willz121 - Comments

Not wanting to dwell in the non-league much longer, we made some great signings over the summer to allow us to compete from the off. Ideally, I wanted a top half finish this season, and for us to bring a few of our own youngsters into the fold, but instead we ran away with the title and secured promotion to the football league at the first attempt.

Just to add another trophy to the mix, we managed to win the FA Trophy for the second successive season, and bring the trophy count to four in three seasons.

This season was far too easy for us, and with zero debt and a healthy wage budget, I was able to bring in players who could easily compete at a higher level. Most impressive was the early signs of David Elderton moving into the first team picture, a player that started in our own youth academy. It'd be nice to have a few more of those coming through over the next few seasons.

To say we found form in Season 2 is a bit of an understatement. I changed my tactics from a 4-4-2 formation, to an attacking 4-3-3 formation with my wingers playing as inside forwards and cutting in as often as possible. This lead us to score goals for fun, and we managed to secure the title with ease.

Last season's disappointment in the play-offs were well and truly put behind us, and we claimed the title and also the FA Trophy to give us a double winning season.

Okay it's not quite the Premiership and FA Cup, but it's great to win any trophy and to claim both was pretty memorable.

We secured the FA Trophy with a win over second placed Braintree, which made the tie all the sweeter as they were our nearest challengers in the league that season.

Onwards and upwards, and into the Blue Square Premier.

We begin our journey in the Blue Square North, a competitive division in which we were expected to do fairly well in. I took over the reigns in November 2011, and began to assess my squad. We certainly had a chance of finishing in the top five, but FC Halifax were running away with the title, meaning that any chance of promotion would come via the playoffs.

League Table

We managed to secure a place in the play-offs, and with our final game of the season against Corby, we could've moved up the table into third with a win. However, we were unable to secure a win and had to be content with a fourth place finish, and home advantage in the first leg against Altrincham.

We drew the first leg 1-1 at home, a game which we really needed to win, and we were 1 minute away before James Lawrie equalised for the visitors in the 89th minute.

We travelled to Moss Lane for the second leg, and it was that man James Lawrie again who ended our chances of promotion, scoring twice to give them a 2-0 win, and a 3-1 win on aggregate.

Altrincham went on to win the play-off, and were promoted to the Blue Square Premier.

Well this is my career from FM12 that I am currently still playing through. I haven't bought FM13 yet simply due to my enjoyment of this career and hopefully it's okay to continue my story on the new forums. If it's not okay to include FM12 stories on here, please can you let me know and I will remove it. Thanks.

Firstly about me, I have started the game as a Sunday League Footballer, and unemployed. I holidayed the game until I was offered a job, and Chester FC approached me to take over as manager. I accepted, and we start our journey in the Conference North.

Chester FC, or Chester City as they were previously known, had a strong history in the Football League before suffering financial problems and successive relegations. In 2004, Chester won promotion back into the football league at the first time of asking, although the club were wound up and put up for sale in January 2010, and were expelled from the league just 2 months later.

According to Wikipedia, Chester City tried to join the Welsh Premier League before they were wound up in March 2010. Chester FC were formed, and have been working their way back towards the football league since then.

Chester play at the Deva Stadium, with a capacity of 6,000 with the majority of the stadium seated (3,485 seats). I am currently in season 2018/19, so I'll bring you upto speed.