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mr.SPANKY
In this instance I came back to the game after a few month layoff and continued an old Liverpool save where I eventually took over Valencia, enjoyed that so started a new game with Valencia, got sacked and got over that save real quick. Had a look around at transfers and settled on Wolfsburg, got over that save after about a month. I then settled on Crystal Palace, on paper made some very good signings and should have a decent season.
Now also to my standard I am quite a few seasons into this save before deciding to inform you of it all here on my careers.
Current date is 21st August 2022 but I will do my best to give you all an in depth history so far.
mr.SPANKY
My history so far.
2 clubs first being Palace and now currently at Derby.
As you can see my overall win percentage is only 40 percent so at times it has been a real struggle.
Value of players bought at £122m and most of this over the last two season when we have acquired some money and as you can see by the highest fee paid (£32m) and highest fee received (£30m) I have managed my finances a lot better in this save then any in recent memory. Those 2 players (Petit and Horn) are both goalkeepers with Petit being Horns direct replacement as soon as a bid was in, I also made it a point to keep the transfer fees as close to each other as possible.
First season with Palace was a very successful one finishing 12th when we were expected to fight against relegation, our second season was a flop as we couldn't recreate that form and I finished 18th, a last game loss sealing my fate and sacking. It is worth noting though that Palace have remained in the Championship whilst I, well you can see what I have done with Derby.
I took over Derby on the 29th of October 2016 and they were struggling somewhere near the bottom of the table, the board didn't expect too much more from me, just to be safe which I accomplished with the 17th place finish. The next season we won the league and it has been onwards and up from there.
I will give in depth season updates next.
mr.SPANKY
The table season 1. Very comfortable finish, 16 points clear of relegation, our only real highlights aside from the ladder position was a 2-0 win at home against Arsenal and a 4-1 win at home against Liverpool.
We went out 3-2 to Newcastle in the league cup and 1-0 to Brentford in the FA Cup.
My only transfer business was Niko Kranjcar in on loan and Dwight Gayle went to Bournemouth for £10.25m, I only played with 1 striker and had Frazier Campbell, Patrick Bamford and Connor Wickham so to get that fee was amazing.
That is how we lined up, quite defensive due to our overall lack of quality but that aided us in our 12th place finish as we had the 6th best defence in the league.
So that's pretty much season 1, nothing too eventful.
mr.SPANKY
So as I said in the 2nd post we couldn't replicate our form from season 1 and shipped 20 goals more then the previous season. I originally stuck with the same formation however tinkered when things became desperate. a 3-1 loss to Tottenham on match day 38 sealed our fate as we were relegated and I was sacked, I can't pin it all on that loss though as there were games such as the 1-0 loss to Blackburn (who finished 20th) on match day 35 or the 1-0 loss to Leicester a few games before that etc etc which if we overturned the result would have ensured our safety.
We went out to Arsenal 2-0 in the league cup and lost to Bolton 3-1 in the FA Cup 4th round. Our only real highlight was a 6-2 thumping of Norwich, we then followed that up by only winning 2 of our next 12.
A bit of activity on the transfers, my Director of Football made an offer for Detsis and I agreed terms on the contract he didn't play a game for me at palace as he was a youngster but well look at this screeny:
He is now one of the best defenders in the world.
Diamanti was 32 when I signed him but you should all know how quality he is, he spent 3 seasons all up at Palace but for me he scored 6 goals, had 7 assists and 3 MoM in the league at a rating of 6.94. Not bad for an aging player in a struggling team.
Powell was pretty cheap and never gonna get games for Utd, ironically he actually played for Derby the season before joining me, anyways another solid effort, 28 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 2 MoM and rating of 6.96. He spent another 2 seasons at Palace before moving to Bournemouth.
Hooper is a player I am a fan of in real life and cost pennies, he had 8 goals at 6.9 for the league, he went to Blackburn 2 seasons later for £3.3m so a nice profit there.
Hunt another DoF signing who didn't play for me, managed 9 games 2 seasons later but is now at Shrewsbury.
We did struggle this season so the 4-1-2-2-1 went out for the more favorable 4-4-2 at times and this is how the best 11 looked.
mr.SPANKY
Quite a comfortable finish in the end for me, 15 points clear of relegation. When I took over Derby they had only won 3 games from 14 and only 3 draws. 12 points from 42 possible, no wonder the previous manager got sacked. My first game fared no better as I lost 4-1 to Birmingham however it was the day I took over so I can be forgiven for that.
They had been knocked out of the league cup on penalties by Blackburn before my arrival but I managed to make it to the 5th round of the FA Cup before losing 4-1 to Everton.
I fared quite strongly from January on, only 6 losses from 22 games, I had bettered my predecessor.
Nothing really on the transfers from me as I only had the Jan window and we had no money. I sold Conor Sammon to Sheff Utd for £425k and let a few go on loan.
I went back to my old formation. Weimann was good, 10 goals and 5 assists at 6.9. Bennett the youngster was the real surprise for me, he came back from a loan spell at MK Dons the previous season where he scored 22 goals and chipped in with 16 for me. Bryson was my best player and was for the next couple years as well despite his aging. Sadly he felt he needed to play for a bigger club and was sold the season before we won our first cup.
Both Weimann and Bennett are still with me currently.
mr.SPANKY
The next season we win the league despite the board only expecting us to be around the playoff spots. Chelsea knocked us out 2-1 in the league cup and Man Utd knocked us outta the FA Cup 4-1. I swear I have the worst luck with cup draws in every game. Some highlights were beating fierce rivals Leeds twice, score was 2-1 both times. 3rd place Norwich we beat twice, Brighton were the only top 6 side we failed to take any points away from.
My first full season as Derby manager and my transfer activity. On the outs which I didn't include were a heap of young useless talent on frees and some loans.
Gary Cahill didn't play for the whole 16/17 season but even at 32 his experience and skills were invaluable to us, making us the 5th best defensive unit in the league and only 7 goals off the top defence.
Afelly was only 28 when I got him, and retired at 33. He made 47 appearances for me over 3 years and scored 6 goals, he was always a player that was bought in for reputation having been around some top clubs in his time.
Tyler Blackett pretty sure everyone knows about him.
Pereira played 21 times for me on loan, Utd let his contract expire and I signed him the next season on a free, has been with me since.
Had the privilege of managing this guy
White couldn't get a game in because of the guy above and I sold him for 81k a couple seasons later.
Bialkowski was an experienced goalkeeper, relatively cheap and leaps and bounds above anything I had or anyone else available. He is still with me.
Calvert-Lewin was a free signing my scouts liked from the england trials, he spent a season on loan before featuring quite heavily the next two season. I am trying to get rid of him now.
Once again Bryson my best player, the guy became an icon and should have been a legend, he formed a great partnership with Hendrick who had 10 assists, can't check Brysons assist stats as he has since retired. Huge season from Bennett who just continually impressed me especially playing up front by himself bagging 32 goals, 31 of them in the league. 3 of the back 4 were first season players here and obvious quality and it showed in our improved defence.
mr.SPANKY
We definitely overachieved here, we were only meant to fight bravely against relegation and managed to be 16 points clear.
Middlesbrough knocked us out of the league cup on penalties and City beat us 3-0 in the FA Cup, continuing my poor luck with cup draws.
Once again a highlight was taking 4 points from Leeds, a 2-0 win over Everton, a 0-0 with City, a 1-1 with Liverpool, a 2-0 win over Chelsea, all of these results helped us be the surprise packets of the season.
On the outs again nothing special, I allowed Hoilett's contract to expire that was about it, the rest were useless youth or loans.
As I said in the previous post I snapped Pereira up when Utd let his contract expire. He has been good for me constantly hovering around the 7 average and I feel should have really been capped by Belgium by now but alas not to be.
Reed was another player who's club let his contract expire, he can play DM, MC, AMRC and has 10 plus for most of his attributes. He has been a good rotation player for me and would actually go on to be one of my highest average rating players in a couple seasons time.
Iheanacho, I had huge hopes for this guy, 15 finishing, 16 pace, 15 acceleration, 14-17 for most other attributes but sadly he failed to fire. 4 goals in 21 league apps.
Targett could have been anything, sadly he is now at Shrewsbury.
De Girolamo was at Arsenal for a couple seasons before Brentford who let his contract expire. He is still only 26 and while would take him 2 seasons to find some form for me he is still here.
Sourae was a player I was familiar with from my Palace stint but sadly I could never get a work permit for him, I loaned him out 3 times before selling him due to his age.
You can almost bet on the formation being the same by this point. Not much stands out, lack of goals but for our first season in the Prem and to finish where we did I am not complaining. Once again Bryson my best player.
mr.SPANKY
3 points and 1 place better then last season. I kept expectations to a minimum, meaning they wanted us to avoid relegation. Whilst it limits my money it takes the pressure to perform off me.
Tottenham knocked us out of the league cup 2-0 in the 3rd round and also beat us 5-1 in the 5th round of the FA Cup, still can't catch a break on the cup draws.
Highlights are beating Everton 1-0 (no idea how they won the league), 3-3 with City, beating Utd 2-1 and finally knocking off Tottenham 2-0.
So let a lot of contracts expire, mostly aged players who are no longer good enough and finally got some money to spend
Joel Ward was another player from my Palace days and he could cover both fullback positions. He is still with me to this day.
Sanogo, what a fall this guy had, Arsenal, Ajax, Getafe, Villa, Derby. He was always on the verge of hitting form for me and looking like turning everything around then he would get a lengthy injury. I should have listened to my scouts reports on him. He is now at Angers
Foderingham, my fans were not happy about this signing coming from Leeds but I needed a goalkeeper and he would compete with Bialkowski plus he was cheap. Still with me.
Yaya Toure, need I say more? Still had amazing attributes for a 34 year old I think he was and was bought in for two reasons, he was free and he would increase our profile.
Nasri didn't get a lot of games, I bought him in on loan in the Jan window to cover for my wide midfielders.
Andres Cubas, no idea how I got him so cheap. He had 4 caps for Argentina when I got him and has bossed my midfield ever since he joined. Oddly how now has 2 caps for Paraguay.
Bryson and Hendrick again in the midfield dominating for my team. Cubas as he joined in January didn't make the 11 but he played in the DM role and averaged 7.26. Outstanding.
mr.SPANKY
Dropped 5 points and 1 place from our previous season but that was due to rotation for the cup fixtures. We drew Chesterfield in the League cup 2nd round which we won easily, however my bad luck with cup draws continued as we drew Utd in the 3rd round.
Well:
Fuck you Utd, a partially rotated squad but still.
We managed to snag some favorable draws finally beating Middlesbrough, Swansea and Watford on the way to the final. The first in the clubs history.
So we have Flanagan sent off (he does that a lot) Southampton go on to dominate shots and possession but can't find a goal. We snag a late one and surely it's over right? Wrong a 4th minute injury time goal, don't you just fucking hate that. Usually when something like that happens I fully expect to lose, however we got up on penalties for my first trophy and Derby's first league cup
Oh yeah see Sanogo, injured again!
Chelsea pumped us 5-0 in the FA Cup then the very next game we beat them 1-0 in the league, explain that?? They used a weakened side in the FA Cup game.
We beat Liverpool 1-0, Tottenham 1-0, and Newcastle 5-0
More money
As I said Souare out on loan to try and get a work permit, Bryson wanted to leave for a bigger club, at 33 it was his last chance, sadly he missed out on a cup and arguably I am now the bigger club then Wigan. Bergamini was a youth product who didn't play a game so a million for him was pretty good.
Tom Ince, no need to explain him. I actually got some money back from this transfer as there was still a clause from his original move from Derby back in 15/16. Lewis Rhys-Thomas at the time my most expensive transfer, needed more quality at the back and he had over 20 caps for Wales. Lately he has been attracting interest from teams like Juve and Arsenal. They can get fucked.
Flanagan again no explanation needed, plays both sides.
Holgate another free bargain, still with me today and plays DRC, DM and MC. Quality rotation option, very good physical and mental stats.
Anderson was a regen free who my scouts rated at 3 stars, only got him for future sale value, hasn't played for me yet but has had some loan spells.
Cook, see above.
Pereira and Gunn were short term loans as both my goalkeepers were out with long term injuries, 2 and 3 months I think from memory.
Abeledo was not getting games for Chelsea and I snapped him up for £3m less then they bought him for. Has been a constant for me on the left wing.
A small change to the tactic, playing with defensive wingers after a less then stellar start. Girolamo as I said was quite the find for me, popping up with 17 goals. Cubas took his rightful spot in the best 11, dominating for me. Thorne became my captain and took it on really well playing at over 7.
mr.SPANKY
A disappointing season in the end but again I keep expectations as low as possible to avoid pressure, we were just expected to avoid relegation and we did that, albeit only by 3 points but a large part of that is down to huge squad rotation I had to do during this treble season, obviously the quality of the rotation players isn't as good as the starting 11.
On the premier league fixtures front we our last 10 games netted us 7 points but the next couple of screenshots will show you why.
Trophy number 1. Yeah fuck you Utd again
Trophy number 2. Yeah fuck you Uts again, again
Trophy number 3. Yeah fuck you PSG
My tactic seemed to dominate in Europe so I will look to keep that for Europe and use something else for the league. Just look at those scores, I actually set the record for most goals scored in the Europa League with 50. I had a pretty easy qualifying stage and a fairly easy group, Hannover my only blemish in what was a rotated squad as I had qualified by then anyway. Got a bit difficult in the knockout phases and we were very lucky against Juve going through on away goals.
More loans and contract expireries on the outs.
Newcastle were relegated and Munian was unhappy, snapped him up for an equal record of £11m.
Horn was head and shoulders above the quality of my other two goalkeepers.
I have no idea why PSG let Januzaj go, he barely played but still as soon as I signed him his value went to £11m and is now worth £22m just a season later.
Farinelli is a young Italian centerback who my scouts loved. Been a round a few different teams on loan before being released, and is now a solid for me.
Thiago, well no explanation needed for him either, 30 years old and increases our reputation.
The change in tactic to accommodate my new players. Januzaj was amazing, Cubas again bossing the midfield, Munian missed 3 months and still pwned. Weimann, Bennett and De Girolamo shared the goal scoring between them, not bad for only using 1 striker.
Weimann, Bennett and De Girolamo sharing the goalscoring duties.
mr.SPANKY
I always try to get the best facilities I can, I prefer that over splurging huge sums on players and so far every upgrade I have asked for I have been given even a stadium expansion to the 40000, If we continually sell that out this season I will ask to build a new stadium.
Mike Ashley actually bought out the previous owners a few seasons ago, completely opposite to his Newcastle in real life. Continually increases my transfer budget do to good finance management and has given me everything I have asked for.
Quite good shape here, most of my expenditure has been transfer fees, wages take a large chunk but we have been continually growing our sponsors and with the TV money here we usually make about a million a month, that should increase with champions league and the 40000 seat stadium.
mr.SPANKY
Sanogo, every time he looked like hitting form he got injured. See ya. Albentosa has been here for 8 seasons and a great servant but is now 33 and just not good enough. Horn was making noise about playing for a bigger club so when the offer came in I went and found a replacement. Horn's fee will most likely rise to the £30m with the clauses in and his replacement Petit will only cost me a maximum of £3m more with clauses.
Bale is only 33, got him as a rotation option and increases our reputation, pretty much only reason I signed him was for his name.
Who needs Sanogo, this kid is the future
Another South American, out on loan at the moment but I have the future in mind for him when Christie, Ward and Flanagan can't go anymore. Plus at 18 I can still sneak him in as trained at club between 18-21.
See above, doesn't look as good as Narvaez but it's early days and my scouts liked him.
Hopefully another Farinelli
My Horn replacement
See Narvaez and Helio.
George14brfc
mr.SPANKY
Thanks mate, yeah enjoying it thoroughly. Since my treble season I have been getting offers left and right from the likes of Arsenal, Juve and Liverpool plus a lot of Brazilian clubs want me. I am very tempted to go to Brazil when I finish what I need to at Derby. The way this game is going should keep me going right up to FM16.
I am trying to get one or two high reputation players a season just to give the club a little boost, my youth and training facilities are top notch but so far have only really produced 2 players I can see a future here for and they are both still too young to be near the first team. When I get home I will post the screenies of those two.
mr.SPANKY
So we hit January. A very shaky start to the season saw the squad starting to lose some faith in me. I made a slight tactical change and then we hit a run of 8 games unbeaten. Gilson got injured, missed almost a full month but the goals didn't dry up. Those West Ham and Newcastle games were insane, we were down 2-0 after 5 minutes in the Newcastle game so to get the win was incredible. At the same time though we forgot how to defend and our unbeaten run came to an end to a then 19th placed Brentford, we followed this up with a 5-0 hammering from Utd in which we musterd and impressive 2 shots off target all game.
Gilson came back and almost single handed won the game, he scored 5 and had 1 assist, Thiago had 4 assists and 1 goal. Quite the partnership there
Gilson has 31 goals in all comps so far, I love him and it's only been half a season.
So we sit around about where the board want us to be although a few poor results could see us slip right down the table, by the same extent a few good results could see us pushing for that 4th point. Very tense competition atm.
Gilson and Januzaj killing it for me and while Bale seems quiet during games he is right up there with assists.
So we picked up our first trophy of the season, Januzaj and Gilson the main men
Gilson the man again but we couldn't escape our old enemy Depay, he put us to the sword in our quest for the Super Cup.
Our first fixture in the Champs league was an easy one and set the tone for us, a huge 7-1 thumping, Gilson I can't say anything the images don't.
As we had already qualified I played a weakened team in the final game against Shalke plus we had no chance of finishing first so why risk my good players. I fully expect us to get pumped by Madrid and knocked out but the experience and reputation boost is what counts.
I field a rotated squad in the league cup, Weimann is leading the scoring charts with 4 and we have a semi final appearance. I have already won this twice on the trot so not too fussed if we go out or not.
Some players are making noise about achieving all they can at the club so I am offering them out, they are George Thorne and Andi Weimann. I would be sad to see Weimann go but Thorne is 30 now and no big loss.
I really need to strengthen my defence, especially the full backs. atm I have Flanagan starting who is injured so a 33 year old Ward is filling in, his contract I will let run down, Christie is playing on the left and whilst he has been a good servant he isn't the quality for the level we are aiming to be at, I will assess his contract status again a lil later on.
mr.SPANKY
Also:
mr.SPANKY
Still 16 league games, 2 legs of the champs league, 2nd leg of the league cup semi and an FA Cup game to go at minimum.
I seriously love this guy.
mr.SPANKY
So we bow out of the FA Cup, not too fussed already won it. Get the League cup out of the way and focus on maintaining the league form is my goal here.
mr.SPANKY
We lose but we were already through in all honesty, could be up for our 3rd league cup on the trot.
mr.SPANKY
I fully expected to get pumped so very happy with this. Unusually quiet game from Gilson, hopefully he fires in the second leg
mr.SPANKY
Yeah fuck you Utd for like the 10th time. 3 times in a row Derby win the League Cup
I decided to take it more serious after we got knocked out the FA Cup, we will most likely get knocked out the Champs league and our league position to qualify for Europe is precarious atm.
Gilson only played 4 of the league cup games but he overtook Weimann and led the way with 6 goals to take out the leading goalscorer.
mr.SPANKY
Well we put up a better fight then I imagined. Gilson again having a stormer. Think it will be very hard to hold onto him,
mr.SPANKY
Breaks a 30 year record and still have 3 league games to go. He has 50 in all comps this season. Had to tie him down with a new contract, went from 15k per week to 70 but worth every cent.
mr.SPANKY
Somebody stop him. Actually no don't.
mr.SPANKY
First of many I hope.
Scored 14 more then 2nd place.
A given.
mr.SPANKY
Didn't even have to ask but in one of my previous posts after I was granted expansion I said if we sold out our stadium I would ask for a new one. Good news here.
mr.SPANKY
A very good finish to the season. Watford are quite the bogey team for us though I can't seem to get wins against them. Man Utd got one back on us in the last game of the season but it had no effect on the final positions anyways.
You can see the clear gulf in all parts of the table this season. The relegation spots were pretty much a lock for most of the season with only Stoke the other chance of going down. The fight for 6h spot was a tough one with 6 teams potentially up for it, I had 5th place locked down for almost the entire second half of the season with little to no chance of catching Chelsea. City and Utd the 2 horse race for the title.
I have no problem scoring goals, 4th most in the league with Gilson getting nearly half of them on his own with 37 but our defence was shocking, 11th worst in the league, I have identified the problem and it is my fullbacks. I have some young quality in the middle who will only get better as they age but I need to fix the flank problem.
mr.SPANKY
Quite a bit of rotation early in the season, most players getting 10 plus appearances. Most of the starting lineup and a few rotation players averaging over 7 which is what you want to see from your team. Standouts clearly Gilson and Cubas.
mr.SPANKY
No one else came close!
mr.SPANKY
Again going to keep expectations low, knowing that if Gilsons goals dry up at the rate we concede we could struggle.