Harrogate Town

Good stuff

Hi All,
Let me introduce to you my game with Harrogate Town.... In recent years I've downloaded the additional databases and played with my club Darlington with whom the few seasons have been fairly easy being the big in a little pond. This year I have gone for a bit more of a challenge and chosen the closest team in the original game database - Harrogate Town.

At point of creation of the story I'm already 3 seasons in, so I'll give you a bit of a catch up:

15/16
The opening expectations of the board was a playoff finish and the squad didnt seem far off achieving that, even so the wheeler dealer that I am, I brought in 11 new faces and released 9... Naturally with that much change I found it difficult to maintain any sort of consistency throughout the season and there were times when the board were getting a little uncomfortable.
I did however have a cracking FA Cup run, beating Conference side Gateshead and League 1 side Crawley on my way to a 3rd round away tie at Middlesbrough. Boro battered me, but the extra funds that the run provided was enough to convince the board I should have another year...

16/17
The cup run gave me an extra £1.2k per week in wages to play with which at this level gives me room for an extra 3 or 4 player on contract rather than have them sit on a non-contract where they can be snapped up by anyone at any point. 7 players were brought in 12 released, all players being signed to improve the first team squad and improve they did.
The league form was much more solid, seeing me in a title race for most of the year. Mid March however I had a string of injuries which saw me fall back from eventual champions Worcester.
In the playoffs, my poor form continued and against a strong Macclesfield side I was never really in the game.
The cups weren't as successful as the previous year, but in both I was only beaten by teams in higher divisions meaning the board weren't all that fussed.

17/18
My third season in the Conference North was much more successful. All season I was never below 3rd and any team that launched a charge on me fell away before they could get a strong hold on the league.. much to my advantage.
Through the season I made additions to improve the squad and was a little more ruthless on players that had no reason to be at the team. This created a much more competitive squads and the wins came as a result.
I had a great run in the FA Trophy which took me to the quarter finals and beating 2 Conference sides, but suffered a disappointing 2-0 defeat to the now Conference North Darlington who went on to the final.
In the FA Cup I got myself to the 1st Round proper, but dealt a hard tie against L1 Walsall. Unfortunately there was not upsets, but it was a great game for the natural see us lose 3-2.

Going into the 18/19 season, I know I'm in for a huge challenge beginning life in the Conference. Around 70% of the teams are pro but I'm miles away from having the funds to do that myself and also have to expand the stadium at some point in the next 2 years as I dont meet the minimum capacity requirements.
Board expectations this year are for a mid table finish.... Its going to be tough, but with the right signings and good knowledge of who I can attack versus who I have to contain hopefully I can make a good crack of it.

Keep it up, good start. Like reading these Conference stories.