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03-10-2005, 11:35 AM
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#151 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 20, 2009
Barnsley will not be following up on their enquiry about Darren Evans. Seriously, I didn't expect them to... Tom Howell rejects our first offer. Looking at his comments regarding the offer, I find him pretty confident in his abilities. He dismissed the offer as unacceptable, adding that he found the pittance being offered as a basic wage laughable and that he want a role which reflects his status... He then went on to say that he is prepared to proceed with further negotiations providing the next offer is a considerable improvement on the last one. Okay kid, 2200 per week isn't a big deal, so be it. And you want to be know as "first team", well then be it too. I'll see where and how often I'll play you when you get to the team  Andrew Johnson gets called up for another friendly with the England U19 squad. Our offer for Craig Crane is accepted! For a contract, he's pretty reasonable in his demands: $2600 per week + 15% yearly wage rise + 40k signing fee + 6.2M minimum fee release clause. These are all very reasonable demands that I can live with. I offer him the contract as it stands... Mfundo Shumana agrees terms with Q.P.R.! One little thing though, there's no "accept/delay/cancel" button at the bottom of the screen. The move is pending acceptance of a work permit. The application is submitted and a decision will be made on April 4th. I decide to offer the minimum fee of $340 for Watford striker Keigan Parker. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 11:38 AM
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#152 | ||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 21, 2009
This is a day of great news!!! First off, Craig Crane agrees to deal and joins Q.P.R!!! He made it known that he is very keen to rise to the challenge of playing for such an illustrious club. That's some sweet ass kissing to the boss there. Click the following thumbnail to see his player profile.  He's got the fundamental skills for a defender (marking, tackling, positioning, some heading), is very aggressive and anticipates very well. Physically, he is very sound, with great pace and good acceleration and average to good stamina. On top of it all, he's only 19 and is described as a "promising full-back". As was said before, me likey  His value jumped from $1.6M to $1.95M simply by showing up at our training grounds This move, while very good for us, angered the Leyton Orient fans. Looks at this news clipping: Quote:
As if this one signing wasn't enough good news for one day, Tom Howell also agrees to terms with us! This time, it's our fans' turn to have something to say about the signing, and they're not angered by it one bit. Look at this news clipping: Quote:
As you've seen before, when I presented you with his player profile, Tom is a very well rounded winger, especially for a 17yo. He leaves a bit to be desired in pace, but hopefully he'll make up for it with his amazing ability at making great cross passes. Click the following thumbnail to see his player profile.  First thing that popped to my eyes is his value. I paid about face value, based on his value at Hull, with my $650k fee. Now look at that: $2,400,000!!!  Woah!!! Sweeeeeeet!!! And as said before, and pointed out by Lucky Jim, he is described as a "promising winger". For a 17yo, he's got already many great skills and if he grows, even only a little, he could be a great player for us for many seasons. I agree with my fans, that was a bargain! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 11:39 AM
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#153 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 22, 2009
As expected, the Keigan Parker bid is accepted by Watford. They didn't have a choice anyway As I go to offer him a contract, I see he's looking for an increase in his pay rate, compared to what he's earning right now. Here are the basics of what he's looking for:$7600 per week + 480 per goal + 260 per assist + 40k signing fee + 3.8M minimum release fee. My assistant manager believes he'd become an essential part of our first team and recommends me a wage as high as $9200 per week. I decide to split his wage increase (2000 from his current 5600 per week) in two and I offer him 6600 per week with all the other clauses staying put. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 12:09 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 23, 2009
We play Stockport at Loftus Road. They are currently in 15th place. With two new faces at the clubhouse, some decisions have to be taken. I give the start to Craig Crane for his debut as a Ranger. I'll keep James Young on the bench just in case Craig has trouble settling in. Tom Howell isn't selected for this match, as I decide to go with Lee Cook as the starter and Nathan Jameson as the backup to both wingers. Iván Kaviedes is back in as a starter due to the injury to Steve Brooker and the fact that Andrew Johnson is away on international duty. Both teams are well rested, having not played in the last nine days. The first half is a yawner as both teams get 4 shots and both only one on target. Lee Cook is pulling a stinker and his rated at 5 at the half. I regret not picking Howell, but I sub Cook for Nathan Jameson. Iván Kaviedes has suffered a minor injury and is at only 65% in condition. I sub him out and put Lewis Guy in his place. Craig Crane has played a good first half, completing 17 of his 18 passes so far. Early in the second half, I realize I goofed up and took out Matt Cross instead of Lee Cook, who's still in the game and still sucking as much as before. GRRRR! I put Marc Bircham, a natural central defensive midfielder, in his place. Jeppe Lund Curth will score two goals in the last 17 minutes. First on a center from Nathan Jameson, and when he intercepted a cross pass from their keeper, only to find an open net from 35yds out. Final Score: 2-0 On the match, we outshot them 13 to 6, 5 to 2 on target, so we really turned it up a notch in the second half... Curth is named Man of the Match with his 2 goals and rating of 8. Craig Crane ends his game rated at 7. He completed 25 of 30 passes, won 7 of 11 headers and had 5 interceptions. Chris Day also had a rating of 8, while Iván Kaviedes and Nathan Jameson both finish the game with minor injuries. Cardiff did't play, so they get a 2nd game on hand back, while we go 18 points clear of second place, 20 points clear of 3rd place.
The physio report clears Kaviedes, but Nathan Jameson suffered a bruised shin. He will miss 5 days. Our next match is in exactly 5 days, on March 28th. Again, Andrew Johnson didn't play in his international friendly. Bummer! As I look at our list of recent fixtures, I'm amazed to see how many games in a row we've gone without conceding one goal. Look at this  Yowza! Not one goal conceded in 8 games!!! That's some great defensive football. Good show guys!FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 12:30 PM
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#155 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The State of Insanity
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your magic # for promotion in your final 7 games: 5 Points (IE, 2 wins will clinch Q.P.R promotion)
Magic # for championship: 10 Points Can I put some money on you guys? 
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Check out Foz's New Video Game Site, An 8-bit Mind in an 8GB world! http://an8bitmind.com |
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03-10-2005, 12:35 PM
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#156 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
hmm, sir, I'm not allowed to comment at the moment, as this could be seen as insider trading of information FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 12:35 PM
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#157 |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: The State of Insanity
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Ok, then could I get season tickets for next year at this year's rate then?
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Check out Foz's New Video Game Site, An 8-bit Mind in an 8GB world! http://an8bitmind.com |
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03-10-2005, 12:36 PM
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#158 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
hahaha, buy low, sell high, I see... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 02:19 PM
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#159 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 24, 2009
Tranmere offers us $890k for Steve Brooker. He is valued at 900k and has averaged 7.13 in form rating in league play. He's also the team's top goal scorer with 15 goals this season. They set a deadline of March 25 for us to respond. I'm gonna wait to see how if Keigan Parker agrees to a deal before making a move. From my calculation, the transfer deadline should be on the 26th, since we received the one week heads up on the 19th... March 25, 2009 Keigan Parker agrees to a deal and joins us! As you'll see from his player profile (click the thumbnail below), he's a fairly athletic striker with a knack for finishing goals and a great ability at converting penalty kicks. While he's not very strong, he is very shifty and him combined with Andrew Johnson or Jeppe Lund Curth could make for a very fast duo up front.  Looking at his past history/career stats, you can see that he is a natural goal scorer, even scoring 26 goals in one season in 2005-06 with Blackpool. I think he'll do great for us.  Given the fact that Parker has now joined us, I go and take a look at Tranmere offer for Steve Brooker. They are offering $750k up front plus $150k after 40 goals. Dang, 40 goals could take a long time... I cut that goal clause and counter with a $900k fee, all of it up gront. March 27, 2009 The transfer of Steve Brooker has been cancelled as Tranmere never got back to us before the deadline. I'm okay with it to be honest. You can always use some depth at your position where the guys run around a bit more... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 02:38 PM
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#160 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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March 28, 2009
We play Wrexham at Loftus Road. They're currently 23rd, but they just played Cardiff to a draw, so I won't take them lightly. Darren Evans scores an own goal while tackling an opposin striker. This ends our great run of shutting out our opponent. How weird that the first goal scored against us in 9 games is an own goal... Ben Watson ties it in the 37 minute on a penalty called after Matt Cross was pushed by their goalkeeper. It's his 5th of the season. We're tied at the half, but we're outshooting them outrageously, 14 to 2, 5 to none on target. I put Tom Howell in for Lee Cook. Chris Day is not having a good game and his rating of 6 is not looking good in the middle of all the 7's. Paul Davies replaces him. Tom Howell is playing well in his debut as he is behind our two second half goals. First on a nice center for Matt Cross to the 6 yard box, then on a long pass well ahead of Andrew Johnson that left him alone with the keeper... Final Score: 3-1 We outshot them 22 to 5 overall, 12 to 3 on target. Andrew Johnson is named Man of the Match. I almost pulled him at the half, when he was rated at 6 like Chris Day. Paul Davies played well in his return, getting an 8 and Tom Howell finished the game with a 7... It's now official! CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTBALL WILL BE BACK TO LOFTUS ROAD!!! We clinched promotion with the win, as 3rd place Colchester drew their game. Cardiff also drew, so we're inching closer and closer. Magic number in terms of win for us/losses for them is now at 2. So if we win and they lose our respective next games, we will clinch the league title.
Both strikers, Andrew Johnson and Jeppe Lund Curth, are named on the League One Team of the Week. That's sweet to look at, I'll tell you that FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-10-2005, 03:00 PM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 1st, 2009
The Board is still delighted with my management of the team. hehe, how could they not be? Andrew Johnson comes in second for Young Player of the Month. He scored 3 goals in March and received form ratings of 7-8-7-9 over 4 appearances... I win Manager of the Month for the thir time this season, weehee!!! Jeppe Lund Curth's goal against Stockport comes in 2nd for Goal of the Month. That goal was described as a strong diving header. Cardiff plays one of their games on hand and win it 3-1 over Preston to stay alive, barely. Iván Kaviedes pulls a second 6 in a row in two international game for Ecuador. He really is in a slump... April 4, 2009 Mfundo Shumana's work permit has been turned down. We appeal and a decision is expected by April 8th. I don't hold much hope now...
We play Colchester at Loftus Road. They are currently 3rd and had a great run in the second half of the season. A training injury to Darren Evans exposes a certain lack of depth at centre-back with the departure of Darren Ward, and Matthew Rose's contract running out. I'll have to look into that. I give the start to Tom Howell and Nathan Jameson on the wings, in replacement of Lee Cook and Matt Cross respectively. Paul Davies is in at keeper. The game was only 3 minutes old when Jeppe Lund Curth scored a top corner beauty of a goal off a Danny Shittu header. 1-0 is the halftime score. Despite only getting 6 shots, 2 on target, we're dominating them. They didn't have the chance to pull one shot in the half. Craig Crane suffered a minor injury toward the end of the half and his condition dropped to 49%. James Young comes in. Young is on loan seeing him on the pitch reminds me that right fullback is another position where I'll need to look at getting some depth if I want to avoid trouble. At some point, we're moving the ball so well, we hear the famous saying: "Can Colchester weather the storm?" Keigan Parker gets a goal disallowed after pushing an opponent. He came in the game in the beginning of the second half. Final Score: 1-0 We outshot them 19 to 3, 10 to 1 on target, so the final score is not representative of how the game went. As a result of so many shots and so little goals, their keeper is named Man of the Match. Curth gets another 8, he is pulling great games on a regular basis. Our win, combined with a Cardiff draw means one thing, and as "We are the Champions" starts playing over the stadium speakers, players start celebrating. THE RANGERS ARE CHAMPIONS!!! Right following the game, the local paper will quote the following: Quote:
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 03-10-2005 at 03:01 PM. |
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03-10-2005, 03:23 PM
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#162 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Nov 2003
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Grats on clinching 1st place promotion FM! Keigan Parker was a scoring machine for me at Blackpool for the season that I had him. I think he went up to about 3Mil value when I sold him.
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03-11-2005, 11:44 AM
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#163 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 5, 2009
I have mentionned I thought we had some depth issues at defender, so I went on the market and started looking around at who I could find that could help us. I'd like to be able to find a player like Matthew Bates but for the other side. Matthew is a D LC and finding a D RC would be pretty neat. As I'm scouring the list of players with expiring contracts, one D RLC catches my eye. Michael Synott, currently with Ipswich in the Championship, is a 22yo still described as a "promising full-back", but I think he's got enough positioning and heading skill that I think he could play just about anywhere on defense, as a backup for a few games here or there. His contract comes to term on June 30, 2009, so he's on a unprotected contract right now. He's currently earning $1450 per week but as I approach him to sign with us, he says he's looking for $1950 per week. I offer him $1350 per week, as a backup. If he accepts, the transfer would happen at the end of the season (June 3, not the end of his contract) and the compensation paid to Ipswich would only be $48k. Weird thing, if I set the offer to happen at the end of his contract, some 27 days later, the compensation would jump to 600k... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 11:45 AM
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#164 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 8, 2009
We learn that the transfer of Mfundo Shumana has been cancelled after the appeal for a work permit was turned down. That's a bummer but life goes one. For now, the left wing will be manned by Nathan Jameson, Lee Cook, and Tom Howell. Let's not forget that we have another M LC in 17yo Chris Chapman, former Luton Town Hatter who was signed for only $12,000. He is currently on the U18 squad and is recovering from surgery. I never reported this, but you may remember that when he got with the team, he was injured and about 1 month away from coming back. At some point, I decided to ask my physios to have a look at him, to make sure nothing was really wrong with him. They recommended that this injury was indeed serious and it would probably be better to have the player have surgery. I did that a couple month ago and the kid is about 2 months from coming back, total recovery time around 4 months. Given the fact he wasn't going to play this season, I thought this wasn't such a big deal. Now his value has soared to $550k, even though the kid has not played one game for us. He should be ready for the start of next season. Michael Synott rejects ou initial offer, saying the basic wage is unacceptable and that he wants to be considered a more important part of the team. I see that being honest as to his role with the team isn't always what a player wants to hear... I offer him a one year deal worth $1600 per week as a rotation player. If he doesn't work out, I'll let him go, and if he plays well, I'll resign him in December... From the department of better late than never, my scouts report on Peter Till, the one SirFozzie wondered why... Even though both scouts are saying that they think he would add depth to our squad, I'm really wondering how much depth. Click the following thumbnail to take a look at his profile, now that all the skills are known. That's not really up to our standards, oh well...  This reminds me of a DM C named John Boyle, 23yo, that I signed in the offseason before this season. I don't have a profile sheet for him, but I remember signing him to a lowly wage, thinking he would probably get some playing time, only to let him rot with the reserves all season, once I'd realized that his skills were not so good after all... Speaking of reserves, I get the news that Lee Mansell is getting tired of playing with the reserves. He wants first-team football. He's been playing really well, but we've been blessed with few injuries to the team's top three inner mids, so he got stuck with the reserves. I'm moving him up to the senior squad and will play him in the final few games of the season... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 11:46 AM
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#165 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 11, 2009
Ipswich's Michael Synott has agreed to a one year deal with the Rangers! The deal will go through on June 2nd, when the tranfer window reopens. As I was saying before, he's a 22yo D RLC who's still described as a promising full back. While he has always played in the Championship, he's not played in league play a lot in the last few seasons. I don't expect him to be the regular starter at any one position, but he should make a solid backup, anywhere on the defensive line. We will have to pay a $48,000 compensation to Ipswich. Click the following thumbnail to see his player profile.  FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 11:48 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 11, 2009
We play Barnsley at Loftus Road. They are currently in 4th place. I had mentionned something about Matthew Bates losing morale over the course of a week. I was wondering if it was because he was transfer listed by his mother club. We have since agreed to a transfer to make sure he'll stay with us when his loan is over, so he's off the transfer list, and yet he's still losing morale... Oh well... Paul Davies stopped a penalty in the 7th minute, after Mathew Sadler had been caught pushing an opponent in the penalty box. Only 3 minutes later, Tom Howell sets up Andrew Johnson with a perfect pass to the penalty spot at the other end of the field. Johnson didn't miss his chance to give us a 1-0 halftime lead. We just dominate them so much, it's not even funny, well not for them anyway With 69% possession, you'd expect the score to be a bit higher though.Tom Howell takes a knock in the 74th minute and we make a move that could happen every once in a while. I move Nathan Jameson from right wing to left wing and put Matt Cross on the right wing, effectively replacing Howell on the pitch. Jameson's versatility will be very good fo us. They scored a goal in the second half, but we broke the tie in the 88th minute when Keigan Parker, following a corner kick, took his own rebound and buried it from 20yards out. It's his first goal as a Ranger. Final Score: 2-1 We outshot them 18 to 7, 7 to 2 on target, and we controlled the ball 65% on the game. Nathan Jameson is named Man of the Match with a rating of 8 and 11 runs past opponents. He's impressing me more and more on the wings, be it the left or the right... Keigan Parker finished the game with a rating of 8, 1 goal and 3 of his 5 shots on target. Following this round of games, Wrexham clinch relegation to League Two. With 4 games still to be played in the season, teams as deep as Bournemouth in 11th place can still fight for a playoff spot.
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 11:49 AM
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#167 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 13, 2009
Nigel Quashie twists his knee in training. He will mis 2 weeks. April 14, 2009 Another injury in training. This time, it's Lewis Guy who's hurt. He strained his calf and will miss two weeks. I get a message from my assistant that the loan of James Young is coming to an end. A 21yo D R, he was solid, if not spectacular, for us, but I can't afford the $1.85M he's valued at. Besides, Craig Crane is my man at right full back for now. I'll keep Young on my shortlist and maybe I'll try getting him back on loan next season... Matthew Rose, who played a lot at right full back and some at centre-back earlier this season, has agreed to a deal with Tranmere. He will join them on July 1st. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 12:02 PM
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#168 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 14, 2009
We play Chesterfield on their pitch. Poor Chesterfield are in 24th and last place at the moment. Lee Mansell and Iván Kaviedes are starting this one for us. Despite us getting tons and tons of chances, we can't buy a goal for the whole game and it ends as a non-boring 0-0 draw. Final Score: 0-0 I say non-boring since we shot 26 times, 12 of them on target, while limiting them to 4 shots, 2 on target. Their keeper was an absolute wall and gets rewarded with a rating of 10 and is named Man of the Match. Well deserved. Iván Kaviedes struggled throughout the game and was replaced by Keigan Parker who then got injured in the 82nd minute and had to leave the pitch. He gets out of it okay though, not even a scratch. Cardiff clinched 2nd place and promotion to the Championship. With 3 games to be played, Bournemouth is now out of the race for a playoff spot. Luton are still mathematically not out, but barely. They're 8 points off 6th place, with 3 games to go (9 points to be awarded)... Derby, in 8th 8 place right now, is probably the lowest team with a shot at making the playoff.
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-11-2005, 09:10 PM
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#169 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: usually sunny SoCal
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Quote:
sweet... oh, and $43 later, i've joined the darkside... i will wonder what the sun actually looks like... |
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03-14-2005, 09:12 AM
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#170 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
*cue breathing sound* Tim, I'm your father *more breathing* hehehe, seriously welcome to the gang, hope you enjoy the lack of sleep and the addiction FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 09:15 AM
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#171 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 18, 2009
We play Rushden & Diamonds (I like that long version of their name better than the short one ) on their pitch. They're currently 22nd and still fighting to avoid relegation to League Two. They currently have 47 points and Hereford is who they're shooting for, with 49 points. We can't take them for granted.This will be James Young's last match before the end of his loan deal. Lee Cook is now unhappy, he wants first-team football. He played a couple days ago with the reserves, but I intend to play him in the last two games. Today is match #44 of 46. Wow, was that a boring first half or what. We outshot them 3 to 1, 1 to none on target, so much passing, but no really shooting taking place in that half. We open it up in the second half, but can only score once. Jeppe Lund Curth scores his 5th goal of the season, in 10 appearances, pouncing on the rebound of a shot from Lee Mansell. I decided to tell my players to ease off on their tackling for the last 20 minutes, after we received our fourth yellow... Final Score: 1-0 On the game, we outshot them 14 to 5, 7 to 3 on target. Both keepers excelled when asked to perform. Paul Davies got rated at 8 with 3 very nice saves on the 3 shots on target, and their keeper was named Man of the Match with a rating of 9. Despite both left wingers getting 7's, I liked what I saw from Nathan Jameson in the second half more than what Tom Howell showed me in the first half...
FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 11:48 AM
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#172 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 20, 2009
James Young loan finishes and he returns to Blackburn. Jeppe Lund Curth is named on the League Team of the Week for the third time since joining the club. I decide to praise him for his recent performances. The fans are said to be delighted with his recent form too. He has really played very well since I bought him, scoring 5 goals already and averaging 7.60 in form rating, getting more 8's than 7's, which is always impressive. Something weird though, as I take a look at my team report from my assistant manager, he is described as the weakest attacker in 1st/2nd XI. hrm... Not sure my assistant is right on that one. For now, there's no way I pull him off the starting spot... Look at this...  It's also funny how my assistant has adjusted his player evaluation since we've clinched promotion to the Championship. Before clinching, everybody was rated as 5 stars, I would assume mostly because he was comparing them to League One players. Now, some are showing up as 4 or even 3 stars... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 03-14-2005 at 11:48 AM. |
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03-14-2005, 12:00 PM
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#173 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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April 25, 2009
We play Bournemouth at Loftus Road. They are currently in 12th place and this is our second to last match of the season. I will try to give some playing time to John Davies, a 17yo promising full-back (D R) who's a product of our youth program. I want to see if he could hold his own a bit now that James Young is gone. Davies is currently valued at 200k. Steve Brooker gives us the lead erly on (15'), heading in a center from Mathew Sadler. Jeppe Lund Curth will help close it in the 70th minute, when his perfect center to Nathan Jameson travels the whole penalty box in width. Jameson buries it for the 2-0 goal. Final Score: 2-0 We dominated them, firing shots from about everywhere. As a result, we outshot them 20 to 3, 9 to none on target. Lee Mansell is named Man of the Match, proving he can play with the big boys on occasion. He completed 33 of his 29 passes, 6 of them key passes, and won 5 of 8 headers. Following the game, I decide to prais him, he's played well recently. The fans applaud the praise. John Davies rated at 7, completing 9 of 12 passes and intercepting 2 balls. Colchester clinched a playoff spot. Rushden clinched relegation to League Two.
Jeppe Lund Curth is named on the League One Team of the Week again, after his rating of 8 in our last match. Lewis Guy finished his loan period and returned to Bolton. He never got it going for us, averaing under 7 in form rating, which is just not acceptable when our system gave plenty of chance to forwards to rate well... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 02:26 PM
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#174 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 1st, 2009
The Team Board is still delighted with my performance as manager of the club. We've lost only 3 all season long, and we almost have a 20 points lead over 2nd place Cardiff, who wouldn't be delighted?!? I come in second place for manager of the month, not bad None of the Q.P.R. players shows up in any of the monthly awards. May 2, 2009
We play MK Dons on their pitch in our last match of this 2008-09 season. They are currently in 9th place and out of playoffs contention. While this game is of no importance to either team, I see this when looking at the match preview:  Wow, all caught up in the season, I never realized we were playing that well. Sweet, let's go for it!!! I give the start to John Davies, as sort of a test. This one got wild early on and Jeppe Lund Curth was in the middle of it all. First assisting Lee Cook on our first goal. Then assisting Marc Bircham when this one scored from way out in the middle of the first half. At that point, Steve Brooker and Jeppe Lund Curth were showing a cohesion out of the ordinary. Curth then showed incisive craft and vision to create Andrew Johnson's goal, with a great through ball. And finally, with no angle, Curth scored himself the 4th goal of the team. That one was a beauty to look at as Curth was in the center, passed it back to the left ot Matthew Bates, only to position himself on the left wing to get the ball back form Bates and bore down on the keeper... What a way to break a record! Final Score: 4-0 As would be expected, and well deserved, Jeppe Lund Curth is named Man of the Match. He completed 34 of 38 passes, put 4 of his 6 shots on target, scored a goal, assisted on 3 others, and had 5 runs past opponents. A "wow!" kind of game. Danny Shittu had to leave the game in the 88th minute. Turns out he suffered a back strain and will miss 3 weeks. I ask my physios for a more complete report and they recommend that I let a specialist examine him. Since it's the last match of the season, with no team activities until July, I send Big Dan to physiotherapy, to make sure this injury will not recur in the future. He'll be out of commission for 4 weeks. After surgery earlier in the season, and now 4 weeks of physiotherapy, I gotta hope he'll be ready for one full season of football next season because we'll need him in every game to do well in the Championship. That injury to Shittu triggered a stupid question from a member of the media. A journalist from the London's Evening Standard approached me with this question: "Danny Shittu is a key player for you but the injury he picked up today could see him ruled out for a while. How much will the team miss his presence?" I wanted to scream at him "IT'S THE OFFSEASON DUMBASS!!!" But on restrained myself and simply said that while Danny's an important part of this team, I felt we had adequate cover. I will regret this comment as I get a report on team morale from my assistant manager the very next day. He said that Danny had been somewhat dejected over the past day or so and that after consulting several members of the team, he had discovered that the central defender was upset by the comments I made about him to the media recently. Hrm, should have gone with the good old "IT'S THE OFFSEASON DUMBASS!!!" or the classy "no comment", oh well... Here's the final legaue table for the 2008-09:
Lee Mansell tells me he's now content with his role. He says he's prepared to wait for a first-team opportunity at Q.P.R. of necessary. He also revealed that I had convinced him that he has the ability to force his way into the first-team if he remains patient and continues to work hard. As would be expected, following his amazing game against MK Dons, Jeppe Lund Curth is named on the League One Team of the Week, again! He's now scored 6 goals, has assisted 6 others and has compiled two Man of the Match, while averaging 7.83 in form, over his 12 start and one game from the bench since joing Q.P.R. For now, the starting job is his to lose... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 02:28 PM
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#175 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 6, 2009
Wigan approach me to become their manager. This felt so weird, as EaglesFan27 was still their manager when the offer came. I almost found myself screaming something like "I CAN'T DO THAT TO CHRIS!!!" Anyway, I felt the offer was not so much tempting as it was flattering. It's in fact the first time anybody has asked me to come manage their club, and not me going to a club to beg them to take me as manager, as was the case when Luton sacked me. Hearing from Wigan Athletic chairman that he believes me to be the ideal person to replace their ex-manager was really music to the ears However, as tempting as playing with $21.5M of transfer money sounded, the idea of having to cut in their already high $650,000 per week wages was not. They made it clear I would have to clean up the wage bill, and it's often something I struggle with. At least I know my weaknesses Wigan is in 15th place in the Premiership and it would probably have been fun going there, but I really want to see what my Q.P.R. squad can do in the Championship. I end up rejecting the offer. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 02:46 PM
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#176 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 13, 2009
There was this winger I had spotted at Rushden, name is Marcus Kelly. Kid is 23yo and capable of playing both sides of the pitch as an attacking midfielder. From what I saw during my scouting of Rushden for our recent match, he looked very decent. I had asked my scouts to take a look at him and they just got back with some good reports. Both scouts think he'd be a good signing. He has great dribbling skill, and I mean GREAT dribbling skill. To that, had decent crossing skill, good passing and first touch/technique with the ball. His current contract ends on Jun 30, 2009 and he's currently valued at $600k. I start my usual "approach him to sign" approach and look at a few things. If I sign him with the transfer taking effect immediately, I'll have to pay Rushden a $600k compensation fee. If I make it effective at the end of his current contract, the compensation drops to $500k. But I find my most favorite clause of all, the minimum fee release clause Kelly has one of those, and it's only set to $260k!!! nice! I offer just that, $260k...May 17, 2009 My bid for Marcus Kelly is accepted, well, duh... Going to offer him a contract, I see he's looking for a good raise from his current $2600 per week as he's asking for $7600 per week and a $24k signing fee. My assistant think he'd become an active member of the first-team and recommends offering up to $6200 per week. I play a bit of hardball and offer $5000 per week with a $40k signing fee. My scouts are really keeping busy in the beginning of this offseason and they report back on a 16yo striker named Justin Wall from, again, Rushden. The kid is said to be a promising striker and as with any 16yo, his contract is unprotected. Compensation for signing him without talking to Rusdhen is set to $220k. Thinking I could maybe get him for cheaper, I go to make an offer and it says that Rushden is asking fo $0 for Wall. Hrm... I remember seeing this $0 thing and it worked once when I bought Chris Chapman from Luton. I go on a fishing trip and offer $2,000... We'll see... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 03:04 PM
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#177 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 20, 2009
Rushden didn't fall for the Justin Wall fishing expedition, at least not completely. They counter with this offer: 48k up front + 80k over the next 6 months + 50% of next sale + a friendly on their pitch hrm... $128k total isn't too bad, but I really don't like the 50% of next sale clause. I drop that completely and also lower the moment the amount to be paid over the next 6 months. The offer now looks like this: 48k up front + 52k over the next 6 months + a friendly on their pitch May 22, 2009 Marcus Kelly is said to be extremely happy to have agreed terms with Q.P.R. He revealed that he is really enthusiastic about the prospect of playing for such a well supported club. The $260k transfer will go through when the next transfer window will open, on Jun 2nd, 2009. As I said before, Marcus is capable of playing on both wings, but is a leftie first. He's currently valued at $600k with Rushden and you can click on the following thumbnail to view his player profile...  One thing that striked me as nice about him is that he has kept good average form rating in the last 4 season with Rushden. Click the thumbnail below to see his career stats...  Our offer for Justin Wall is accepted. When I go to offer him a contract, my assistant manager tells me he believes the 16yo would become a useful member of our first-team squad. wow! I offer him $300 per week. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-14-2005, 07:21 PM
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#178 | |
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Hall Of Famer
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: New Jersey
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Quote:
LOL! Thanks for the loyalty my friend |
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03-15-2005, 09:08 AM
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#179 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 24, 2009
We get the news that a new sponsorship deal has been agreed to with a local company. The deal will pay $110,000 per year over the next 3 years. The transfer budget is also announced for the upcoming season and I get roughly $1.3M, which is about what was left unspent from this year's transfer budget. Hrm, I would have liked a bit more, but we'll do with that... I'll allowed to retaing 100% of any players sales. May 25, 2009 Justin Wall is said to be extremely happy at having agreed terms qith Q.P.R.! Like Marcus Kelly said only three days ago, he tells the media that he is really enthusiastic about the prospect of playing for such a well supported club. Since Wall was promoted from Rushden's youth program in the offseason before this season, he is not allowed to move until it's been one year of his first signing. The transfer will go through on June 18, 2009. By looking at Wall's player profile (thumbnail below), you'll see that the kid is already well rounded for a 16yo kid. Hopefully, he'll live up to his billing as a "promising striker" and will develop in the next couple seasons and at 19 will be a very nice striker for our squad...  With this signing, this gives us 6 players as future transfers that will come to QPR in the next month or so. Here they are...
No big ticket players in there, I'll see how the season goes and if I pull a big sale before deciding to bring in a bigger name... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 09:09 AM
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#180 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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May 26, 2009
The League One awards are announced. Among Q.P.R. players, Matt Cross is the only one to bring one back home. He is selected among on the English Player's League One Select. That's a bit of a surprise. I knew he'd had a good season, but he didn't striker me as above everybody else... I win the award of Manager of the Year. WEEHEE!!! GO ME!!! One of Jeppe Lund Curth's goal comes in second for Goal of the Year. It's his power diving header against Stockport. Was indeed a nice goal... June 1st, 2009 A quick Team Board update reveals that they are still delighted with my managerial performance. Sweet! June 2, 2009 Marcus Kelly and Michael Synott both officialy become Rangers today. How much playing time they'll both see still remains to be seen though... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 09:11 AM
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#181 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 3, 2009
It's Matthew Bates' turn to officially become a Ranger, even though he's seen plenty of playing time with us last season on a season long loan. Following the transfer, he releases the following comment to the media: Quote:
This signing puts us at a wage total of $168,961 with a bidget that has not moved and is still at $140k... With Marcus Bignot, Jamie Cureton and Matthew Rose to be released at the end of the month, we should save about 13k in wage, and the future transfers are cheap ones (Peter Till-$750, Justin Wall-$300, Johh Oster-$2000) so we shouldn't be in too bad shape salary wise... I see that Lee Cook, who at some point was stating he wasn't convinced he'd stay in my plans, is now saying he wants to play first-team football next season. It's up to you my friend. Perform and you're in, but there will be competition at the left winger spot, that on is a given... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 09:12 AM
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#182 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 3, 2009
Later on the day, I get the international round-up from my assistant. Two of my players took part in World Cup Qualifiers for their countries. Jeppe Lund Curth played only the last 20 minutes of the game in only his 2nd cap for Denmark, but he did well. Denmark won 2-0 over Georgia. Marc Bircham was in magnificent form, impressing both pundits and managers for the entire match, in Canada's 3-2 win over Jamaica. Looking at the North American group, I'm impressed with how well Canada has been doing. They lead the group with 4 wins and only one loss. They even beat the USA 2-1. Here are the standings of the North American group...
GO CANADA!!! FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... Last edited by FrogMan : 03-15-2005 at 09:13 AM. |
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03-15-2005, 09:13 AM
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#183 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 4, 2009
I send everybody home for a good month of rest. Training is set to "resting"... June 6, 2009 Watford offer me 22yo AMC James Watford. An interesting prospect, valued at $1M, they are asking $650 for him. He is already earning $11k per week and would be at best 4th on the inner midfielder depth chart, and maybe even 5th, behind Lee Mansell. So, thanks, but no thanks... Charlton approach me to come manage their club, and again, it's much the same as it was when Wigan approached me, but not even as good. Charlton finished the season in 18th place in the Premiership and because of that, they will be relegating to the Championship. They would be offering me some transfer budget to improve the team, an impressive $16M for a Championship team, bu they also have some bloathed wage to cut. They say that their current wage bill is well above budget at around $700,000 per week and that I would be required to significantly reduce this figure should I take charge. Comparing this $700k to my tiny $168k, I see that yeah, there will be some work to do... The answer is even easier than for the Wigan offer, even though there's no loyalty factored in this one I respectfully say no...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 09:28 AM
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#184 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 18, 2009
No much has happened with the club in a while. Justin Wall's transfer finally goes through and the minute it happens, his value jumps to $300k. He just turned 17 yesterday in fact. I had offered him a one year contract, thinking I'd rework one when he'd turn 17, but now that he's 17 I'll have to look into locking him for a longer term... Wall is quite an ambitious fellow though. Look at what he had to say to the media following his signing: Quote:
On a related note, how good has this group of strikers become that I now list Kavi as the #5 on the depth chart... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 11:42 AM
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#185 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 20, 2009
Andrew Johnson is named Q.P.R.'s Player of the Year by the supporters. Wow, this is kind of out of the blue. Not that it was not deserved, but I didn't expect the 19yo to get it. Looking back at it, he certainly had a great season. He score 14 goals, assisted on 10 others, and was named Man of the Match once. Maybe that's what threw me off, he was more of a silent force and not always mentionned as MoM... Yet, he still averaged a form rating of 7.27 in league play, which is very good. I bought him for a mere $300k on February 17, 2008, and his value just took a jump to $3.2M after it had stabilized at about $1.6M during the season. My gues is that this award just knocked his reputation into the stratosphere I get a message from my assistant telling me that two players had been promoted to the Q.P.R. U18 squad. Say that again??? Only two! bummer... When I go take a look at both players, I'm not uber impressed. My assistant raves abou on of them, a 17yo promising midfielder (M C) named Scott Blake. He's a somehow well rounded middie, with lots of 7's, 8's and 9's, and little 2's or 3's. Click the thumbnail below to see his player profile.  The other player is an 18yo striker named Ben Perry that doesn't impress me at all. I'd put his odds of finishing the season with us at 100-1 at best. Click the thumbnail below to see his player profile.  The club receives $1.1M for TV rights, which is nice, compared to the $550k we got in League One, but pales in comparison to what EaglesFan27's Man U received for Premiership TV rights (24M or so, woah!)... The Q.P.R. Team Board expectations for the new season are known. They expect us to fight bravely against relegation. Hopefully we'll do better than that. The expectations of the fans are a bit tougher to understand though. They expect me to invest in new players and start rebuilding the team during this season. hmmm, not too sure what to do about that one... I see that the wage budget has not moved one bit so far. It's still at 140k. I would have expected it to go up a bit with us going to the Championship and everything... Wait and see, I guess... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 11:48 AM
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#186 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 25, 2009
I don't often look at my player values on the squad screen, except when looking at player profiles one by one. When I saw that Andrew Johnson was now valued at $5.2M, I went WOW!!! Remember, the kid was bought for his value, at $300k, only a year and a half ago. Granted, he was in League Two at the time, but still... I immediately went and took a look at everybody'S value. Here are the values of the players on the Senior squad, sorted from highest ot lowest value:
Johnson is now the highest valued player on the squad, and players like Danny Shittu, Nigel Quashie, and Marc Bircham all saw their values take nice jumps from around 2.2-2.4M to 3.2-3.8M, nice! Matt Cross has got a nice boost in value, now up to 3.4M... I'm pretty sure all these boosts are due to us being back to the Championship, with the exposure that comes with it. Part of Cross' value increase can certainly be attributed to him being selected on the League One Player's select, and Johnson's value increase to being selected as Q.P.R.'s Player of the Year by their supporters... Here are how the reserves are shaping up, value wise...
hrm, looks like I didn't save it with the same view... Not much to be excited in that group although Paul Davies has gained a few hundred thousands in value... And here is the U18 squad, now it's getting exciting again
Look at Justin Wall and this new found value at $2.6M, wow! The top four on that list are the four that have some chances of maybe one day seeing some playing time with the senior squad. Wall, Chapman and Davies, maybe as early as this season, while Marshall just turned 17yo and is still a bit off... Chapman's value was at $550k most of last season...FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-15-2005, 02:36 PM
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#187 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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June 25, 2009
Later in the day, I received a few offers from teams wanting me to go play a friendly at their stadium. Among them is Rushden, as part of the friendly we had agreed to play in the transfer of Justin Wall. Another one is Luton. They want me to come to Kenilworth Road, nice! I accept it with pleasure! June 30, 2009 My assistant reports to me about Tom Howell. He tells me he's very pleased with Howell's progress, indicating that the young full back has been showing remarkable improvements during recent training sessions. He feels the player is ready for more first team football. Hmmm, full back? Last time I checked, Howell was still described as a winger, although he is a D/DM L. My view is to have him play at winger more than full back, but I'll keep a good eye on him, maybe try him at full back a few times and see if he performs better back there... July 1st, 2009 The Team Board is now very pleased of my managerial performance. The drop off delighted is usual of the start of the season... July 1st is the big free transfer day, as most Bosman transfered players had their contract run out on the 30th. It's the case for two players for us, as Peter Till and John Oster both arrive to Q.P.R. They're both seen as backup, mostly for depth... After getting the message that Jacob Burns has been free transferred from Luton, I decide to go take a look at the Luton squad. What I saw saddened me greatly. They are still managerless, more than a season and a half after sacking me, and you can click on the following thumbnail to see what kind of squad I see when I look at their team, sad, just sad...   Anybody ever seen anything like this? This has to be some sort of a bug. Anyway, it saddens me to see a team I cared so much about be left to abandon like that... Among the signing, Matthew Rose signed with Tranmere. Funny moment, while I was kind of happy to let him go, the Tranmere fans got angry and questioned the logic behind signing the 33yo veteran Among players released from their team, there was this DM C nicknamed only Ednilson, with Middlesbrough. He was asking for $3400 per week before being released, he's now down to $2600 now that he's unemployed. He'd be a backup for depth, no more, about the same level as Lee Mansell. I decided to offer a lowball contract, offering $1600 per week. I see that our wage budget has been upped to $150k per week. After the July 1st cuts, we're at $162,069. Not bad... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 05:09 AM
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#188 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Blake looks interesting. A bit old for a project but he looks like he doesn't have any major weakness and can be useful if he improves like he should. Perry, on the other hand, is just . . . yikes.
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03-16-2005, 06:56 AM
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#189 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
Interesting is pretty much the word for Blake. I agree that he's kind of sound in about every facet, now remains to be seen if he'll improve or stagnate at his current level... Perry, well, I think his ods of avoiding a free transfer before next june have now dropped to 200-1. Story developping... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 09:07 AM
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#190 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 4, 2009
I have agreed to play 7 friendlies, starting with the one at Kenilworth Road. I didn't realize it at first, but that preseason schedule is fairly heavy at the start but will leave us with a good nine days between the last friendly and our first league match. Here's our preseason schedule as it stands right now:
As you can see, all 4 home games will be against teams from the Premiership. Hopefully we can draw good crowds for these games... We'll have a rough 1-2 stretch on the 15th and 16th with back-to-back night games. We'll have to choose players accordingly. At least these are friendlies and I can bring a full complement of subs, which I plan on using in eveyr friendly except maybe the last two... The final stretch of three games will be a great preparation for our first league match back in the Championship, as we are scheduled to play Southampton, who've just been demoted from the Premiership. At least the game will be at Loftus Road. I had never realized that, but it looks like the schedule maker really like to make newly promoted sides suffer in their first game in a new division. I remember playing a newly promoted Hereford in our first match down to League One last season, and we demolished them 4-0. Let's hope the my Rangers will be able to do a bit better than that against Southampton... July 5, 2009 We go play Luton Town at Kenilworth Road. Everytime I go back to Kenilworth Road, it's always with a bit of mixed emotions. I had a great time there, and they gave me my first chance, yet now, they look bad... I didn't save the squad listing for this friendly, pretty much everybody somehow close to the first-time will see the pitch in some form. However, setting the lineup I realize we're still a bit thin at centre-back. I will probably look into signing a cheap veteran for depth purpose. The game ends 0-0, a typical first game of the season. Danny Shittu get named Man of the Match with a rating of 8. Paul Davies who played the second half at keeper gets the only other 8 on the team. Darren Evans and Lee Cook both underperformed at got the only 6's... Ednilson rejects our offer. I sort of expected it, as I lowballed it, but I don't mind so much. I realized we don't really need him. I'll concentrate on possibly finding a defender... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 09:08 AM
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#191 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 7, 2009
We play Fulham at home. I didn't save the squad listing for this game either. Jeppe Lund Curth has to go off injured in the 37th minute. We lose the game 0-1 on an own goal from Paul Davies, trying to get his hand on a loose ball. Chris Day is named Man of the Match, getting an 8 while playing only the first half. I'm happy with the game. Even though we lost, we outshot them 12 to 2, but they outshot us on target 4 to 2. We also won possession, albeit barely, with 51%. All encouragin signs... After the match, I learn that Curth has strained his groin. First reports are saying 2 weeks off, but my physios also recommend we let a specialist take a look at his injury. Final verdict is 2 weeks of physiotherapy. Better do this now than in the final stretch... There's also an unexpected injury. Steve Brooker strained his wrist and will miss one week. Losing 2 strikers at once is hitting hard on the forward depth... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 09:12 AM
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#192 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 11, 2009
We get some great news on the internation front. Matt Cross and Andrew Johnson have been called up by England to play on the U19 squad for the European U19 Championship that is starting on July 14. That is great news. Hopefully, they won't act only as spectators and will have a chance to play some... I also learn that our friendly against Newcastle, scheduled for July 16, has been picked up for live TV coverage. Sweet. Two more matches, regular season ones this time, have also been picked up for TV coverage. These are both away games, on August 15 at Cardiff, which should be a great game against another relegation battler, and on November 29 at Reading. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 09:30 AM
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#193 | |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Providence, RI
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Quote:
The same thing's happened in my current game both times I switched teams. Rushden & Diamonds took a full season to find a new manager, during which time they sold all their best players (two of them to me) and got relegated; they still did better than Wigan, though, who've gone eighteen months and counting without finding a replacement. |
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03-16-2005, 09:35 AM
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#194 | |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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Quote:
That is sad, isn't it... Should we report it to somebody? They've got to be aware of this already though, I'd assume... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:38 AM
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#195 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 12, 2009
We go play Burton Albion on their pitch. They have just promoted from the Conference National to League Two, after dropping from LEague Two the season before that. With Matt Cross and Andrew Johnson on international duty, and injuries to both Steve Brooker and Jeppe Lund Curth, we're suddenly amazingly thin at striker. Justin Wall is in fact our only backup striker of quality and he'll see the field for at least the whole second half. The second backup striker is Matt Matthews, a U18 member that would never see the field other than on a friendly. I hope he enjoys it while it lasts Looking at the depth I've built at winger, both on the right and the left, I'll have Matt Cross available as my 6th striker in case a rash of injuries hits us. That depth at winger could be questioned, but I've found that wingers in my scheme of play tend to get tired and it'll be nice to have a strong group of 4 wingers (2 left and 2 right) to choose from when we start playing games every 3 or 4 days, like we had in December 2008... I also start using Gino Padula as left fullback, leaving Matthew Bates to play a bit more centre-back...Tom Howell redeemed himself of a slow start with a goal in the 23rd minute and Keigan Parker scored a great goal in the 50th minute to give us a 2-0 win. Iván Kaviedes was the architect behind Parker's goal, setting him up perfectly. We outshot them 15 to 6, 5 to 1 on target. Danny Shittu is named Man of the Match, already his second MoM in our first three preseason games. We had offered to loan Ricky Hanson from Nottingham Forest, despite him thinking he is too good to be loaned out. Well, our offer, as well as Wycombe's offer have been accepted. Now waiting to see if Hanson will accept to play for me again. He had a loan spell with my Luton side very early in my career over there. He's a D/DM/F RC and could be used for depth at centreback... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:39 AM
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#196 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 14, 2009
The England U19 lost 1-2 to Scotland. Matt Cross didn't see the field, but my assistant reports that Andrew Johnson played the whole, but will have every reason to be unhappy with his overall performance. I expected to see him rated at 5 or 4, but he got a 6 and wasn't the worst on the team. One player had a 5, many had 6's and not many had 7's... My scouts report back on a 28yo Finnish centre-back named Tuomas Aho. He's currently playing for MyPa in Finland. He looks to have a very sound skill set and as a bonus, speaks English. Among his skils, you can count fairly good passing as one of his strength. With the short passing scheme we employ, I like my defenders to have good passing, in order to avoid a breakdown from a bad pass deep in our territory. He's valued at 360k and I may put in a bid before the preseason is over... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:40 AM
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#197 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 15, 2009
We go play Rushden on their pitch. This is the friendly we had agreed to play as part of the transfer of Justin Wall. This game is the first of a rough two night stretch, as we will play Newcastle tomorrow night at Loftus Road. Marc Bircham gives us the lead in the 3rd minute, burying a deflection of a shot from Keigan Parker. They got a dubious penalty call going their way in the 62nd minute, but the shot went wide. They will finally tie the game in the 71st minute, following a nicely played corner. 1-1 is the final score... We outshot them 14 to 7, 6 to 2 on target and their keeper is named Man of the Match. FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:42 AM
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 16, 2009
We play Newcastle at Loftus Road. This match is also showed live on TV. Two games in two night is tough. Good thing we'll have a full 23 players to pick from, other than the injured one and others on international duty. The TV commentators present Danny Shittu as a key player for us and Jorge Lopez as a key player for Newcastle. Their prediction goes as follows: "I believe Newcastle have enough about themselves to see off Q.P.R. today"... I guess they don't see us winning then... The first half is very close, 0-0 after 45 minutes. They're outshooting us 6-4 overall, but we're ahead 3-2 on target. Chris Day is keeping us in the game so far. They will score the only goal of the game only 3 minutes into the second half, on a beautiful bending shot from 25 yards out. We lose 0-1 but I'm very happy with it. I know it's only a friendly and they probably played many b teamers, especially in the second half, but we did hang in there. Overall, they outshot us 9 to 8, but we beat them 5 to 4 on target. Jorge Lopez is named Man of the Match. England U19 won 3-2 over Hungary and this time, Andrew Johnson didn't play but Matt Cross played the whole game at right winger. My assistant reports that he looked in good shape, even getting on the scoresheet in the process. Weird thing though, he scored on a penalty kick, him that is rated 4 on penalty kicks FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:43 AM
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#199 |
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Hattrick Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Pintendre, Qc, Canada
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July 17, 2009
I learn that our last friendly, against Chelsea on July 23, has been picked up for live TV coverage. They must have liked coming to Loftus Road yesterday This will be the second of our 7 friendlies to be televised...July 19, 2009 I decide to make a bid for Tuomas Aho. I put in a bid for his value, so $360k it is. I get some bad news about our U18 squad. Promising midfielder Chris Chapman strained some knee ligaments and is first diagnosed with missing a month of action. My physios also recommend me to send him see a specialist about it. I do so and he will miss 3 weeks while attending physiotherapy. I'm worried he may be a bit prone to injury, as he had to have surgery shortly after being acquired from Luton last season and missed 4 months at the time... FM
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A Black Belt is a White Belt who refused to give up... follow my story: The real life story of a running frog... |
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03-16-2005, 11:52 AM
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#200 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Ashburn, VA
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Why is it that every time I refresh my FOFC view, I see there are more updates to this dynasty?
Looks like going into the regular season you've got your team's legs mostly back with you, which is good. I'd seen some of those injuries in your early offseason and was beginning to fear another epidemic of terpkristinitis. What's the schedule look like for the regular season? And what are the management's goals for you this season? /tk
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GO TERPS! https://www.flickr.com/photos/terpkristin https://twitter.com/terpkristin |
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