Fola's Career [FM15]

Last game of the season ends in another defeat which capped off quite a disappointing end to the season. We were expected to fight for relegation so I guess from that point of view, 11th isn't a bad position. It's just annoying we ended the season so poorly.

Edit: We also lost 3-1 to Arsenal but I forgot to screenshot as I was too depressed.



Bring on next season! I'm tempted to make big big changes.

Above are the player stats from last season. Luke Young was our star man once again, what a player this guy is. I know I keep going on about it but I still can't believe he has been with us since our days in the Conference. Hoffman was class and a player I'm really excited to see how he develops in the future. The rest were quite average to be completely honest. It's nice to see local lad Tafari Zuill doing well as he came through the youth team.

I think I'm going to look to add a bit of Premier League experience to the squad as we really seemed to fuck up come the back end of the season just gone. I really need Marcos, Hlavaty and Vacek to perform next season. They have good stats all of them but their performances don't really seem to show it.

Hoffman missed out on Premier League Player of the Year but did manage to make TOTY, really good player and one I'm really happy with how he's developed. Clubs will be sniffing around him soon, no doubt.

Money, money, money!

Eight seasons ago Levi Ives was about to start his first professional season with us in the Conference. Now he is playing regular football in the Premier League and is on his to a World Cup. Amazing.

Everything seems to be in place for this club to keep on improving. Hopefully in about five seasons or so we'll be challenging for the Champions League or maybe that's a bit too optimistic. Just have to see if I can bring in the right players in the Summer.

June 2022 - Transfer News

I did say I would be making big changes this Summer and I've let the first player leave the club.



Federico Bonazzoli has left the club to join fellow Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday. His stats are still really good but after a really impressive first season last season, he didn't really get much of a look in last season. He was moaning constantly about wanting to leave the club so thought I'd get rid. I probably could of got more for him but we brought him to the club on a free so a nice £5 million profit.

Second player to leave the club in only a matter of days and this was one that has left me a bit disappointed.



As we will be going into our third season in the Premier League I have decided that it now the time to stop keeping playing purely for nostalgic reasons. If we are to progress as a Premier League club, I need to get rid of some of the lesser rated players and really start to bring in players who I feel will improve the side.

Nabil Jaadi leaves to join Championship side Bournemouth on a three year deal after joining us back in our days in League One. As you can see, he didn't play much for us over the past few seasons and I decided it was his time to move on. I managed to put in a 10% sell on clause so if he does become something special, at least we will get a bit of money for him.

Another first team player has left the club, again to fellow Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday.



Clotet joined in January of last season, so around a year and half ago and was originally brought in to be a replacement for Luke Young. Unfortunately for him, Luke Young has been brilliant once again so he hasn't got much of a look in. Another one with really good stats but I decided to cash in on him. Gained over £2 million profit too which again, is always nice for the finances.

I have made a few transfers in terms on incomings but I'll update those in a bit. One final player has left the squad and this is somebody who I'm sure will shock people who read the updates from last season.



Last seasons star man Ulrik Hoffman and TOYT centre back has left the club after two seasons to join fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. He really was another class for us last season but he was moaning about wanting to leave and I never can really be doing with having an unhappy player in the squad. He was on £35k a week with us so has got a massive pay rise so fair play to the lad.



When I brought him into the squad two seasons ago, he was purely brought in as back up. I really didn't expect him to make the impact he has so to manage to get £13 million profit from him is really pleasing. Over the past two seasons, we have made £29 million profit from player sales and that's something I'm really proud of.

Ah, back to normal. Luke Young has won the fans' POTY for the seventh out of his eight seasons at the club.



He came a close second last season to George Green who departed to West Ham shortly after but has now reclaimed this honour. His stats aren't even that special but he seems to do brilliantly for me consistently every season. He is still one of the first names on the team sheet and will probably still be for years to come. Captain fantastic still has a good few years in him to go.



What a player, I really hope he can keep this up. I'm sure in a few seasons, if we are to have a new stadium built, it will be named after this lad. What an honour that would be.

Confirmation of one last sale before I start on the incomings.



Mats Moller Daehli leaves the club after two somewhat successful seasons for him in the Premier League. Four seasons ago, he was playing in League One and I gave him the chance to play in the Premier League. Since then, he thought he was too good for the club and stated that he wanted to leave on a number of occasions. Yes, he is a good player but like I've said before, I don't want any player here who doesn't want to be here.

Good riddance. I think I've got an even better replacement for him anyway whom I will update you all with soon.

Transfers (Incomings) - June 2022

So, a few big names have left this Summer and I did state I really wanted to reshuffle the squad after a disappointing end to last season. I've brought in some players who are well known in the Premier League and I'm hoping their experience will really help us out next season. I definitely felt we lacked players who knew how to be successful in this league, now hopefully the mix of youth, experience and the Torquay old guard such as Hubert, Pearce, Ives and Young will be a good mix. Due to fact that we made some good profit from player sales, I decided to break my usual wages cap of £35k a week. I went up to £58k, which in terms of the Premier League, still is quite low. £58k will be the highest wage in this squad this season, then I will reassess the wage situation at the start of next season, I hope it's worth the gamble.



Really happy with all of these additions, will be interesting to see what you guys think about it all.



Joined on a pre contract deal from Irish side Shamrock Rovers. He's still young and I see a hell of a lot of potential in this lad. I'm thinking over playing him as a centre back but I'm not entirely sure. I want to give this lad quite a lot of game time this season. If that's not possible, I will look at loaning him out.



Well, this guy doesn't really need any introduction does he? I stated I wanted to bring in a experience and this is something this lad definitely has. From playing at Barcelona and Arsenal, he is now at Torquay, I bet he can't figure out where it all went wrong. Weirdly, in this particular career, he never really hit it off at Arsenal and has been playing the last four seasons with Fulham in the Championship. It's my job to make him good again. He will be a good mentor for the younger lads too.



This guy turned me down quite a lot a times when we were in League One. He has always been a player on my radar if Levi Ives were to ever leave the club. When I saw that he was available I decided to take the punt and bring him in as a back up if Ives gets injured. He's English too which is nice but yeah, he's mainly been brought in as back up.



Another Englishman joins the club and this is a lad I'm really excited about. Gary Shuttleworth joins the club from newly promoted side Everton after their promotion back to the Premier League. He has never actually played a match for the Everton first team and spent last season on loan at League One side Barnsley. I may have overpaid a tad for him but I'm sure if it doesn't work out, I'll be able to ship him on for a good price. Yes, it's a risk to fork out £7.5 million and the club's record deal on a player who has only ever played in the Championship or below but I have a good feeling about this one.



Still can't believe we have managed to bring him to the club. Former Manchester City and Belgium centre back Vincent Kompany has joined on a two year deal. He featured regularly for Manchester City before last season where he only managed to get on the pitch 6 times. This man has captained sides to the Premier League so I'm delighted to be able to bring in a player of his experience into the back line. Unfortunately for Vincent though... He won't be our captain as that is Luke Young's job and that won't be changing at any time while I'm still manager here.



Youngster who was actually with us on loan last season but only managed one substitute appearance. He spent all of last season playing for the Under 18 side but he impressed the coaches here massively so I decided to bring him in. I'll probably look at loaning him out this season to maybe a side in League One or the Championship if possible.



Brought in as a back up right back meaning we really do seem to have great strength in depth now within the squad. Bruno Maia who I brought in last season (screenie is a few pages back for those who are interested) will still be my number one right back but this guy will play if he gets injured and in all cup competitions.



This is the player that I am most excited about. When I let Mats Moller Daehli go, I was a bit little bit worried about who I was going to bring in however, when I saw this guy was available I just had to make sure I got him. To get this guy on a free is an amazing bit of luck as he's been a consistent member of Dutch side PSV's team for the past eight seasons. Weirdly, he's only been capped four times by the Dutch national side but hopefully he can get some more caps under his belt here.



Youngster brought in from Italian side AC Milan. AC bought him as a young lad from Fiorentina for £2 million so he must have something about him. I don't really expect him to play a big part this season and will probably loan him out.

The squad probably has the most quality it has ever had now and I'm looking forward to seeing how all of these players adapt to the squad. Overall though, I am really happy with my transfer business in this Summer window. There is still a month until the start of the season and it's always nice to bring in players early on so they can adapt to the tactics and all that. The board want a mid table finish, I'm sure with a squad like this, we can definitely achieve that.

Just a quick update on the progress of probably the only player of any quality to come out of our academy.

Tafari Zuill - Season 2018/19


Tafari Zuill - Season 22/23


Great to see how much he has improved in only four years at the club. He's already a top, top player and has a great partnership with Luke Young in the centre of the park. He's a player that I know I will probably lose in the future but he's one that I will always keep an eye on as he's a player whose development I'm most impressed with. He's still under contract with us for a few years so hopefully I won't need to worry about losing him any time soon. If I eventually do need to sell him, I will try and make sure I sell him to a club abroad or a club that will help his progression as it would be really annoying if he just ended up going to a club to rot in their reserves.

Some good new faces, especially the likes of Sanchez! Hopefully this is a better season!

Just about to start the new season, I've decided that I will go back to leaving updates every ten matches. I've made a few more signings before the start of the season, all of them are players who I hope to be key players for me in the future. In terms of outgoings, Dodo has left to join Sheffield Wednesday for £2.5 after he didn't progress as well as I would of liked. Our back up goalkeeper has also left the club, joining Manchester City for £1.7 million so I've brought in George Willis from Sheffield United as back up. I would provide a screenie but he'll probably never play so there's no point.



Signed this lad from some Czech side for £2.1 million. Absolute steal in my opinion. I've loaned him out to Championship side Peterborough to hopefully aid his development with some first team football.



Joined for £1 million from Bournemouth. At 17, he has some good stats so hopefully he will be able to improve in his time year. He will be in the under 18's for this season then I will look at loaning him out next season. He scored 3 goals in the Championship last season as a 16 year old so I'm excited about this guy.



Another young promising striker who joined us for £1 million from Huddersfield. He's probably a bit better than Walton in terms of putting the ball in the back of the net. Going to look to see if Sanchez will tutor him.



Finally, my third young Englishman is Naser who joins us after his contract expired at Fulham. Manchester United and Manchester City were both in for him so I'm delighted to have got him. Since the screenshot, I have loaned him out to fellow Premier League side Huddersfield so it'll be interesting to see how he does there.



This guy was a player I signed on a pre-contract deal three seasons ago but he has just joined. I have put Vincent Kompany as his tutor so I'm expecting his stats to rise massively in the future.

Very healthy transfer budget even after a lot of changes in the Summer.



Interestingly, we still have the lowest salary in the league. This is something I am very proud about, especially if we stay up again this season.

Season 22/23 - Ten games gone

Ten games in and we have only managed to win three matches in the league, which is something that I'm quite disappointed with.



We started off losing the first three matches of the season which is something I really didn't anticipate. Sanchez has probably been my star man out of my Summer signings, along with Adam Maher. Vincent Kompany has been injured quite a lot and unfortunately, it does seem that his legs have gone. Once a great defender but maybe this season is too much for him- reminds me very much of Rio Ferdinand's current situation at QPR in real life.

El Haj and Derek Cross are now my starting CB's, which has seen a shift from my starting pairing of Krystian Pearce and Kompany. Unfortunately, it also seems that it is time for Krystian Pearce to step down from the starting eleven. He has been my starting defender since our days in the Conference but I'm really excited about Cross and El Haj, whom both at the mere age of 18, seem to have settled in comfortably into my starting eleven. KP and Kompany are more than worthy back ups if they get injured though.

I have a new keeper coming in January but I'll save that screenie for a few updates time when he actually joins the club. Jiri Vacek has done well up top actually, so he's been another bright spark. He's only 18 as well so we do have a lot of potential in this side. Overall, quite a poor start in the league but the last two performances have filled me with a little bit of optimism.



However, in the Capital One Cup, we have done quite well and are through to the Quarters. It would be great to win this trophy, add another one to the cabinet hopefully.

Just before our eleventh league game of the season, we managed to pull off a major coup. Jaun Mata joins us on a two year deal after his contract expired at Manchester United in the Summer. We managed to somehow get him on only £25k week which is a steal and he joins the experienced Vincent Kompany and Alexis Sanchez in becoming the third Premier League winner to join the club.



As you can see, his stats have decreased but not massively and to be honest, I still can't believe that we have been able to bring him in. Nine seasons ago, we were starting life in the Conference and now we are in the Premier League with Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez and Vincent Kompany in our squad. It really is quite remarkable and something I never thought would happen when I started this career.

The young players in my squad will surely be able to learn from these players, meaning this is another signing which will hopefully benefit the whole squad massively.

Awful start in the league But at least you are doing well in the cup.

Incredible signing

Johno: Thanks for the comment mate, nice to know you're still reading. I've been disappointed with our start in the league but I think it was to be expected really with the drastic changes we made in the Summer.

The starting XI is usually: Hubert (28); Maia (23), Cross (18), Ej Haj (18), Ives (25), Vavra (21), Maher (29), Zuill (20), Sanchez (34), Hlavaty (19), Vacek (18).

Age in brackets.

Hubert has been a good servant for me but is being replaced in January. Maia is a class player who I think we'll lose in a few seasons. Cross and El Haj are both 18 years old so this season is a big learning curve for them, as well as being new signings. Ives is a good player but is purely in for sentimental reasons, I probably could get better but I do want to keep him in the side. Unfortunately, this season has been Captain Fantastic Luke Young play a somewhat bit-part role, as well as Krystian Pearce which is a shame but I really want to make sure my younger players are given a shot now. Young is 29, while KP is now 32 so both are getting on a bit now but I will still like to keep them on my books. Vavra, in the holding role is only 21 and its only his second season at the club. Zuill is only 20, while its Maher's first season at the club also. Sanchez is 34 now and is still a good player but he's nowhere near as good as he was. Then there is Hlavaty and Vacek who are both young. Hlavaty is a regular for the Czech national side, while Vacek is still in their under 21 team.

So, in essence, I see this season as a somewhat transitional season to bed my new youngsters into the squad. Hopefully in a few more seasons they will develop into top players to ensure we push up the league. As I said earlier, we still have the lowest annual salary in the league so once again my main objective is to stay in the league. Some people may see it as not being ambitious enough, but hopefully once all my players gel we will see an improvement.

I have also updated my first post of this career with my career history so far. There will either be more updates tonight or tomorrow, depends on how much revision I get done.

Seeing Mata next to the Torquay badge is a little weird!

Haha, I know man! It seems really weird having Mata, Sanchez and Kompany playing for the mighty Torquay

Season 22/23 - Twenty matches gone

Ten more matches gone in the league and despite some good performances, we only managed to gain two wins out of ten, leaving us scarily close to the relegation zone. I really do think we have enough quality but only time will tell.



I could be sat here writing that we'd done so much better however we conceded last minute goals against Tottenham, Man City, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday! We have struggled massively in terms of holding onto leads and I really hope that those goals don't cost us when it comes to the business end of the season.

Overall, despite only winning twice, I can't really moan too much. We have played really well despite a few blips here and there but we just haven't been able to hold onto leads. I have managed to sign a new keeper:


Corradi, 23 joins us fee a fee that could rise to £10 million which becomes our highest ever paid transfer fee. Hubert has been a great goalkeeper for us and has been our starting goalkeeper for the past six seasons or so but I now feel it's time for a change. It was with a heavy heart to drop Hubert but I'm really excited about Corradi, hopefully he will be difference in turning some of those draws into wins.



We managed an extremely convincing win against Sheffield Wednesday in the cup. Before the match, I stated that I thought their keeper was the weak link. I obviously got in his head as he had an absolute stinker. It would be great to go far in this competition but then again, the league is my main priority.



A late goal by 18 year old CB Derek Cross grabbed us a quarter final win against Newcastle. Unfortunately we have been drawn against Chelsea in the semi finals but after managing to hold them to a draw in the league, I am quite optimistic. Because it's the Capital One Cup, I'm also hoping they will play a weakened side but that may just be wishful thinking.



As you can see, the league is unbelievably tight at the moment. We only sit four points behind Swansea who are in 11th position but we are only three points out of the relegation despite us sitting in 14th position. I don't expect to bring any more players in within the transfer window but I will update you if I do. Wish me luck!

Some superb signings Fola! Hopefully you can get on a league run soon!

Was just looking through my staff, deciding who to keep and all that.

Look at this guy:



Cool as f*ck.

Two words: drug dealer

Season 22/23 - Thirty games gone: still not safe?

Despite only losing four of our last ten matches in the league, we still only sit 5 points above the relegation zone. This season has to be one of the closest relegation fights I've ever been involved in. It's very rare to be sitting in 12th place but still worrying about relegation. On the transfer front, I didn't bring in any more players in the January transfer window. Some players did leave the club though, firstly: Demarai Gray. I brought Gray back to the club last January but he was no where near as good as he was in his first spell at the club. He only featured once and was moaning about leaving, his former side Blackburn came with a last minute offer which I accepted. He joined them on a free transfer but we will receive 50% of any next transfer sale. It was a shame to see him leave but he just wasn't good enough this time round. Zambotto, who joined in the Summer was moaning about a lack of first team football so was shipped off back to Italy on a free transfer after a disappointing six months in England. Binnom-Williams and Asquo also had their contracts terminated by mutual consent after they both wanted to leave. Asquo was a player I brought in a few seasons back and has good stats but I don't know why, I just never liked the look of him.



In the league, we have done really quite well. We were poor in our first four matches but some great form ensured it pushed us slightly away from the relegation zone. Summer signing Alula Naser was recalled from his loan spell at Huddersfield and has played an integral part since his return. He's a player I'm really excited about and hopefully he can be a star at this club. We have eight matches to go and personally, I believe we can stay up, we'll just have to wait and see.

A bit off topic, however I think I am going to make big changes in the Summer again, just wondering what you guys think. My highest earners at the club are: Maher (£58k), Corradi (£50k), Kompany (£50k), Sanchez (£50k) and Antonio Marcos (£35k). I have decided that I am going to look to offload all of them despite Corradi in the Summer. Previously, I prided myself on having extremely low wages but these players have brought up the club's wage. Maher is now 29 so it getting on, I should be able to get around £5 million or so for him. Kompany's contract expires in the Summer and despite him playing quite a lot in the first team recently, he will be released unless he agrees a much lower deal. Sanchez is actually our top goalscorer but he will look to be sold in the Summer. At 34 years old, his stats are only going to decline. Finally, Antonio Marcos, despite very good stats has only scored 7 goals in 53 appearances for us. He's a good player but doesn't score enough for my liking. He's worth £10 million and Parma are sniffing around him so I may look to get rid in the Summer. All these transfer obviously all depend on whether we stay in the league.



Unfortunately, we were knocked out of the Capital One Cup over two legs in the semi's against Chelsea. In the first leg, we went 2-0 up but stupidly conceded two late goals. We were then battered in the away leg. It's a shame because I would of loved to of gone to Wembley but I guess that will have to wait.



Battered by West Ham in the fourth round of the FA Cup. I would love to say that I played a weakened side, but I didn't we were just outclassed on the day.



So with eight games to go, can we stay in the league? Only time will tell.

How on earth is this guy continually left out of the French squad?! He's an unbelievable player and has been brilliant for me this season. Unfortunately he is wanting a new deal and won't accept anything less than £100k a week so he will either be sold this Summer, or next Summer I am still undecided. Even though, he is an unbelievable player, I won't be breaking my wage cap so he will be sold. If I can get around £30 million for him, that should sort us out as a club for a good few seasons.