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Those of you who have been on Susie for a while may remember my story in which I took a re-formed Portsmouth from the Evo-Stick leagues and back into the football league over the course of a decade or so, this story will hopefully run in a similar way, except my team is completely fictional and playing at an even lower level.
Name: Ashby Town FC
Nickname: The Bulls
Ground: The Bath Grounds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire
Capacity: 1800
League: Baker-Joiner Midland Alliance
Ashby-de-la-Zouch is my home town, in real life it does have a club, Ashby Ivanhoe FC, however they are way down in the Leicestershire senior league and are not even included as a non-league side in the game so I have decided to represent the town.
I've set them to the same reputation and bank balance as the lowest club in the division (Coleshill Town) to make sure it is a real challenge for me, the squad and back room staff are completely blank, I will have to assemble a team of my own before the season begins.
We will be competing in the Midland Alliance league which for those who are not famliar with the non league system is at the ninth level of the English system (four below the Conference)
The badge is the coat of arms of Ashby Town council, the kits I designed myself using McVities as our sponsor as the company has it's headquarters in the town, The third kit is a bit of a tip of the hat to Leicester City who are the most supported side in the area.
The Bathgrounds is a large public area in the town centre which is home to Ashby Hastings cricket club in real life, however I really wanted this as our home ground, one unique feature is the grounds feature historic Ashby castle at one end as well as the equally history steeped Royal hotel at the other. The grounds was once home to Aston Villa's training facilities before they moved to their purpose built facility at Bodymore Heath near Tamworth. unlike Villa my training and youth facilities are both set to the lowest level.
My aim is to one day reach the Conference and perhaps beyond, this is going to be an all mighty challenge which will take a long time, but one I am relishing. wish me luck!
Charlie M
Good luck.
jambowambo
The first friendly has come and gone and my initial squad has more or less taken shape;
Much of the team is made up of local non-league talent who have impressed me when I've seen them play either for or against my local side Gresley FC. I have tried hard to ensure that most of the squad hail from or have recently played for clubs in towns and cities within a thirty mile radius in order to preserve the sense of realism within the save.
Everybody is with us on an amateur basis so we won't lose money on wages, giving us a good opportunity to put some pennies in the piggy bank and save for the future.
Julian Joachim is undoubtedly the biggest name in the team;
The former Leicester City and Aston Villa man has speant the last decade since his Premier League exploits floating round the Midlands non-league scene, playing for Kings Lynn, Quorn and most recently our hated rivals Coalville Town. He is long past his prime but Julian will offer experience in what is a very young side as well as perhaps chipping in a goal or two along the way.
At the back Ryan Carolan will likely be an important fixture of our defence;
Ryan signs from our divisional rivals Loughborough University which he attended following the failure of spells with Crystal Palace and Chelmsford City. He looks more than adequate for this level though.
Midfielder Neil Wood is also likely to be a key part of our team;
Originally a Manchester United trainee who spent time on loan from Old Trafford with Belgian side Antwerp before moving on to Coventry City and later Oldham Athletic. Neil went abroad again in 2007 when he signed for Bosnian outfit FK Zeljeznicar before returning to England a year later with Atherstone Town.
This is how I set up the team for our very first friendly against the all-Sikh Sporting Khasla;
Both Joachim and Jordan Nadat will be cutting in from their wide positions, essentially making this a 4-3-3 formation as they support the striker, as of yet through their is still a lot of work to be done in familiarising the team with this formation and making them gel as a unit.
The lack of team cohesion was perhaps to blame for the first game not exactly going to plan;
Nadat got us off to a good start which we maintained comfortably throughout the first half and should have added to, however a collapse after the break was a sure indicator that there is much work to be done, particularly with the defence in order to be ready for the start of the season.
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Charlie & Jambowambo: Cheers guys, keep reading!
jambowambo
How have you got the lower, amateur leagues and how have you put your own side in with no players or staff?
Here's the database I'm using mate, I just created the club with nobody in it aside from a fictional chairman, if you want a blank squad and staff make sure that you unchecked the 'add key staff' and 'add players to playable teams' options.
database-downloads-for-fm13.html
Edit: Oh I also added a county cup for Leicestershire with 32 teams as we would of been put in the Staffordshire cup by default due to being in the Midland Alliance. The Staffordshire border is only a few miles away but I like accuracy.
The defeat to Sporting Khalsa proved to be our only reverse of the friendlies as we put on some good performances throughout the rest of the games;
Jon Stevenson was particularly impressive as the lone striker, banging in six goals in as many games, including two against the side I signed him from, Oadby Town. Star man Julian Joachim injured himself five minutes in against Khasla which prevented him from taking any part until the Darlaston match where he made a scoring return, Tom Reiley did fine job standing in for the the 37 year old and will probably be my first choice winger with Joachim making strategic appearances to conserve his dwindling fitness levels.
As you can see we have no difficulty in finding the net after scoring a whopping eighteen goals in six games, however there are still issues to work out in defence which crumbled far to easily under pressure even against weak opposition which is a major problem going into the season as relegation favourites.
For those of you wondering about the Midland Alliance, here are the other teams;
Of them our closest rivals will be fellow Leicestershire sides Loughborough Uni, Heather St. John's and Kirby Muxloe.
Since my last update I have strengthened the defence with three new additions;
Matt has experience at a higher level after having played for Bedworth in the Southern Premier league, along with Tom Cudworth and Ryan Carolan I now have three centre backs I feel comfortable relying on as well as a rookie who can learn much from them...
Charlie will be little more than back-up to begin with but I see a decent footballer in him and one I hope to nurture over the coming seasons, as with our third new boy...
Unlike Charlie I think Adam is already at a level where he can make a contribution straight away should anything happen to first choice left back Damien Whitcombe despite his tender age.
Now pre-season is over it's down to business. first up in the league is a short journey across the county border into Staffordshire to face Cannock based Heath Hayes before our first home game the following Wednesday against Ellesmere Rangers. In addition to the league we will also be competing in the FA Vase, Midland Alliance cup and Leicestershire senior cup. As in real life we are not permitted to take part in the FA Cup yet as we have not been active for three years, so our supporters will have to wait until 2015 to experience the magic of the cup.
We're off to a good start in our first ever season as a club, three wins from four games is certainly not a bad return for side with odds of 5000-1 to win the championship, I'm not saying we're going to win the title at the first attempt but if we continue in a similar vein I see no reason we can't acheive at least a top half finish.
I couldn't have wished for a better start than our resounding 6-2 thumping of Heath Hayes, everything went to plan in the attacking half, there were still questions raised about the defence and the game could have been much closer had the Staffordshire side not had two goals disallowed in the second half in addition to the two that stood. Still, it was a good win to give us momentum and inspire the supporters for the season ahead. It's worth noting that four of our six goals came from set pieces so clearly my set up is an effective one.
We followed up with another win, this time not as resounding but perhaps this was a more informative performance tactically as we faced a stronger opposition in Ellesmere Rangers, both goals were from winger Tom Riley, including a stunning volley from just inside the box.
The trip to Birmingham to face Continental Star should have been easier than Ellesmere, however things went south as Star took an early lead through Aaron Moses-Garvey, Jon Stevenson fired us level just before the hour as we took the ascendency and pushed for a winner. Star were however to take all three points when Tom Cudworth put the ball past his own goalkeeper with five minutes left on the clock.
Former Coventry Sphinx defender Cudworth went from zero to hero as he belted home the only goal of the game against fellow Leicestershire outfit Kirby Muxloe right on the stroke of half time, we rode our luck a little in the second half as Kirby came on strong, thankfully we held out to earn our points and move up the table to fourth.
It's only a month into the season and I already have unrest in the camp;
I've managed to get him to drop it for now, however given he's only a backup player and we've only played four games, I'm concerned that Neil is a bit of a whiny p*ick who may harm dressing room morale.
FMraynor
Maybe you could try sending him out on loan if he is young or sell him, Even though he is 30 and would not leave, Michu got the first action at Vitesse when I sent him out on loan and this gets him ready and matured for young players, and like what happened with Lukaku on my save he can come back a outstanding player. Maybe send him to a feeder club?
Tarlantzu
David Bigby
What was your success in getting to use the Bath Grounds? Did you know they are planning to build houses on it. If you can help us fight this by showing that it is used for football matches or training please contact us - The Friends of Ashby Bath Grounds. at [email protected] or see our face book page.
Jason
Its only a game, its not real.