My Wimbledon Story - Back To Glory

Hello! Im Womble19__dons.
Im a huge AFC Wimbledon fan and took over Wimbledon on FM14.

This is my story...

Right! Lets get started!

The first thing I do is go to my tactics screen and work out how I will play. I opt for a possession based 3-at-the-back as I found this very effective in FM13. Thankfully, this style suits almost everyone. The formation has 3 centre backs, 1 defensive midfielder, 2 central midfielders, a left and a right winger, 1 number 10 and 1 striker. It did cross my mind that my striker my become isolated so i make sure my wingers will be constantly bombing up and down and that my central midfielders are creative.
With that out of the way I do my meetings. I tell the board to expect a mid-table finish and I tell my assistant manager to control all friendlies but I will arrange them.

Transfers!

If i'm going for mid-table, I honestly think that the only position that needs strengthening is up front. I only have one competent striker, Jack Midson. The other two strikers are Charlie Strutton and Charlie Sheringham. Strutton will be kept for cover but every single time i've seen Sheringham play in real life, he has been abysmal, so I transfer list-him. Now the striker-hunt is on!
Because I'm at the start of the game, I only have scouting reports on very, very few players, so I decide to sign someone I know is good. After searching a few strikers, I decide to bring back club legend Danny Kedwell. I give him a wage of of 1,400 a week, which makes him my highest payed player. It isn't a huge wage though.

Now my first team is complete, begin to look for backups, young kids and staff.
My scouts stats are appalling, so I immediately bring in a new one. My new scout is called Justin Richards. He has an amazing 17 for judging player potential, and a crazy 20 for judging player ability! Considering he is on a very low wage as well, I've got a real coup.

I attend England scouting day personally as I would like to look for young players with potential. Just to be on the safe side, I make my scout come with me as well. I sign 3 players. Joel Ambalu, who was impressive up front, Morgan Ferrier who was extremely impressive up front, and Chris Crouch, who had a good game in goal. All three have good potentials, Chris Crouch in particular. As Crouch is only 16, I put him in the under 18's while Ferrier and Ambalu are 18, so they go in the under 21's.

Believe it or not, my signings are all done!

Players:

Goalkeeper: Ross Worner
Backup: Seb Brown

Centre backs: Alan Bennett, Andy Frampton and Barry Fuller
Backup: Darren Jones and Aaron Morris

Defensive midfielder: Sammy Moore
Backup: Not much, young kid Kieran Tarbie

Central midfielders: Peter Sweeney and Harry Pell
Backup: Tom Beere, Aaron Morris and Harry Cooksley

Left winger: Callum Kennedy
Backup: Chris Arthur

Right winger: George Francomb
Backup: Tom Beere

Number 10: Luke Moore
Backup: Harry Pell and Harry Cooksley

Striker: Danny Kedwell or Jack Midson (rotation)
Backup: Charlie Strutton

The obvious weak position there is the left winger, as I have taken a risk with Callum Kennedy because he is really a left back, and from real life I know that Chris Arthur is nothing special.

With not much else to do now, I decide to start playing my friendlies.

Friendlies!

VS Wimbledon under 21's
Win 1-0

VS Leyton Orient
Lose 2-0

VS Braintree
Win 1-0

VS St Albans
Win 2-0

VS FC United
Win 2-0

VS Doncaster
Lose 3-1


That's an alright pre season I suppose. I lost both games against bigger teams. While I did beat all the smaller teams, they weren't as comfortable as I would have liked.

There's now nothing left to do but start the season.

My first game is Scunthorpe United… BUT! My squad is plagued with injuries!
Sammy Moore, Harry Pell and Andy Frampton are all out. Frampton is back soon, but Pell and Moore are out for a few months. This means that kids Tarbie and Beere play. Darren Jones plays at at CB.

So. Lets get started...

VS Scunthorpe
Draw 0-0

I'm happy with that! With 3 three key players out and Scunthorpe boasting players like Paddy Madden and Sam Winnall, thats a good result. I actually dominated the match, which is encouraging, but also frustrating that I couldn't win.

Unfortunately I lose my next three games, 2-0 to Peterbourough in the Capital One Cup, 2-1 to southend and 1-0 to dagenham in the league. 1 Point from 3 games isn't a good record. Still, there is plenty of time to improve...

VS Exeter
Win 5-0

There you go! That's the improvement I was looking for! I had dropped Callum Kennedy, left wing clearly isn't his thing. Arthur came in for Kennedy and got Man of the match, 2 goals and a 9.6 rating. The other goals were scored by George Francomb, Peter Sweeney and Charlie Strutton. Strutton had come in for the injured Midson and out-of-form Kedwell and played exceptionally. I feel more confident now.

Transfer deadline day!

I will not be looking to sign anyone, so getting rid of rubbish is top priority.

Out:
Will Antwi to Kidderminster

Charlie Sheringham on a free transfer

Back to the league...

I draw my next game to Bristol Rovers before winning 3 on the spin against Chesterfield, Burton and Wycombe. I was delighted with the result against title-cahasing Chesterfield where Sammy Moore made his comeback from injury, and Wycombe and Burton are no pushovers. I then draw with Rochdale, another side who should be promotion challenging before beating yet another Title-challenging side, Bury 1-0.
This great form had propelled the team to 3rd in the league, and were looking unplayable right now.

But everyone knows how FM works...

Johnstone's paint trophy

VS Peterbourough (again)
Lose 3-0

Oh well it had to happen eventually, I suppose. But that will seriously damage morale. This is FM's game. I feel a bad run on the way...

Unfortunately, as predicted, we are struck down with some horrendous form, with 4 losses and 1 draw in 5 games. We take a much needed break from the league with an FA Cup draw against Forest Green, just the sort of team who will giant-kill us. Thankfully however, we manage a 1-0 win. This gives me hope that one win may set off a good run…
BUT NO!
Of course not! We lose 3 and draw 1 all against inferior opposition and were being dragged towards to relegation battle. Were still a few points clear of the relegation fighting teams, but I'm not confident. Oh, and Chris Arthur. Remember when I gave him a chance and he played brilliantly, well, he hasn't had a single good game since. Kennedy is back in the team and Arthur is on the bench.

FA Cup Second Round

VS Scunthorpe
Win 2-0

Hurray! I was going to change my tactics if I lost this. And Scunthorpe are a good side too.

VS Hartlepool
Win 3-0

My first league win in 10 games! Still, Hartlepool are a poor side. This does put some breathing space me and the relegation battle, thankfully.

My final 3 games of 2013 are 2 losses and a win. Thats mid table form and were are a mid table side, so that isn't terrible. We end the year Mid table, with a nice gap between us and the relegation battle, but a long way of the playoffs.

It's january now, and we all know what that means...