our transfers in:
Spoiler

 

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I only bought 2 players from Bradford - Seabra who was first choice and Leali the backup keeper (only just). Apart from that I left them intact so they can challenge for promotion. They did sell quite a players (such as Success), but they also had a bunch of quality free agents come in after I left, so I guess that was to be expected. 
 
I should probably explain the signing of Corti, given he cost 4 times as much as the next most expensive signing. He is a DLP with really good creativity and passing stats and I wanted him to create assists for Armstrong, so I stumped up the cash. 
secondchance-season06-39.png.140ed4740b165f17c4c3aa64087c6bf6.png
 
He was good, averaging 7.59 and getting 16 assists in 54 games - but not worth that much money, when I compare his performance to players who were just as good for a fraction of the cost.
 
 
Charity
 
Once again, I exchanged a lot players on to second chance teams, but here are some of the more interesting ways I helped them out:
 
Give me your keeper - Part 2
 
This worked so well last year, that I did it again!
 
In the January transfer window, I noticed that Port Vale were standing between either Sheffield United or MK Dons and an automatic promotion spot. 
secondchance-season06-76.png.017a1d0c12a61ba159f9dd3b25315731.png
 
So I went and bought all their keepers (just before the window closed)! Here's their form after that:
secondchance-season06-89.png.4bcffdbbec0097c64b58d96ee094f5cc.png
 
Mission accomplished! I tried this in a few other places, with varying degrees of success. In one case, they just turned around and signed two excellent keepers who were out of contract. I'd shortlisted all the out of contract keepers, but didn't get a notification that they'd offered them a contract, so I couldn't block it.
 
Have a discount
 
Birmingham came knocking on my door, wanting to pay me £4.6M for a good young player. 
secondchance-season06-29.png.5ea4a28fe420b164c91e831411a51b8c.png
 
Of course, given they were a second chance team, I gave them a hefty discount:
secondchance-season06-30.png.70b967041d7e8042998b72fff48d6a0a.png
 
They accepted. I hoped they'd used the money they'd saved wisely and have a good season. That was sadly not to be the case, but no regrets!
 
So you f'd up your squad
 
Near the end of the transfer window, I noticed that Charlton had gotten off to a bad start. When I took a closer look it was obvious why - they'd messed up their squad! They didn't have enough full backs on either side and were playing people out of position:
secondchance-season06-44.png.8cf34afb9885e6426818d6324e29baa2.png
 
I sent them a couple of players to help balance their squad a little more. This one had a happy ending, as they escaped relegation.
 
Stop playing that has-been
 
Sheffield Wednesday were remaining loyal to a favourite son. Admirable! Except that he was fading before our very eyes:
secondchance-season06-47.png.94e91892164ea5fc7fa842f0595f0739.png
 
secondchance-season06-46.png.257ca096aa5283e9e374b8f7a7b26478.png
 
I found him a nice place in the Bolton Reserves and consoled Wednesday fans with younger, better, higher scoring player.
 
Interesting Games
 
We went 6-0 up against Blackpool, with 4 of the goals going to Armstrong, but left it too late to throw the game, and it ended in a 6-6 draw.
secondchance-season06-34.png.0a6906cedbfd0663f19c0d721daa2702.png
 
No such mistake when we played them later in the year:
secondchance-season06-65.png.564f64eebeb9512253f324836cda7824.png
 
 
Job Opportunities
 
Nothing tempting me at this point. I'm here until I get Bolton back in the Premier League.
 
 
Colombia
 
We reached the semis of the Confederations Cup, where Italy knocked us out 2-1, the goals going to Pinamonti (from my PinaColada Double 1KC career) and Verratti (who I've also used before). It was a close match with the winner coming from a penalty in 95 minute.
secondchance-season06-22.png.897f7d9040db30a965e45b681cc47171.png
 
We then beat Turkey 2-0 in the Third Place playoff, but that wasn't enough for the Colombian FA:
secondchance-season06-27.png.addaa8afc1f52664be5c0590a9b3e5bb.png
 
Even though a couple of days later we moved up to number 1 in the World Rankings:
secondchance-season06-28.png.04c8e8110b15591d4e8c81b21f88815a.png
 
Thanks guys. I win the Copa America straight after joining, get you ranked number 1 in the world, and just because Italy (not a bad team!) pipped us in a game, this is how you react:
secondchance-season06-36.png.fd3fbada46ac6ec4cc3874e3151487c8.png
 
I almost resigned... But not in a World Cup year!
 
 
Results
 
The footballing gods smiled on us this year as we won ... everything! I know our team is *very* good, but I still can't quite believe the luck we had this year.
 
In the League, we were in total control of things:
secondchance-season06-table.png.17ae73598bda76f765f6078f9475e3ed.png
 
We won the Checkatrade Trophy, beating Derby 4-0 in the final:
secondchance-season06-88.png.e51adff62e4ebb10fe1bbc959e138f80.png
 
We won the League Cup, beating teams such as Man City (1-0), Newcastle (penalties!), Arsenal in the semis (6-2 on aggregate), on the way to a date with Man Utd in the Final. We won that 1-0:
secondchance-season06-82.png.417bfbaa8e9648af0827ac81c13c42d4.png
 
We won the FA Cup, with much of it echoing the League Cup. We beat Man City 1-0 (again!) and Man Utd 1-0 (again, but this time in the semi). We then pulled off a miraculous victory in the Final, beating Liverpool 2-0, despite having a man sent off in the 30th minute (and thankfully with Liverpool missing the resulting penalty). 
secondchance-season06-97.png.f6900e8f3c3263395752ebf311157bee.png
 
A much better season than last year where I didn't get my hands on either of the major cups... 
 
 
Accidental Armstrong 1KC
 
Armstrong is too good for this league. I'd guess he's at his peak right now (so much better than the version I had at Celtic):
secondchance-season06-75.png.e93a470b805c9f5bdbe9c2bb14825897.png
 
He hit 4 goals three times this year:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season06-34.png.0a6906cedbfd0663f19c0d721daa2702.png 
secondchance-season06-58.png.b5e9dbea2485d6c40a0146abc7ece065.pngsecondchance-season06-73.png.5b69474a89d3de45671186e5ce4be2cf.png

 

 
He got injured in April (and the backup striker proved his worth!):
secondchance-season06-91.png.d10d54175b509b804c206913d90b4405.png
 
Fortunately, he was only out for a week (although by the end of the year, his Stamina was still only 18 instead of the 20 you can see above):
secondchance-season06-92.png.8e246c6fd45462b5e24e6d52b73c4e56.png
 
He had 52 goals by New Year's Eve, on track for 100:
secondchance-season06-59.png.6c77adde767371ba5278c23cfa2956f8.png 
 
But given what I saw last year, I expected him to fade somewhat in the second half of the year and I was right (unfortunately):
secondchance-season06-85.png.e3db428cbeff6df72d40bc10b99761a2.png
 
I really thought this was the year he'd hit 100, but he couldn't do. He finished with 92 goals in 63 games and has 364 goals total under my management.
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He's 25 now. If he can keep this rate up he should hit 1000 without too much trouble (if I can take him with me as I move clubs). 
 
 
League Tables
 
Here's the top and bottom of all the English leagues:
Spoiler

 

secondchance-season06-99.png.5ae0c1024038b440766e478d6ba32fee.pngsecondchance-season06-100.png.1b2aaa19b147d65b9895454bba6b7e7a.pngsecondchance-season06-101.png.f72cf0c7cdb77b3cf6783a4d3de63ac7.pngsecondchance-season06-102.png.5a096332358067502360403d00d2db0a.pngsecondchance-season06-103.png.1402d9945fceca6918270f2b7106d08b.pngsecondchance-season06-104.png.0f0c57d9179de25dcfa7d047ee65b3aa.pngsecondchance-season06-105.png.04f7cda5b101eb3ff5bb04edcfdae082.pngsecondchance-season06-106.png.50bf12f269ea8140301482f815f625b0.png

 

 
Chelsea won the Premier League again, no bonus points this time around. Man City, who still haven't won it again, were leading a few rounds from the end, but blew it... Coventry got relegated, which made me sad. 
 
In the Championship, we had 3 second chance teams go up. Bradford City did me proud and took the title comfortably. Nothing to worry about! Wolves and Cardiff went up too. At the other end, Portsmouth had a bad run and slipped into the relegation zone, joining Birmingham who were clear last before a late rally got them close (but not close enough) to the other teams. 
 
In League 1, Sheffield United and MK Dons joined Bolton in promotion, while at the other end Blackpool only escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth. No second chance teams went down, but there were quite a few second near the bottom of the table, which we'll have to improve on next year.
 
League 2 remained clear of second chance teams.
 
 
Past Winners (3)
Spoiler
  • Manchester United
  • Arsenal
  • Chelsea
  • Manchester City
  • Blackburn Rovers
  • Leicester City
 
Completed (12)
Spoiler

 

  • Aston Villa
  • Blackburn Rovers
  • Bradford City
  • Cardiff City
  • Coventry City
  • Derby County
  • Fulham
  • Newcastle United
  • Nottingham Forest
  • Norwich City
  • QPR
  • Wolves

 

 
Remaining (15)
Spoiler

 

 
Championship (9)
  • Barnsley
  • Bolton Wanderers
  • Ipswich Town
  • Leeds United
  • MK Dons
  • Reading
  • Sheffield United
  • Swindon Town
  • Wigan Athletic
 
League 1 (6)
  • Birmingham City
  • Blackpool
  • Charlton Athletic
  • Oldham Athletic
  • Portsmouth
  • Sheffield Wednesday
 
League 2 (0)
  • AFC Wimbledon


 

 
Looking Ahead
 
All in all, it's been a fantastic season! We won everything, got 3 teams crossed of our list, the upward momentum of second chance teams continued, Armstrong scored a bunch of goals even if he didn't make 100. Can't ask for any more than that!
 
For next season, my targets are:
  • Win the league with Bolton and see them safely back in the Premier League
  • Try to keep the League 2 relegation zone clear of second chance teams
  • 100 goals for Armstrong! 
But first, the World Cup finals await. Let's see what Colombia can do (without James Rodriguez who's out for 6 months).
 
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Great season indeed. Robbing the Manchester teams off those cups is a great feat. 3 teams off the list and 3 steps closer to the chequered flag. Bring next season..

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1 hour ago, BatiGoal said:

Great season indeed. Robbing the Manchester teams off those cups is a great feat. 3 teams off the list and 3 steps closer to the chequered flag. Bring next season..

Thanks. It's all going really well, but truth be told, if it wasn't for the 1KC I would have got bored with this challenge already. I've got too much money and I spend all my time combing through players to buy, then sell... There's very little team building either. I buy hundreds of players, keep the really top ones and sell on the rest, even the promising youngsters I want to develop... ?

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