Beaulieu FC

Big new arrival and departures

2009-09-29T21:52:00.004+01:00

Juan Jose Gonzalez - world class regen - signed for 3.4m in transfer auction. He's going to be my playmaker and will provide a huge boost to my rep. Other transfers:

OUT

Cabrera - Regen AMC - £3m. Had to make room for Gonzalez and recouped most of the cost of the Argentinian.

Martin Caceres - DC, Beaulieu FC legend - £1m + Simon Kjaer too good an offer to turn down for a 32 yo.

IN

Tersigni - wonderkid MC - 2.7m PEx - the long term successor to Toledo, he's gonna be a beast.

How much is a player worth?

2009-09-29T21:03:00.001+01:00

It’s a question each and every manager in football manager live will ask himself on a near daily basis. Should I bid £33,500 or £35,000 on that defender? He wants £1m for that left winger, but is he worth that? Someone’s just bid £100k for my goalkeeper, should I sell? It’s also been the subject of many a blog post, from Wild Geese’s last effort through to Jakswan’s most recent post. So I thought I’d throw my hat in the ring with a couple of posts with, for what it’s worth, my two cents.

Jakswan recently proposed a system whereby you paid a certain amount based on reputation and age, assuming no resale value. I don’t completely agree with the figures he uses, although I accept that it’s just a rough baseline, and I think it’s an interesting idea. However, I disagree whole-heartedly with any such system for one key reason

Every player is different and should be judged on his own merits.

There are so many things to consider when buying a player, but ultimately you’re trying to weigh up a players’ contribution to your side on the pitch against the financial cost for the club.

A playmaker who can pass is essential, but without pace the impact that the player can have is somewhat limited. Add pace (and the ability to go past people) and you can find your midfielder getting into better positions and creating more chances. But without a decent level of finishing, when in the position to shoot, they’ll often blow the chance. The PPMs (player preferred moves) that players have can have a huge impact too.

So given the choice of two players with similar AF but one with the ability to finish, another without, the first player is clearly worth more money as he’s likely to have a greater impact on your fortunes on the pitch.

This leads me onto another point – AF isn’t a good indicator of effectiveness on the pitch. AF is linked directly to the player’s current capability, with modifiers for potential and age. Effectiveness on the pitch is down to the distribution of current capability. This means your fullback with 10 pace and acceleration is never going to be a world beater, no matter how high his acquisition fee is and isn’t worth splurging the money over.

Finally, the calculations shown assume a player is going to stay at the club from the point he joins until he’s 32. The in-game ‘locks’ mean that this assumption is wide of the mark. Most players spend between 2 and 4 seasons at my club. That means all I care about is that the player isn’t too old to swap/sell at the end of his stay. I don’t really care if a player is 21 or 26 because at the end of the day I’ll have to use a lock to keep him and those are in short supply. Yes a player of equal ability at 21 compared to 26 is more valuable because he’ll be more attractive in 2-3 seasons time, but ultimately, not by the vast differences in price shown.

Starting Strategy for Older Gw - The Future

2009-09-13T09:41:00.003+01:00

The future

My squad is strong, with a number of top youths coming through such as Walton, Richardson and Hughes. The stadium is in a good state, with a new corporate box next on the wish list. Morei mpressive is my past rankings when considering I joined in season 6, my lowest ranking being 57 and even touching upon the top 10!!!

I’ve continued down the path of replacing older players with talented youngsters, and even have a youth team, as I move towards a more healthy average age of 25 (rather than 30). Some of my players are approaching their sell-by date, especially Pepe, so further investment will be required shortly.

However, the bulk my stadium payments are finally coming to an end, so I will now have a lot more money to play around with. I’ve already reinvested some cash, namely the money received from the Jandra sale, into my stadium in the form of 3 new blocks of Astilla seats, taking my total capacity to 26,000. I now plan to be on the lookout for a ‘marque’ signing to bring the corporate fans in – this is where the real money in stadiums exists.

My ranking is holding steady, very rarely outside the top 50 and occasionally touching the top 20 – a great achievement for a club 3 seasons old. Performances in all competitions have been steady and I expect to really be able to kick on with signings at the end of the 4th season.

Skills

Often skills are down to personal choice, but I think the skills you choose are important and choosing bad skills (no-one needs Physio 5 until they have nothing better to learn...) can really impact upon your team. So here’s the list of skills I went for, in rough order, and the reasoning.

1. Construction 4 + Foreman 4

I knew I was going to be building a lot of stadiums, so I wanted to save myself money and time. I went for the learning skill first (to level 4), which is debatable as to whether this paid off over the two skills I learnt.

2. Contract Negotiation 4 + Transfer Negotiation 4

In my opinion, these two skills are very, very useful and pay for themselves many, many times over. Having an entire team on 80% of wage demand, instead of 100% of wage demand, can save you £50,000 a day at the top end of the gameworld – which means you can have an extra two household players and stay under the ‘soft cap’ of £250,000 daily wages. Transfer Negotiation greatly helped me stretch my limited funds in wage auctions.

3. Scouting 5 and Judging Potential 4

I’ve almost finished learning Judging Potential 4, which is a key skill in this game in its current form. Being able to tell the potential of young players can really help you in signing younger players. I didn’t go for this straight away, as I always intended to sign older players first, where judging potential is of zero benefit.

4. Coaching

Next up, and for the foreseeable future, is coaching. Having a high level of coaching really helps bring on your kids. As I’ve moved more towards youth and away from senior, this is the next step in securing the long term future of my club.

Starting Strategy for Older Gw - Season 3

2009-09-13T09:38:00.000+01:00

Season 3 - Moving towards youth

Transfers

After two seasons of signing experienced high profile players, I’d raised my reputation to 3.5 stars. This was boosted by the sale of Ari and subsequent reinvestment of that money in the slightly older, higher wage but excellent Barreto and the recruitment of solid defender Lima to replace an aging Walter Garcia. I then shifted to looking at excellent youth players who could come through at my side, buying regen midfielder Simon Hughes at wage auction, followed by ace left winger Tim Walton in private transfer and powerful striker Mark Richardson in transfer auction.

This trio of younger players marked a change in my clubs strategy from immediate success to planning for the future, merging youth with the experience to ensure a future for the club.

Towards the end of the third season, I sold Joe Mattock and Petr Jandra. With both of them coming to the end of their contracts, I felt I could cash in and reinvest the money. Mattock had been played out of position at right back, but fetched a cool £600,000, In Tim Walton, I had a ready made replacement for Jandra, and the £600,000 recouped represented a vast profit on the £170,000 paid and a huge reduction in projected wages (as he was due to increase to 15,000 from 5,000!)

Matches and Tactics

Unlike the departed Ari, Barretto possessed great pace, passing and dribbling skills, making him excellent in an attacking midfield position. I therefore shifted to a 4-6-0 formation to make best use of my 3 central attacking players – Barretto, Ernane and Hughes. This meant I was even tighter at the back and made my side notoriously hard to beat, especially with the

The AEFA closed and migrated to the EFA the following season. However, as I had qualified for the premiership the previous season, I was put straight into the EFA premiership. My main aim was to avoid relegation, my hopeful target was a top half finish. In the end, I managed to pull together a decent set of results and qualified for the Silver Cup in my third season in the gameworld – quite an achievement.

Stadium

I took a gamble and paid out a lot of money for a 3-Tier Azindale stand with 2 blocks of Astilla and 3 electronic advertising boards. I could have, and probably should have, gone for another 2-Tier stand, which would have been built quicker, resulting in quicker turnaround of profits. Additionally, I would have been able to afford (and require) another corporate block soon.

The reason I went against this as I was of the opinion that if I went down this route, I’d need to build a 3-Tier stand eventually regardless and my overall expenditure would be much higher for initial increase in income compared to cost.

Due to the long construction time, these improvements wouldn’t finish until the start of season 4.

Summary

- Reduced the average age by switching to purchasing top prospects rather than experienced players, keeping an eye out for relative ‘bargains’.
- Reached and retained 3.5 star team rep.
- Added a new, 3-Tier stand with ample space for future improvements.

Starting Strategy for Older Gw - Season 2

2009-09-13T09:37:00.000+01:00

Season 2 – Establishing the Club

Expanding the squad

Wage auctions can be excellent value, or you can end up spending your money on players whose wages are far too high. I had a clear strategy – to sign higher reputation players to increase my clubs reputation. I picked up world famous DC Pepe and solid midfielder Pierre Ducasse in transfer auctions, and added to that Joe Mattock (DL), Eoin Powderley (DL – oops! Bid on both expecting to only get one!), Ernane (MC/AMC), Petr Jandra (MR/ML) and Yaser Yildriz (AMR/ST) through wage auctions. After this I had very little money left, but I had kept my wages relatively low in total (around £110,000), so I was still making a daily profit, despite stadium payments.

These signings really established my club, adding real quality for not that much in wages. The key was to sign players such as Ernane for under half their wage demand in wage auctions, and players such as Pepe for very small fees in transfer auctions, meaning I could punch above my weight in terms of quality on the pitch. It also marked the first time I managed to sign players in their prime. Yildriz, Jandra, Mattock and Powderly meant my first team was no longer almost retired!

Matches & Tactics

GK – Sippel

DL – Powderly
DR – Mattock
DC – Pepe
DC – Garcia

ML – Jandra
MR – Yildriz
MC – Ernane
MC – Ducasse
MC – Kurtulus

ST – Ari

With the signings I’d made, I kept the same formation, but this time around my midfield had far more bite with Jandra, Ernane and Yildriz. Defence was much stronger, too, although I had to play Mattock out of position at right back due to my mistake in signing two left backs!

I moved to the All Evening FA and was placed in Division 1A, directly below the premiership. Here I faced a mix of teams, some teams who had joined at the same time as me as well as some teams who were entering their 7th season! To my amazement, my team managed to push for promotion, eventually winning the league. Key to the success was the use of Ernane. I gave him very, very attacking instructions and a lot of freedom. He re-payed me by managing a goal every other game and really being the driving force behind all my attacking play.

Stadium

Although the signings of the previous season had left me relatively poor, I continued to add to my stadium, paying it off over 4 to 8 weeks. By paying it off over time, I always made a slight profit and my income steadily increased. By the end of the season, I had mostly filled out the 2-Tier Azindale stand with an equal mix of Disagio and Di Lusso seats. As I was starting to get some demand for corporate fans, I also paid out for a Flauta corporate box, which really boosted my income.

I funded this not through player sales, but by keeping wages low and paying the stadium costs over 4 to 8 weeks. This meant I always made a modest profit to reinvest into players

Summary

- Expanded the squad through a mixture of low-fee transfer auctions and low-wage wage auction purchases.
- Improved the quality throughout the squad with players in their prime.
- Still avoided private transfers – much better value to be had in transfer and wage auctions
- Reached 3 star team rep.
- Filled out my first stand with Di Lusso and Disagio
- Added a Flauta Corporate box.

Starting Strategy for Older GW - Season 1

2009-09-13T09:36:00.001+01:00

Season 1 – Getting a foothold

Initial Squad Selection

I opted for an old, experienced team for my initial squad selection, picking a starting 11 on key attributes and filling out the rest of the squad with minimum wage players with tiny acquisition fees. My wages were a lowly £55,000 and I had money in the bank from my initial £500,000.

Your income is relative to your wage for clubs under 3 star reputation as long as your total wages remain under £100,000. This meant that I only made marginally more profit by going for a lower wage squad. However, by keeping my initial wages low, this meant that when I expanded my squad I still remained under the 100k wage limit before I started eating into profits.

Transfers

You can only win matches by scoring, so I quickly spent a large chunk of my remaining cash on Brazilian striker Dinei. I then added to this by signing players such as Walter Garcia (DC), Sercan Kurtulus (MC) and Edson (DR/MR) for very small fees (lower than AF) in transfer auctions. This enabled me to build a competitive squad for only a small amount of money.

Later on I signed a quality goalkeeper, Tobias Sippel, for £600,000 spread over 4 weeks, and I sold Dinei for £250,000 before signing a better, younger replacement in Ari for £350,000.

Tactics & Matches

With my best player a striker, I opted to play 4-4-1-1, with Dinei (and then Ari) upfront and initial squad signing Sergey Krivets as my midfield playmaker sitting just behind. I played defensive football, setting myself up as hard to beat and generally played on the counter.

The difference between gaining 1 point or all 3 points is often a set piece so I had made sure I had a good corner taker (16+), a good free-kick taker (16+) and someone good in the air (Jumping, Heading, Strength all 17+) in my initial squad selection. This combined with the occasional magic from Krivets or Dinei made my side very strong compared to other new joiners.

I joined a New User league set up by the Beta moderators for the influx of new teams. This pitted me against clubs of my own ability only, and I steadfastly refused to play against teams of far greater ability. The result of this was that my world ranking (I reached the top 10 in the world and generally didn’t fall out of the top 50), and FA ranking was impressive. I ended up winning New User League 2 with a couple of games to spare.

Stadium

One of the biggest decisions to make is over when and how to expand your stadium. I opted against improving one of the existing stands, as I felt it was a short-term and short-sighted investment.

One of the biggest money earners in the game are corporate fans, or ‘Corps’. I knew there was no point in catering to corporate fans at this point, because the demand wasn’t there for my club, but I decided to give myself the option by building a stand with corporate provision.

A 2-Tier stand is a good choice to start off with, because you can reap the rewards relatively quickly. A 3-Tier stand takes upwards of 20 days to build and the seats take up to 15 days more, so it can be a season before you reap increased income.

I therefore opted for a 2-Tier Azindale Type 2 stand. It offers a decent number of seating blocks, combined with space for one Corp box and advertising provision. I initially included a few blocks of Disagio seats and 1 block of Di Lusso seats, along with electronic advertising boards, resulted in a modest jump in projected earnings.

Summary

- Experienced initial starting squad, low wage, filled out with very cheap players
- Made sure I bought in a quality striker to bang in the goals
- Expanded the squad in numbers and quality, cheaply, through transfer auctions, rather than the much higher private transfer fees.
- Reached 2 star team rep.
- Started expanding my stadium with future proofing in mind – 2 Tier Azindale stand.

Starting Strategy for Older GW - Intro

2009-09-13T09:34:00.002+01:00

When I made the step up to moderator, I was asked to play in the Beta as well. This is so we are up to date with all the coming changes to best inform the members of our respective live worlds as to future changes. Instead of going over my team, I thought it would be more interesting to describe my path to (relative) glory. I joined the gameworld a week into season 6, leaving me a long way behind established members of the gameworld. I realise this is ‘just’ the Beta, but I hope that what I did could act as some sort of ‘road map’ to success for those players who choose to join established worlds.

I don’t pretend that this is the best way of doing things – I made some questionable decisions and I’m sure other people will come up with better options in their own strategies (Jakswan’s guide in particular is an interesting read and his blog in general is worth a look). I also got lucky in some of my signings, but then you need a bit of that luck to succeed. However, I do know that as of writing, I’m sitting 18th in the world rankings, with wages of just 130,000, a productive stadium mostly paid off and some good youngsters coming through, after joining the gameworld 6 seasons late.

I’ll separate out the strategy in a number of posts to make it easier to read. Feel free to post questions or tell me what I should have done.

Beaulieu FC – A (players) history

2009-09-11T22:45:00.004+01:00

While I claim to have a fairly good memory, a lot of the history of the club is contained within the pages of this blog over the course of the last year and I doubt I’d be able to add anything new! Instead of regurgitating the information, I thought I’d change the focus and look at the players who have been at the heart and sole of the club. I thought that the best way of doing this would be to present a new Beaulieu FC dream team, 5 seasons on from the first one. ‘Regen’ players are denoted by an asterisk. (http://beaulieufc.blogspot.com/2009/04/beaulieu-fc-dream-team.html)

GK – Maurizo Setaro* - 590 App

Contenders: Denis Gorbachev*, Samir Handanovich, Rogerio Ceni

It was clear that Maurizo Setaro was going to be a superstar when his manager persuaded me to part with £1,000,000 to bring him to Beaulieu FC back in Season 6. Over the next 3 and a half seasons he emerged as one of the world’s best, regularly pulling off amazing saves in order to underline Beaulieu FC’s defensive prowess.

DR – Dani Alves - 1149 App, 143 Goals, 622 Assists

Contenders: Nelson, Matteo Longobardi*, Thiago Viera*

Dani ‘Superman’ Alves was the first household name to grace Beaulieu FC, joining the club in the first season and remained at the Anchor during his best years. A marauding force down the right flank, he was often switched to right wing to make better use of his offensive qualities. An amazing record made him one of the best players in the gameworld, season after season. None of the contenders came close.

DL – Christian Ansaldi - 532 App, 9 Goals, 99 Assists

Contenders: Frederico Balzaretti, Vanderson Canela, Ivan Sima

Left back had always been a bit of a problem position for Beaulieu FC. Of the contenders, but Argentinean brawler Ansaldi has neatly solved that issue for a number of seasons. Either footed, being able to play up and down both wings, Ansaldi has been an invaluable member of the side.

DC – Martin Caceres (Captain) - 2280 apps, 296 Goals, 126 Assists

There were no other contenders for Caceres’ place. The club captain has been with the club since he was 21, emerging as one of the worlds best defenders and winning a host of trophies to become one of the most decorated players in the game. The only player to have remained at Beaulieu FC across all the seasons, he’s now 31 and into the twilight of his career, but still remains as integral a cog to the Beaulieu machine as ever.

DC – Nedum Onouha - 931 app, 43 Goals, 48 Assists

Contenders: Mats Hummels, Henrique, Andreas Kjaer*

One of the first players signed by Beaulieu FC after the initial squad, he stayed with the side for a number of seasons, moving from right back to the centre as he grew in stature. His blistering pace really marked him a notch above most other defenders. Mats Hummels will be desperately disapointed not to have made the cut, with most Beaulieu FC fans including him for the goal that won Beaulieu FC’s first gold cup.

MR – Geovani Capitani* - 1064 App, 98 Goals, 224 Assists

Contenders: Diego Valeri, Felipe Monteiro, Rommano Denneboom.

The sheer fact is that I’ve not had many quality players on the right wing. Sometimes this was due to formation (playing without wingers for a couple of seasons), but more often than not it was due to one of two men holding this position and making it their own. Dani Alves is forced to right back because of one man – Capitani. Signed for a significant sum of money at 19, he was touted as the future of Beaulieu FC and hasn’t disappointed. Now 25, he’s one of the best right wingers in the game.

ML – Jeremy Menez - 931 App, 122 Goals, 213 Assists

Contenders: Andres Guardado, Marko Marin, Carlos Eduardo

This is where it starts getting difficult. While in defence I’ve not had a lot of amazing players, in midfield the strength in depth over the history of Beaulieu FC is immense. In the end, I had to go with Menez due to his level of performance and length of service for the club. Signed in Season 4, he spent a full 6 seasons at the club before being replaced by current incumbent of the left wing, Marko Marin. His ‘wide forward’ role neatly complemented that of Capitani’s out and out winger role and he greatly contributed to the most successful period of the clubs history – picking up two Gold Cup winners’ medals.

MC (d) – Marcio Toledo* - 884 App, 90 Goals, 162 Assists

Contenders: Marco Donadel, Danielle Dessena, Michael Johnson

Signed as a 21 year old from one of the gameworlds’ top youth academies for a large sum of money, Toledo emerged into exactly the player I hoped he would become. While other Regen midfielders overtook him in terms of value, his contribution to my club has been superb. His stats are perfectly distributed for his role as a defensively minded midfielder and that enables Toledo to act as the metronome and steel for my side.

AMC – Sergio Aguero - 306 app, 177 Goals, 158 Assists

Contenders: Guilherme, Yoann Gourcuff, Freddy Adu

It pains me greatly to leave the prodigal son of Beaulieu FC on the bench, but I simply couldn’t justify leaving Aguero out of the side. I’ve always had a creative midfielder in my side pulling the strings, and Aguero was simply the best. Finishing, passing, speed, aerial ability, the Argentinian magician is put simply, a complete player. He also scored two of the best goals I’ve ever seen in FM (although neither rated highly on the longshot volley biased star rating system). That they both occurred in the same match against perennial nemesis Monobrow FC made it all the sweeter.

AMC – Moussa Kouakou - 898 App, 406 goals, 463 Assists

Contenders: Julio Baptista, Jorge Martinez, Ismael Aissati

Of my pair of attacking midfielders, I’ve usually had one who is dominant I the air. For nearly 5 seasons, that man has been world-class powerhouse Moussa Kouakou. Julio Baptista ran him close in terms of performance, but Kouakou simply gets better and better with a huge amount of goals, assists and match winning performances. One of the best players in the game in his own right, he does the business when he’s called upon.

ST – Mario Balotelli - 535 app, 651 goals, 184 Assists

Contenders: Pato, Carlos Vela

Not only is he the best player to have ever graced the pitch at Beaulieu FC, the Italian stallion is the best striker in the game in Saunders, bar none. He’s into his third season at the Anchor and is one of the chief reasons for my continued success. A goal machine, his ‘worst’ season of the three yielded ‘just’ 1.2 goals per game. I only listed two competitors as Aguero and Guilherme were listed in the midfield. Both Pato and Vela were immense forces in my side, but at the end of the day, there’s only one Super Mario.

Current Squad

You’ve met the dream team, but here’s the current squad of superstars entertaining the masses at The Anchor:

GK – Denis Gorbachev*

DR – Thiago Viera*
DL – Christian Ansaldi
DC – Martin Caceres
DC – Andreas Kjaer*

MR – Geovanni Capitani*
ML – Fausto Rossi
MC – Marcio Toledo*

AMC – Gregory Cabrera*
AMC – Moussa Kouakou*
ST – Mario Balotelli

Note that the formation is fairly fluid, with Mario often playing as a third AMC, and with the wingers often pushing forward. Against small defences, Kouakou often finds himself at the head of the spear, while a flat midfield is often seen when the prodigous Gregory Cabrera is on the field.

Re-launch of the blog

2009-09-09T17:44:00.000+01:00

For a number of reasons, chief among them being my move to being a moderator and taking part in the beta, over the last few months I just didn’t have the time to update this blog. I still don’t really have the time, but I’m going to try and keep it more up to date with the comings and goings at Beaulieu FC.

As the Gameworld nears the end of its 11th season, I thought I’d start the re-launch with a brief history of the club and some of the myriad of world class players to have graced the hallowed turf at The Anchor.

Expect my thoughts on a range of issues, from my team, GW Saunders, game updates and the introduction of my team from the Beta, Langford FC.

Super Mario arrives at The Anchor

2009-07-02T06:59:00.000+01:00

I thought he was out of reach, not for sale and never to leave Major Beef, which is why I was surprised to see the one and only Mario Balotelli being touted around the market place. I moved swiftly, and after a short period of negotiation the best striker in the world relocated to The Anchor.

Matt Bunn’s dazzling Beaulieu FC have signed world class Italian striker Mario Balotelli on a 2 season contract after their part exchange bid worth a total of £8,000,000 was accepted by English manager Kylio’s dazzling Major Beef.

Beaulieu FC paid £1,800,000 and world class Mexican winger Carlos Vela, valued at £4,000,000 and world class Brazilian striker Guilherme, valued at £2,200,000 join Major Beef in exchange.

This eclipses the £7,000,000 deal paid to The Wombles to secure Julio Baptista many seasons ago, as Super Mario becomes The Blues’ record signing.

A new outlook for Season 9

2009-06-26T17:21:00.002+01:00

Youth has been an important area for my side for a number of seasons. The glorious season of my ‘golden generation’ of U21’s saw my side win all three AEFA U21 trophies – winning the U21 league by a monstrous margin. However, after those brilliant youngsters permanently joined the ranks of my seniors, I always felt it was going to be difficult to ever recapture that level of performance. My kids performed admirably this season, with Coffey, Russo, Alves, Hofstede and Kjaer forming a strong backbone that would have formed part of my youth side for several seasons to come. But after examining the reasons why I couldn’t compete in the league, I did realise one thing – Jannik was spending 50,000 a day more than me on his senior squad, the equivalent of two world class players. I made the decision that it was too difficult to be able to fight on two fronts – senior and youth – and so I opted to move towards a senior only team. This is partially done also for the reason that I want to start playing fewer matches and the youth aspect certainly does result in a high number of matches being played. With that in mind, and needing to refresh the squad, I’ve made a number of deals over the past couple of weeks.

In

Henrique – Rice Crispy FC – £950,000

The world class central defender was very attractive to me. Bought for a fair way under his market value, the Brazilian DC has a high reputation but a much lower wage demand than many other central defenders of his reputation. He’s performed admirably since arriving at The Anchor and has secured a place in the starting lineup.

Sergio Aquero – The Stone Colds – £2,750,000, Coffey, Russo and Alvez

It isn’t often a truly world class striker becomes available, especially not of the handful in the £2m+ AF bracket. Anders of The Stone Colds has decided to change to a youth strategy. After painfully missing out on the signings of Jack Wilshire and world class left winger Christian Vieri, I was determined not to let Aguero out of my grasps. In the end I agreed a deal for £2,750,000 which also saw three of my top youth prospects move the other way. The brilliant Argentinian has started very well and heads one of the most deadly attacking trio’s in the gameworld – Vela, Aguero, Kouakou.

Out

Naldo – Erdinlington Eagles – £250,000

A fee of £250,000 was low for such a world class player, but age was against him as he was about to turn 34. Having lost a yard of pace and with his technical skills on the decline, he was no loner of a high enough quality to remain a starting choice at The Anchor.

Vanderson Canela – Birmingham Southside – £1,800,000

The young DL was a truly world class prospect, but I simply didn’t have the locks that enabled me to keep him. I tried to swap for a number of other DL prospects but to no avail, so in the end Terry secured his services for a cool profit of £1.4m.

Neymar – Edinbugrh FC - £825,000

With Aguero joining, the brilliantly talented and explosively improving Neymar found himself well down the pecking order. Keen to cut costs having taken Aguero’s sizeable wages onto my books, I couldn’t justify the wages I was spending on Neymar to sit on the bench, so off he went to join Barry Watson as a replacement for Benzema.

A number of youth players have also left Beaulieu FC, making room for more improvements in the senior team. More comings and goings are expected over the comings days, so I will try and keep the blog updated and update the team on the right of the page at the end of this season.

A fantastic season

2009-06-26T17:20:00.001+01:00

Firstly, apologies for the sparse updates but life and moderating have taken up my time to the extent that I haven’t had the opportunity to write a proper update. So to end the wait…

Season 8 Summary

A very successful season saw my side bring home another truck-load of trophies;

Charity Shield – Winners
Premiership Cup – Winners
All Evening Cup – Winners
Goodwill Cup – Winners
Premiership – Runner Up
Gold Cup - Winners
AEFA U20 - Winners

The Gold Cup triumph was especially sweet. A final against Kyle’s Major Beef was always going to be an exciting affair. The Beef feature quality players in abundance, including Micah Richards and former Anchor-man Nedum Onouha in defence, Anderson and Gonzalez inspiring a quality midfield and the one and only Balotelli upfront. Carlos Vela proved the difference, scoring twice, as my side eased to a 3-1 victory in the biggest game in FML football.

The league was a different matter. With Pato in uninspiring form in the early season (before the swap for Vela), my side were mediocre at best, awful at worst, and the title was lost in the first few games. A 5-1 loss at home to Jannik’s AI with 5 games to play effectively handed his side the title – a gap of 6 points showing how close it was at the end of the season.

Player of the Season

There were several leading contenders for player of the season;

Carlos Vela – Some thought the deal that saw the Mexican magician join Beaulieu FC was a bad one, with Pato irreplaceable. They were wrong. While Vela didn’t score as many goals as Pato, he scored more consistently and he scored against the best sides in the gameworld – something Pato had often failed to achieve. A brilliant player, he secured the Gold Cup for The Anchor for the second time in 3 seasons.

Moussa Kouakou – The emergence of this youngster into a world class forward had gone unnoticed by some. A season of taking corners has artificially boosted his ratings, but never-the-less the Ivorian powerhouse has emerged into a really top drawer player.

Guilherme – Some questioned the re-signing of Guilherme, both over the price and the fact that Beaulieu FC already had 3 quality strikers. Guilherme slotted in at AMC and showed the world what they were missing. An average rating of above 7.5, a goal to games ratio of 0.50 and a huge number of assists and MOTM – all of this when not involved in corners, free-kicks or being a playmaker! A driving force behind Beaulieu FC’s success.

In the end, there could be only one winner, with club legend Guilherme sneaking ahead of Carlos Vela by virtue of his history with the club.

Promoted

2009-06-04T20:26:00.000+01:00

I've been promoted from AEFA Org to Mod after 7 hard seasons. The only reason I'm posting this is to say I expect to update the blog a little less from now on, but I will continue to keep it up to date with the fate of Beaulieu FC.

Huge transfer news at Beaulieu FC

2009-06-01T13:53:00.001+01:00

In the biggest deal since the return of Guilherme and to the shock of all fans at the Anchor, club legend Pato has departed the club. Pato was replaced with world class forward Carlos Vela, with £500,000 moving into Beaulieu FC’s war-chest in lieu of the extra wages being given to the Mexican (£11,000 a day). Screenshots will be added at a later date.

World-class Mexican forward Carlos Vela is a slightly better player – a little quicker than Pato, although slower to get up to top speed, he’s a better finisher, a mesmeric dribbler and has far greater mental attributes. Most importantly, he’s far more versatile – naturally talented as a left winger, an attacking midfielder or as a striker. With all 4 strikers at the club (Vela, Guilherme, Kouakou and Neymar) able to play AMC or ST, this means far more tactical flexibility when it comes to matches.

Some pundits have pointed towards Beaulieu’s mixed results as the reasoning behind the change upfront (and a likely change in tactics). While Pato, as ever, has been impressive – a goal ratio of 1.3 is stunningly high – the team just haven’t gelled properly. Goals from midfield have largely dried up and the defence is looking weaker than ever despite being, on paper, the strongest it’s been for a while. League form says it all – 1 win from the opening 4 games. With a number of players contracts up at the end of the season, further changes are expected at The Anchor in the coming weeks.

In other news

All competitions apart from The Premiership have been going well. 3 wins from 3 in the Gold Cup leave Beaulieu FC in a good position while qualification looks likely from difficult groups in the Goodwill Cup and Prem Cup. The club also finds itself n the 2nd round of the All Evening Cup after a powerful performance over two legs versus Jondal IL. The Charity Shield has also seen the best performance of a mildly disappointing start to the season in a 7-1 demolition of Premiership side Herrestorp. Meanwhile, the youth side is a shadow of the golden generation of last season but is still holding its own. Russo is yet to find his feet as the leading striker, but he still has another 2 seasons at youth level so I expect good things from the young Italian.

The Team

2009-05-30T13:36:00.001+01:00

I've updated the links on the left to show the team for season 8. All the plyers are 1 year older, as I took the screenshots a day or two before season 8 started last night, but there have been no real changes in ability of the players since then. On the bench I have sede, Neymar, Shea, Donadel, Kjaer and many more, making this perhaps the deepest team I've ever had.

Comings and goings at The Anchor

2009-05-29T17:13:00.003+01:00

Out

Pardo - £400,000

When I signed Pardo, I stupidly signed him to only a 1 season contract. With my locks fairly tight, I knew I couldn’t afford to keep him, despite paying £400,000 for him at the start of the season. The young Spaniard had progressed well, ensuring I managed to get what I paid for him as he moved to Cottingley FC, Paul handing back some of the huge wad of cash I’d paid for Guilherme.

Bellomo - £600,000

William Bellomo had been in my youth team for many years. He’d seen the bad times, when my youth side was truly terrible, but he was also part of my all-conquering U21 side from last season. However, for the second time in 2 seasons, he was unhappy and considering leaving his the club at the end of his contract. Rather than risking losing him yet again, I chose to sell him for £600,000 and 15% of any future sale.

Hummels - £1,800,000

Mats Hummels had been a steady fixture at the heart of Beaulieu FC’s defence during the most successful period in the club’s history. It was the towering German who climbed highest at the near post to secure the biggest trophy in club football – the Gold Cup – for The Blues, ensuring his place as a fan’s favourite. Unfortunately, his contract was up at the end of the season and I simply couldn’t justify using a lock on him. An offer of £1,800,000 – significantly above market value at a time when a great number of players are available, both in wage auctions and as free agents, was simply too much to turn down.

Mark McIntosh - £400,000

The young goalkeeper had been with my side for two seasons, but over the course of the last few weeks he’d really kicked on and become a quality player. Unfortunately for the young Englishman, he was never going to be first team while Setaro is around. An offer of £400,000 saw him join Dan the Man’s Stoner Island.

Angulo (loan)

Ibon Angulo has been another ever-present member of my youth side over the last few seasons, and he’s begun to flourish into a quality midfielder. To further aide his development, I’ve loaned him out to fellow AEFA side Stoner Island, where he’s getting senior football and performing well. Fellow academy graduate Marc Matthieu is likely to follow in Angulo’s footsteps and spend a season in the championship next year.

In

Note: Prices below include the extra 10% paid for transfer auctions & private transfers or the 10 x wage fee incurred in wage auctions.

Kjaer - £450,000

With Bellomo and Pardo both turning 22 (and both leaving the club!), I needed to start to replace my youth defence. At 18, Kjaer has brilliant physical stats and a good base distribution of stats, so I’m hopeful he’ll progress into a quality young player. He acquitted himself very well in his senior debut, even managing an assist, so I’m hoping for big things from him.

Shea - £175,000

The versatile American is a former 5 star potential prospect who never really developed into a world class player. I needed backup down the left wing, and with Shea able to play LB, ML and MC and on a low wage, he was a perfect fit. Looking at his career history, it was clear he’d never really been given a fair run in a first team, with most of his appearances being as a substitute. I’m hoping given first team football and a good record, he’ll start to develop into the player he once promised to be.

Neymar - £400,000

This is the second time the little Brazilian has been at Beaulieu FC. He joined the club as part of the ill-fated deal involving Guardado, but was then unfortunately thrown to the dogs when released from his contract. DRM snatched him up and promptly left him on the bench for 4 seasons and his development into quite possibly one of the best strikers in the gameworld went off the rails. Finally, he’s found his way back to Beaulieu FC. Some people will consider it far too late for Neymar to emerge into a world class force to be reckoned with, but I’m hoping to prove people wrong and give Neymar the platform to shine he’s been lacking since the age of 19. Two-footed, with a fair bit of pace and finishing ability, he’s played extremely well so far, with 12 goals and 11 assists from AMC in just 21 games.

Naldo - £825,000

I only sold Hummels knowing that Naldo was available. At 32, Naldo is at the peak of his career, but, while time definitely isn’t on his side, he’s an improvement at centre-back. Utterly dominant in the air, he’s renowned for scoring at set pieces and a bargain considering I’ve got around £700,000 (after wages) spare after the Hummels sale to play around with to look for a young replacement in the coming season.

A season of success for Beaulieu FC

2009-05-26T22:25:00.002+01:00

The 7th season in Saunders proved to be the most glorious in Beaulieu FC’s history, with the club lifting no fewer than 7 official trophies and finishing runner up in another 3.

Premiership – 1st
All Evening Cup – Winners
Premiership Cup – Winners
Charity Shield – Winners
Goodwill Cup – Runners up
Gold Cup – Semi-finals
Super Cup – Runners up
Gameworld Cup – 2nd Round

AEFA U21s – 1st
AEFA U20s - 5th
AEFA U19s - 7th
AEFA U18s – 2nd
AEFA Youth Cup – Winners
AEFA U21 KO – Winners
World Youth Cup – Quarter-finals

Team of the Season

GK – Setaro
DR – Longobardi
DL – Candela
DC – Hummels
DC – Caceres
MR – Capitani
ML – Menez
MC – Donadel
AMC – Guilherme
AMC – Kouakou
ST – Pato

Player of the season

Guilherme - the prodigal son returned and played a vital part in this seasons success.

Clean sweep of the U21's!!!

2009-05-20T19:20:00.006+01:00

Beaulieu FC managed the tripple crown of the AEFA U21 tournaments..

English manager Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn's dazzling Beaulieu FC have won the seventeen-club AEFA U21's with four matches still to play.

English manager Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn's reigning champions Beaulieu FC have won the fifteen-club AEFA U21 KO Cup after their 3-2 win over Italian manager Alessandro Gabelli's reigning champions NewWorld in the Final.

English manager Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn's reigning champions Beaulieu FC have won the sixteen-club AEFA Youth Cup after their 2-1 win over capable English manager Daz Pigott's reigning champions City Hornets in the Final.

Golden oldies out, Toledo in as Beaulieu FC lose in WYC

2009-05-20T16:56:00.002+01:00

Transfers

Two Beaulieu FC stalwarts have departed the club over the last week, after I’d decided now would be the time to let them go. Jorge Martinez had been with the club around a month and had been a very popular figure among the fans. He regularly popped up with goals and assists with a legendary ability in the air. The signing of Moussa Kouakou pushed him to the bench and, at 31, time was definitely against him. An offer of £1.2m – comfortably above his market value – saw the Uruguayan monster leave the anchor for Clueless Crew FC.

The other notable departure saw Frederico Balzaretti leave the club for AEFA Premiership rivals, Soeren’s Milenator Roar. Balzaretti had saw his position taken by the solid performances of wonderkid Vanderson Canela and at 32 was well past his prime in a Beaulieu FC shirt. Soeren desperately needed some experience in his defence, and a deal was swiftly struck that saw the veteran Italian move in exchange for £220,000.

Coming into the first team as a long term player for the centre of midfield is 21 year old star in the making Marcio Toledo. Groomed from one of the top youth academies in the gameworld, the youngster has everything: he’s a brilliant passer of the ball, he’s got a wicked shot on him, he’s quick, strong and good in the air and he’s not afraid to get stuck in. Since joining the club he’s played very well in the centre of a 4-5-1 alongside Donadel and Guilherme, the highlight so far a rasping drive in a 3-1 victory against perennial under-achievers Loftus Road FC. He’s also been dominant in the U21 side as my kids are battling for success on 4 fronts – the U18s, the U21s, the U21 KO Cup and the Youth Cup.

Defeat in the WYC

Even the presence of Toledo couldn’t get my side into the semi-finals of the World Youth Cup. In the quarter finals, we were pitted against West End Academy Specialists – the clue is in the name, they’re a top youth side. That the match was even, that my side only lost 2-1 and that they made it to the last 8 in the world gives a great indication as to just how far my youth side has progressed this season.

The prodigal son returns...

2009-05-11T19:24:00.001+01:00

English manager Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn's dazzling Beaulieu FC have signed world class Brazilian striker Guilherme on a 2 season contract after their part exchange bid worth a total of £3,610,000 was accepted by English manager Paul Stephens's dazzling Cottingley FC.

Spending money has never been so difficult…

2009-05-11T19:23:00.000+01:00

After a series of cost-cutting moves, cutting expenditure by 90k a day and selling players, Beaulieu FC are fairly well off financially. Spending that money, as has been promised to the Beaulieu FC faithful, has been almost impossible. This has come from two problems – the premium people put on their own star players and the huge wages that youth players are going for. Having worked so hard to cut down my wages, I have no intention of spending 15-20k on a 16 year old. As this is what all good, young players are going for in wage auctions, I’ve been exploring other avenues of adding to the playing staff. This leads to the second problem – the premium people put on their star players.

It’s not that players are unavailable – I’ve already seen two world class players in their prime who are available for less than market value. The problem is that I have world class players in virtually every position and that any prospective signing has to be an upgrade on the current occupant of that role. This limits the prospective number of eligible players dramatically, especially given the number of players locked into inactive teams, such as Kaka, Rooney and Torres. I tried hard to get Martin Galvan, Adail Viera and John Fleck, all to no avail as the managers decided that the players simply weren’t for sale. After an entire weekend of trying to do deals, I’m closing in on a number of players – hopefully I’ll have news of a deal tonight.

The season so far…

Having said that, Beaulieu FC have made a mockery of having a ‘depleted’ squad. Despite seeing the departures of Wellington (£1.25m), Dani Alves (swap deal for Kouakou), Kipre (400k), Marlon James (200k) and Stamenkovic (140k), the squad is perhaps in its best shape for some time. I’m storming ahead in the league and I’m still in all competitions (except the gameworld cup – damn Pandev!), while I’ve been in the top 5 in the gameworld for months now, slipping one place to 3rd overnight. I’m also doing very well in youth competitions, with my youth ranking rising to a record 5th overall.

Is this the comeback of the season?

In the Gold Cup Last 16 I was drawn against the talented FC Tushinev – at the time ranked 3rd in the world with Beaulieu FC ranked 2nd. The first leg, away, was a fairly even affair, with Tushinev edging proceedings. But Tushinev’s proficiency at corners came to the fore as he scored an incredible 4 corner goals – all from different players – to take a seemingly unassailable 4-0 lead back to The Anchor. What proceeded was the greatest comeback my side have ever managed. Shortly after halftime, Pato scored his 3rd and Beaulieu’s 5th to put my side into the lead on aggregate, and we didn’t stop there. In the 85th minute Marco Donadel slammed home a rebound from just inside the area to take the final score to Beaulieu FC 8 – 0 Tushinev FC, 8 – 4 on aggregate.

Wellington departs...

2009-05-08T22:31:00.003+01:00

Since I had Kouakou (only 1 goal in 9 appearances, but 7 assists show he's now running the show) there was no room for Brazillian midfielder Wellington. I think he's peaked at 24, and although he's very good, I was hoping for him to develop into a slightly more potent midfielder.

I struck a deal with Neil Baldwin's Workshop Wednesday (back in the Prem after a season in the championship) which saw the midfield maestro swap sides for £1.25m spread over 4 weeks. This sees Beaulieu Fc's coffers swell to their largest since pre-stadium days, with rumours of a big signing iminent, Beaulieu FC boss Matt Bunn has been keeping quiet.

A legend departs as Beaulieu start the season in style

2009-05-06T17:38:00.003+01:00

Transfer News

A week into the season and there has been plenty going on at Beaulieu FC. The biggest news is the departure of a fan favourite and one of the longest serving members of Beaulieu FC. Legendary Brazilian full-back Dani Alves left the club for Alex Leeman’s formerly inactive, newly invigorated Eagle Warriors. The deal saw the legendary Brazilian and £400,000 move to Eagles to secure the signing of prized wonderkid Kouakou. This deal freshens up the squad and dramatically improves the finances at The Anchor, which where looking somewhat depleted after the recent heavy investment in the youth team. The deal brings into question the futures of several players, most notably young Brazilian Wellington, with whom Kouakou is expected to fight for a starting place in season 7. It is widely thought that Beaulieu FC would consider offers for the world class midfielder given his likely place on the bench.

Dani Alves: 1149 Apps, 622 Assists, 143 Goals

The season so far…

The senior team has been going very strongly over the start of the season. 9 wins from 9 games in the league have opened up a gap at the top after this early stage. Qualifying from the group stages of the AEFA Charity Shield, Gold Cup, Premiership Cup and the Goodwill Cup looks likely, with Beaulieu FC undefeated in senior competitions (at least, over two legs) so far this season. Time will tell how the loss of Dani Alves will impact on the results, with tough fixtures against Monobrow City and Noerrebro Park Rangers this evening.

The previous investment in the youth team has paid dividends. The kids have performed admirably in all levels of competition they’re entered into (U21, U20, U19, U18s) in official competitions, but the standout performance so far has been in the U21 Championship friendly competition. Featuring a host of top youth sides, Beaulieu FC are sitting second, only behind West End Academy Specialists – a dominant youth side. The U21 side has been heavily invested in over the last two seasons, and it looks like it may pay dividends with the emergence of a few players who look genuinely capable of moving into the Beaulieu FC first team side in years to come.

The success at both levels has been reflected in Beaulieu FC’s ranking, reaching the top of the senior rankings again, and seeing youth rankings peak at 14 and sitting comfortably in the top 25 over the past few weeks.

Player Progression..

2009-05-01T15:50:00.002+01:00

I’m not going to say I think I’ve cracked player progression, because that would jinx my youth team. What I will say is that after 6 seasons I finally have a good understanding of the mechanisms thanks to recent posts by the development team. There have been a couple of recent article on The Fiery Baptist (which were themselves partly gleamed from forum posts by the developers) that talk through player development nicely. If you want to go read all the ins and outs, then look for the link on the right hand side of my blog. To summarise:

-Attributes are displayed as 1-20, but are actually stored and used in the range 1-10,000. This means your players may well be improving, just not enough to go over one of the boundaries in order to trigger a change on the attributes page.

-CA points are relative to position – a striker uses up a lot of CA points to improve finishing, a midfielder less, and a defender virtually nothing.

-Playing in multiple positions costs CA points. On top of this, each position has different weightings – if your defender can also play striker, it’s going to cost him points to learn finishing.

-Physical improvements cost the most CA points.

-Being two-footed is a huge bonus, but also costs CA points.

-The level of football a player isn’t the real driver – the average rating they are achieving is. A player achieving 7.5 in youth is going to progress better than a similar player achieving 6.5 in senior. However, if a player can play well ‘above his level’ then this will cause a bigger improvement.

Having taken all of this (and more) on board I’ve changed a few things about how I play my youth. I’ve stopped playing my kids as substitutes towards the end of matches and started ensuring that most of them are getting decent enough ratings by playing at least half of a match. I’m also giving the kids who are good enough games in senior friendly competitions. This works two ways – those who are good enough get good ratings and let me know they can be relied on. Those who don’t go back to the youth leagues or out on loan for some more experience. Actually taking care with what I’ve been doing with my youth has resulted in 4 coaching reports in 2 days – 4 more than I’ve got in the previous month. I’ve managed to find a couple of people who are keen to take my players into their first teams on loan, and Julien Kipre is already reaping the benefits with a reputation increase combined with a few shiny new stat points. Others such as Serato, Canela and Longobardi are progressing quickly and in the right areas, while even some of my kids are starting to go green, so to speak.

Talking of kids, I have a mixed record when it comes to purchasing very young kids – Marlon James is looking like he’ll be a dud, while the only player to really come through has been Matthieu Marc – I think I’ve found a gem in 16 year old Australian midfielder Coffey. For his age, he has great attributes including explosive pace and great finishing, as well as being two-footed. So far he has 4 goals and 3 assist in 9 games, but 7 of those were from the bench for my U21 side. I’m hoping he may be the first true wonderkid to come through my academy – only time will tell.

Meet the team...

2009-05-01T15:50:00.001+01:00

So with season 7 kicking off on Friday evening, I thought I’d go through the team that’s set to grace The Anchor in Beaulieu FC’s attempts to regain the AEFA Premiership crown. You can now find the team, with links to screenshots of their profiles, on the right hand side of this blog. I’m going to try and keep it updated with moderately recent screenshots as time goes by, so you can all see how (badly) my players are progressing! As you can see, there aren’t many changes to the team that finished last season, the only significant addition being Setaro between the sticks. The bench is full of young, talented players including Longobardi (AF500k, RB), Canela (AF500k, LB), Ibon Angulo (AF275k, MC) and Bellomo (AF180k, DC) – all either current or former members of the youth team. All in all, I think the team is looking strong for the next season, although lacking in depth in some positions.

Beaulieu FC make the news!

2009-04-28T18:12:00.003+01:00

.. the Saunders news!

We're featured as top story in the first edition of the Saunders Star on the FML main page (http://www.footballmanagerlive.com/news/?newsid=3205) for our victory in the gold cup! hummels moment imortalised in FML history!

In other news, I've tried and failed to make any new signings of note, and the teams form is ropey, but looking up before the season starts. :)

Is this a return to inflation?

2009-04-27T18:10:00.000+01:00

Not long ago, I lauded the gameworld as coming to life due to the influx of new managers and, most importantly, new cash. Put simply, I was wrong. In the last week, a number of high profile auctions have taken place, including the incredibly talented Beaulieu FC acquisition Jorge Martinez, world class defenders Kolo Toure and Nicholas Burdiso, and German goal machine Mario Gomez. So, what’s the thing that links every one of these players? In a free market, they’ve gone for under their acquisition fees, every one of them. Given the title of this post, you may think I’m having a laugh, with market value toppling in many cases to the same value as acquisition fee – ridiculous given the amount of money you pay for signing on fees now. But even with this, inflation is most definitely present in one form in the gameworld. I always use the off-season to replenish my youth teams. This season it’s been supremely difficult due to the huge inflation that has been apparent in the wages being paid for youth superstars. This has been heightened by former managers returning to the gameworld, offering up huge wages for youngsters as they turn to a complete youth policy, but it’s a cascading effect. As more managers pay more for wages, other managers must pay way above the odds to secure young potential superstars. The most recent example was moderator and fellow AEFA manager JMP of Loftus Road AFC bidding 15,000 to take one of Neil Baldwin’s young protégés. You may say this isn’t excessive – the youngster already has an AF of £275,000 and is most probably a 5 star potential player. But when you consider he’s had almost no progression since he was 17 and is about to turn 20, it underlines how desperate normally prudent managers are to secure any youngster with that 5-star millstone around their neck.

In other news…

The youth team for next season is slowly taking shape. Although still lacking in a few key areas, it’s looking good, with the defence particularly strong at the moment. I’ve still got cash to spend, especially with a large chunk of the Dessena transfer fee due to be paid, so I’m working on bringing in one or two more before the start of the season. I’m looking to try and field an U19, U20 and U21 team for the second season in a row. Former youth team stalwart Julien Kipre has gone out on loan to further his development. Although very high potential, he’s got bogged down over the last season or so and hasn’t really kicked on. However, signs are promising with plenty of games and plenty of goals for his new side and the glimmering hope offered by the appearance of a scattering of new green arrows. Similarly, Miljan Stamenkovic has joined his reserve team comrade in going out on loan to Terry Bennets’ Birmingham Southside, where he’ll hopefully get enough games to further his own progression.

Two wonderkids join Beaulieu FC

2009-04-26T19:15:00.002+01:00

After the excitement of the last season, I knew I had to freshen up the squad to challenge for honours this season. I looked long and hard to find the best players for Beaulieu FC. In the end I managed to secure the signing of two prized genuine wonderkids, with one player shown the door.

Vanderson Canela was the best young DL available. I don't often make buys at wage auction as I hate paying over the odds for wages. In the end, I couldn't resist and just about managed to secure him to Beaulieu FC with a very large contract offer. his ability to take freekicks, given the lack of set piece specialists at The Anchor, makes him even more valuable in my eyes. With Balzaretti about to turn 33, Canela is the long term future of Beaulieu FC's left back posistion.

Helton had played well, but he'd given away vital goals at the worst occasions. I had never planned to lock him, so I needed to find a replacement. I asked around and managed to strike a deal for Maurizo Setaro. At a price of £1m, he wasn't cheap, but he's truly world class, on low wages and I think he'll prove to be a brilliant investment over the next few seasons. With his signing, Helton was shown the door for £100,000, recouping a little of the fee paid for his successor.

6th Season – A review

2009-04-24T22:30:00.004+01:00

I was going to post an update on how things were going, but given that it was almost the end of the season, I decided to wait and post a retrospective summary. Here’s what happened to my side in the sixth season…

All Evening Premiership

It was a mixed year in the premiership, with my worst starting form of any campaign to date. The big triple deal mid-season didn’t help things, with the destabilisation of the team coinciding with some more poor results. Miraculously, none of the other sides pulled away. The biggest challenges came from Alun’s Monobrow City and Hr’s Noerrebro Pak Rangers. I had a shocking start to the season, drawing 5 of my first 9 games, before turning things around. A tight 1-0 loss to Monobrow left my side ahead only on my very impressive goal difference with just 5 games to play. Winning against Bohemians, Eagles and Carpathia left me with two tough games to play – away to Bannons XI and Huntstown Villa. Win both, and I’d win the league by virtue of my goal difference, drop any points and it was out of my hands. I duly dispatched Bannons, but came acropper against Huntstown Villa drawing 2-2. The lads had their fingers crossed, but then had their hearts broken when Barry Campbell scored in the 95th minute to hand Monobrow the win and the title.

Charity Shield

The charity shield was only introduced this season, with the inaugural members being myself, Huntstown Villa (as runner up in the League), AFC Carpathia (as winner of the All Evening Cup) and Ultimate Irons (as winner of the Non-Prem Cup). The initial league stage saw two clear contenders emerge as nothing could separate Beaulieu from one of our bogey teams, Huntstown Villa. Both sides emerged from the group stages with 4 wins and 2 draws (both 2-2, against each other) to ensure the final was contested between two sides of the highest quality.

A tough match saw Beaulieu come out on top, mostly due to Huntstowns’ inability to hit the target (10 shots, none on target). The Italian duo of Dessena and Donadel secured Beaulieu FC’s first trophy of the season.

Prem Cup

Group Stage

Once again I finished as the strongest qualifier from the group stage with 7 wins and 1 draw in a group featuring top opposistion Noerrebro Park Rangers and Bohemians FC.
The only place I dropped points was away to Noerrebro. I struggled to create much at all yet, despite being man marked by two defenders throughout the match, Pato proved the man to salvage a point by smashing the ball into the top corner from the edge of the area. Noerrebro are nothing if almost impossible to break down.

Quarter Finals vs Monobrow City

My prize for being the best qualifier across all groups was the toughest possible draw in getting Monobrow City in the quarter finals. Next season I might throw a game or two to get better draw. A goal apiece from Pato and Wellington secured a 2-0 victory at The Anchor in a game Beaulieu FC didn’t look like losing. The return leg was a different matter, however, as Monobrow took a 2-0 lead going into the 80th minute. DanI Alves and Capitani scored late goals to secure Beaulieu’s progress to the semi finals.

Semi Finals vs Eagle Warriors

Eagle Warriors were the main competitors over the last 2 seasons, picking up the Prem Cup and the Premiership in Season 4. Having been inactive for the last month or so, his team has waned but is still potent with Leandro Lima, Jo and Ashley Young. But my team made a mockery of close pre-match predictions as they reached to a 4-0 halftime lead, only to concede two sloppy goals to Jo in the second half to hand Eagles a way back into the match. Jo then scored again in the second leg, before my side managed to find an equaliser to ease the nerves a little. Ashley Young then fired home a belter from 30 yards to make the dying seconds nervous, but my side clung on to secure a place in the final for the second season in a row.

Final vs Noerrebro Park Rangers

The final saw me play Hr’s Noerrebro Park Rangers, never an easy game. Within 10 minutes I was staring down the barrel of defeat as Wagner curled home a free-kick to underline Hr’s early dominance. I made a quick decision to completely change my game plan to try and negate some of his strengths, to great success. Jorge Martinez was a long-time target for Noerrebro before Beaulieu FC snuck in at the last minute, and he underlined why he was so coveted with a goal and an assist as Beaulieu FC pulled into a 3-1 lead. I maintained my dominance without adding to the score until the 70th minute, when Hr changed up his tactics and got back on top. A Robert Huth header in the 89th minute was little more than a consolation as Beaulieu FC retained the Premiership Cup as the 6th official trophy for the side.

All Evening Cup

1st Round vs Jondal IL

Due to a quick of the numbers entering the tournament this season, my tie against Jondal IL was the only 1st round tie, making my route to the final longer than any other side in the federation. Jondal IL had their best player James Vaughn injured, making a tough task even tougher. It wasn’t to be for Jondal as his side went down 5-0 across the two legs.

2nd Round vs Copenhagen Wonderboys

The second round saw a tough draw against premiership side Copenhagen Wonderboys. Jannick’s side is full of class, headed by Rosina, Walter and Diego. A lucky away win saw my side take a 2-0 lead back to The Anchor thanks to Gourcuff and Pato. Pato scored his second of the tie to secure a 3-2 home win and a 5-2 aggregate win.

3rd Round vs Milenator Roar

After a tough draw against the Wonderboys, Milenator Roar was another difficult prospect for Beaulieu FC. Despite only residing in the championship, Soroen’s German outfit are a tour de force, with a number of really good players underpinned by Kalinic upfront and David Luiz in defence. A tough first leg should have seen a 2-0 win, but with Milenator reduced to 10 men, he pulled one back to give himself a fighting chance in the tie. Pato scored early in the return leg and another 2-1 victory ensued to hand me the tie 4-2 on aggregate.

Last 16 vs Monobrow City

The Blues got the toughest draw possible in having to face Premiership challengers Monobrow City, but two goals from Pato, one in each leg, saw Beaulieu win 2 – 1 on aggregate to progress to the quarter finals. This was no mean feat given the quality of Alun’s side, with his defence being the most stingy in the league and his current world ranking of 5 highlighting his exceptional form.

Quarter Finals vs Nottingham Majorie

Here I faced Nottingham Majorie. Despite being a newcomer to the Premier league this season, Andy has firmly entrenched himself in mid-table and looks set to secure his place in the premiership for a while yet. With the majestic, world-class striker Marcelo Moreno upfront in a potent 4-3-3 formation, his side is one to be reckoned with. It was close, but my side came out on top over the two legs mainly due to Mr Pato.

Semi Finals vs. Camberwick Green

I was given a favourable draw against Camberwick Green. Home of some quality, world-class players it was never going to be easy, but given their mid-championship status my side was the clear favourite. A dominant 5-2 win at home, with goals from Wellington, Pato, Martinez (2) and Donadel, decided the match. 2-0 up away, I took off Pato, Wellington and Menez and the score drifted to 2-2 at the death, resulting in a 7-4 aggregate victory.

Final vs Noerrebro Park Rangers

Yet again the final saw two of the heavyweights of the AEFA meet, as Beaulieu FC met Noerrebro Park Rangers in the final of the All Evening Cup. Both sides put out their strongest teams, signifying just how important this trophy is. Having learnt my lesson from the Premiership Cup final win earlier in the week, I started out with nullifying tactics which resulted in a game notable for its complete lack of chances. It was going to take someone or something special to break the deadlock, and Pato duly delivered with a breakaway goal, slotting home the ball after rounding the ‘keeper. The match was tight until a moment of magic sealed the match. Balzaretti sprayed the ball down the left wing for Menez to pick up, before the French wizard cut inside and weaved his way past two defenders. With the ball on his right foot, he smacked an unstoppable strike which rebounded off of the right hand post, back across goal into the opposite side netting. Moments later, Giovani Capitani broke down the right, outpacing the defence before neatly finishing between the ‘keepers legs. A great 3-0 win secured the All Evening Cup for the first time for Beaulieu FC.

Gold Cup

Group Stage

I’m often favourites for groups given my world ranking and team, but compared to previous seasons, this was hard but not impossible. Drawn against Cottingley FC, Eagle Warriors and GTG FC, I expected my side to go through. A draw against Eagle Warriors in a match we dominated was followed by the match away to Cottingley. Former Beaulieu legend Guilherme scored twice as my side los 3-2 to put qualification in doubt. Two solid wins in the last 2 matches saw my side progress as winners of the group for the third season in a row with a respectable total of 13.

Last 16 vs Camel FC

The Last 16 match was against Thierry’s world class Camel FC and home of one Lionel Messi, alongside other top draw players as Jovetic. His team was severely weakened given the number of players he had loaned out this season, including Nasri and Zapata, but his side still represented a real challenge. I was therefore extremely surprised to see my side race 4-0 up before halftime, Pato dominating the Camel’s backline. After half time, MEssi pulled one back before Pato got his 4th of the match to make it 5-1. Inexplicably, my side then fell apart, with Messi completing his brace and Jovetic snatching 2 more. Dessena managed to score once more, but a 6-4 win with 4 away goals for the Camels was not the result I’d hoped for when 4-0 up. Going into the second leg, I knew I realistically just had to avoid defeat by more than 2 goals. With 10 minutes to play I was sitting comfortably at 1-1, 7-5 on aggregate. Then things went wrong, yet again. Two goals in as many minutes put the Camels 3 – 1 up on the night and progressing on away goals – the bane of my side in cup competitions. I thought that was that, but in the 93rd minute Pato stepped up and slammed home the winner to send me through to the Quarter Finals.

Quarter Finals vs Flux Capacitor

Here I met Thomas Mullens’ Flux Capacitor. Ravaged by injuries, I was bullish of my chances, but was soon brought crashing to earth as Rosicky found the top corner to take the lead for Flux. My side dominated the rest of the match, carving out chance after chance, but we simply couldn’t find the back of the net. When Pato then missed a penalty, I knew I was going to be facing a battle at the return leg in the Anchor, especially without any away goals. The return leg carried on in much the same way, with the exception that Flux’s attacking pivot, Rochi, had picked up an injury and missed this match. Wellington put my side ahead, but another wonder goal from Rosicky looked to have sent my side packing. Once more the Brazillian magician Pato stepped up, with 2 goals in 5 minutes to secure our place in the Semi-Finals for the first time in Beaulieu’s history.

Semi Finals vs Los Benditos

You don’t get easy draws in the Gold Cup, and the semi finals saw me take on the best side in the gameworld – Los Benditos – featuring Giuseppe Rossi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thiago Silva. The first leg saw an imperious performance from Beaulieu FC, creating chance after chance and racing to a 2-0 lead through the outstanding new signing Jorge Martinez. The tie swung back towards Ronaldo & Co as Rossi fired home from close range to grab a precious away goal. The second leg saw my side defend brilliantly as they withstood wave after wave of attack to emerge with an incredible 0-0 draw and progress to the final of the Gold Cup for the first time.

Final vs FC Azazel

The final saw me take on AK’s FC Azazel. A quality side made the final partially on the back of on loan stars Samir Nasri and Christian Zapater. With those two stars returning to their parent club, things swayed back into my favour, but with players of the calibre of De Jong and Agbonlahor, anything could happen. The game started with a cagey opening, with both sides not wanting to give anything away. Beaulieu FC carved out a couple of early chances, Pato guilty of wasteful finishing. To the horror of Beaulieu FC fans, Azazel took the lead as none other than Scott ‘Ronaldhino’ Carson curled home a freekick from a wide angle to hand the XEFA side the lead going into the break. Things were looking bleak until Pato latched onto a bad pass from Garay to fire Beaulieu FC back into the match. There were chances at both ends, with Beaulieu FC generally on top, but as normal time ended and extra time ticked down, the dreaded penalties looked likely. I’d made many tactical changes throughout the match, but I took one last gamble, taking off the shattered Wellington and replacing him with Longobardi, switching to 4-4-2 and pushing Dani Alves to right wing. I told the lads to give Dani the ball at every opportunity and in the dieing minutes another of his blockbuster runs resulted in a corner. Dani Alves whipped in the cross and Hummels rose tallest at the near post to score, securing the biggest trophy in club football for Beaulieu FC and ensuring his place in Beaulieu FC folklore.

Gameworld Cup

2nd Round vs Villain Victorians

The Villains got off to the best possible start as Dessena inadvertently found his own net instead of behind the goal. Beaulieu FC quickly found their stride as Pato rounded the keeper and poked home the equaliser on 15 minutes. The Blues where then stiffled in their attempts to grab a winner, as bad finishing results in a whopping 15 shots off of target. It took Pato, again, to pop up and score the winner in the 84th minute.

3rd Round vs Juventude

A toughter match saw Beaulieu FC travel to Juventude, powered by some quality players and in the top 100 rankings. A tough match saw Beaulieu FC emerge with a 2-1 victory courtesy of goals from the prolific Pato and captain Caceres.

4th Round vs Noerrebro Park Rangers

Yet another meeting against Hr’s side was yet another very tough draw - a top 10 side at this stage is never good. Hr’s side edged the match, but my side showed a greater cutting edge and grabbed their chances to emerge with a tough 3 - 2 victory. Pato, twice, and Menez made sure of the victory, meaning I’d personally put Hr out of three cup competitions - sorry mate!

Last 32 vs AFC Tromp

Tromp are a good side, but not of the level of Noerrebro, so I was expecting an easier ride. My side raced into a 3-0 lead through Pato, Wellington and Dessena. With the game seemingly won, the lads took their foot off the pedal and relaxed. Beaulieu FC almost paid for it, as Tromp scored in the 82nd and 88th minute to leave a furious and nerve-wracked Beaulieu manager checking his watch every two seconds until full time was blown.

Last 16 vs The Big Pink

A very tough match away to The Big Pink, featuring Oscar, Baxter, Vela and Fazio was always going to prove a challenge. I started the match with Longobardi at RB and Dani Alves at RW, but after 20 minutes (and a booking) I decided Longobardi was going to get mullered, so moved Dani Alves back to nullify the threat and put on Capitani. It proved to be the master stroke. Dani Alves’ influence in defence turned the match in my favour and Capitani scored a blinder as my side rolled out 1-0 winners.

Quarter Final vs LKS Dolphin Lodz

A match to highlight the flaws with the game, in some regards. I ended up 2 - 1 winners. I battered the Dolphins on occassions, but simply couldn’t find a way through - expect for corners. All the goals came from centerbacks (Caceres and Hummels for Beaulieu), making a mockery of the beautiful attacking play I’d produced at some points. Never-the-less, a win is a win, and I progressed to the last four.

Semi Final vs Inter Melamb

The semi-final saw me draw world number 2 and perennial SFA champions Thomas Reeves’ Inter Melamb. Tom’s side is world class, with Zlatan and Thiago Luis upfront, and a midfield comprising Sneijder, Silva and Mark Noble adds real firepower. Needless to say – this was going to be a tough match. I took the lead through … and continued to dominate the early play. As time ticked by Tom got more and more cavalier in his tactics, forcing my side on the back foot. Things looked bad as, in short succession, Thiago Luis conjured an equaliser before Pato was carried off the field clutching his ankle (scans showed no further sign of damage). This forced me to push Jorge Martinez to striker and bringing on star youngster Ibon Angulo as the game went to extra time. What a stroke of luck that the Spanish playmaker came on the pitch, as he powered home twice from close range to hand me a hard fought 3 – 1 victory and a place in the GWC final.

Final vs Los Benditos

Finals are rarely great football matches. This was no exception. Bendito resigned Aaron right before the match and it proved to be a master stroke. The Spaniard (formerly of Beaulieu FC - if you remember the incident with the released players…) was instrumental in scoring twice. Donadel had a nightmare match, as did Martinez, while Pato missed a glorious chance. In the end Pato found the back of the net in the 90th minute, but it was nothing more than a consolation as Beaulieu FC lost 2-1 in the final to end an epic season.

Two stars are shown the door at The Anchor

2009-04-23T19:23:00.001+01:00

The title is a tad misleading, but at the same time it’s completely correct. Since the signing of Jorge Martinez, I’d been forced to play Dessena wide right with Dani Alves at right back to accommodate all of the world class players at my disposal. This resulted in both Matteo Longobardi and Giovani Capitani sitting on the bench – not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination. The signing of Martinez had also stretched the club financially and with improvements needed elsewhere in the coming weeks, I couldn’t afford for that to continue.

I therefore made the decision to sell Daniel Dessena. Although he’d been very good in his season and a half at Beaulieu FC, he’d not been out of this world. Dan Cashmore, owner of former Beaulieu FC players Gourcuff, Baptista and Radoi, made an offer I couldn’t refuse of 1.2m cash (500k upfront and 800k spread over 8 weeks) and world class defensive midfielder Stelvio (AF 650k MV 925k). Within an hour I’d found a buyer for Stelvio at £750k for a quick sale and the coffers at Beaulieu FC were swelled by some £2m, with Capitani taking up his previous role at right flank.

The competitions are progressing well and there will be a quite huge update come end of season on all that has happened in what could be either a year of heartbreak or a watershed season for Beaulieu FC.

Beaulieu FC Dream Team

2009-04-22T19:30:00.003+01:00

I’ve been reading The Independent’s excellent recent series of articles on various clubs’ Dream Teams. I decided it’d be fun to create a Beaulieu FC dream team given that the game has been running for some time now. As I’ve played numerous formations over the previous seasons, I’ve picked one that includes most of the best players while remaining balanced. Given the number of quality players who have come and gone at The Anchor, this proved difficult, especially in the midfield.

GK – Rogerio Ceni

490 Games, 5 Goals, 0 Assists
Seasons 1 - 3

The Anchor hasn’t seen many world class ‘keepers grace the space between the sticks as I try to keep wages for this position as low as possible. Rogerio Ceni was the exception, with a high reputation and high wages to match. Having been bought for next to nothing, he performed admirably a string of fine performances over the course of two seasons. Rogerio Ceni holds off competition from Helton and Handanovic simply due to the length of his stay and the quality of his performances during that time.

DR – Nelson

334 Games, 10 Goals, 29 Assists
Seasons 3-5

The Portuguese defender was perhaps under-rated during his stay at Beaulieu FC. A truly world-class player, with explosive pace and great stats for defending and going forward, he’s a worth addition to the dream team. In truth, a lack of other real options down the right hand side ensures his place, with Longobardi far too young and not having enough impact to be considered.

DL - Balzaretti

326 Games, 1 Goal, 11 Assists
Seasons 4-6

Frederio Balzaretti is another player who deserves his place by merit, but gets it through lack of options. Pernia was a set piece wizard, but his defending left a lot to be desired while other options like Villagra and Zambrano simply weren’t of a high enough quality to consider. Never-the-less, Balzaretti adds sheer quality at left back, with enough skill to go forward and enough pace and defensive know-how to stop all but the best right wingers.

DC – Caceres

1192 Games, 186 Goals, 75 Assists
Seasons 1-6

Martin Caceres is about to complete his 6th season at Beaulieu FC and is the club’s all time appearance record holder. This alone would be enough to tell you he’d be in this list, but the fact is this – he’s one of the best defenders that exist and would walk into pretty much any side in the gameworld. ‘Nuff said.

DC – Onuoha

931 Games, 49 Goals, 48 Assists
Seasons 1-4

Nedum Onouha was another long time player at The Anchor, gracing the pitch at center back and right back for 3 and a half seasons. Blessed with unbelievable pace, over the seasons he added aerial ability and incredible strength to become a beastly defender. His time at The Anchor was only cut short due to the quality of the offer that came in for him. Time will tell whether the impressive Hummels can oust Onouha as Caceres’ partner, but as it stands, Onouha has the edge.

MR - Dani Alves

1061 Games, 139 Goals, 584 Assists
Seasons 1-6

Superman, Dani Alves, wasn’t included at right back so he could feature higher up the pitch where he is more influential. The goals have dried up for Dani over the last couple of seasons, but he’s been just as influential in the assist stakes – he’s averaged better than an assist every other game for the last 6 seasons. There was no real competition for this role, with Diego Valeri, Felipe Monteiro and Rommano Denneboom simply not of a high enough quality. The only real contender is young prodigy Giovanni Capitani. He’s already forced Dani Alves into the right back role on frequent occasions this season, and given time, he could well force himself into this dream team.

ML – Menez

309 Games, 51 Goals, 89 Assists
Seasons 4-6

The toughest choice so far in this list was the position of left wing. Over the course of 6 seasons, I’ve had 4 truly world class players sit in this position – Andres Guardado, Jeremy Menez, Carlos Eduardo and Ismael Aissatti. Carlos Eduardo was in and out of the anchor faster than the roadrunner given his poor performances, while Aissatti was never as comfortable on the wing as he was in the centre, and so misses out in this position. That left Menez and Guardado, and at the end, I decided that both in length of stay and quality of performances, Menez just about edged it. Guardado will have to make do knowing he scored the best goal in Beaulieu FC’s history – a chip over a defender followed by a sublime volley from 30 yards.

MC(d) – Donadel

61 games, 8 Goals, 10 Assists
Season 6

Throughout the history of Beaulieu FC I’ve always had (at least) one defensively minded centre midfielder. The list of players in this position is impressive, including Gobbi, Zapater, Guana, Johnson, Gourcuff, Dessena and most recently, Donadel. Ultimately, I opted for the perhaps controversial choice of Marco Donadel. A truly world class midfielder, I chose the Italian as he’s a real work horse in midfield, with great tackling, ensuring at least one member of the midfield is capable of tracking back. His rounded skillset and defensive nature put him just ahead of the other candidates in my eyes, who were lacking quality (Gobbi, Guana), too defensive (Zapater) or too attacking (Johnson, Gourcuff, Dessena). Whilst Gourcuff, Dessena and arguably Johnson are better players, his defensive qualities combined with brilliant passing combine to bring the best out of the players around him.

AMC - Julio Baptista

580 Games, 328 Goals, 231 Assists
Seasons 2-6

There was never a doubt that club record signing Julio Baptista would be part of any Beaulieu FC dream team. Almost a unique player in the game, The Beast average a goal every other game and an assist almost as often in a long spell at Beaulieu FC. Only a combination of old father time and the need for locks lead to his departure, he’ll be sorely missed by the Beaulieu FC faithful and rightly revered as one of the best players to grace The Anchor.

AMC – Guilherme

866 Games, 608 Goals, 229 Assists
Seasons 1-5

The other AMC position was hotly contested, with a number of world class players eyeing up a place in the dream team. Leandro Lima, Ismael Aissatti, Yoann Gourcuff, Danielle Dessena, Wellington and Pienaar, to name but a few, where all players who would demand a place in most people teams. Ultimately, though, I opted for a player who played upfront for most of his career at The Anchor – Guilherme. Although not his favourite position, he played in the withdrawn role very rarely, I think Guilherme would have thrived alongside Baptista. With great pace, good finishing and long shots, good passing and very apt preferred moves, the club legend Guilherme makes this spot his own.

ST - Pato

262 Games, 320 Goals, 67 Assists
Seasons 5-6

Keeping club-legend Guilherme off the front spot is no ordinary feat, but then Pato is no ordinary player. Over two seasons he’s averaged better than a goal a game upfront and his place is richly deserved. Blistering pace, great finishing and the ability to be in the right place at the right time make Pato one of the best strikers in the game. Diego Milito, Chamakh et al didn’t even come close to ousting The Duck at the spearhead of my samba attacking triumvirate.

Big new arrival at The Anchor

2009-04-20T17:11:00.001+01:00

Usually I’d wait until the end of the season to build upon the squad, but this hasn’t been a usual season. For once, I’m still involved in numerous cup competitions while I’m still fighting to the league, and I felt I really needed to add some quality for the final push. I therefore splashed out a cool £750,000 on Jorge Martinez:

In a way, this signing is a direct replacement for Julio Baptista – my side has most definitely missed his aerial presence, both at set pieces and in general play. Moreover, since the departure of The Beast, I’ve lacked a penalty taker, which has threatened to cause me no end of troubles. Martinez is brilliant in the air, is a great finisher and passer of the ball, has good preferred moves and has a bit of pace, to boot. Moreover, he’s a decent set piece taker and will be taking over responsibilities for free kicks and penalties from now until the end of the season. His ability to play upfront as a striker also offers a fantastic Plan B. My only problem now is trying to fit all these players into a team together. One thing is definitely for sure; my side can cope with a few injuries now in the run in, as I’ve got two world class players sitting on the bench!

Season 6 Line-up

2009-04-20T17:08:00.000+01:00

Season 6 is well under way and yet again I’m behind schedule in updating this blog! Instead of taking you through the numerous, extensive transfers that have taken place over the last couple of weeks, I thought I’d just introduce you to the players who have been gracing the Anchor in Season 6 in Saunders…

GK – Helton

To the surprise of many, the Brazilian buffoon returns for a second season in-between the sticks for The Blues. Several high profile gaffes (much like in real life) had brought his place into question, but the lack of money to sign a suitable replacement ensured the aging South American of a starting berth.

DL – Balzaretti

The veteran Italian is another player starting his second season at The Anchor. Adept at right or left back, Frederico is a quality player who turns in solid performances in defence. Although never really chipping in with the goals and assists, he rarely makes mistakes and is a reassuring presence in the backline.

DR – Longobardi

The first of the new arrivals, Matteo Longobardi is a true wonderkid at right back, signed for £550,000 (AF £475,000). Blessed with strength and pace, amazing metal skills and a mean tackle, he’s fitted in solidly as a replacement for Nelson. Although nowhere near as good as the Portuguese monster, Matteo is on just 1,500 a day, making him a true bargain.

DC – Caceres (Captain)

Martin Caceres is entering his 6th season at The Anchor and remains an integral part of not just the team, but the identity of the club. A truly world-class defender blessed with both pace and aerial ability, he’s an ever-present rock in my back-line. This season will see him take on the responsibility of being captain of Beaulieu FC, a well deserved reward for his lengthy stint.

DC – Hummels

The second new arrival joined as part of the biggest and most complex deal in the clubs history. Mirel Radoi, Julio Baptista and Yoann Gourcuff where sold in exchange for £400,000, Hummels and two replacement midfielders, with transfer negotiations lasting an incredible 2 hours. Hummels is brilliant in the air and with silky skills with the ball at his feet, the versatile German can also shift forward into central midfield. His arrival cements the Beaulieu FC backline as one that is truly formidable.

MC – Dessena

The Italian playmaker was shackled during the 5th season in order to accommodate both Gourcuff and Baptista in midfield, but with both of those players at pastures new, Dessena has been transformed into an attacking playmaker. Blessed with real pace, good finishing and shooting and a great eye for a pass, he’s an integral part of the team.

MC – Donadel

The second of the trio of new signings, Donadel has adopted a more defensive role within the Beaulieu FC side. Acting as the anchor in midfield, he’s got a great work rate combined with a biting tackle. Importantly, he’s a stunning passer of the ball and is not just a destructor, but also a Xabi Alonso-esque deep lying midfield playmaker. In my time in FML, I’ve found that the DM seems to get the most of the ball, so having a player of such quality in this position is a real coup for Beaulieu FC.

MC – Wellington

Wellington was the final player to move to Beaulieu FC in the huge transfer with Dan Cashmore’s side. At just 23, he’s a little raw, but adds youth into a previously aging midfield. Able to play at CM, in the hole or even as a striker, the Brazilian is blessed with good finishing and pace and loves to run at people with the ball. He’s caused real havoc so far this season and will hopefully fill the very large Julio Baptista sized hole in my side.

AML – Menez

Jeremy Menez has emerged as a truly world class player over the course of the last season. A quite brilliant, two-footed winger, the Frenchman causes constant trouble for whoever he’s up against. I’d love to be able to move him inside to AMC, but having seen how badly Carlos Eduardo struggled in his short time at The Anchor, I’m sure there are few better left wingers in the game.

AMR – Dani Alves

Although he’s now hit his 30’s, Dani Alves is still, put simply, one of the best players in the game. A dynamic influence from the right wing, he single handedly wins me games on a number of occasions. His influence at right wing has cemented his place further up the field, although he has often been shifted to right back to accommodate the emergence of another genuine wonderkid Giovanni Capitani. I paid £900,000 and Jake Thompson (a player of massive unrealised potential) to secure the right wing wizard (AF 950,000) and he’s put in a number of solid if unspectacular performances at both senior and youth level. By the time he hits his prime, Dani Alves may well be on the wane, so the right wing is now sorted for the next 10 seasons, locks permitting.

ST – Pato

The 24 year old striker is following up his stunning debut season with another season of destruction. He scored 5 goals over 2 recent Gold Cup matches, scoring an average of 1.10 goals per game so far. He struggled in the early parts of the season, but this coincided with a general lack of form across my team. His form recaptured, my team has hit a new wave of good results.

A resurgence in Saunders?

2009-04-18T10:00:00.002+01:00

There is no denying that 2 months ago Saunders was on it's knees. A lot of established managers left, new managers came in but became inactive, noone had money and the community spirit was fading. Fast forward to now and things are looking considerably more rosey.

Recent promotions for the gameworld seem to have had an affectm but the influx of new managers hasn't been the main driver for the resurgence. That'd be the influx of cash. When stadiums came in, no-one had money to the extent that you simply couldn't sell someone on big wages for anything. More than that, a numer of world class but flawed (high wages, old or both) players where available for free for a long time. Now, these players are appearing in people's teams, with Elano and Petr Cech recently being snapped up despite large AFs and large wages. A few multi-million pound deals have also gone through and this increased activity in the market has bouyed the gameworld, at least in my eyes.

The next problem is how to curb this increase in capital. with most people making healthy profits having paid off their stadiums, I can only see a return to rampant inflation that blighted the game for the first 3 seasons. Fingers crossed SI have something up their sleaves.

In other news..

I'll try and post a couple of updates about my team early next week. Better late than never, huh!

It's been a while... (Season 5 Round-up)

2009-04-05T12:37:00.002+01:00

First of all, apologies for the lengthy delay since any meaningful update, it's been a really busy time at work and I've only just had enough time to play FML, let alone write about it! Anyway, without further delay...

Premiership

I left to go on holiday in a strong posistion, but my team did their utmost to throw it away at the last. After two AI wins vs Bohemians and Eagles, I looked in a very strong posistion, but as soon as I came back my team started to play like muppets. 3losses from the final 6 matches almost saw me throw it away, but an autoresolved victory against the number two team Huntstown Villa saw the title return to The Anchor.

The Prem Cup

A 4-3 AI victory over two legs against Eagle Warriors saw my side progress to the final, where Barry Welch's AFC Carpathia awaited. A dominant first 30 minutes saw my side go 3-0 up, but after that it was all Carpathia. Barry Welch's tactical wizardry managed to pick a hole in my defence I couldn't plug and I was lucky to escape with a 3-1 victory - Landin guilty of missing a hatful of chances to claw his side back into the match.

Gameworld Cup

I was stupid in this competition. Pitted against a weak opponent in the last 32, I opted to play the match despite having injuries to both Pato and Baptista. I duly lost, dominating the match but lacking a cutting edge, conceding two soft goals. This one hurt, as I had a genuine chance of winning a UFFA competition for the first time and threw it away.

Team of the Season

GK - Helton
DR - Nelson
DL - Balzaretti
DC - Caceres
DC - Radoi
ML - Menez
MC - Johnson
MR - Alves
AMC - Gourcuff
AMC - Baptista
ST - Pato

Player of the Season

N choice here. Gourcuff and Baptista had stunning seasons at AMC. Dani Alves was his usual majestic self, but Pato upfront was otherwordly. The best strike rate of any striker in the gameworld at 1.35 goals per game, an average rating close to 8, he's been a revelation. It took a big man to fill Guilherme's boots, Pato did that and more.

I'll try and update the transfer news for season 6 at Beaulieu FC over the next couple of days.

Awards

2009-03-28T20:45:00.001Z

The results are now in for the prestigious Managers' Manager of the Season award. Below are the top three managers nominated for this award.

1st Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn
2nd "UFFA Org" Matz Andren
3rd Tommy "Treble Winners" Reeves

All nominations for the Community Manager of the Season award have been submitted and the top three managers are as follows.

1st Matt 'Chat Helper' Bunn
2nd Steve "Morse is back" Horner
3rd AL Moon

Thanks for your votes, everyone. :)

The season so far…

2009-03-19T21:11:00.001Z

The competitions

The Gold Cup

For the first time I had a relatively kind draw, being pitted against The Big Pink, Melbu FC and TheStoneColds. A record of 4W, 1D, 1L saw me top the group with some impressive performances from my attacking players. This is where the story ended yet again, however, with my side coming cruelly close but ultimately falling short.

I managed to take the advantage going into the second leg through a magic al performance by Pato, who found the back of the net 4 times. My unusually leaky defence shipped 3 goals from 5 shots on target, meaning I left the Anchor with a far more slender lead than I should have. With just 2 minutes left in the second leg, I was set to progress with the score at 1-1. Up stepped Adebayour to toe-poke the equaliser and out I went on away goals.

The All Evening Cup

After putting down Bohemians in the first leg, I was feeling confident against low ranked, inactive, United Eagles. I should have known otherwise, by now. 3 shots on target resulted in 2 long range goals conceded. 30 shots on target and 6 clear cut chances yielded just one goal, and yet again I was dumped out of the cup.

The Premiership Cup

A record of 7W, 1D saw me progress as the strongest qualifier from any group. My ‘reward’ for this accomplishment was a difficult QF against Toto Trans’ Rice ‘n’ Furry FC. Things were looking rosy at 3-0 until the 95th minute of the first leg at The Anchor, when Caceres needlessly conceded a penalty and got himself sent off in the process and handing Toto a way back into the match.

I signed in Raul Bravo as emergency cover into the centre of defence to replace Caceres, but the world class Uruguayan was sorely missed as my side went 3-0 down and looked to be heading out of the cup. This is the moment the match turned in my favour. 84 minutes on the clock and Pato slammed home the ball from close range to equalise on aggregate and take the game into extra time. In the most extraordinary match, I proceeded to score another 5 goals in extra time, Pato completing his hatrick and Baptista with a brace, to win the match 6-3 and the tie 9-4. The Semi-final draw should take place shortly.

The GameWorld Cup

I’ve progressed nicely in this competition, although, for once, I haven’t had to face too many top ranking teams so far. The latest match saw me beat Luis Borges’ side to progress into the last 16 of the competition, the furthest I’ve ever reached. Given that Los Benditos (#2 ranked team), COYS (formerly the best team in the world but has since left) and a number of the other top sides have been dumped out, this cup is there for the taking.

The All Evening Premiership

This my best chance of a trophy this season. I’ve played a lot more matches than most other teams, but my side has been in dominant form. I currently have a record of W23, D2, L2. The next best challenger is Neil Baldwins’ semi-inactive Workshop Wednesday who have 12W, 3D, 1L, although Alex Leeman’s Eagle Warriors can currently match my points total if they win their next 17 matches. I still have a tough set of fixtures: Bohemians (H & A), Workshop Wednesday (H & A), Eagle Warriors (H & A), Huntstown Villa (H), Toon Town (H), Loftus Road FC (A), Monobrow (H & A). I’m looking to get at least another 19 points from those matches in order to take me over the 90 points barrier, but I’ve given myself a great chance. I’ve still got to play the other challengers, so any points taken from them increase my chances of regaining the title. I’ve also got a massive goal difference, which will act as an extra point going into the final stages of the season.

Talking Points

- I’m surprised that the challenge so far has come from Neil Baldwin’s side. His team is good, but considering he’s been predominantly inactive since becoming a moderator in Laudrup and the strength of some of the other teams, I wouldn’t have picked his side to be second placed at this stage of the season. My own personal tip for the dark horse for the league, Derek Tobin’s Bohemians FC, have yet again failed to live up to expectations. With a lot of draws and losses, major changes were needed and Derek has started that process (see transfer news)

- 1.1.3 is (hopefully) around the corner and is set to speed up player progression. Over the last month, player progression has been excruciatingly slow, bar a few players who have seen massive improvement. One such player is 19 yo Matthieu Marc who has seen his stats sky-rocket since I signed him. Most impressively, he’s risen from 6 pace & 6 acceleration to 13 pace and 14 acceleration – that’s some speed training!

Transfer News

There has been very little movement on the transfer front at Beaulieu FC, but there have been signs of the economy picking up in the gameworld as a whole. The biggest move of the last day or two saw Derek Tobin try to jump start his team with the signing of genuine wonderkid Souto for £1.5m and £40,000 a day (with Mutu exiting for £1). Other big moves in the AEFA saw Yaya Toure join AFC Carpathia, while Frederico Laurito departed Toon Town in exchange for 5 prospects, Arno strengthening his youth side in exchange for his main striker. Finally, Monobrow have brought in world class midfielders Lucas Biglia and Fernando Gago in a bid to boost their title chances – which will make the two matches against Alun’s side even trickier than they have been.

At The Anchor, one player has come in. Former wonderkid Jake Thompson has joined for a respectable £500,000. I see him at 5 star potential, but at 23 he’s not progressed over the last season or two and has a fairly low current ability. He’s mostly been a substitute in that time, so I’m hoping a run in the first team combined with the possible player progression boost in update 1.1.3 will see him climb further towards his potential. It’s a gamble, but he’s played well in the first dozen or so matches in my first team and he’ll hopefully add depth and quality to an already strong right wing.

Time flies...

2009-03-17T18:46:00.002Z

Just a quick update to say I won't be on the blog much between now and April due to a hectic work and social schedule, but i'll aim to get right up to date early in April. :)

The season so far…

2009-03-10T14:11:00.002Z

Last season I was very slow out of the blocks due to the huge amount of injuries I’d suffered during the preseason, most notably to Dani Alves and Roberto Guana. This season I have been free of such troubles, so I’ve been playing as many games as I can manage to reduce the number of matches I’ll have to play towards the end of the season.

The premier league has gone very well. I’ve played 14 matches and I have a record of 12W, 1D, 1L, setting down a marker for other title challengers. I’m mindful that I had a pretty similar record last season, only to see a late season collapse lose me the title.

The Gold Cup has been a mixed bag, with 1 win and 1 loss against the next best team in my group, TheStoneColds. The Stones had always been a team ranked in and around the top 50, but this season they managed a transfer coup in the signing of one Sergio Aguero, which has propelled them into the top 10. I’m hopeful of qualifying for the knockout stages for the third year in a row.

However, this season has been about just one player at The Anchor. Yoann Gourcuff has been s immense in the playmaker role and Jeremy Menez is storming up and down the left wing creating real havoc, but Pato’s performances have been at another level. I’d had many offers for Guilherme over the course of the previous 4 seasons, but ultimately I had chosen not to accept any of them for the simple reason that there are only a handful of other strikers I’d have wanted in preference, and at the time none of them were for sale: Bojan, Balotelli and, of course, Pato. Others I would have considered, like Cani, Blazek, Paloschi and Jovetic, but ultimately all of their owners wanted the earth and then some. When it became clear that a deal for Pato would be possible, I’ll admit that I had second thoughts – Guilherme was a club legend with a brilliant record. I’m more than glad I went through with the deal. Pato has 42 goals and assists in just 32 matches, without taking freekicks or being involved in corners. In a word, he’s just phenomenal and is making the difference in a lot of matches.

In other news…

Derek Tobin has just restarted his blog, where you can find details of my stunning, cunning (and very lucky) victory in our recent cup match. You’ll find the link at the top right hand side of my blog.

I've also been made Saunders first official 'Chat Helper'. Don't ask me, Marco duped me into it. ;)

A sad state of affairs..

2009-03-07T11:47:00.000Z

So, Peter Jerrari has upped and left. After winning all 4 main titles last season (Premiership, Cup, Gameworld Cup, Gold Cup), he had nothing left to play for and went out on a high. The amount of people giving him stick was awful and in his position, I would have upped sticks, too.

So here's to Peter, the best manager in Saunders for the first 4 seasons.

Big changes at The Anchor

2009-03-07T08:53:00.011Z

The first of two huge deals last night saw Ismael Aissati depart The Anchor in a straight swap for French midfield maestro Yoann Gourcuff. Gourcuff is slightly older and has a lower AF, but has fantastic playmaker attributes and has higher finishing and long shots than Aissati. Most importantly, he's on over 10k lower wages a day.

This made room for the biggest deal of the day. The one and only Pato has joined The Blues. The young Brazillian is a true wonderkid and only enhanced his reputation with a debut hatrick for Beaulieu FC.

A heavy price was paid to secure such a prized asset. Brazillian striker and Beaulieu FC legend Guilherme has left the club, with an additional 250,000 required in order to secure the services of the Duck. Guilherme will be fondly remembered by all Beaulieu FC fans, not so fondly remembered by the rest of the AEFA - Neil Baldwin in particular. Regardless, his record speaks for itself.

Guilherme - 606 goals, 229 assists in 866 matches. 35 hatricks, 143 MOTM.

Bits and bobs…

2009-03-05T10:31:00.001Z

After the signings of Menez and Balzaretti, I’ve been quite quiet in the transfer market. I have picked up a few hot prospects as well as a young backup striker. Alongside a young right back of immense potential, I’ve picked up Spanish wonderkid midfielder Ibon Angulo. I’ve been playing Angluo in the ‘holding’ CM role that Johnson usually occupies and he’s done really quite well when in the first team. In the youth teams he’s been outstanding and at just 18, he’s got a long time to progress. I’m going to try and play him as much as possible in the first team as, while he’s playing well, I really think this will aid his development. His AF has already risen to 210k (from 180k) and his stats have already started to improve. My final purchase was that of Russian striker Nikiti Andrejev. No longer a youngster at 23, he’s still got the potential to be very good. He scored a hatrick on his debut and has followed that up with 10 goals and 3 assists in his first 12 games to outline his potential and ability for Beaulieu FC. On very low wages of just 3k, he’s a solid acquisition to add depth to my squad while I wait for my youngster, high potential strikers to progress. I'll post some screenshots up a bit later.

Talking point

The transfer market has been dead for 6 weeks now, but last night it sparked into life with a series of transfers, mostly surrounding Peter Jerrari’s COYS1, and generating no little amount of controversy.

Kaka was sold for half market value at 5.5m – not a surprise given Camel FCs perilous financial state – while Yakovenko was sold for 1.1m at around market value. This seems to be a sign that there is starting to be a little cash in the gameworld, which is encouraging.

However, the ‘controversial’ deals were reserved for Peter Jerari. On the back of winning all the major trophies he entered, Peter has brought in a lot of players recently, including Hamsik, Prudinov, Carlos Eduardo and Cerci, with the vast amount of money he’d saved up. Last night he chose to loan out Cerci and Pato for 21 days, while swapping Cristiano Ronaldo for Arjen Robben and Thiago Silva for Kolo Toure with Los Bentidos, the #2 ranked side in the world.

Because the deals were perceived to be unfair, especially the loaning out of two world class players, he’s been placed under a transfer embargo while the moderators investigate. Without wishing to judge Peter, his motivations and his actions, in my personal view his aim wasn’t to destabilise the gameworld. What I didn’t predict was the severe backlash against Peter by certain people who I won’t name.

I usually try not to get involved, but I was disgusted by certain people berating him publicly and telling him he’d ruined the gameworld and that he should leave. I’m not amazingly friendly with Peter, we chat occasionally and we’ve done one or two deals in the past, but no-one should deserve to be hounded like that, even if they’ve intentionally destabilised the gameworld. People who have cheated in the past have not been treated as harshly and unfairly as Peter was last night. It makes me wonder about their motives – would certain peoples’ reactions have been less severe had the team at the centre of the transfers not been the best team in the world with one of the most high profile managers?

In other news…

I played Alex Leemans’ Eagle Warriors for the third time this preseason in the final of the AEFA Invitational, a preseason tournament for members of the AEFA. I managed a tight 2-1 victory to grab the trophy, with both sides looking very strong. The semi-final between Alex’s side and Bohemians FC was probably the match of the tournament, the former squeezing through on penalties.

The competition…

2009-03-05T07:11:00.002Z

Like last season, I’ll give a run down of some of the competition for the next season. If I’ve missed you out, don’t be offended, but I wasn’t about to do a team profile (from memory) of everyone’s teams in the league! In no particular order:

Eagle Warriors

Last years deserved champions set a terrifying pace. I was encouraged that my side kept up with them, and that, ultimately, my side had the chance to win the title in their own hands and let it slip. Alex Leeman has brought in a few new players, including the impressive Ashley Young for the left wing. We’ve played each other twice in the AEFA preseason tournament and I’ve come away with two wins, but it being preseason, that doesn’t count for much.

Key players: Jo, Leandro Lima, Ashley Young

Beaulieu FC

In the three seasons of the Premiership, my side has finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd, so we’ve proven that we’ve got the staying power and consistency to remain title challengers for the coming season. With a new and improved left wing in place, things are looking good for the coming season.

Key players: Martin Caceres, Julio Baptista, Guilherme

Bohemians FC

Derek Tobin’s side has progressed nicely through the rankings and finished very strongly to claim 3rd and a gold cup place for this season. He still holds the #1 ranking for youth and has started to bring through world class players into his first team. The signing of Antonio Valencia fills a hole in his right wing that could see him push for the title. Once again, Bohemians are my pick as the dark horse for the league title (which will probably be much to his amusement).

Key players: Adrian Mutu, Fausto Rossi, Luca Cigarini

Huntstown Villa FC

Derek pipped his brothers’ side to the gold cup place, but Mark still has a strong side. My personal bogey team has reinforced defensively, signing Marcel Jansenn for left back and Erick Delgado for between the sticks. I expect another strong season, although I’m hoping to avoid him in the cup this season!

Key players: Christian Chivu, Jeremy Matthieu, Oleg Husyev

AFC Carpathia

Barry has always been a top 10 side in the premiership and has bought well over the last few weeks. Scott Davidson (wonderkid regen) has come in on the right wing while Adriano has arrived in the place of Defoe upfront. His team has seen some impressive results of late, so there’s no reason he can’t go one better this season and push for trophies.

Key players: Adriano, Matthieu Valbuena, Leighton Baines

Worksop Wednesday

Neil’s side are perennially unlucky and he was hit fairly hard by stadiums, but he’s once again brought together a strong side of the coming season. Everton and Jonas remain on the wings, with Insua pulling the strings from midfield. Strong at the back, no-one will enjoy playing Neil away from home.

Key players: Jonas, Frederico Insua, Everton

Monobrow City

Alun’s side has been partially gutted by the huge problems he’s suffered as a result of the introduction of stadiums. His team will be weakened for the first few weeks of the season with Ramsey and Dzeko still out on loan, but he’s bought sensibly. Lucas Biglia comes in to act as the holding midfielder and he’s still got many bright young prospects such as right wing sensation Barry Campbell. Come the end of the season, I expect his side to be there or there abouts.

Key players: Lucas Biglia, Rene Adler, Gareth Bale

Toon Town

Arno’s side fell away a little at the end of the last season to let Barry Welch overtake him into 5th. He’s still got quality players, but most of the players he’s bought in over the off-season have been focused on youth, while he’s let Metzelder go on a free. Ruben Garcia remains a quality addition, however, and with his young players gaining maturity, I wouldn’t discount a very good season from Laurito & co.

Key Players: Frederico Laurito, Andersen Azvedo, Osvaldo Torres

The Team (Season 5)

2009-03-03T06:59:00.000Z

Although the start of the 5th season isn’t until the end of the week, the limited funds available mean that this will almost certainly be the starting lineup for Beaulieu FC in their bid to reclaim the All Evening Premiership crown.

GK – Helton

The experienced Brazilian shot-stopper is a new signing for The Blues and so far he’s excelled in preseason. An average rating of above 7 for a goalkeeper is outstanding and, although he’s not kept many clean sheets, Beaulieu FC haven’t lost many matches with him commanding the back line.

DR – Nelson

Nelson is going into his second season at Beaulieu FC and this is one of the few positions where there may be changes as, based on his previous season, he doesn’t deserve a lock. Although spectacularly solid in defence, he’d promised to form the best attacking right wing in the gameworld, but had failed to deliver going forward. A big season will be expected from the Portuguese right back.

DL – Balzaretti

The veteran, versatile Italian fullback will be given the starting birth at left back for the coming season. He’s got bags of ability and so far in preseason he’s performed well both in defence and going forward. A valuable addition to Beaulieu’s backline, as a lot of the goals conceded last season came from Pernia’s mistakes.

DC – Radoi

Another member of the Beaulieu FC defensive line also on the wrong side of 30, never-the-less Radoi is an impressive central defender who is able to play with the ball at his feet as well. Great technical skills are matched with good strength and ability in the air and outstanding mental attributes. Beaulieu FC’s captain really marshals the backline.

DC – Caceres

Martin Caceres is one of the real veterans of Beaulieu FC. He’s progressed into one of the best defenders in the world and is a rock at the back. He’s brilliant in the air, blessed with pace, he has great mental skills and fantastic technical ability. Best of all, at the start of the 5th season he turns 25, meaning he’s got many more years of service for Beaulieu FC.

MR – Dani Alves

Put simply, my best player. With over £50,000 wages, he’d have to be pretty special and he hasn’t failed to deliver over all 4 seasons of his career at Beaulieu FC. Could the money be better spent elsewhere? Possibly, but Dani Alves encapsulates everything that Beaulieu FC stands for – attacking, attractive, flair football.

ML – Menez

Menez was an impressive capture for Beaulieu FC who fits in nicely with the team. He hasn’t got the best crossing ability compared to some other wingers, but with Guilherme upfront, that’s not the most important consideration. Importantly, he can play a multitude of positions and likes playing inside his fullback, allowing a fluid attacking formation to also be interchangeable. At 24, he’s also got the best years of his career ahead of him.

MC – Johnson

Last years player of the season returns to link midfield and attack and he’s going from strength to strength. A complete box-to-box midfielder with good defensive and attacking skills, another big season is expected of the young Englishman.

AMC – Aissiti

With the arrival of Menez, Aissiti has moved into a more central role. With stats more suited to be a midfield playmaker than a winger, Aissiti has enjoyed his change in role, with goals and assists arriving more frequently for the Dutch maestro. He’s linked up well with Menez and hopefully he’ll be able to build upon his impressive first season.

AMC – Baptista

The beast is staying at Beaulieu! He’d been up for grabs at wage auction, but with so many other quality players available no-one chose to pay £30,000 a day for an aging midfielder. That’s their mistake. The Beast is one of the best players in the world and he’s often the difference to turn 1 point into 3. He’s not just a brilliant passer, he’s got stunning finishing and long shots and he’s immense in the air. So far in the fourth season he’s got over 0.5 goals per game from midfield. Immense.

FC – Guilherme

Alongside Caceres, Guilherme is the longest serving player at Beaulieu FC. The first two seasons he was impressive, but he’d gone completely off the boil in the third to the extent that he averaged under 7 and had less than a goal per two games – awful for a leading teams’ main striker. This season he’s been prolific with 34 goals in 36 games in the league and an overall return of 0.8 goals per game. For someone who doesn’t take freekicks and doesn’t go up for corners, it’s an amazing return. Still only 23, he’s going to be Beaulieu FC’s leading striker for the next decade (so until next Christmas!!).

Two big names join Beaulieu FC

2009-03-01T08:29:00.004Z

I've bid on many, come close on some and failed miserably on others, but I've secured two huge names for the coming season. Menez needs no introduction and adds world class quality on the left wing, with the ability to play centrally and upfront. Balzarreti replaces Pernia at left back with no small amount of ability. Both have started their careers with great distinction.

Close but no cigar…

2009-02-27T22:18:00.006Z

I knew I had a chance going into the final day of the season, but I also knew I’d have to win all of my remaining matches to have a realistic chance of winning the league. I managed to thump Monobrow 5-1 and I dominated Humberside but only came away with a 2-1 victory. But the match away to Seeks is where my season finally stumbled to a halt. With 5 minutes left in the match, Aissiti whipped a perfect cross into the box right onto the head of Julio Baptista 2 yards from goal. He headed over the top. Two minutes later, he did it again. Some things just aren’t meant to be. My congratulations go to Alex Leeman and his side Eagle Warriors who put together a brilliant season to edge me to the title. Roll on next season!

Transfer News

A couple of transfers in and out of The Anchor have occurred since I last updated. The first saw the lightning Mexican Enrique Esqueda head for pastures new. He had great stats and had performed admirably in the second season, grabbing a goal every other game. Unfortunately, he’d mightily struggled this season, managing less than one in 3 while often playing as the lead striker in my team. His contract was up at the end of the season and he was demanding a £12,000 pay rise – in other words, he was on his way out of the club.

After contacting a lot of people about a deal, I managed to secure a swap for a young striker with a great future, Julian Kipre. In a real baptism of fire, two of his first matches were in the Gold Cup Quarter Finals as the lead striker in my formation. In 2 legs he had a hand in all my goals, scoring twice and winning a penalty for Baptista to convert. Blessed with both pace and aerial ability, I’m looking forward to seeing good things from the young African.

Another player shown the door was Slovenian legend Samir ‘Sammy Hands’ Handanovich. He’d performed well enough over the fourth season, but he’d not been exceptional. A few big errors in cup and league games had also cost me matches and points. Although on a reasonable wage of 13,500, I realised there were cheaper options available to me. As he was never going to be locked next season, I secured a straight swap for Brazilian shot-stopper Helton. Give his recent real-life gaffs, this may come back to shoot me in the foot, but it’s freed up a fair chunk of wage for use in the upcoming wage auctions and he’s got good stats.

Other players shown the door were Romanian winger Copil, Argentinian striker Villa, Turkish defender Kacar and Finnish shot-stopper Bahne for a combined fee of around £900,000. Further exits are likely, with a deal seeing Argentine ‘keeper Navarro leaving the club expected to be confirmed later today and legendary left-back Pernia on borrowed time and in transfer auction.

With wage auctions about to hit top gear this evening, I expect a few additions to the squad before the next season begins. Chief priority is a new left fullback for the coming season, although I’m lined up a list of targets in other positions that I’ll be having a look at this evening.

Team of the Season

GK – Handanovich

DR – Nelson
DL – Pernia
DC – Caceres
DC – Onouha

MR – Dani Alves
ML – Aissiti
MC – Johnson
AMC – Julio Baptista
AMC – Moreno

ST – Guilherme

Player of the Season

A few contenders for this, but the two big new arrivals at the start of the season – Aissiti and Johnson – really added an extra dimension to The Blues’ game. It was the latter who really came to the fore, however. Chipping in with goals and assists, Johnson was put simply the complete midfielder. He’d score a crashing volley at one end before running the length of the pitch to make that vital tackle which earns you a point. More than that, he acted as the engine for the entire team, picking the ball from defence and launching virtually every attack. Put simply, he’s indispensable, and because of that, my player of the season for season 4 is Michael Johnson.

Youth Team of the Season

GK – McIntosh

DR – Camara
DL – Benedetti
DC – Bellomo
DC – Eduardo

MC – Moreno
MC – Herreros
MC – Rozhkov

ST – Allotey
ST – Anghel
ST – Kipre

Youth Player of the Season

My youth team hardly set the world alight this season, but it was such an improvement over last season it’s unbelievable. I’m now touching on the edges of a top 50 youth ranking, which is an improvement of almost 100 places since the start of the season. The three strikers present in my side have been good if not great, but they’ve not been in my team long enough to be considered for this award. Similarly, Artur Moreno has been fantastic but only in short bursts. When considering the entire season, only one player really comes to mind and that is Endika Herreros. The Spanish winger and centre midfielder as been a star in my side and I’m hoping he’ll progress into really quite a good player over the next few seasons in my youth teams.

Last day...

2009-02-26T07:34:00.002Z

Things couldn't be tighter at the top. Eagles is three points ahead with 2 games left, against FC Zurich and AFC Carpathia. I have three games left, against a severely depleted Monobrow, Seeks and Humberside. Three wins out of three won't guarantee me the title, but it'd give me a great shot - need to score a fair few goals as well. My only hope is that Barry Welch of Cartpathia can nick something and mean that three wins in itself would be enough.

In other news, I'm out of the Gold Cup. Having made it to the semi finals, I faced COYS and my team fell apart in the first leg, losing 6-3 (buting coming back from 5-0 down and down to 10 men..). The second leg was a different matter and with 20 minutes to go I was leading 3-1, needing one more goal to secure my place in the final. It wasn't to be - as I pushed further forward, Pato sneaked one at the other end to secure an 8-6 win for COYS over 2 brilliant legs.

I also managed to swap Esqueda for a young striker with immense potential. I'll try and post something here over the close season.

A big win for Beaulieu...

2009-02-20T22:24:00.004Z

A huge win against Eagle Warriors saw my side open up a 10 point gap at the top of the Premiership. A tight game saw a host of chances spurned by the Eagles, who clearly missed the injured Leandro Lima. After losses to Los Benditos in GW Cup and FC Census in Prem Cup, I'll be going all out for the league over the next week.

Some thoughts on my teams, wage auctions and finance.

2009-02-19T13:31:00.000Z

Having read back through that previous update I realised it was short, rushed and rubbish. I therefore decided to write a new piece to post in its place, with an update about how things are going.

The World Youth Cup had put me in a tough group, from which I qualified at the expense of some very good youth teams (including Yinka’s top 10 side SE1 UTD). Over the last few days though, I was really brought back down to earth. My side was clearly outclassed by John Odie’s Southside United in the knockout stages and the gap in rankings (70 to 30) was clearly evident as I went down 2-0.

Next came the biggest reality check for my young side so far. Facing the imperious Bohemians FC – the #1 youth side in the world – we were destroyed. Having grabbed a draw vs Yinka and even beating Copehagen Wonderboys, I was hoping for something a little closer. What followed was a systematic destruction of my side, with wonderkid Fausto Rossi on the left wing put simply, not just a class above, but two or three. He got a hatrick as my side trudged off the pitch having lost 6-0 – my worst defeat at any level. Of course, not everyone can be near the top, but clearly there is work to be done. At senior level, things are going better. Eagle Warriors are still charging forward with breathtaking pace, but miraculously, my side are keeping in touch. We’re now 2 points behind with 2 games in hand and a record of 14W 2D 1L from 17 games. It’s unbelievable to consider I’m not top by a mile considering I’ve only dropped 7 points from a possible 51.

There were three or four potential wonderkids up for auction last night. I was surprised at how low each of these 5 star potential youngsters went for – two at £7,500 and one at £7,000. This is a real measure of the progress made under the impact of stadiums, as previously kids this good could have gone for £40,000 a day.

I decided not to bid on any of these high potential youngsters until I get a true measure of my projected finances. At the moment, I have most of my team ‘unlocked’ with regard to contracts in order to artificially increase my financial projection. This is due to the fact that the projection only takes into account the stadium that is built, rather than the stadium that is being built. With my corporate boxes arriving in 4 days time and 26,000 Astilla seats arriving a day or two after that, I should have a much better picture of my finances by this time next week. I’m currently sitting pretty in my financial projection on almost £1m, but with the game thinking I’m dumping almost £130,000 a day in wages, that’s not a surprise. My wages have bloated to an unsustainable £260,000, which will probably be increased by approximately £15,000 to £275,000 in the next round of contract extensions. With wage tax this means my daily outgoings would be around £300,000, which is probably sustainable given my total income, but in my mind is wasteful. I’ve already lined up a couple of exits from Beaulieu FC towards the end of the season, which will both slightly reduce the wage bill and simultaneously add to the war-chest, but more are sure to follow as I look to trim my senior squad.

Transfers

2009-02-17T21:05:00.001Z

The big deal saw Beaulieu FC stalwart Nedum Onouha depart the club. having joined shortly after it's foundation, he'd been a key member throughout seasons 1, 2 and 3. Unfortunately, I decided this deal was too good to turn down bearing in mind the need to keep as many locks as possible free. He departed for COYS1 with Romanian legend Mirel Radoi and £850,000 moving the other way.

Also joining the club are two hot prospects. Anghel is a speedy young striker and Campbell is hopefully a long term solution for the left back problem. Both were secured at wage auction considerably below what Beaulieu were willing to pay.

Market Value

2009-02-17T12:17:00.000Z

This has been an issue a lot of people have been up in arms about, recently. A previous update (either 1.0.1 or 1.1.1 - I forget) introduced the hard-coded rule that you could not sell a player via private transfer for less than half market value. I've encountered problems with it in many different situations, but here's just two:

- I had some decent enough squad players, AF 40-60k, market values ranging from 600k to 800k. I wanted to sell two of these - I spent the whole day trying to find a buyer, at any price. I ended up offering both of them to any 3 star potential youngster I could find, to no avail. The long and the short of it - noone wanted them. Miracously I managed to find a buyer - I settled on a price of 400,000 for both, a brilliant deal for me considering I was contemplating releasing them. In steps the game - that deal isn't good enough for you, you can't sell them for that price! I went to the mods to try and find a way around the deal, explaining I, as the selling party, was ecstatic with the deal. Unfortunately, I was told that nothing could be done and I'd have to come up with a 'fair' deal. Market value, and the ascociated code enforcing 50% minimum price, had stopped me doing what was a brilliant deal.

- I've wanted to swap quite a few players for other players. In the new financial climate, trading players for players is the new currency. Unfortunately, every time you sign a player, there is a 100% profit tax based on what you signed them for - in the case of wage auctions, their aquisition fee - which decreases over the next 28 days. This results in you having to pay a percentage of the difference between aquisition fee and market value. With market value still so massively inflated above aquisition fee (in most cases, this is still 5-6 times aquisistion fee), it makes players you buy on wage auction, or cheaply in transfer auction, unsellable and unswappable for the first month of their two month contract.

I'm not saying in the second situation that something is wrong, just that it just further compounds the problems that exist within the transfer market currently. It's hard enough trying to buy or sell players from the 300-500 active managers in the gameworld without further imposing that you can't buy or sell someone, realistically, within the first month of signing them.

In other news:

Beaulieu FC got knocked out of the All Evening Cup in the third round to Huntstown Villa. Two corner goals (grrr) and a deflected long range strike didn't tel lthe story of a match in which Beaulieu FC had the significantly better chances. There's also been movement on the transfer front, which I'll post up tonight when I can grab some screenshots.

Stadiums (or the mistaken belief in investing in stadiums)

2009-02-16T14:02:00.002Z

After a gruelling period where my financial projection has resembled a cliff, the first of my two stands has now been completed and the first elements (a paltry 3 advertising boards) have been completed. Within the next week and a bit, I should have most of my stadium built, which should see my income sizeably increase.

I’ve so far managed to pay off around 8.5m of my stadium, with the final 2m due out over the next 6 weeks or so. With my projection (hopefully) going to look more than healthy after my seats are finally built, I decided to have a look at upgrading one of the other basic stands in favour of a 2-Tier Stand with corporate and advertising provision.

After some playing around, the shortest period of time I could make any investment break even over was 100 days. That’s 100 days + build time, meaning that any investment wouldn’t even break even for another 4 seasons, give or take a week. Admittedly, if you’re playing a long term game over 10 or 20 seasons, that investment seems a good bit of business. But considering that my new daily income will be touching on 290k (not including media money or minimum prize money), is it really worth investing that amount of money for such a poor overall payoff? This brought me round to thinking about other ways of making/investing your money within the game.

Competitions – an easy one – entering competitions, especially DYM competitions, can result in an easy profit. But with new rules considering the balance of prize money and minimum time for competitions to run, this is a game and time-heavy option. Yes, teams can quickly turn £50,000 into £100,000 using DYM competitions, but this isn’t an answer to making huge amounts of money due to the competition prize money tax imposed at the end of every season. A small amount of money can be gained through these means, but given the amount going out in wages every season, it’s negligible after the first couple of seasons.

Stadiums – As discussed above, provide an increase to your daily income. Unfortunately, it takes at least 3 seasons for any investment I could make to break even, so this option is seemingly aimed solely at those playing a very long term game.

Players – pre-stadiums and taxes, money simply wasn’t worth having. It was far better to invest this in players as quickly as you physically could, because, put simply, inflation was so rampant as to leave your money comparatively worthless within a week, if not a few days. All of a sudden, with stadiums coming in, everyone wanted money and people sold players until no-one wanted players anymore. However, this situation won’t remain indefinately – money will flow back into the game eventually, especially as peoples stadiums are completed. In my personal case, I’m expecting a 3-4m increase in my projected balance, a whopping figure some of which I’ll have to spend in order to avoid tax.

Therefore, is buying players such a bad option? Case in point – I spent £68,000, £3,000 a day and £30,000 signing on fee for a player. He was never going to be good enough for my first team and I loaned him out to a fellow AEFA side lower down the divisions. Here he starts every game and has seen his value rocket. I have paid half his wages, but this could be considered to be doubled as I am (just) over the £250,000 a day threshold for wage tax. Over 28 days (the period of time required for the automatic sell on percentage to reach 0), my investment could therefore be considered to have cost £182,000. If I sell him for half market value, a good deal for both parties for considering how well he is playing and something the other party has indicated he is interested in doing, I stand to make £348,000 profit on an initial investment of £182,000. In effect, I will have roughly doubled my money within a season – as opposed to the 6-8 seasons this would take by investing in stadiums. Moreover, by investing in youth at £10,000 initial cost, £200 wages and £2,000 signing on fee the margins are dramatically increased as well as having the bonus of having them locked for the foreseeable future. Of course, this depends on selling players, but over the next 3 or 4 seasons, this, in my humble opinion, is guaranteed.

It seems odd to advocate the buying of players at a time when the market is dead and everyone else is selling, but if you take a medium term view and invest wisely (no OAPs, no huge wages and no tat) it could be the best way to increase your bank balance.

Mid-season update

2009-02-16T14:01:00.000Z

I’d guess we’re about halfway through the 4th season in Saunders and things have gone pretty well so far. Beaulieu FC are still in the running for most of the major competitions, which is a nice change considering our usual tendency for early exists (despite usually getting incredibly tough early fixtures in knockout competitions).

The Premiership has gone very well, indeed. I avoided playing matches for the first week or so while the one man win-machine that is Dani Alves was injured. Since then we’ve gone from strength to strength, with a record of 11W, 2D 1L from the first 14 games. This puts us 1 point and 1 game ahead of surprise contenders Eagle Warriors and is especially impressive considering Caceres picked up a 5 match suspension.

Eagle Warriors goals have mostly come from the immense, towering, Brazilian striker Jo. However, a former fans favourite is running the midfield in the form of Leandro Lima. An initial pick for the Beaulieu FC squad, the Brazilian maestro switched allegiances shortly after the second season had begun, after an immense first season, for a hefty fee. He’s gone from strength to strength in the mean time and is really powering their title charge.

The Premiership Cup – a competition open to all members of the premiership – has gone well too. A record of 6 wins and 2 losses from our group stage saw Beaulieu FC easily qualify for the quarter finals with an impressive 18 points, where other top sides, such as Toon Town and AFC Carpathia, fell short. Hopeful of a good draw, this could be the first cup competition our side has managed to win.

The All Evening Cup has also gone well, despite only squeezing through on penalties in the second round after Dani Alves got himself sent off. The third round is due to be played this evening, another tough draw in the form of Huntstown Villa, with Workshop Wednesday awaiting the winners.

The Gold Cup - the FML equivalent of the Champions League – has also seen some good results for the Blues. We were dawn in a tough group alongside 3 other top 50 teams (including the worlds’ #1 youth side), but being a consistent member of the top 5 ensured that we were always likely to progress. A record of 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss (conceded when both Dani Alves and Nelson were injured) was enough to see us through to the last 16.

Here we were drawn against the impressive Toronto FC – home of Saviet, Walcott, Danny and Modric. Fortunately, the latter two were injured for both legs of the tie, tipping the odds in our favour. Beaulieu FC managed an impressive 3-0 home leg victory, but looked to be crashing out when down 4-0 at half time in the second leg. Issiati stepped up to the plate and scored a crashing strike in off the post, before winning a free kick which Pernia converted, leaving the final score 4-2 to Toronto FC, 5-4 to the Blues on aggregate. With many great sides left in the competition, nothing can be taken for granted, but I’m glad to have made it to the quarter finals – the furthest I’ve made it in any UFFA competition so far.

As previously outlined, the youth competitions have seen a marked improvement over last season. A period of mixed results has seen us slip down the projected final positions, but we’re still comfortably mid-table at both U19 and U21. Qualification from the AE Youth Cup and World Youth Cup has also been achieved, although tough draws will probably see Beaulieu FC’s involvement end here. Never-the-less, it’s an impressive turn around for a side who scraped to finish 18th in the AEFA U21’s last season. With the youngsters generally being 19 or under, they’ve still got a couple of years left at this level in which to improve and I’m hopeful 3 or 4 of them might have the required potential to make the step up to the first team in the coming seasons.

There’s still a long way to go and a lot of good sides left in the running in all the competitions, but Beaulieu FC are still in with a shout for all of them, and you gotta be in it to win it!

A focus on youth… (2)

2009-02-14T08:10:00.000Z

Moreno is young and has bags of ability. A straight swap for Guana may again seem a steep price, but to get a player of this quality on low wages for a player not able to get into the starting lineup is a bargain.

Allotey is a top young striker with a very high potential. A high pricewas paid - a straight swap for Monteiro - but considering Monteiro wasn't going to be locked and was either stinking up the RW or sitting on the bench, the deal looks a lot better.

The team have been doing very well, currently sitting top of the U21s and second in the U19s (by virtue of games played, admittedly), with qualification for the world youth cup and the AE youth cup looking assured.

My youth ranking has steadily improved as well, with my kids doing well against most teams, including teams who previously thumped them and teams currently in the top 10 of the youth rankings. Senior rankings are thrown in as well, with my side currently sitting in 4th.

A focus on youth…

2009-02-13T21:58:00.001Z

Throughout the three season history of Beaulieu FC, it would be fair to say that the youth team has been an afterthought. During the first season, when I had two extraordinary U21 players in Caceres and Guilherme, I didn’t manage to create a youth team until right at the end. This was a golden period where my youth peaked at ranked 18th in the world with Guilherme overpowering at that level.

As players aged, my youth teams powers dwindled and they drifted out to ranked 150th. A mediocre group was broken up only by the odd flash of talent – Bjorn Sigurdsen was a shining light for two seasons before his depature and Danny Welbeck was the sole catalyst in lifting my U21s from the bottom of the youth leagues up to the bottom of the also-rans last season. With both of those star strikers gone, I was set to disband my youth team in a drive to reduce wages to get one last world class star into my team. I had a player in mind and had proposed a deal subject to a reduction in my wages, but someone gazumped me at the last and forced me to re-evaluate my priorities.

I looked around the Gameworld and I’ve started to see the emergence of a new set of teams near the top of the rankings. Down Is The New Up have always focused on youth (although having Aguero upfront really does help), but after 4 seasons the youngsters are starting to turn into world class players. Another team, Bernanrd Mendy Football Club, disappeared for 3 seasons, but now has a team full of 4-5 star potential players and I fully expect him to rise up the rankings shortly. And you only have to look to Toon Town and Bohemians FC in the AEFA to see the benefits of having a strong youth side.

There are obviously pros and cons to a long term strategy such as this. Without youngsters who are already world class, it’s difficult to maintain a challenge on both the senior and youth fronts. It can also be very expensive – in the past top quality youth have gone for well over £30,000 a week. The top price paid was for an English wunderkind, Gavin Phillips (a Gerrard-like box to box midfielder), who ended up on a wage of £60,000 a day. However, with the tightening of finances imposed by the introduction of stadiums and signing on fees, people are being far more sensible with their wage auction signings. World class players are going for their wage demand while youth are rarely seen to go for over £10,000.

Therefore, I decided to put together a youth team with the idea of picking a bunch of 17-18 year olds and letting them develop over the next couple of seasons. Early signs have been promising, with a record of W7, D3, L4 in the U21 league and a qualification place for the knockout stages of the U21 cup seemingly assured. The lads only managed 8 wins in 44 games last season, so the improvement is already immense. There are no superstars in my youth side as of yet, but every single one has a good level of potential. I’m looking to add to both the depth and the quality of my youth side by exchanging some of my peripheral senior players for good young prospects.

And another one bites the dust…

2009-02-11T21:53:00.000Z

This past week has seen the loss of not one but another two high profile teams. Espen had decided he’d taken his Scandinavian only side as far as he could, amazingly into the top 10, and after losing out on Skejlbred, decided a fresh start in the new world Metgod was what he wanted. On the flip side Tom Hughes of Hughes Control completely lost the plot, spouting racist and offensive materiel in the Help lobby when he realised he didn’t have the cash needed for a stadium and he was going to go bankrupt. Just 20 minutes before the start of the season, he decided to jump ship rather than battle on.

I fear that there will be more top ranking teams falling by the wayside by the end of the next season. I already know of one manager who hasn’t built a stadium at all – he’s invested everything into one last season, one push for glory, before he seeks pastures new. I see quite a few sides who are clearly not prepared in any way shape or form, and Saunders will lose a number of players before the real impact of stadiums is seen. On the up side, we had a large influx of new players during the off-season, so we’re still one of the most populated and active Gameworlds.

In other news, Marko’s Magicians have managed to sign Luca Toni – free after Marc Thom’s departure. As last seasons’ top scorer in the AEFA Premiership, he’s a top addition to an already good side and should ensure that Mark’s side are there or there abouts come the end of the season. I’m yet to play any league games, but so far no side has really raced out of the blocks so the league is there for the taking.

Finally, if you like what you’re reading, make sure to give me a good rating at http://www.footballmanagerlive.com/community/fan-sites.php. It’s currently somewhere around page 3.

The competition

2009-02-10T18:23:00.000Z

With Marc Thom’s Theatre of Dreams exiting the Gameworld, a gap has been left to be filled at the top of the AEFA Premiership. Here’s a look at some of the other contenders for the title…

Monobrow City

Alun spent the third season playing with a Welsh only side, managing survival only by the narrowest of margins. This season the full team is back, with Dzeko and Foti leading the line, Ramsey at CM, Bale at LB and the monster that is Adler between the sticks. The only question mark over the coming season are the finances, as Monobrow are known to be dangerously close to being insolvent ahead of the switch to stadium based income (See my earlier post with regards to stadiums and future projection to understand why).

Toon Town

Arno Nel’s side have snuck up the Gameworld rankings into the top 20 and are a financially sound, low wage team. With the impressive Frederico Laurito and Xisco upfront and young wonderkid Osvaldo on the bench, this young side really have matured over the last two seasons. Beaulieu FC have had the better of the results in recent times, but this side is definitely not to be underestimated.

Rice ‘n’ Furry FC

Any side featuring a front pairing of Cassano and Quagliarella is to be feared. One of the most prolific front lines last season was backed up by a solid midfield and defence. Again, question marks over Toto Trans’ finances create a large hole in their title challenge, with rumours that Cassano is up for sale.

AFC Carpathia

Barry Welch’s side may be an odd pick for a title challenge, but they’ve been in and around the top half for two seasons in a row. He’s bought wisely over the last couple of weeks to strengthen his squad without blowing his wage budget and he’s got a nice stadium on the way. Defoe upfront backed up by Valbuena, Rameriz and tactical ability ensures his place among my pick for the title contenders

Bohemians FC

A side who have been in the bottom half of the table for a while may be a very unusual place to expect a title challenge, but I’m picking Derek Tobin’s side as the dark horses for the coming competition. An emphasis on producing great quality youth has seen Bohemians near the top of the youth rankings for a long time and his players are starting to really come of age. Fausto Rossi on the left wing is deadly-effective and Mutu upfront bristles with threat. A recent friendly saw Beaulieu FC emerge with a 4-4 draw, thanks only to wonder-goals by Guilherme, underlining the attacking prowess present in Derek’s side.

There are, of course, other serious contenders like Marko’s Magicians, Huntstown Villa and so on – those are just my pick of a few of them. :)

The Team (Season 4)

2009-02-09T13:18:00.000Z

The comings and goings at The Anchor have been extensive, but the core of the first team remains the same. I would post up all the transfers, but there have been so many ins and outs, as well as ins then outs, that it’d take all day. So without further delay, here is the Beaulieu FC team hoping to retain the AEFA Premiership title for the coming season:

GK - Samir Handanovich

Rogerio Ceni was about to turn 39 and it was clear that I was going to need a new keeper sooner rather than later. When the Slovenian shot stopper became available in auction, I decided he was the man to fill the legendary Brazilians shoes and managed to secure him to a 2 season contract.

DR – Nelson

Dani Alves was immense at right back for the first three seasons, but I was very short of cover in defence. Nelson was a player I had wanted for a long time, but was always priced out of a move. When I saw he was available at wage auction, I made him my number one priority and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the blue and white shirt of Beaulieu FC.

DL – Mariano Pernia

Following the sale of Zambrano, Guardado had ‘enjoyed’ a very poor season at left back. This wasn’t helped by my very attacking formation, with the full backs providing both the only width in my team and the only defence down the sides. Pernia is no spring chicken, but he’s got enough pace about him to hold down the left wing on his own. More importantly, I’d never had a brilliant free-kick taker – with 19 freekicks and good PPMs, Pernia is worth a couple of points a season in the extra goals and assists alone.

DC – Martin Caceres

Martin has blossomed into one of the best defenders in the game, especially considering his relatively low wages. He’s a monster in the air, with brilliant, rounded technical skills and amazing mental abilities. He’s pretty quick, too.

DC – Nedum Onouha

Onouha started his Beaulieu FC career at right back as I judged his aerial ability, or lack of, would be a severe hinderence to the team. I moved him inside to CB during the second season and he’s gone from strength to strength. With some of the best physical stats in the game – he’s lightning quick AND good in the air – he’s added very solid mental abilities and very good defensive technical skills. He recently got the extra half star reputation to become World Famous and he’s truly formed what is arguably one of the best defensive partnerships in the Gameworld.

MR – Dani Alves

I always wanted to deploy Dani Alves further forward down the right wing, where he can truly damage the opponent. With the signing of Nelson, I’ve been able to release the one man whirlwind and his performances have been nothing short of match winning in pre-season. Along with Nelson, forms perhaps the best right wing in Saunders.

ML – Ismail Aissati

After losing Guardado, I was looking for someone who could play both the left wing and centre-midfield. Aissiti was available in transfer auction and I decided that he was the player my team needed. Very, very pricey at 4.5m (including agents fees) when cast against a backdrop of wage auctions and world class free agents, but he’s been a revelation down the left wing. I eventually plan to move him centrally, but that will involve more signings, a tactical change and yet more players left out of the team!

MC – Michael Johnson

After Roberto Guana succumbed to a 2 week injury, my need for a new CM became more pressing. After deciding I wasn’t going to play with 3 strikers in the coming season, I was touting around Welbeck when the owner of Johnson showed interest, offering some of his other players. I eventually proposed a straight swap, which was of interest to both parties so the deal was done. I’ve given him more liscence to roam forward than Guana and he’s not disappointed as he’s been a revelation in midfield, acting as the anchor at The Anchor and neatly linking the play.

MC – Julio ‘The Beast’ Baptista

Put simply, the man is a monster in this game. Bought prior to the market crash for 7.5m, he was one of the main reasons my team pulled through at the end of the season and won the title. In season 3 he’s averaged 0.4 goals per game from midfield, with almost that many assists and has added that extra dimension to the attack that has turned losses into draws and draws into wins.

FC – Enrique Esqueda

The Mexican wonderkid came to life in the first half of the second season, but his form died towards the end. He’s going into the second year of his two year contract and there is every chance the next few weeks will be his last opportunity to impress. Possesses blistering pace and great mental attributes, but lacks a little in technical ability that sees him spurning a fair number of chances.

FC – Guilherme

Guilherme has had a mixed third season. He peaked in the second season and really set the world alight with one of the highest goals per game in the Gameworld. But despite scoring for fun most of the time, in the league the goals dried up for the talented young Brazillian. I think the 4-3-3 system didn’t play to his strengths, but he managed less than 0.5 goals per game and an average rating of less than 7. Better things are expected of him this season, as a good cup run is long overdue.

Bench

A strong bench includes Nicholas Navarro (GK), Felipe Monteiro (MR/MC), Emmanuel Villa (ST) and Roberto Guana (MC).

Stadiums: A Retrospective View

2009-02-05T18:41:00.004Z

Over the last few weeks there has been a seismic shift in Football Manager Live. I obviously can’t comment from the perspective of a new Gameworld, but from the perspective of one moving into the 4th season, the effect has been astounding. Heres my stadium, followed by a few thoughts…

My stadium, “The Anchor”:

I redeveloped just two of the four stands. I erected a 3 Tier Mercantile Type I and filled it was Astilla seating, resulting in a capacity increase of 26,400. I also invested in an 3 Tier Ospitalia Type II, complete with two Flauta corporate boxes and 4,000 Di Lusso seats.

Total cost was just under 10.5m, with 7.5m paid upfront and the rest over the subsequent 8 weeks.
Projected stadium income is 223k.

The Transfer Market and Bankruptcy

Firstly, its effect on the transfer market has been nothing short of destructive. The amount of money that has been sucked out of the game is, put simply, unreal. This has resulted in no-one having any money to spend on players what-so-ever, with most trying to sell any player on anything approaching big wages for next nothing.

This has meant people like Theiry Henry being bought for £1 on a transfer auction, and players of the calibre of Luca Toni, Julio Cesar, Franco Semioli were not even receiving bids at the end of contract wage auctions. There are currently over 400 players available who are either high potential (greater than 4 star) or have an acquisition fee of over 50,000. There are several really great players who people just simply put, cannot afford. That doesn’t even include all the players who are available on wage auctions in the coming days.

The worst part of it is this makes it almost impossible to refresh your squad to keep ahead of the locks. I’ve done my best to keep my squad new, young and most importantly, ahead of locks, but it’s not been easy and this was greatly helped by the financial compensation. With players going for less than their acquisition fees in transfer auctions, I honestly can’t see when the market is going to pick up, as people seem to be getting into worse and worse financial problems rather than things getting better.

We’ve already had a couple of high profile exits from the Gameworld due to the paucity of several managers and the complete lack of options available to them. Some say they bought it on themselves by not planning far enough ahead, but even then it’s harsh to see so many people who just underestimated both the cost of the stadiums and the complete death of the transfer market. I was just fortunate enough to get a good understanding of how much it was going to cost and get ahead of the curve regarding sales.

Building Time

This was a personal annoyance of mine, but proved to be an issue with managers near the top end of the Gameworlds. The income switchover was scheduled for 28 days after the ability to start building your stadium was introduced. Unfortunately, to build the biggest stands with appropriate seat types takes a lot longer than 21 days. My biggest stand is taking 44 days to build with the seats – but I had to spend 3 and a half hours trying to work out what my financial projection was going to be given what I’d built. Someone on the forums said this and it struck a chord: We’re paying for a game, not a maths exam.

Stadiums and Financial Projections

This is another personal sore point, but one that is affecting a LOT of managers, whether they know it or not. The financial projection for the next 28 days is coded to project what you’ll make based on what the stadium you have BUILT will produce, not what you have building. This results in so called ‘Graphs of Death’ where the financial projection simply bombs after the income switchover. With drastic cost-cutting and the removal of auto-rebids and auto-extends, I’m currently sitting at -£800k – not a good situation to be in!! SI are looking at introducing a new patch, 1.1.2, ASAP to fix this issue, but it’s not looking good right now for a great number of managers, myself included.

Corporate Fans

My stadium will currently hold 35,000 people, of which 2,000 are corporate fans. Those corporate fans are going to bring in over 50% of the income. I understand that corporate fans bring in a lot of cash, but is one Flauta corporate box really equivalent to 26,400 fans?? I don’t know if this will be adjusted in the future – if it is, then a LOT of people will be out of pocket, as this was quickly identified as a quick route to a high daily income.

Overall, I feel like I saved enough cash and prepared wisely. Despite all of this, SI have made it almost impossible for me to stay afloat unless I had about £20m in cash before the switchover!! I’ll probably be financially fine, but it’s going to be a lean few weeks for Beaulieu FC!!

Controversy

2009-02-05T18:41:00.003Z

The whole of Saunders was talking about a deal I made and the moderators subsequently punished me for. I swapped Guardado (crushingly disappointing in Season 3) for 3 hot prospects – Neymar, Aaron and Fabio da Silva. This was generally considered a fair deal, even by the mods, but as the other manager was known to be leaving, all players involved were released.

After much talking in the lobby and in the forums, the moderators approached me and agreed that the punishment had been harsh and I was due financial compensation. This in itself was difficult as the market has absolutely died, so to put a figure on what a player is worth was very difficult, but we eventually came to an agreement.

Everyone can make mistakes, and I respect the moderators in Saunders for taking the time to talk the problem through with me – so let this be a lesson learnt – if you know someone is leaving, don’t do any deals with them whatsoever!

Season 3 Roundup

2009-02-05T18:41:00.001Z

First of all, I have to apologise for my lack of updating. The season got very, very busy very quickly and resulted in me not really having enough free time to blog.

Secondly, an update on how the season went – after the disastrous start my side never looked back. However, it looked like we’d thrown it away with some iffy results at the back end of the season.

With 3 games left each, Marc Thom’s Theatre of Dreams had to play the bottom three while I had to play Andersens, the irrepressible Maffe and my personal bogey team, Neil Baldwins’ Workshop Wednesday.

Marc miraculously managed to drop 2 points from the three games, meaning I ONLY had to win all 3 remaining games. After downing Andersens 4-2, it looked like I was down and out against Maffe when none other than Felipe Monteiro popped up with a 94th minute winner. The match against Workshop Wednesday was a tight affair, but I always looked in control and managed a somewhat surprisingly comfortable 2-1 win to claim the AEFA Premiership crown.

The team has undergone some dramatic changes and is looking very strong ahead of the title defence in the 4th season…

Going up in the world…

2009-01-23T12:06:00.000Z

Well, not the Gameworld rankings. As I write this I’m down to 4th in the world after the aforementioned somewhat dodgy results in the league. However, my league form has picked up and things are starting to look better…

AEFA Premier League

After a record of 2 draws and 2 losses from the opening 4 games, I felt things had started to turn around after a rugged 1-1 draw against Theatre of Dreams. A hard fought win against One World United chalked up the points total to 4 from 5 games, relegation form in all honesty. I’d gone from being the Barcelona of AEFA to the Tottenham.

Beaulieu FC 3 – 2 Ajax FC

After going 3-0 up, I thought this would be a relatively easy match. Ajax came back strongly, and with an impressive front 3 featuring Trezeguet and the former Anchor-man Chamakh, I was clinging on by the end. A valuable three points.

Wombles 0 – 1 Beaulieu FC

A tight win against The Wombles saw Onouha snatch a goal at the far post following confusion around a corner. In all honesty, we should have had the game in the bag but just couldn’t find the finishing touches. Caceres and Onouha managed to keep the imposing Guiza at bay for most of the match, keeping an impressive clean sheet.

Beaulieu FC 5 – 0 Johnsons Users

The most impressive match so far this season saw us completely wipe the floor with Johnsons Users. The clearly came to the Anchor looking for a point, but in a 4-5-1 formation featuring the ever-potent Brandao, they were always capable of scoring. Caceres and Onouha were imperious, taking Brandao out the game. With a mean defense, their was still plenty to be done but man of the match Felipe Monteiro netted a hatrick of stunning free-kicks to ensure the 3 points.

Beaulieu FC 3 – 0 Bohemians FC

Bohemians FC are a very strong side, featuring brilliant winger Rosi, Adrian Mutu and Luca Cigriani. The return of Guilherme, from injury, was the catalyst that was needed to spur Beaulieu FC on to victory and his two goals ensured the three points.

Beaulieu FC 0 – 2 Maffe

This match was a crushing blow. Despite dominating the game, the front threesome of Guilherme, Esqcueda and Welbeck simply couldn’t find the back of the net. A deflected goal saw Maffe take a 1-0 lead in at half time after managing just 1 shot and none on target. The second half saw Maffe have more of the game as the lads went searching for the equaliser, but an Ronaldhino corner saw Adriano meet the ball at the front post and secure a big win for Maffe.

Workshop Wednesday 2 – 2 Beaulieu FC

On the back of a demoralising result against Maffe, the lads clearly looked in poor form. When we took the lead early on, through … , things were looking bright. But then came possibly the defining moment of the match as Onouha was carried off the pitch, injured. His replacement, a 17yr old, simply wasn’t up to the job. He gave away a freekick on the edge of the area which was duly dispatched by Rat. Worse was to come when, deep into injury time, brazillian giant defender Cacapa was marked only by the 17 yr old, to head home. But that wasn’t the end of the match, as with seconds to go none other than Guilherme popped up to snatch a late and undeserved, point.

Noerrebro Rangers 1 – 3 Beaulieu FC

Noerrebro were sat right at the wrong end of the table and anything other than a win would have been a terrible result. Despite being very active, the manager chose to let it go to AI, rejecting or ignoring my challenges, which makes this victory all the sweeter. The lads sat back in the second half, but there was never any real danger of not picking up the three points.

Beaulieu FC 3 – 2 AFC Carpathia

After losing to Barry Welch’s AFC Carpathia at the start of the season, this was a grudge match. In reality, Carpathia set up defensively, hoping to nick something. When we went ahead through the worst deflection I’ve ever seen following a Guilherme thunderbolt. Caceres and Onouha had a real off day against the lively Defoe, and a mistake by the former let Defoe in for the equaliser. After taking the lead again, another mistake by the defence saw him through on goal to bring it back to two all. The game was won by the young Mexican forward Enrique Esqueda who nodded home Dani Alves’ powerful cross to bring home the points.

Beaulieu FC 0 – 2 Huntsdown Villa

A tough match for Beaulieu FC. Huntsdown managed just two shots on goal, while the lads carved out two clear cut chances. Fair play to Villa, though, they took their chances and took all three points from The Anchor – a bad result.

I'm up near the top of the league now, and there or there abouts in the projected points, so I'm happy considering my awful start. Will update on some more matches that I've played in the league soon.

Cups

Having somehow lost the AI rights, Hughes duly dispatched my AI side 2-0 in the All Evening Cup Last 16. The gold cup matches are due to be played by Saturday and I face a tough opponent, with players such as De Rossi, Schweinstieger and Utaka. The Gameworld Cup has seen me progress to the Last 16, where I'll almost certainly face the imperious COYS. Not hopeful. Will update as and when matches are played.

Comings and goings…

Most of the deals done in the last week or so have been aimed at increasing the balance of money at Beaulieu FC while trying to maintain the core of the squad.

Bjorn Sigurdsen

Out - £2,000,000 + 30%.

Bjorn was the future of the strike force for a long time, but although his potential was starting to be realised, so the space in the team dried up. With the arrival as Esqueda and Welbeck, along with the ever-present Guilherme, there was going to be no space for him for the foreseeable future. With Markus Bungert really starting to come on, it was time for Bjorn to find pastures new. A bid of £2m and 30% of future profit was good enough to see him leave.

Carlos Zambrano

Out - £3,800,000

Unlike Bjorn, Zambrano was a key member of the first team, acting as first choice left back and cover for the center for a long time. Even though he joined for a hefty £3m, the market has crashed in recent times, and an offer of £3.8m represented a very hefty amount for the talented and versatile centerback. All things considered, and with money needed, it was decided that Zambrano, although he would be missed, was not integral to the plans of Beaulieu FC.

Roberto

In - £1 / Out – £500,000

I managed to find this veteran in a £1 auction, and miraculously, actually got him for that fee. An absolute steal considering his market value was approaching £800k. Within 4 days, someone was looking for a quality goalkeeper and with an eye on a quick profit, Roberto found his way off of my bench and into Chris’ starting lineup.

Natalio

Out – £425,000

Natalio was never going to be more than a squad player at Beaulieu FC, but he’d done a job, coming off the bench and grabbing a handful of goals while tearing up the reserve league. A big of £425,000 was more than enough to secure his signature.

Next update will finish up the team review.

The Team - Part 1

2009-01-19T19:37:00.000Z

GK - Rogerio Ceni

The legendary 'keeper is a safe pair of hands inbetween the sticks at Beaulieu FC. Time is not on his side, but like fine wine he's getting better with age. He also packs a mean freekick and is yet to miss a penalty. With journeyman benchwarmer Roberto and hot prospect Di Giuseppe in reserve, there's plenty of competition for the keepers jersey.

DR - Dani Alves

My best player, the world class wideman Dani Alves. I've previously deployed him at RW, but this season will see him holding down his natural posistion as a rampaging right fullback. He's never averaged below 7.4 and is quite simply put, an assist machine.

DL - Andres Guardado

Technically he's a left winger, but the formation I've been playing relies on rampaging fullbacks to provide a lot of width. Guardado on the left and Dani Alves on the right provide that with gusto. A great player, with a wicked longshot.

DC - Nedum Onouha

He's lightning quick and he's good in the air. With massive amounts of strength as well, he's turned from a speedy defender when I bought him into an absolute rock, averaging 10 interceptions a match. Irreplaceable, especially on his wages.

DC - Martin Caceres

The young prodigy has turned into my defensive rock. A huge prescence in defense, he's quick and great in the air. He's also a massive threat at set pieces, contributing a very healthy share of goals. On very low wages, he's formed an immense partnership with Onouha over 2 and a half seasons that looks set to form a rock solid core at The Anchor.

The season so far..

2009-01-17T08:24:00.000Z

In a word, it's been mixed.

The gold cup has gone well, with two wins and a draw from 3 matches placing me in a healthy posistion at the top of the table. In a tough group with Flux Capacitor, Dinamo, Myself and Balia FC, it'll be a real achievement if I qualify for the knockouts.

I have made it to the third round of the Gameworld Cup for the first time! I'll be playing Springfield Isotopes, who are kind of a bogey team for me, so we'll see how that goes.

Finally, in the league things haven't gone so well, with 5 played, 1W, 2D and 2L. I hope things have turned a corner, with a battling draw against top side Theatre of Dreams and a narrow win over One World.

I am down to rank 4 in the world, with my youths plummeting to rank 180. Next update will be next week and I'll hopefully post my team.

Revolving door at The Anchor..

2009-01-13T20:31:00.000Z

Danny Welbeck was the big new signing ahead of the new season. Wanderley had really failed to impress, especially in this season. His wages of 17,000 weren't huge, but they were big enough compared to Welbecks' 6k. A promising youngster with blistering pace, I was especially happy to secure him as a Man Utd fan.

In other news Sebastian Ribas left for 1.3m in a deal looking to secure the finances of the club. The youngster goes down the divisions to join Oliver Thompsons Arsenal Villa.

Preparing for 1.1.1 and JP

2009-01-13T15:20:00.000Z

Two updates in the world of Beaulieu FC. Firstly, I've finally managed to gain the Juding Potential skill. Currently I'm at level 3, although I plan to go to level 4. This will take me a while, as I intend on unlocking some of the infrastructure learning and then some of the infrastructure skills, but JP3 gives a fairly accurate indication when applied with common sense (someone who looks absolutely rubbish but has 4 star potential probably really IS absolutely rubbish).

Which leads on to preparing for 1.1.1. I really enjoyed the 1.1 update, with the extra information about the players during matches and the club biography and fan breakdown particular highlights. Stadiums are going to be a different kettle of fish as I think people are underestimating the impact it will have on their finances and there will be quite a few in serious financial trouble.

I'm currently one of the two highest reputation teams in Saunders at 4.5 star and I rake in a healthy 250k+. This is going to plummet unless I build a somewhat large stadium, so I'm currently working on reducing my wage bill (not easy when you have three players on 40k+!!!) and accumulating some cash. I had a peak at the Manual (which is great if you have any questions about stadiums) and I'm going to need quite a lot of cash to build the stadium I want. :D

Finally, a few new faces have found their way to Beaulieu FC, which I'll reveal in an update tonight.

Big new star joins Beaulieu FC!!

2009-01-10T09:01:00.000Z

Wanderley - a pacey brazillian striker with a sweet free-kick has joined. After much searching around, I settled on this guy as the best value for money and he joins for an almosty club record of 7.5m. Unofrtunately, the day after pruchasing Wanderley, the market crashed after a huge number of good players were released from their contracts. But c'est la vie!! - this is the first time I've bought at the wrong time.

Stat increases..

2009-01-09T15:33:00.000Z

One of the odd outcomes of yesterdays 1.1 update is that some players have undergone amazing stat increases. Case and point, check out the below pic of Guana and compare it to the pic uploaded yesterday. Insane.

And this is my 38 yr old GK..

Comings and goings..

2009-01-08T21:39:00.000Z

Towards the end of season 2 and during preseason for season 3, I decided to really shake up the squad with a series of changes in personnel. First is first, and a summary of the players remaining at The Anchor.

Nedum Onouha, Martin Caceres, Dani Alves and Guilherme were all handed automatic contract extensions to remain with Beaulieu FC. With no other players reaching the end of their contracts, keeping these 4 players represented a key step in building the team for next season.

Out

Diego Valeri – the tricky winger had been in great form all season, but I knew that I would have to sell him as I didn’t want to have to use one of my 5 locks. I wanted 7m for a player of such promise, but in the end I had to take what was on offer in order to reinvest the money, and he left for a bargain £6m.

Rommano Denneboom – The right winger was never going to be anything more than a short term option on the right wing, but for just £100k (due to his £30k wages), I just couldn’t say no. When an offer of £2.2m came in just 8 days later, the dutch powerhouse was on his way back out.

Diego Milito – With the clinical striker about to celebrate his 31st birthday and on £40,000 a day, big things were expected of him. Despite a very healthy scoring rate, Diego failed to live up to the huge pressure on his shoulders, being outshone by his young wonderkid strike partner. With money getting tight at The Anchor, I decided to accept an offer of 6.5m and Diego left Beaulieu FC.

Alberto Zapater – ‘The Bull’ was a solid player, a real destructor in the midfield, who’d achieved a solid average rating. I was loathed to lose him, but I just couldn’t justify using a lock on him when other defensive midfielders were available. Mark Quinn put in an offer of £5m, and after some discussions, this was accepted.

Steven Pienaar – Another big departure was the South African playmaker. Although playing well, the midfield maestro just didn’t offer a goal threat – finishing 10 and long shots 12 meant he got into good positions regularly, but just couldn’t finish off the chances my team were creating. An offer of £8m came in, and although Mark Quinn had a 25% future profit clause, I felt it was simply too good to pass up.

Marco Suler – The defender had performed well and had very good stats, but he was definitely not worth a second season lock. An offer of £1m saw the defensive rock leave The Anchor for pastures new.

In

Felipe Monteiro – By luck I stumbled upon the prodigious midfielder. After enquiring about Kim Kallstrom, I ended up making a bid for the right winger instead. £4.5m represents a significant outlay, but with blistering pace, good dribbling skills and a wicked longshot, Monteiro has all the talent to make the right wing berth his own. And look at all the green arrows....

Andres Guardado – Put simply, the reason Valeri had to leave. Guardado is one of the best left wingers in the game, combining raw pace with exceptional dribbling skills and a thunderous shot from distance. Despite some poor performances for certain clubs in the past (who like hoofing the ball from defence up to fast strikers), he’s started well for me and is put simply, the very definition of world class.

Roberto Guana – The defensive midfielder comes in as a direct replacement for Zapater. On just £5,000 wages and a £3m, he is a more rounded midfielder than ‘The Bull’. He is however quite a bit older and less destructive, but his signing frees up funds for other signings and reduces the wage bill.

Julio ‘The Beast’ Baptista – Out with The Bull, in with The Beast. One of the key issues with my squad was the lack of goals from midfield, which placed a heavy burden on my strikers. Zapater’s job was destruction, but Pienaar simply didn’t chip in with enough goals, especially given the number of chances my team created for him. Baptista is something different. Slightly slower than Pienaar, what he lacks in pace he makes up for in every other department. Good in the air, a great passer of the ball, strong, with great finishing and long shots, I’m hoping Baptista will add many a goal from midfield.

===

With plenty of money in the bank, I’m hoping to add one more big signing before the introduction of FML 1.1 cuts a hole in the finances of every club. I think I’ve managed to pull together another strong squad for another title push for next season, and hopefully I’ll manage to perform slightly better in the cup competitions this time around, too!!

FML 1.1 and other thoughts…

2009-01-08T21:35:00.001Z

I’m amazed, but I’ve finally managed to catch up with myself on this blog – just two seasons late. My team is currently consistently holding down the #2 spot in Saunders, with money in the bank and youth on my side things are going well.

But Saunders, and FML, is about to be shaken up, in a good way. This Thursday a new version of the game, 1.1, will be introduced. There are a few nice touches, but I think a great number of people will be unpleasantly surprised by the finance side of things.

There are four areas that are most prominent…

‘Gameworld Champion
Any team can be crowned ‘King of the Gameworld’ simply by beating the current holders.’

I like this idea as an added extra, to encourage more games. Perhaps in the future it would be good to have achievements based on the number of times you’ve defended your title.

‘Enhanced Game Analysis
To help you work out what the players are feeling throughout the match and to help you improve your team.’

I like anything that helps me see where my team is performing / underperforming, so I’ll enjoy nosing around the new stats available, although I’m not sure how useful they’ll be until I get a good look at them.

‘Fans
Clubs now attract fans with different sorts of personalities, what sort of club will you become?’

I’m really looking forward to this aspect of the game, although it’s kind of superficial until stadia are introduced in the next update some time later this month (I’m a little disappointed it didn’t make it into this update, but if it’s not here then it’s not ready). I’m intrigued to see what kind of supporters I’m going to get coming to my club and I really think this will add an entirely new aspect to the game. I have my doubts about how it’s going to fit into a Gameworld where people can already afford to buy the best stadiums, but if it doesn’t work well then I might jump ship and start afresh in a new gameworld to get the full experience of the game I hoped FML would be.

‘Updated Financial and Transfer Systems
To help curb inflation in gameworlds and to lessen the gap between the top clubs and the chasing pack.’

Put simply, this is the biggest change and will completely alter the game. A lot of people in the game have made vast sums of money by buying and selling players. By introducing all the new money sinks (signing on fees, agent fees, the such like) that simply remove money from the game, as well as the inforced sign-on percentages for the first month of a players’ contract, the buying and selling option is effectively nullified. This will make for a far, far slower game from the start of a gameworld, but I really don’t know how it’s going to play for those that have already started. I think a lot of people will find it very hard to shift their players when the money drains hit, especially the fools who are currently bidding £80k+ for average players.

In other news, I’ve made the #2 position in the rankings my own and I’m currently one of only two clubs to obtain a 4.5 star reputation in Saunders. I’ve got two matches against a good opponent in Leers OSC coming up, although his squad has been severely depleted by sales since he’s moving to Toms. Never-the-less, Flamini and Klose are two fine players so it’ll be two interesting matches.

Team Awards..

2009-01-08T21:30:00.000Z

Team of the Season

GK – Rogerio Ceni

DR – Dani Alves
DC – Martin Caceres
DC – Nedum Onouha
DL – Carlos Zambrano

MR – Rommano Denneboom
MC – Alberto Zapater
MC – Steven Pienaar
ML – Diego Valeri

FC – Guilherme
FC – Diego Milito

Player of the Season

Honourable mentions go to Steven Pienaar, an incredible average of 7.38 really set him apart from other midfielders; Diego Valeri, the tricky winger was instrumental from the wings, again with a quite awesome average rating and Guilherme, the young striker really flourished this season and has turned into a real world class star.

However, player of the season has to go to Dani Alves. Playing from right back, few other players could have been as instrumental as he was. One of the highest average ratings in the gameworld from a position of low influence really shows just how good he’s been. He is, put simply, a monster of a player.

Happy New Year & 2nd season Summary

2009-01-06T17:45:00.000Z

AEFA Premiership

The AEFA Premiership was a tough place to be in the second season. Great sides with great players fell by the wayside and struggled in what turned out to be an amazingly competitive division. Some of the top sides were as follows;

Matt Bunns’ Beaulieu FC – Yours truly clearly had a shot at the title, with quality players such as Guilherme, Dani Alves, Diego Milito and Martin Caceres. Possible pitfalls included a lack of a set piece taker and a lack of real power in the air.

Marc Thoms’ Theatre of Dreams – Marcs side underwent numerous transformations throughout the season, but included stalwarts such as Gilardino, Nani and Yaya Toure. Tough to break down, and bristling with talent, Theatre of Dreams were my pick of the sides to beat.

Simon James’ Wild Geese FC – Simon started with a solid side, including brilliant young forward Asamoah, talented playmaker Daniel Montenegro and young wonderkid Guy Assulin. His side pipped me to the Qualification title, and I fully expected a strong challenge for the title.

With other teams having the quality of players such as Ronaldhino, Adriano, Trezeguet, Carew, Dzeko, Bale and Kolo Toure, there was a real strength in depth in the premiership.

I got off to a terrible start in the league, getting destroyed 4-0 away to Theatre of Dreams. I then staged somewhat of a recovery, winning 6 out of the next 7. A midseason slump, starting with a 2-1 loss to AFC Carpathia, saw my chances for the title slip out of my fingers. However, after a humiliating 4-0 home loss to Wild Geese FC, I managed to pull my side together for a title charge, winning most of my final 12 games and finishing on a highly respectable 75 points.

The real surprise came from Monobrow FC. With a solid side including Bale, Dzeko and Adler, they were always in and about the top. Managing to do the double over me, they had an amazing final push which saw them finish on 80 points. The only side who could beat them were Wild Geese FC. Simon James was inactive for the entire season (which has since seen him relegated), but his side did him proud. With three games left, they needed three wins to pip Monobrow to the title, and they duly delivered. Inspired by the, quite frankly world class, playmaker Daniel Montenegro, the Geese took home the title. Unfortunately, Simons’ side is now being picked apart in the wage auctions and it looks unlikely that he’ll be making a swift return to the premiership

All Evening Cup

This was the scene of disappointment for Beaulieu FC. We made the Last 16 in swift time, where we took on Springfield Isotopes. Despite absolutely dominating the match, the blues lost 1-0 and were dumped out of the cup.

Silver Cup

An easy group stage saw my side dominate, easily qualifying for the knockout stages. Here, again, we got a relatively easy draw, but alas, it wasn’t to be. Hitting a period of midseason bad form, the side struggled to score and despite creating more than enough chances, were dumped out of the competition over two legs.

All in all, a year of so close but so far, with the squad failing to ignite in important matches. . I was happy, however, with my 3rd place finish, ensuring Gold Cup football for the following season and a firm footing for next season.

Top of the world..

2008-12-31T13:38:00.000Z

A small post, just to immortalise the first time my team has reached the pinacle of the Gameworld. Much has happened, with the second season drawing to a close, and I will update shortly...

Season 2 comings and goings..

2008-12-31T13:35:00.000Z

Before the season started, much wheeling and dealing was done in order to refresh the squad;

OUT

Christian Villagra – the young fullback was a solid enough player, but I had always intended to sell him this season as he was definitely not good enough to be locked next season. A whopping bid of £900k came in and the Argentine defender was shipped out, already replaced by Olson.

Massimo Gobbi – Massimo played fantastically well in the first season, averaging 7.15. However, with Leandro Lima in the side, he was being forced to play defensively – despite having mostly attack orientated stats. Finally, he was no spring chicken, being one of my older players at 29. An offer of £2m and 25% of any future profit, and Massimo was allowed to leave.

Leandro Lima – The biggest shock was the exit of Leandro Lima. The midfield maestro was in the top 20 average rating for players in the first season and literally ran my midfield. However, despite his high average rating, over 500 games he only managed 100 goals and 100 assists. After playing around in preseason, I decided Pienaar was only really effective through the centre, which left Leandro on the bench. I decided a whopping offer of £3.7m was too good to turn down for a bench warmer, so Leandro left to link up with compatriot Jo and a guaranteed starting place.

Marouame Chamakh – Regulars at Beaulieu FC games won’t have been surprised at this move. Chamakh had performed well, but had never really set the world alight since his move to The Anchor. A lethal ability to head the ball (heading 17) was all but negated by his inability to win the ball in the air (jumping 13), and without great pace this left him easily marked out of many a game. An offer of £2.8m saw Beaulieu FC pocket a cool profit of £2.2m.

Other players to leave The Anchor included Kaio and Mateus for a combined £700k. Kaio had performed admirably, but with other posistions needing strengthening, I decided to let him go. Mateus had been frankly awful and only managed a solitary assist in 15 games in preseason. I was amazed to get a bid of £350k, and as quickly as he joined, he left The Anchor.

IN

Alberto ‘The Bull’ Zapater

After selling Gobbi, I move swiftly to secure Zapater. Clever, pacey, a solid passer of the ball and strong into the tackle, Zapater exceeded his predecessor by having amazing teamwork and workrate attributes. A much more defensive option for the midfield, I hope he’ll be the workhorse to combine alongside Pienaar’s flair in a formidable midfield. I’d expect nothing less from the player nicknamed ‘The Bull’ by none other than Maradonna.

Diego Milito

With money in the bank following the exits of Leandro Lima and Marouame Chamakh, I decided I needed another high profile striker to take the goal scoring burden off of the young shoulders of Guilherme. I sent informal enquiries to a lot of managers regarding their players, but in most cases I was met with blunt ‘Not for sale at any price’ messages. After touting around for a striker, Milito’s manager approached me and a deal was done. He offers a great presence upfront, with amazing stats in both finishing and composure combined with a modicum of pace and good aerial ability. At a whopping £5m and £40k a day wages, a lot will be resting on Diego’s striking boots.

With money in the bank, the Beaulieu FC squad is looking very strong for the upcoming season.

Youth

2008-12-21T12:52:00.000Z

With Guilherme in my side, I decided it was foolish not to at least have ANY youth side. I used the wage auctions to pick up a number of players of varying ability and potential. The best player I managed to pick up is 18 year old Icelandic wunderkid Bjorn Sigurdsen. He’s already had a great impact for my youth side and regular features for the senior side off of the bench, although his high wages were somewhat of an extravagance for such a youngster. He’s been developing well, with his pace and acceleration shooting up, so I’m hopeful I have a young superstar on my hands.

The other player I personally rate is the fantastically named Markus Bungert. The German striker has bags of pace and good finishing, but at just 16 could have great potential.

Beaulieu FC’s youth teams are doing well, currently residing well within the top 100 and reaching a top ranking of 19th.

Silly season...

2008-12-20T08:26:00.001Z

Silly season arrived with the start of the end of contract wage auctions at the end of the first season. This saw many managers throw caution, and common sense, out the window when bidding on players. Spanish legend Raul ended up going for £140k a day, which was soon topped by Robinho at £150k a day. Moreover, distinctly average players routinely ended up being bought at £50k a day or more.

Fortunately, Beaulieu FC were in a good position. With only 4 contracts up for renewal, I even had a lock to spare for next season! I wanted to use this period to sign a left winger in the wage auctions, but in the end the majority of my big business occurred through private transfers. I bid on dozens and dozens of players, but most of the time lost out to huge offers from other clubs. Most of the time I just chose not to tie up my money as ideal targets such as Giovinco (85k), Downing (67k) and Anelka (97k) went for far more than I could afford.

I was looking for reliable backup for club vice-captain and Silvio Proto when I stumbled upon Brazillian legend Rogerio Ceni for sale. A snip at £200k despite his age and wage, the commanding ‘keeper joined as first choice. Silvio was obviously unhappy at being demoted to the bench, and quickly found first team football with … for a fee of £650k.

Marc-Andre Kruska had flattered to deceive and, despite recent improvements in both his performances and his stats, I felt it was the right time to move the youngster on. Forja Bajen exercised his instant buy amount to acquire the young defensive midfielder for £650k.

The final bit of big business saw Steven Pienaar arrive at The Anchor. I’d been desperate for a player capable of playing down the left wing, Mark Quins’ The Wombles moved to All Evening from Xtreme and were looking to drop their wage budget. A hefty £2.5m saw the South African midfielder swap the lower leagues for the All Evening Premiership, becoming Beaulieu FC’s most expensive player in the process.

I also managed to pick up a few good squad players in the wage auctions. Kaio is a very attack minded midfielder with explosive pace, while Roger is a more rounded creative midfielder. Dabrowski adds some steel, and height, into my midfield and is joined in defensive duties by Garcia, a young, balanced defensive midfielder. Mateus was brought in to add depth to an otherwise sparse frontline, but is only expected to sit on the bench. Finally left back Olson arrived to stake a claim for a regular spot at left back. Although on big wages, he’s made a solid start and at just 21 has plenty of time to improve.

I also managed to pick up a large number of youth players, the pick of which can be seen in the next post.

Unoffical competitions

2008-12-20T08:25:00.000Z

Throughout the course of the season, Beaulieu FC entered into a number of non-official competitions with a fair degree of success. A win in the ’10 team easy league’ represented Beaulieu FC with their first taste of silverware, but more was to come.

Beaulieu FC managed to win the WYBU Open, featuring some of the best sides in the world. Dale Holeness’ FC Coconuts started slowly but then hit blistering form, pushing me all the way. 12 wins and a draw in the final 11 matches of the league saw Dan need three wins in his last three games to take the title on goal difference. Fortunately for me, he fell agonisingly short, drawing the final game to leave me winning by two points and taking home £70k in prize money.

Other highlights included winning the Who Ate all The Pies cup competition and finishing second in Goldenballs Cup.

End of season awards..

2008-12-18T16:50:00.001Z

Team of the Season

GK – Silvio Proto

DR – Nedum Onouha
DC – Marco Suler
DC – Martin Caceres
DL – Christian Villagra

ML – Diego Valeri
MC – Massimo Gobbi
MC – Leandro Lima
MR – Dani Alves

FC – Guilherme
FC – Hugo Rodallega

Player of the season

Hounourable mention goes to Dani Alves. He was immense for the second half of the season, ending up both in the top 5 overall performers and the top 5 dribblers of the ball in the gameworld (check out who else was at the top over at Wild Geese’s Simons James’ Blog http://wildgeesefc.blogspot.com/).

However, one player stood head and shoulders above everyone else throughout the season – Brazilian magician Leandro Lima. A creative force from midfield, he was regularly coming up with crucial goals and carving open defences time and again.

First season in saunders.. a summary

2008-12-16T17:15:00.001Z

Beaulieu FC chose to play in the All Evening Football Association and were entered into one of the tougher qualifying groups. Alongside other good teams like Marko’s Magicians and Workshop Wednesday, my main aim was simply to qualify for the premier league for the next season, requiring a finishing position of 5th or higher.

Initially, Marko’s Magicians took the lead, but the signings of Guilherme, Dani Alves and Diego Valeri galvanised my squad and pushed me into first place for most of the second half of the season.

However, Wild Geese FC, powered by young striker Asamoah and playmaker Daniel Montenegro, reeled my team in. This included a disappointing 2-2 draw at The Anchor, with Guilherme guilty of missing a hatful of chances. Although I was disappointed not to win the league, I fulfilled my aim of reaching the premiership and exceeded in managing to qualify for the Silver Cup in the UFFA by finishing as one of the best second place teams.

After breezing past Kaos FC 3-0 in the first round, a tough draw saw Beaulieu FC play the Buonanotte inspired IK Svane. In a match that saw three red cards, I was ultimately defeated 2-1 after extra time.

Beaulieu FC performed slightly better in the All-evening cup. Getting a bye to the second round was a bonus, but solid wins against Clark Utd, Pickwick Town and A1 United saw Beaulieu progress to the quarter finals. A tough match against Deuce United saw a scrapped 2-0 win, their reward a trip away to FC Census. With the assistant in charge of the home side, I struggled and came away with a highly disappointing 1-0 loss to the eventual winners.

So all in all, the first season was a case of so close yet so far when it came to official silverware.

Comings and goings at The Anchor..

2008-12-12T22:13:00.000Z

The first signings for Beaulieu FC attempted to add some steal to a relatively weak midfield. Versatile Italian midfielder Massimo Gobbi (top) joined for a bargain price of £85k, while promising, tenacious German midfielder Marc-Andre Kruska joined for a paltry £50k.

With the initial 7 day window passing, a few players found themselves out of the door. Marcelo Tavares had been a worrying presence at CB, making a number of mistakes and giving away far too many free-kicks in dangerous areas. The fantastically named Wang Dong had barely got a look into the midfield after the Gobbi signing and was surplus to requirements. Otacilio had struggled to break into the team past the impressive Donnet, so when an offer of 70k came in the pacey Brazilian left. Old favourite Dida was unimpressive and quickly found a home at Neil Baldwins Workshop Wednesday for £65k.

Next to find their way to The Anchor was lightning-quick defender Nedum Onouha, who can play at both CB and RB. I have high hopes that he’ll grow into a great CB, but throughout the first season he was deployed at RB due to his relatively small stature.

Hugo Rodalleha had been in stunning form, with 108 goals in 150 games, but when an offer of £400k came in, the powerful Colombian forward was regretfully let go for an offer too good to refuse. Beaulieu FC fans were worried that without their talisman, the team would struggle to score goals. However, I managed to engineer a stunning double transfer coup – the signings of wonderkids Guilherme and Martin Caceres. Guilherme is an explosive striker of great potential, while Caceres is a rock solid central defender, both good in the air and blessed with pace.

With Beaulieu FC struggling to raise funds for another big signing, two regular first team members found themselves heading for the exit. Roland Linz had never really performed and, with Hoarau in favour and playing well, found himself in the cold and out of the door for £400k. Mattias Donnet had performed well patrolling the right flank, but yet another offer of £400k was too good to turn down for the Argentinian winger. Glauber had never performed brilliantly, with a very low return of goals and assists, so when an offer of 190k came in, I had to let him go. The last and toughest depature came inthe form of young midfielder Felipe. £250k represented a good bit of business, with the youngster forced out of the team by Lima, but it was hard to let him go.

Money in hand, two big signings entered Beaulieu FC. First came explosive Argentinian winger Diego Valeri (below). Able to patrol either flank, the youngster has great pace and fantastic potential. However, the biggest signing was of Brazillian superstar Dani Alves (above). Able to be deployed either at RB or RW, the maestro is a creative force for Beaulieu FC.

The final two bits of business for the season saw 2 players leave and another two join. Utility man Sidnei had struggled to break into the first team all season and had decided to leave at the end of the season. Despite having good stats, he simply didn’t perform when on the pitch. I wanted a player who could cover all the same posistions, so ended up striking a deal for Maddisom, a 21 year old pacey brazillian, with Sidnei and 65k going in the opposite direction.

Finally, the last of my initial trio of strikers left The Anchor in a deal for Moroccan international Marouane Chamakh. Good in the air, Chamakh has made a decent start to life at Beaulieu FC but some fans are grumbling he still hasn’t justified his fee of £300k, with Hoarau moving the other way.

All in all, there were a fair number of comings and going through The Anchor, but most signings were improvements on their predecessors.

Initial squad selection

2008-12-11T20:41:00.001Z

Going into my initial selection, I knew that I’d want to be playing at least 2 strikers in most games, probably in some variation of 4-4-2, and that I wanted a mixture of youth and experience.

My number one target was Diego Buonanotte, but he was unfortunately still locked when I selected my squad. I moved on and managed to bag talented, young Brazilian playmaker Leandro Lima. With pace to burn, Lima is going to be my playmaker, linking my strikers to the rest of the team.

I quickly moved to pick up a number of quality players, including solid ‘keeper Silvio Proto (reportedly the only practising ventriloquist in Belgian league football!), young Argentinean fullback Christian Villagra and defensive rock Marco Suler.

The rest of my money went on three quality strikers – towering targetman Roland Linz, powerful forward Hugo Rodallega and the immensely promising French sriker Guillaume Hoarau. Spending the bulk of my money on attack minded players represents a risk, especially considering my wages are a hefty £55k a day. However, initial signs are promising with a good starting record and a very impressive opening match – an 8-0 win over :

Beaulieu FC:

A late kick-off...

2008-12-11T19:59:00.000Z

This blog will chart the fortunes of Beaulieu FC, a team in the Saunders Gameworld of Football Manager Live, while hopefully offering a little insight into the game. This is an incredibly belated start, with Saunders about to enter its second season, so the next couple of posts will attempt to retrospectively summarise all the goings on during the first season.