Village Green to Premier League

[craigiemack]

Always love reading through peoples stories on here and thought I might add my own. I thought my FM playing days were over since I hadn't got round to buying an edition since FM17 but the free offer they did last month resulted in me downloading it and getting hooked again. I've done a few saves and challenges to get me used to it and I'm actually really enjoying this years edition so now I'm going to try an all time classic - get a non-league team to the Premier League. However, this save won't start with a National League team or a National League North/South team. We're going all the way down to the thirteenth tier where we find.......Barford Hornets.

Currently playing at Codford Vilage Hall in the Trowbridge and District League Division Two with 3 season ticket holders it should be an interesting journey. However, after googling them once deciding to manage them there's literally nothing about them. Sadly it looks like they scratched from the division before the suspension of the leagues so I'm hoping to take them on a different path than their real life equivalent.

The goal is simply to see how far I can take the club up the pyramid and how many trophies we can win along the way. For perspective, i'll need 2 promotions to take part in the FA Vase , 3 for the extra prelim of the FA Cup, 7 for promotion to the National League South, 9 for promotion to the Football League and 12 to reach the promised land of the EPL (if i'm doing my maths right).

The first few seasons should be pretty simple as you can (unrealistically) sign players that are miles ahead of the level you're playing at but its so important to raise funds to allow you to go semi-pro once you hit tier 10/11.

Think this will be enjoyable and something a bit different, i've almost worked through the first season so i'll update in a few hours how I got on!

[Yonas]

best of luck with this and hope you can progress up the leagues. Always enjoyed playing these types od saves.

[craigiemack]

First season went very well as it should, ended up as invincible treble winners. The only blip being a 2-2 draw with 'The Stiffs' (your guess is as good as mine). The cups were straightforward aswell, both are competed for by the teams in my league and the level above and I was going off as 1/33 faves against teams who were top half in Division One so that gives an indication of the standard of my squad.

Anyone who has done a save like this will know that the turnover of players at this level is astronomical, I signed over 90 players last season. The club is amateur so  pointless scouting or offering trials as other clubs just come in for offers constantly so good to have a lot of squad depth, my standout performer by far was Luke Hirst who netted anything between one and five goals a game. Difficult to have loyalty in this save but I'm going to try keep hold of him for as long as possible.

Another thing I noticed is how god awful goalkeepers are at this level, they have chocolate fingers and the positioning is laughable at times, if a player is running in at an angle the goalkeeper tends to be standing on the byline outside his goal leaving an open goal. Its heart in your mouth stuff when the games are tight. So although I conceded in a lot of games I feel that anything less than 2 goals conceded a game is actually a success.

Financially, I made £20,000 which is good going, mainly through friendlies but i got £700 sponsorship, 5 season tickets at £15 each and £500 for winning each of the competitions. 

Spoiler

Will hopefully fire through the summer quickly and will probably do my next update half way through the season. I expect to win the league easily again and defend my cups but you never know. Cmon the Hornets!

[craigiemack]

best of luck with this and hope you can progress up the leagues. Always enjoyed playing these types od saves.

They’re always good fun. Used to do similar ones years ago but never came as far down as the 13th tier.

The fantasy Scottish ones are great too, my local amateur park team are in the game and would always be in bottom tier so would try and take them to the SPL[emoji23]. A lot different to a normal save anyway.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

My favourite type of game this one. Although I always get frustrated after half a dozen seasons when, suddenly, I'm not winning every game without any hassle and have to start actually managing a team instead of signing dross that is far superior to the dross I'm up against.

Also very tempted to give ye a red dot for that club's badge. Make's Alloa's seem respectable

[craigiemack]

My favourite type of game this one. Although I always get frustrated after half a dozen seasons when, suddenly, I'm not winning every game without any hassle and have to start actually managing a team instead of signing dross that is far superior to the dross I'm up against.

Also very tempted to give ye a red dot for that club's badge. Make's Alloa's seem respectable

It really is a horrible badge, and being honest it’s an awful name for a team too. You do get some crackers down at these levels though haha.

[oneteaminglasgow]

1 hour ago, craigiemack said:

 

It really is a horrible badge, and being honest it’s an awful name for a team too. You do get some crackers down at these levels though haha.

 

There's a boy on the siga games forum who did a database down to level 22 a couple of years ago - the only playable team at that level had this absolute cracker/monstrosity as a badge:

[craigiemack]

Season Two: Half Way Update

Yet to lose a match this season and our overall unbeaten run stands at 42 with 36 wins in a row. However, our defense is still chucking in goals and my players have a habit of getting sent off in the first half. Its incredibly difficult to get a settled defense as every few weeks I need to make a new signing for a variety of reasons so hopefully i'll be able to name a settled back 4 soon enough and we'll be able to get some clean sheets on the board. Still banging in the goals but surprisingly i've yet to hit 10 in a game, I think my highest is 9. This isn't helped by the fact I score at least 1 disallowed goal a game, in one match I had 5 disallowed .

Spoiler

The turnover of players is still enormous but I am beginning to reduce my squad size as I get rid of the players that I began with. A 3* player is a good National League North/South player so this squad in theory could still be enough for a few years to come but I do have some ageing players. I'm also beginning to recruit some bigger names and this is helping it appears with crowd numbers which is boosting my income. Some recognisable names in my squad include...

Mikael Mandron- Formelly touted as a future Scotland star

David Stockdale- ex-Fulham goalkeeper

Nathan Dyer- Swansea City winger

Roger Johnson- Birmingham and Wolves centre half

My star striker from last year Luke Hirst is still banging in the goals but also missing a high number of clear cut chances so the writing is beginning to appear on the wall for him. Financially we're beginning to build, made £30,000 in the first half of the season to take the overall bank balance to £50,000. Friendlies still the main income but i now have 20 season ticket holders paying £18.66 and an average gate of around 120 with the average ticket price being £6. Still another 2 levels before every team becomes semi-pro so got a few more years to build the bank balance. 

Think i'll get this season done sometime tomorrow so may update again tomorrow night .

[AsimButtHitsASix]

With such a small league are you peppering the whole season with friendlies or just at the start? What's the size of opposition you can get for friendlies?

[CM.]

10 hours ago, craigiemack said:

Roger Johnson- Birmingham and Wolves centre half

I can't believe he's only 36 after googling him. I thought he was about that age 10 years ago

[craigiemack]

With such a small league are you peppering the whole season with friendlies or just at the start? What's the size of opposition you can get for friendlies?

This year I had 19 pre season friendlies and during the season I’ve had about 7 so far. There’s only a couple teams that I can make money from and they are all in the welsh alliance leagues so it’s really just trying to find days when they’re available. Each away friendly makes me between £250-£900 and a home friendly makes me about £100 at most because I can’t attract a crowd for a diddy friendly game haha.

 

I can't believe he's only 36 after googling him. I thought he was about that age 10 years ago [emoji23]

 

I’m sure Arsenal were after him at some point when they were bereft of centre half’s but his career went downhill after that. He’s atrocious in the game, no pace so he’s caught out all the time. Sure he’ll be pleased with his Tier 12 and 13 winners medals though [emoji23]

[craigiemack]

Finally scored 10 goals in a game, think this is one of my highest scoring FM games ever haha.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Sign that boy Chalk

[craigiemack]

Season 2 completed and we are now back to back invincible treble winners. However, the one blip being a quite frankly embarrassing collapse against  Marshfield, 4-1 up after 30 mins and I drew 4-4. I've trimmed the squad down as I try to get a settled team to take us forward, I think at one point I had over 80 players across my three squads and some of the bigger names were getting restless. Anytime a player is unhappy or has a few pish games he's released, unless he's a influential player where i'm sometimes obliged to keep. 

Player of the season was again my goal scoring supremo Luke Hirst, although not as prolific as last season. I was debating dropping him around half way but his form rocketed in the second half of the season. Mandron as a target man and Hirst as a poacher is a lethal combination and may do me a few more seasons yet. The champions of this league last year have just completed the double in tier 11 so I imagine i wont have any difficulties next year, although I do fear a loss may be on the horizon because the concentration levels of my players are abysmal.

Financially we made of a profit of £50,000 but annoyingly my board decided to send 2 staff on Continental pro course at £6,000 each. An absolute joke considering the responsibility is supposed to be in my hands. Average crowd was 113 so an increase of around 85 helped massively as I can now make around £800 from a home game. So at the end of the second season the bank balance stands at £59,000. Sadly, I wont be in the FA Vase next year as that I think begins for Tier 10 teams in the game. The prize money could be very handy if I get a few rounds in. Similarly, the FA Cup is open to Tier 10 teams and that would be a huge income booster if I could negotiate a few qualifying rounds. 

This transfer window i'm hoping to acquire players with League 1/2 potential that I can build around. Trying to get rid of the old heads as for all they are fun and games they just lack in physical attributes and we concede a lot of our goals at the end of games.

I've enjoyed my time in the Trowbridge and District leagues but we move on and join the WIltshire Premier Division to play against illustrious teams such as 'Sportz Central' and 'Frome Collegians.'  

Cmon the Barford Hornets!

Spoiler

 

[craigiemack]

Half way through season 3 and we are on fire. Things finally clicking defensively and Hirst and Mandrons partnership is still a thing of beauty, Hirst is averaging around 2 goals a game and in the best form of the save - his average rating is almost 9.50.  My goal difference is mental and if it keeps up i'll be somewhere around the +150 mark. However, my squad has just been plundered in the January window and I now need to build a new back 4 which is really annoying. 

High profile players who have joined in the summer include...

Calum McManiman - Wigan winger

Jamie O'Hara- Plundered Portsmouth out of thousands when they were in League 2 I'm sure and recently been at Billericay, he was rubbish so I released him.

Stephen Ward- ex Wolves and Burnley left back, really solid player.

My crowds have stayed steady at around the 120 mark but our average price has risen again to £8. I have still have 20 season ticket holders but they're now being charged a whopping £39, doubling in price compared to last year. This also means that I can make over £1000 every home game, which in this larger league has helped increase revenues. Annoyingly though my board keep ending coaches to do their badges even though I have the responsibility set as myself, this means I've lost out on about £10000 but I'm still sitting at £75000 in the bank. I think I can stay amateur for another 2 year at least but I do wonder what standard of player i'll be able to attract once I need to pay players. Currently I recruit PL youth rejects but they get snapped up by bigger clubs and end up on wages over £500 p/w, theres no way i'd be able to sustain that in say the 8th tier so I wonder if it would be more beneficial to try and stay amateur for as long as possible.

Another possible financial burden is my ground, its only got a capacity of 500 so at some point that will need to be upgraded and that's not going to be cheap. But they are problems for another day, right now its all about trying to win this league unbeaten and get the world famous 'Fountain Trophies Senior KO Cup' in our trophy cabinet.

Spoiler

 

[craigiemack]

Finally a 100% season, didn't manage to make the +150 goal difference mark but I can't really grumble. We weren't as good in the second half of the season as our squad was ripped apart time and time again. Luke Hirst finished on 58 goals and 18 assists in 34 games, 19 MOMs aswell - he was exceptional. Really happy that my back 4 have finally started to keep clean sheets and hopefully that continues. Added another cup to the cabinet which is always pleasing but things are about to get harder.

My board are adamant that we should go semi-pro but I don't think we have the funds to do it. We have £90,000 in the bank but our average crowds are only 90 ( the attendances dipped after new year) so I don't think we could sustain it. The downside is all my players are been bought up by higher level teams and I'm worried that there'll be a lack of good signings to come in and replace them.

We now move on into the Wessex League Division One which leads on to the Prem and then the Southern Leagues so we are creeping closer to the promised land of the National Leagues. Importantly however, we enter the FA Vase ( my board expect me to win it), which if we do would give as income boost of around 50k in prize money plus match revenue. That would allow me to go semi pro I would imagine but no doubt it'll be difficult to win. 

Got a big transfer window to deal with but hopefully all will still be rosy come the new year.

Spoiler

 

[craigiemack]

Despite losing a lot of players in the transfer window i eventually assembled a pretty decent team. 100% record in the league and we're rarely conceding goals which is assuring. I thought these leagues would be a little more difficult but they've been straightforward so far, our unbeaten run is now over 100 games long. One of our star players so far has been Barrie McKay but lets be honest, the 10th tier of English football may be his level nowadays .

Spoiler

We entered the FA Vase this year and that has asked us some questions, we were 10 mins away from getting knocked out in the First Qualifying Round and drew again in the Second but we've been solid in our other rounds, I think we have a good chance of making it deep but there are some recognisable teams left in the competition so I don't know how challenging it may get.

Spoiler

 With promotion pretty much assured we're now only 3 promotions away from the National League South and I'm getting closer to semi-professionalism, my board are repeatedly asking but I think i'm going to try and hold out until I reach the Southern League First Division and attempt to maximise the finances I can garner up to that point. We increased our season tickets to 22 and the price of one to £55. The average ticket price is £9 so with our crowds stabilising at around 100 we make about £1100 every home game from tickets and income. 

On a personal level I am now seen as an icon along with Luke Hirst, who has kept up his goal-scoring prowess but I think this could be his last season. Hopefully a FA Vase win would be a nice way to send him off.

[craigiemack]

The league and cup double secured and we progress onto tier 9 of English football, otherwise referred to as the 'County Leagues'. We wrapped the league up in February and eventually won it by 43 points. Dissapointed that we limped towards a few draws however, we lost a lot of players again in January and our squad really wasnt clicking well in the second half of the season but we done enough in most of our games. Luke Hirst was top scorer and Player of the Year for the 4th season in a row, his tally now stands at 151 goals in 103 league games. 

January also seen the arrival of our highest profile signing yet - A retiring Alexis Sanchez. He tore apart the league in the second hald of the season as unsurprisngly his technical attributes are on a different level to everyone elses.

Spoiler

 Now onto the FA Vase, we've successfully negotiated our way to the final but we've not been great in the tournament, signified by the red circle beside our away game to Wokingham. After demolishing them in the first leg we succumbed to a 3-0 defeat. An absolute embarrassment. So after 138 games we were finally defeated but we make things right by winning the final and securing the club another £30,000 in prize money

Spoiler

About to play the biggest game of the save so far, our first trip to Wembley and a chance to win some 'major silverware'.

[craigiemack]

Spoiler

Comfortable in the end and a nice end to the season. Possibly Luke Hirsts last touch in a Barford Hornets shirt was goal so that was nice haha.

In the aftermath of the game my board forced semi professionalism upon me, which may help keep my best players that I can get under contract but basically all of them are outwith my budget so things will get harder as I need to actually find players rather than just offering amateur terms to whoever offers there services. We do have £180,000 in the bank so we should have more than enough to cover the max £70p/w wage offering I'm allowed to splash on players. Interesting times ahead.

Here's me parading the FA Vase in front of our thousands of travelling fans.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Have you looked into becoming a feeder club or getting a few loans in to get professional players on the cheap?