England & Bath City

Year 1 - Bath promoted as Champions after close run with Billericay. ( Dulwich Hamlet won in play offs)

FA Cup - Did not make main draw after Ebbsleet away loss.

FAT - Bromley stopped our progression 2 rounds in. ( Having gained revenge on Ebbsfleet)

Wealdstone did the double over us in the league

Affiliate Club - Walsall .... Tobias Hayles-Docherty a useful loan signing on the wing. (Tried to sign but 170k quoted for a 5k value player ) ... *checked a year on and languishing in reserves for Walsall with no league games and a value of 4K ! A waste for the Fans player of the year.

Formation - Started 433 wide then 4231 to stop the leaky defence ... gave up and went direct wing play 424 wide and never looked back.

Only free signings and 4 loans ... 3 in place when I took over

England - through to Nations league semis but can not keep a clean sheet ... Sterling the main man.

Year 2

Only spent 5.5k on lwb cover for Anthony Straker + 5 loan signings of U23's not getting first team football.

Keeping 424 wide as defnsively have lost Ben Jones my useful youth CD + RB Ed Woodman poached by MK Dons.

Club have turned professional after Chairman elections and promotion last year,

England surpisingly beat France easily in semis before a much tougher scrap with Italy to lift First Nations League Trophy.

This version of the game seems Goal Happy ... The England U19/29/21’s are scoring 7 to 11 goals per game regularly ( not under my control) and I have just thrashed Croatia 8 - 2 in a Euro qualifier... with no editing or adjustments on my behalf to influence the result.

With 19 games gone .. Bath have won 14 , drawn 3 ( all from 2 nil up) and lost 2 ... Wrexham ( outplayed me and stopped me from scoring) & Chesterfield .

Best players are Ross Stearn ( already at Bath) , Cassian Thomas ( Free signing from Fulham in season 1) Ryan Brunt & Matthew Murray ( both at Bath at start).

Fa Cup saw league 2 Dover beaten ... bring on L1 Barnsley ... First game postponed .. pitch is not great for 2nd attempt .. all the hallmarks of an upset as Villa await the winners ... 4-1 down in an hour before losing 4-3 which flattered us. Record Attendance broken with 7421 ( previous was Chippenham local Derby in Season 1 of 1776).

Lose to Orient 1-3 next match as cup hangover kicks in and then held by Harrogate after again blowing a 2-0 lead.
End Dec with 4 wins in a row and start Jan well before a host of teams start trying to lure Cassian Thomas away leading to 2 draws both from 1-0 up.
Newcastle sign Thomas ... Murray going back to Oz with Brisbane Roar but at least not until July.
Have signed Parpinel and Esposito from Udinese youth to bolster defence and Aaron Heap for Midfield.
17 games left as off 24th Jan 2020 and top by 7 Pts from Stevenage with Orient 10 pts behind.

Told Hodges on for most clean sheets and then go 9 games before getting another ... blew a 3-0 lead at home to draw with Wrexham ( why do I struggle against W teams in the league ?!).

Stevenage ran me close before I get the title with 3 games to go ( Hartlepool in 6th win the playoff) ... nice to see Billericay made it this time to come into the Vanarama.

Arsenal continue the FM tradition of being better than the actual side and won the Premier League ( That’s FM 13/14/16 & 19 where they win ... Gooners must wish it was really like that ! ).

Lost the Trophy Final ( First Wembley appearance in 131 yrs ) to Stevenage.

Scored 17 corners and 8 direct free kicks ... Stearn rating 12 and Smith 8 for free kicks yet better than any side I’ve managed on previous versions.

Tried to play some low ranked sides against England to see how high a score I can rack up but best is 13-0 (British Virgin Islands) from 67 shots ... how someone has a 37-0 Record score is a mystery even if they have swapped out the keeper etc.

Now in the Euros with Slovakia easily beaten 3-0 ...away to Scotland 3-0 , Ukraine ( 10 men ) 8-0 Top of Group ( Sancho has scored in 5 successive games)
Away to Germany in Rnd 2 ... hate playing a team with no stats to review ....get a VAR pen and Sancho scores again .win 7-0
QF away to Holland ... Sancho scores again in a 4-1 win finally conceded 87 mins into the 5th match.
SF Home to Spain. Sancho scores again in 3-0 win with VAR stopping Morata goal.
Final at Wembley .. 4-4 win 7-6 on pens had everything. 11 yellows a red in extra time for France ... 2 VAR pens ... 1 each with Frances in 93rd min trailing 4-3... missed but they score from corner ! Oh and Sancho didn’t score !!

This is the third time I have been involved with 11 yellow and a red ...each time I get 4 and the opposition 7... given I play with Keep on feet I am surprised by how many cards ... never had so many games like this on previous versions.

Year 3

Of the 5 loans from last year ... 2 were affordable to buy but City & Boro then inflate the asking price eg 170k is now 10 million.

Further 5 out who wanted first team games.

Therefore it’s 2 released players I picked up from City( Roman McDonald) and Leicester (Keaveny)plus signings from Derby ( Malone)and Exeter (Boateng)who want first team football.

2 good youth prospects also picked up but they join later in the season ( both 15) ..but cannot join until 16th Birthdays.

Opening game Northampton away and Reading in the Carabao
Checkatrade Group ..Cambridge , Wycombe and Southampton U23

Carabao Cup .. Bath 2 - Reading 5 ... deservedly hammered ... lots to do to improve the squad (Reading make the semi finals)
Checkatrade .. Bath 2 - Cambridge 4 ... outplayed by team 2nd in League 2. Do however progress before a weakened side lose at home to Bristol Rovers ( current holders) in front of just 909 fans.
FA Cup beat Accrington before a repeat of last season .. a wet 2nd Rnd tie with Barnsley ... played more defensively and their chances provide the chance to gain revenge with a 2-0 win ... Wolves next !
Shock .. Bath in front of a record crowd beat 8th in Premier League Wolves 4-2 (7812 attendance ... sell out))
Cardiff next away.( Taken 2105 away fans ... more than I get at home) but beaten 2-0 and a fair reflection of the game.

League .. won 8 drew 4 before finally losing away at Dover 3-2. Youngster Pope (youth product) & Keaveny ( Leicester released ) have 19 goals between them. Currently 2nd .... followed up blowing. 3-1 lead at home to Bury to draw before the big one away to leaders Wycombe ... not optimistic as teams beginning with W ( Wealdstone/ Wrexham) usually beat me ... surprised to see a comfortable 3-1 win and now Top.
20 games gone and losses to MK Dons who went Top and Yeovil ( had 6 out fatigued) see us 3rd ( W 11 / D 6 / L 3)

Attendances up but only 183 went away to the Yeovil derby ... took more to Newport and this time the Barnsley cup tie which saw a record 7400+ was watched by 3700+ ?

Really thought sticking with my direct 4-2-4 would have been rumbled by now but switching out Stearn and Brunt ( both been there from the start with Bath in Vanarama South but struggling at League 2 level) with Tormey ( Leeds loanee) and the extra pace of Keaveny.

Have adjusted in second half of season to balanced from attacking during games to make the team a bit tighter at the back.

Finally win a Cup match and new signing Demange scores a brace aged 16 yrs and 2 days as I play youngsters against Saints U23’s. A new Record youngest player/scorer for the club breaking Henry Opara who was 17.

Record falls again on Boxing Day with new signing 16 yrs and 1 day old.( Jeremiassen)

Jan window has opened with teams trying to take Hodges (GK) and Pope (Str) and Bernard(DC) .

Bernard happy with offer of a new contract.
Pope injured but multiple offers for a trial week. Persuaded board to reverse decision to sell to Leeds for 180k.
Hodges linked to “ penniless” Sunderland who are rumoured to bid the £40m tag I placed on him !
Picked up Itakura on loan from City to bolster the midfield.
Ipswich are the first team to offer me a job interview but I want to get Bath to premier.

With six games to go we were 6pts clear of MK Dons ... cut to 4pts with 2 to go before a come from behind win against Crewe ( beating us until their sending off) and the Dons blowing a 2 goal lead hands us a surprising title. Especially having conceded 66 goals ... thankfully Watford reject Sinclair has been class apart upfront supported by Pope and Keaveny.
A league record 5314 saw me lose at home to Lincoln on the last day ( W28 D13 L5)

Arsenal win the Premier League again !

England ... Switzerland (twice)and France both beaten in Euro League including another two goal fests with the French.
Portugal await in the semi finals. Current won all 36 games.
Stretched to 38 before losing on pens to Portugal after a 1-1 draw.

Also trying to break the highest score record by playing friendlies against very low ranked teams ... Kane gets 12 and misses a penalty in a 19-0 win vs Suriname. ( I am not going to beat the record playing properly with Bath so its my bit of pointless fun).

As I get to the Jan window of my 3rd season ... I realise how much I have missed playing a lower league team properly.

As you can see from the Fm16 records list I had become lazy by editing wonder sides.

This takes me back to playing Rochdale when they were always in League 2 or the year my Championship Leeds knocked out 4 Premier sides to win the FA Cup ( my Wolves win brought back that giant killer feeling).

The international part of the game seems wrong ( England should not be 36/36 wins) and the number of goals is too high ... but it is the most fun I have had in years.
Game gets its own back ...having lost to Portugal on pens .... I now get knocked out by France in the semi-finals of the Confederation Cup ... a battle of the Top 2 sides but the media coverage is its a disaster!
Heaton retires and Kane relinquishes the captaincy.

2021/22 July Transfers

In
Sawyer ( Radcliffe )
Battistella ( Udinese u23)
Laird & Itakura & Gotts all on loan
Free Agent Hayles-Docherty

Out
Stearn and Straker leave ... both originals from Vanarama South
Lucas
Morton
2 others turn down moves to stay at club.

Jan Transfers ... struggling for a top signing ... only Tom Ince interested but wages stop a transfer and only manage a loan.
Lose Pope ,Parpinel & Jeremaissen as my talent is stripped ... invest in promising youth from Holland,Belgium and Russia

In
Ince and Kabeya loan
Streppel, Reijmer,Meijer, Malorod

Out
Pope ( Fulham) , Parpinel & Jeremaissen ( Burnley) Demange ( West Ham) Derflinger ( Dortmund)

*Jan window has affected form and 2 away losses cut lead from Charlton to 5 points after 32 matches.


Checkatrade .. Cambridge , Cardiff U23 and Forest Green. Overcome Cambridge despite 10 missing players.
2nd Rnd Stevenage 3rd Brighton U 23 QF MK Dons SF Charlton Final vs North Champions ....Arsenal U23’s !
Lose final on pens ... still a cup win alludes Bath.

Carabao .. surprising penalty shoot out win vs Ipswich before fellow championship side Fulham win with last minute goal 4-3 vs my reserves as I prioritised the league.( War of words with their manager Steven Gerrard after) !

Fa Cup .. 2nd Rnd hammering 2-5 to Exeter.

League 1 ... lose 2 of the first 3 matches and have tweaked my tactics from Positive to Balanced ... working with an up turn in results which started with a lucky win vs Pompey. Pope good at this level but Keaveny had a 10 hr goal drought.

Little bit of history .. Ryan Brunt scores in our 22nd Game ... now has goals in Vanarama South , Vanarama National , League 2 and now League 1.
Switched to 4-1-2-3 after Jan to accommodate new signings.

More history as in game 38 .. Jerome Sinclair becomes Bath City leading league goal scorer with his 67th strike.
Title Sealed in 45th match ... went back to 442 against Charlton ( nearest rival.. 6pt gap with 2 games to go).
Having struggled since Jan window ... Charlton bottle it and Bath win 0-6 with a Sinclair hat trick.

Finish Season Won 28 Drew 11 Lost 7 Conceded 61 goals ... even going more defensive has not stopped the defensive issues.

Jeremy Peace wins the Chairman vote again who now expects me to sign high profile players ... been trying that with no success so far .

Impressed to see Emma Hayes not only getting a job ..Grimsby 2018 but progressing to Birmingham in 2021

Oh and Arsenal win Premier League for 3rd straight year ! Also won FA Cup / World Club & Community Shield.

16/7/22 ... A busy transfer window is coming to an end.

After a real life break away in Budapest ... saw the Ferencvaros ground ( might consider them for my next save) I came back ready for Bath City debut season in the Championship.


7 out and 6 in.

Out
McDonald to Huddersfield ( then doesn’t play in the season opener against me) for a 1.6m profit.
Brunt to Plymouth ... sorry to see him go but has no pace and moaning about lack of appearances
Whittingham .. forgot to pay attention to contract and lost on a free to Rotherham
Hayles-Doherty ... back to Walsall
Heap ... Oxford ( small 30 k profit)
Opara ... star player sold against my wishes to Southampton after a bidding war for 10.5mill
Battistella ... back to Italy for a 62k profit.

In
Morton back from Millwall ... home grown
Mbala back from Peterborough ... needed home grown after losing Opara
Diamoutene 525k from Real Madrid B ... not seen since as in a U19 competition
Smith-Rowe on loan from Arsenal to replace Opara
Itakura 400k from City
Longstaff ... Free ... not matching real world their !

Bath rank 19th - 797k/month wages versus a top 3 of Newcastle 4.13m / Leeds 3.96m & Huddersfield 3.3m

Opening fixture ... have switched to 4-5-1 wide and play a narrow defensive Huddersfield. ... 1-3 away win and deservedly so.

Relegated Newcastle have made 104m profit from 14 out and 6 in ( fellow Championship Side Leeds paid 27.5m for one of the players)
Brentford have only signed 1 , 4 teams sold nobody and 3 spent nothing.

Carabao Cup
Drawn Swansea at home in Round 1..... Reached 4th Rnd before a last minute equaliser by Liverpool at Anfield (3-3) see us go out on pens.

FA Cup weakened squad lose on pens to QPR after being 2 up in normal time.

At half way stage 5th Nov we have Played 23 W17 D4 L2 and are 6pts clear of Cardiff (played 22)..oddly they play game in hand during World Cup.

2 month Break for Qatar World Cup ... next game Boxing Day ... at least injuries should heal.

England & Wales have made the Finals ( Wales also in my International League group with Germany)

Beat US Virgin Islands and Argentina in warm up matches.

Wales win their opener with Japan, lose to Belgium and thrash Colombia to qualify under Ryan Giggs with Tyler Roberts not Bale the key player so far. ( Wales qualified as best runners up in groups pipping Scotland )
The dream ends as France win in round 2.
USA hold Argentina hosts beatenby Ecuador before being hammered by Italy.
37yr old Ronaldo scores his 124 goal in 199 games but Portugal lose to South Korea whilst Brazil ( favourites with France) are held by South Africa
Ronaldo scores in his 200th appearance to keep Portugal in with a chance
After Game 1 the draw for the Euro Qualifiers is made ?!

Group England vs Jamaica ...VAR pen within 5mins and again 70 mins for Kane hat trick ! Weather is 35c. Win 5-0
Group England vs Cameroon 31c for this. Laboured Win 3-0 with no VAR .
Group England vs Bosnia 35c again for this one. Win 3-0 but the shock is Jamaica are runners up in the group. Kane has scored 5 games running.

Rnd 2 - England vs USA Win 3-0 but Kane run over ... jinxed it.
QF surprise not Belgium but England vs Senegal ... Var pen on half time .( 28 shots to 3 ) tired team Win 1-0
SF England vs Brazil ... Sancho has us 2 up by half time and then a Red card for Brazil before Sancho sets up Kane for the 3rd
Win 4-0

Mbappe sent off as France beat Portugal in other SF. They also have the most yellow cards in the competition.

Final against the French ... 6th time I’ve played them in 67 matches I’ve managed.

Alli scores in 17 seconds and Sterling 91st for a comfortable 2 nil win.

Kane Golden Boot with 6 . Sterling Best Player and 8/11 of the Best XI are English.

4-2-3-1. Pickford,Alexander-Arnold,Dier,Stones,Chilwell,Winks,Cook,Sterling,Alli,Sancho,Kane. Subs on Wan-Bissaka,Hudson-Odoi and Chalobah.

Sterling has 107 caps 43 goals, Kane 79 goals from 86.

Was offered the Spurs job mid tournament ( declined ) to try and get the 5 promotions trophy.
Now offered the Brazil job .

Restart of Championship has seen my lack of World Cup players mean I have a fitter squad and Cardiff have gone off form.

Jan Window

In . James & O’Neil plus Youth Mgr signed a youth player who has no work permit. Henderson
Out . Sawyer ( Villa) Andrejevic ( Udinese) Bernard ( Spurs) Catley sold against my wishes . Hedges

After setting a Club Record fee at the start of the season 525k .. I have gone for broke and signed Henderson from Utd for 8.75m .

Wages I have moved up from 19th to 16th as I manage the finances ... Newcastle ( spent 38.5m on transfers) increased there spending but Leeds and Huddersfield have trimmed there squads and reduced wages.

With 30 games gone .. Bath 9 Points clear of Cardiff. Swansea with a low wage structure (18th) are 4th behind big spending Leeds ... whose boss Thierry Henry is manager of the month in Jan and Sacked by 25th Feb.

Liverpool win the Premier League under Klopp to break the Arsenal strangle hold. ( Knocked them our of Euro Cup at SF)
They have a chance to defend the Euro Cup they won against rivals Utd when they play PSG

Arsenal win Carabao Cup vs Leicester

Spurs win FA Cup vs Arsenal

22/05/2023

Having secured our first visit to the Premier League I get messages from the Boardroom.

1. Do I want a better youth level ... Yes

2. Our lovely Twerton Park is not Premier ready and we are hiring Loftus Road from QPR ... not Bristol Rovers or Bristol City ( City to meet requirements) but off to London. Perhaps it will boost our appeal as a club.

Given the board a year ago were looking for a new Ground site the lack of any other news is disappointing.

Audacious bid for Ronaldo accepted but he will not enter contract talks.... has then stated going to retire
Failed with free agent Ramsey bid wants 434k per month wages ... I only have 250k available

England beat Italy and Spain (aet Var pen) to add to 2019 International League Wins

Transfers ..
Bid for Smith-Rowe after successful loan ... bid 10m ...Arsenal demand £117m
Bid Fromm from Fulham but 80m quoted for a 2m valued player

In
Blakewell ... free signing youngster released by Spurs
Vorobjov 950k youngster from CSKA
Alba .. injury prone experienced left back
Monteiro 50k youngster from Guimares
Sandoval ..2m Argentine
Linon-Saintini..2.5m Monaco
Wood 9.5m Wolves

Out
4 youngsters for 167.5k
Malone 650k ..Derby
Sinclair 8m ... Watford
Boateng 2.5m Palace
Malorod 10m to Barcelona

Match day income table .. Spurs Top £111m .... bottom little old Bath £6m.
Sold 15437 season tickets ... almost double my record crowd Before the switch to Loftus Road.

Commercial Income ...City £111m Top ... Bath bottom £10.36m

Match Day 1 - Bath vs Burnley ...alphabetically 2nd vs 4th ... probably the best it will get !

Dream start as second half goals from Diamoutene & Sandoval see us win 2 nil in front of a record 18181( sell out)

Match Day 2 away to Arsenal ( under Pep Guardiola) .. VAR takes a bow for Bath for the first time. In front of 60000 with a record league away following of 3000 we take an early lead from ex Spurs player O’Neil. Henderson then saves an Arsenal VAR penalty.
Diamoutene grabs a shock second 53secs into the 2nd half and despite being behind on every statistic a late VAR pen gives little old Bath a shock 3 nil win and TOP of the table .
Match Day 3 and the dream continues with a 2-1 home win over Wolves ... like the Arsenal match with under 40% possession.
Match Day 4 .. the bubble bursts ... 4 nil away at City . ( VAR take a goal away at 2 down) ... thank goodness Luton and the Carabao Cup awaits to get some form back.

After struggling for possession for 9 matches I have switched to my England 4-2-3-1 against Watford. 33 shots , 51% possession but only drew 1-1 and first time not sold out the ground.

Carabao Cup ..
Last minute winner at Luton followed by penalty away win at Leicester ( some revenge for league defeat).