FM: Harrogate is marching on..

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Wow. I always though Everton was a pretty strong club. Not one of the "elites", but they seem to have the financial balance and talent to compete in the top half of the league and for UEFA tournament (more likely the UEFA Cup) competition.

After losing Wayne Rooney to ManYoo this year, Everton was many people's dark horse team to be relegated in the Premiership.

It's surprising they have played as well as they have

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Any idea for why you have the messy finances? How will you fix it?

Great season. Hopefully you can carry that mometum in that last 1/3 of the season into next year.


Just curious, of the big clubs, any new "powers" or did any fall from the "top"?

Well, I brought some new guys in and as a result I raised our wage budget to really high levels of over 290,000/week. We just couldn't support that with our 8,000 to 10,000 fans/game that we drew most of the year. The early losses before I arrived prevented people from really coming to the games. I'm hopeful we can start rocking the stadium next year which will generate money and turn the finances around. If that doesn't happen, I'll have to seriously consider selling some good players this upcoming season.

I missed this before, but as you mentioned Everton falling was a bit surprising to me. However, their were no other big surprises to me, but Newcastle is currently 15th in the EPL which is surprising to me.

Also, Roma is 8th in Serie A which is surprising to me to some extent (not that I know very much about Italian Football.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 20, 2009 -

I've been so dedicated to my new team that I haven't followed the Champions Cup most of the year. However, I watched the final today and saw Arsenal completely dominate ball possession, but barely beat Real Madrid with a 2-1 win. Javier Saviola scored at the 51st minute on an assist from Patrick Vieira who continues to play well at the age of 33. Freddy Adu lead a breakaway at the 57 minute mark and scored on an assist from David Beckham to tie the score 1-1. At the age of 19, Freddy is looking like one of the best players in the world and has played very well as a striker for Real Madrid this year.

Finally, Arsenal's dominance earned them a second goal at the 80 minute mark when Jeremie Aliadiere had a breakaway that was set up by a great pass Fredrik Ljungberg. That goal secured the 2-1 win.

[SunDancer]

Nice to hear about Freddy.

Hope you keep us updated on the US team and the World Cup play.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 23, 2009 -

Arsenal, Man Utd, Chelsea, and Southampton have all qualified for next year's Champions Cup.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by SunDancer

Nice to hear about Freddy.

Hope you keep us updated on the US team and the World Cup play.

I will. I'll be folllowing the World Cup 2010 closely. Speaking of Freddie, at the age of 19, he has 39 caps and 11 goals for the USA National Team.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 24, 2009 -

Georges Ambourouet has publicly announced that he is unhappy at not being on the 1st team. He might be a candidate to get transferred to save money this upcoming year.

We have signed a new sponsorship deal for 800,000 dollars per year for the next 4 years! This is a big increase from our old deal which was 500,000/year.

Despite our financial troubles, the board has declared that I will have a 3.2 million dollar transfer budget this year and I will be able to keep the vast majority of any transfer income I generate.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 24, 2009 -

Reading have won the playoffs and thereby have won promotion to the EPL.

Inter has won Serie A.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 26, 2009 -

Stuart Elliott was selected to the English Players' Championship Select Team of the Year.


Charlton's George Burley has won Manager of the Year. Ian Holloway of Reading came in 2nd, and Stan Ternent of Coventry came in 3rd.


Nottingham Forest's Sam Parkin won the Championship award for top goal scorer with 25 league goals on the year. Marlon King of Millwall came in 2nd, and Darren Byfield of Gillingham came in 3rd.


Boston United has won promotion to League One.

[Eaglesfan27]

May 30, 2009 -

England tied Norway 1-1 in the World Cup 2010 European Qualifying Match today. Cyprus, San Marino, Finland, and Scotland are also in that group.


France beat FYR Madeconia 5-1 today. Armenia, Poland, Russia, and Georgia are also in that group.


Italy beat Hungary 2-0 today. Malta, Faroe Islands, Romania, and Iceland are also in that group.


Germany beat Azerbaijan 6-0. Lithuania, Austria, Slovenia, and Belgium are in that group.


Spain beat Andorra 5-0. Latvia, Estonia, Switzerland, and Isreal are also in that group.


Holland beat Greece 1-0. Belarus, Slovakia, Serbia & Mont., and Moldova are also in that group.


Ireland tied the Czech Republic 1-1. Croatia, Liechtsenstein, N. Ireland, and Bosnia are also in that group.

Stuart Elliot played well for Northern Ireland despite their 1-0 loss to Bosnia.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 1, 2009 -

Mr. Whelan has informed me that he is very pleased with my performance as manager.

Today we have signed Greg Pearson from Wycombe for 70,000 dollars. This young striker will provide depth at a cheap cost of 1,450/week.

We have decided to release Peter Miller, Paul Steele, and Alan Williams who are all youth players who have not lived up to any potential.

[daedalus]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Finally, Arsenal's dominance earned them a second goal at the 80 minute mark when Jeremie Aliadiere had a breakaway that was set up by a great pass Fredrik Ljungberg. That goal secured the 2-1 win.

[watches in amazement as "Le Professor" Arsene Wenger does a Jimmy Johnson "How 'bout 'em Gunners!"]

[cue "We Are The Champion"]

.
.
.

[snickers at SirFozzie from across different threads]

[SirFozzie]

Friggin Arseholes.

[Eaglesfan27]

I forgot to post this message about 7 1/2 hours ago when I initially typed it:

June 3, 2009 -
In World Cup Qualifying (EUR) Group 4 play -
England's 5-0 win ove Cyprus really stood out. Joe Cole had a hat trick in the game.
Stuart Elliott played very well, but his N. Ireland team lost to the Republic of Ireland 1-0.

OOC Note: Darn! I'm on call tonight (starting 5 minutes ago) and I was just informed that there are 4 kids in the ER waiting to be seen by me! Well, hopefully I'll get back to playing later tonight.


Now an OOC F/U that I thought I'd be adding as a seperate post now:

I had the most amazing month of call ever in Febuary. I get paid to take call at this one facility because I'm covering 40-60 inpatients and their intake office. Well I was amazed that in 5 nights of call in Febuary I had ZERO occasions to leave my home. I got paid plenty to play FM and sleep when I got tired. Well, this was amazing as my previous best in working for this place was 1 night of not needing to leave my place to go into the hospital. This amazing string of luck continued when I was on call March 1st. I was scared to say anything to my friends or my wife (who obviously knew about it, but knew this is the ONLY thing that I'm superstitious about) and they knew not to say anything to me.

Well, all of my good luck finally rebounded on me tonight. I ended up finding out there were 4 patients waiting for me when my shift started. Then, I got 4 more dumped on my from local clinics in under 2 hours. I just finished seeing all 8 (and admitting 4) over the past 7 1/2 hours.

Now time for some FM to unwind. Sundancer, it truly is a great way to relieve stress and unwind (assuming one isn't running a team that frustrates them too much )

[Eaglesfan27]

June 6, 2009 -

Southampton's James Beattie has won the European Golden Boot Award after scoring 30 goals this year.

Amauri of Chievo Verona came in 2nd, and Adriano of Chelsea came in 3rd.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 10, 2009 -

After threatening his job all year, Tottenham has finally sacked Joe Kinnear.

Fabio Capello has been sacked by Juventus.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 18, 2009 -

Today we have reached an agreement with Kalamaria's Tomasz Jarzebowski. We have acquired this 30 year old polish player for only 44,000 dollars and 5,000/week salary. He is a veteran of the Polish national team who can play centreback, right fullback, defensive midfielder, or defensive right winger. I expect his versatility to be a major help and plan on using him in all of those positions.

[chris3627]

Been reading the dynasty since the beginning, an entertaining read.

Nice player you got there in Jarzebowski, have had him in both my Polish leagues. Did well for me in Uefa and CL playing primarily right back (442) and center back & wing (352).

With your higher prestige and budget are you going to consider getting more foreign players since you really couldn't do that with the old team?

And speaking of the old team, did they end up avoiding relegation?

Keep up the excellent job and good luck next season. This board's supporters are expecting promotion.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by chris3627

Been reading the dynasty since the beginning, an entertaining read.

Nice player you got there in Jarzebowski, have had him in both my Polish leagues. Did well for me in Uefa and CL playing primarily right back (442) and center back & wing (352).

With your higher prestige and budget are you going to consider getting more foreign players since you really couldn't do that with the old team?

And speaking of the old team, did they end up avoiding relegation?

Keep up the excellent job and good luck next season. This board's supporters are expecting promotion.

He looks like he will do quite nicely for me at right back and centreback. He is one of quite a few foreign players that I have brought in or who will be arriving July 1st, 2009 on Bosman deals. Actually I think my team will be close to 50% foreign players.

Unfortunately, Harrogate finished in 23rd place and was relegated from League One

Thanks for the compliments. I'm expecting us to get promoted next year as well (we need to do so for the money!)

[Eaglesfan27]

June 18, 2009 -

Time for a look at the statistical leaders for the year:


Average Form:

1. Jefferson Farfan, Leicester - 7.80
2. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Coventry - 7.73
3. Michael Tonge, Charlton - 7.72
4. Titus Bramble, Coventry - 7.71
5. Danny Shittu, QPR - 7.66
6. Rohan Ricketts, Nottm Forest - 7.65
7. Kevin Cuthbert, Rotherham - 7.61
8. Alexandrs Kolinko, Ipswich - 7.59
9. Francis Jeffers, Charlton - 7.51
10 Abdeslam Ouaddou, QPR - 7.48


Notable Wigan Players:

11 Stuart Elliott - 7.46
27 Gary Teale - 7.40
47 Paddy Kenny - 7.33
49 Kenny Lunt - 7.32
55 Ben Rix - 7.31

LEAGUE GOALS:

1. Sam Parkin, Nottm Forest - 25
2. Marlon King, Millwall - 21
3. Darren Byfield, Gillingham - 20
3. Jefferson Farfan, Leicester - 20
5. Stefan Moore, Crewe - 19
6. Francis Jeffers, Charlton - 18
7. Andrew Johnson, Leicester - 17
7. Neil Mellor, Gillingham - 17
9. Patrick Suffo, Coventry - 16
10. 8 tied with 15

NOTABLE Wigan Players:

50. Fabrice Begeorgi, David Grham, and Jason Roberts all tied with 8.

League Assists:

1. Mehdi Mahdavikia, Nottm Forest - 15
1. David Thompson, Wolves - 15
3. Jason Euell, Charlton - 13
3. Danny Pugh, Leicester - 13
5. Nigel Quashie, Leicester - 12
5. John Melligan, Ipswich - 12
7. Patrick Suffo, Coventry - 11
7. Martin Rowlands, QPR - 11
7. Leon McKenzie, Preston - 11
7. Gary Teale - 11

3 others tied with 11.

Other Notable Wigan Players:

34. Kenny Lunt - 8
46. Stuart Elliott - 7

MOM Awards:

1. Nick Colgan, Doncaster - 10
2. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Coventry - 9
2. Alexandrs Kolinko, Ipswich - 9
4. Michael Tonge, Charlton - 8
5. Gareth Williams, Crewe - 7
5. Paul Harrison, Cardiff - 7
7. Alan Quinn, Reading - 6
7. Danny Shittu, QPR - 6
7. Steve Phillips, Swindon - 6
7. David Preece, Watford - 6

Notable Wigan Players:

Tied for 22nd. Stuart Elliott - 4
Tied for 44th. Darren Ward, Gary Teale with 3.

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

He looks like he will do quite nicely for me at right back and centreback. He is one of quite a few foreign players that I have brought in or who will be arriving July 1st, 2009 on Bosman deals. Actually I think my team will be close to 50% foreign players.

Unfortunately, Harrogate finished in 23rd place and was relegated from League One

Thanks for the compliments. I'm expecting us to get promoted next year as well (we need to do so for the money!)

You may be interested to know that Wigan is considered, according to a post I read once on the SI boards, to be one of the least attractive cities in all of England. I haven't checked the editor to confirm this, but I thought you might like to know in case some foreign guys start getting unsettled or refuse to sign.

[Eaglesfan27]

June 20, 2009 -

Gary Teale has been voted Wigan's Player of the Year by the supporters.

Our Youth Academy has produced about a half dozen new players, and my AM and I are both hreally excited about Paul James. Paul is a 17 year old attacking midfielder who is extremenly determined, physically gifted and is already a good passer. It will be interesting to see how he develops over the next few years.

We have been given 1.1 million dollars for Championship TV Rights for the forthcoming season.


Finally, Mr. Whelan has called me into his office to inform me about the upcoming season. He is very pleased with my performance as a manager. the team is expected to achieve a safe mid-table position this year. We are being given a 3.2 million dollar transfer budget to achieve that goal.



OOC Note: This will be the final post for this thread (except for responses to any further comments from readers.) I'll be starting a new thread for the new season very soon.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

You may be interested to know that Wigan is considered, according to a post I read once on the SI boards, to be one of the least attractive cities in all of England. I haven't checked the editor to confirm this, but I thought you might like to know in case some foreign guys start getting unsettled or refuse to sign.

That is very interesting news. Georges and Fabrice were both unsettled when they first arrived, but they settled down after a few weeks. Hopefully, my new arrivals will settle in quickly as well.