Football Manager 2014 – Networked Career Season 3

Welcome to a (long overdue!) summary of Season 3 of our Networked Football Manager Career as Morecambe and Dagenham & Redbridge. As it has been a while (and an additional 5 seasons have been played since the last update!) this summary will be a little lighter than others, but the detail will pick up again going forward. Season 1 can be found here, and Season 2 can be found here. Quick reminder –  please note you can click on photos to enlarge them so you can actually see what’s in them! Enjoy!

Morecambe Season 3

Season three was a little bit of a non-event up Morecambe way – so expect the bulk of this update to be Daggers based!

This was a season of preparing for the future for Morcs, getting in some good young players… getting some dead wood off the wage bill on free transfers and continuing the habit of loaning players with a view to signing them on a free at the end of the season.

Results during the season were a bit of a mixed bag – never really having to worry about relegation, but never really being able to entertain thoughts of reaching the play offs either. There were no real results to shout about, but equally we played some nice football at times. A target man (James Hanson) and cultured striker (the flamboyantly  named Massimiliano Lionetti) duo up front providing a few enjoyable games and generally formed an entertaining and adequate strike partnership. I do wonder what a cultured Italian striker makes of i) being in Morecambe and ii) constantly being kicked by lumbering League 2 defenders though. Whatever his (imaginary) opinions, he managed to end the season as my top scorer with a mighty 12 league goals.

Summary

League 2: 20^th / 24. 54 points: 9 off the drop, 16 off the play offs. Even though I finished one place lower than last season, I actually got 5 more points. I suppose that is a good sign!

League Cup: Thrashed 5-1 by Sheffield Wednesday in the first round. The less said the better!

FA Cup: Made it in to the 4^th round – but avoided any big draws so made no money to speak of. Lost away at Barnsley in a 7 goal thriller to end Morcs’ first real cup run (4-3).

JPT: Lost on penalties in a first round glamour tie away at Rochdale.

Best signing: Alex Samuel – a young striker from Swansea, who I had on loan in season 2. Looks to be a good little player – perhaps not quite ready for the first team yet though.

Best Moment: In a rather bleak season, probably the two chances at getting a big away draw in the FA cup. Maybe ending the season with a 4-0 demolition of promoted Rotherham – proving that Morcs can still mix it with the “big boys” of League 2.

TLDR Summary: A very forgettable season for Morecambe.

Rating: 0 / 5 Tiny Balotellis

Mario bored. Mario go watch a film

Dagenham & Redbridge:

Pre-season Thoughts:

After the anguish of another Wembley heartbreak, this time on penalties, I was hoping only a couple of tweaks would be needed to push us from perennial playoff losers into the automatic promotion places. The bonus of yet another Wembley appearance was another healthy cash bump, and with no facility upgrades after the previous year, it gave me some space in the wage budget and even a small transfer budget to spend.

Quite a few players were released at the end of Season 2, with 9 players on the fringes of the squad not having their contracts renewed. The hope was that with the Wembley money I could bring in sufficiently upgraded replacements to push me to the next level. I was pretty happy with the core of my team, but felt I needed improvements in the central midfield and fullback areas, so that would be where I would look to bring in additions, while also hoping to snap up a few youngsters who could bring me either performances or sale money in the future.

Key players:

• Neil Etheridge – goalkeeper. Won points on his own last season, and I was hoping he would again. The only downside was his tendency to disappear off to the Philippines for a couple of months over Christmas to play for his national side and leave me in the lurch somewhat.
• Adam Nkusu Landu – striker. Impressed on loan last season, ending up taking the advanced striker role next to Poggers over made-of-tissue-paper Rhys Murphy (Smurf). Resigned on another season-long loan.
• Mathias Pogba – target man. Had an excellent first season at the club, and I was hoping his new partnership with Adan N-L would really flourish and fire me to promotion.
• Matthew Dolan – lynchpin in midfield – was hoping to bring in a more attacking central midfielder to complement him in the centre of the park.

Tactics:

3^rd season of playing exactly the same tactics….3^rd time lucky?

Transfers:

I spent money! Real money! OK, real FM money.

I actually spent some money! Other than that, a few free transfers for the future (see below) and the token comedy signing of Emile Heskey on a free. Because, he’s Emile Heskey. Obviously.

Key signings:

• Jack Thomas – central midfielder. 19 year-old signed from Hartlepool for a hefty 90k. Really excited by Jacky, he can shoot from distance and will hopefully compliment Dolan well in midfield and chip in with a few goals. Great potential.
• Andy Ryan – striker. Young striker signed on a free from Hamilton. Good potential, but brought in as a backup for the front-line this season.
• Anthony Burchell – centre back.  Signed on a free from St Pats Athletic. Another young player with bags of potential. Again, brought in to be backup this season, but I have high hopes for the future for this guy.

And so to the results, which are shown in the two pictures below, with a summary of each competition following.

Dagenham don’t do draws

Even a rough March couldn’t stop me!

The cups:

• League Cup: Lost at home to Bournemouth after taking them to extra time. Happy to push them, perfectly happy to go out.
• JPT: Got to the Southern Section Semi-Final and lost on penalties to Wycombe. Slightly disappointed as Wembley was only a couple of games away, but it was a useful work-out for my younger players.
• FA Cup: Out in the Second Round after a replay with Yeovil. Would’ve been nice to get a plum 3^rd Round draw, but again, not overly concerned. The league was always the priority this year.

League 2:

Cue Queen…

Victory!!!! A fantastic start to season set the standard, and other than a blip in March, we never looked like not getting promoted automatically. The icing on the cake was beating Pompey to the title on the final game of the season to give Daggers a reason to buy a trophy cabinet! Dagenham would be up into the dizzy heights of League 1 next season….but could we stay there?

Favourite moments:

• An 11 game unbeaten run stretching 2 months over December and February, a period I had struggled with in the first two seasons, was really pleasing and it was this that finally made me really confident this was the year for promotion.
• The performance of my strike partnership – 28 goals and 12 assists from Poggers and 25 goals and 10 assists from Adam NL. Prolific!
• Two wins from two against Morecambe – see below (sorry Mike!)
• The performance of the youngsters brought in at the start of the season – Jack Thomas was a 19 year old powerhouse in midfield, and Andy Ryan and Anthony Burchell stepped in when needed and showed a lot of promise for the future.
• Being offered, and accepting, a new 2 year contract with the Daggers in November. I’m really enjoying how this team is progressing, and looking forward to seeing what I can do next season with this young team.
• Winning Manager of the Year, and Adam NL winning the goal of the season….with possibly the worst goal ever to have won the award (see below!).

Morcs v Daggers:

Daggers v Morcs:

“Goal of the Season”:

Next season:

I’m excited to see how this squad does next season. I’m not looking to make too many changes to the core of the squad, hopefully I can get Adam NL on a free as his contract is expiring with Ipswich, and a few tactical loans should help, especially in the full back and wing positions.