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An Oldham Tale.

Very long, playing catch up!
Started on 3 December 2011 by Melvinrules
Latest Reply on 3 February 2012 by Melvinrules
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I am afraid you will have to make do with some catch up, I have been meaning to write my story for a while, but I have been kept in with the lure of Football Manager for four seasons already before I have actually got around to writting it, but shall get you up to speed as to where I am and what has happened and try to make regular updates from there.

Season 1 - 11/12

The Team I have picked to play is Oldham Athletic or the "Lactics" from Division 1, when I took over the expectaion of the team in the media was 18th place and my task set by the board was a mid-table finish.

So after setting up the three tactics I will be employing throughout my campaign with this club - a 4,2,2,2 - a 4, 1, 2, 2, 1 and a standard 4,4,2. And creating my training schedule's of which upset many as they felt I was working them too hard. I set about improving my squad.

I have no transfer budget to spend and a wage cap of 20k
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers11-12.jpg

I am fortunate to have a link with Manchester City, so instantly try to raid a number of players there, many reject me as my standing and reputation are poor, how-ever Alex Henshall and Greg Cunningham agree to join me, Alex was a left winger and greg was a defensive left full back.

I also secure James Beattie as a striker and a young Roberto Grimaudo to bolster my front line.

For those that are unfamiliar with Roberto these are the stats that he has developed over four seasons with me and his history.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/RobertoG.jpg

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/RobertoG2.jpg

As you can see, he is nothing special but at the time I was in need of a striker for the future as Kuqi and Smith who I start with were never going to get going anywhere with them.

The season went ok, the pre-season got off to a great start with a 6 - 0 thrashing of Liverpool's reserve team and a 1 - 1 draw with the first team which filled me with hope how-ever at the starting blocks of the season in the first ten league games I won a total of 3, lost 2 and drew the rest. I had to alter my tactics a bit as I was dropping goals most often in the last part of the game, I play a quick tempo game and at this level it just doesnt work as by the 70th or so minute the condition of my players reached lows of 50%.

I also found I was finishing games with 10 men as with simply pure bad luck as soon as I'd finish my third sub of the match a player would get injured and I'd have to continue on without my 11th man, this is a curse that seems to have plagued me throughout my Oldham career.

At chistmas time I was hit with a wave of injurys and as a result I had to delve into the market again to get some short term loans, as a result of my position at the time which was riding high at 11th/12th I was impressing a few more players, I looked to Manchester City again and found that to my luck Savic was intersted in joining us on loan as he was not getting any first team action, I also signed up Eastmond from Arsenal and Shane Ferguson from Newcastle, nothing special about them just to provide cover for the team.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/League11-12.jpg

This is how my first season ended up, I kept within the wage budget and finished higher than expected, my loans went back to their respective clubs.

Season 2.

I have the same objective this season from the Board a mid-table finish, I have the same wage budget and the same transfer funds of... Nothing.

I start off trying to renew some contracts and end up having to hire an entirely different set of backroom staff, I don't understand how they can justify going from £300 to £650 in a single season the greedy sods! Beattie wants more than I am willing to offer him and leaves the club on a free as do many others so that the bulk of the squad I started with goes, Chris Taylor who was my best player also leaves after a bid of £325k from Brighton comes in. I am reluctant but agree to sell, sometimes you have to make money first and as I have a transfer kitty of nothing once again the only way I am going to get anywhere is to either increase the wages I can pay, or purchase some real talent.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers12-13.jpg

I raid Manchester City again and re-sign Greg Cunnigham who was a master at left back, the beautiful game I feel is lacking in quality left backs at the moment and he is one of the few gems out there for lower league teams, I cannot afford his wages or Trasnfer fee but Manchester City are more than happy to let him come back to us for another season.

Alex Hensall was a bit of a flop, he got injured with Tendonitis towards the end of my last season and didnt play many games, so this time I opted for a striker to replace Beattie and signed John Guidetti, a strong target man style of a striker, my new scouts then find two players from INF Clairfontaine I snap them up on free's and then view the rest of the squad and decide to try and raid two more from them and get with success. I've kept them saved as a fave club and have them report to me, I make a note to come back next season when the next crop of youth come through. But for now I'll break out the Garlic bread for my new French Revolution!

Another key transfer was the free transfer of Oliver Norwood who had been released from Manchester United and my loan of Goalkeeper Jack Butland who looks very very promising!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/league12-13.jpg

This season I achieve promotion.. JUST. We just scrape through to the playoff's by a single point, but in the playoff's my team step up to the plate and blow away

Tranmere - 3 - 0, and 1 - 0 in both legs and go on to beat Coventry 3 - 0 in the final to get us through!

Season 3.

The board expect me to avoid relegation this season, there's no battle valiantly option, given that we only just made the play-offs the Media and myself very much doubt we have the squad to stay up, the media write me off completly and predict a 24th place finish.

I don't have the issue with my staff this season as I tied them to long term contracts, and this season I have a bigger wage budget of... 30k and a transfer kitty of ... 20k .. Thanks a lot board!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers13-14.jpg

I manage to keep most of my team this time, my primary goalkeeper Cisak leaves but I manage to convince Jack Butland to join me permanantly on a free to replace him, Greg Cunningham leaves Manchester City so I have no chance of re-signing him this season, and there is no-body at City now who is interested in coming to me that is halfway decent, so no loans this season I have to dabble once again in the free transfer market.

I go back to INF Clairfontaine and take two of their youth prospects, ones an attacking midfielder/striker and the other was a goalkeeper purely as a backup.
To fill the hole thats left with me not being able to once again get Greg Cunningham for my left back position I sign a Brazilian from a free called Jacare, a high determination/work rate and pace are what convinced me to sign him, despite my scouts at the time saying he isn't very good, but I didn't rate who they were recommending me for the long term.. And well.. It's my club!

My Chairmen then soon stamped his foot on my opinion there and put me in my place by selling one of my free's from INF for 900k, he was clearly something special but hadn't quite broken into my first team as my central partnership of Norwood and Furman was solid both rarely being injured and both being strong determined tacklers of the ball which I needed in the central of my midfield.

So it wasn't a big loss in terms of the way I play, and I got 200k of the transfer to play with and the clubs finances are looking a little better, I always get a bit shaky as the past two seasons I spend most of the season in the red, and its only been at the end of the season that we've come back into the black with Prize money. So I can understand why the chairman has made the decision.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/league13-14.jpg

My season gets off to a really bad start, I am losing games left right and centre and cannot pick up a win from anywhere, it in fact takes 8 games before I pick up a scrappy 2 - 1 win against Norwich.
How-ever by christmas our form improves and we don't lose as many we start picking up draws and grabbing late goals and we just survive relegation by four points, I have a lot of work to do if I am going to become a stable fixure in the championship.

Season 4.

This is my last season to bring you upto speed with, I renew some contracts and let a few dead wood go, but nothing is new on the squad front, my squad in fact is looking very large and crowded but I am still managing to be within my wage budget, especially now as the money from being in the championship has made the clubs finances very healthy indeed, I even have a transfer kitty of £1 Million and a 40k wage budget this time around!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers14-15.jpg

I straight away go back and raid my new best friends INF Clairfontaine for their regens who have absolutly quality attributes, I then manage to secure a good defender left and right sided and spend £190k on a new central defender.

Come Christmas I am looking at a very healthy midtable place, but as you have seen from the previous screen shot I lose two players in the January Transfer window, the board sell both these players without my permission, how-ever Manchester City are very nice and offer me a striker for the rest of the season for nothing as a replacement, turns out it was a good bit of business as while Darren had good attributes he was struggling and unhappy anyway and ciardi turned out to be a fantastic striker scoring more goals in 14 games than Darren did in the two seasons he was with us!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers13-14.jpg

My season continues pretty much the way it started and I finished a comfortable 13th, the board and fans are happy with me, but with all my signings I forgot to pay attention to the league rules, I am struggling to field players who have been trained in England for 3 years as a result I am going to tone down the transfers in my next season as a few of my players just need this one season to reach that measurement. I am confident in my next season I can achieve mid-table status again, I have plenty of money in the bank so I am not worried about losing any quality players without my consent this time around, how-ever Dean Furman and Oliver Norwood both want to leave and refuse to sign new contacts wanting to go to bigger clubs.

Season 5.

This is the season I am currently at and about to start, I shall post what happens next time and in a little more detail, this is a little rushed as I wanted to get everyone up to speed on roughly where I am.
If your wondering about cup competions there isnt a lot to tell about them, I know there is no chance on winning them so I never bothered with them I never got past the third round in either F.A or League cup.

Thank you for reading so far, if you have any suggestions to make my writing better please let me know I am grateful for any advice or requests.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/Transfers16-17.jpg

Turns out, I lost more than I wanted to in the Transfer window, my top goal keeper Jack Butland wouldn't renew his contract, as a result I felt it was better to offload him early on in the season and get someone else in rather than lose him on a free. I sold him for 1.8 Million, how-ever replacing him wasn't as easy as I thought, my second choice keeper is also unhappy as he wasn't getting enough games and wants out, so far I have refused his attempts and I played a few games with him on goal only to find his performance was shocking and his heart clearly isn't in it, so I Loaned out a keeper from West Ham called Jordan Massey, I feel I may be looking how-ever for some time for a replacement goal keeper.

I also sold one of my wingers for 1.5 Million, although why they want him I do not know his technical stats were awful, he was a key fixture in the team though and was key in our promotion but I found he just couldn't cut it in the Championship.

My Transfer Budget has rocketed with all the sales in the past two seasons to £6 Million, but I do not want to spend any just yet, I feel the team has enough in it to remain in the championship for a few seasons yet, instead I ask the board to focus on the training ground and improve that.

Hopefully with better facilitys I can get better results on the pitch, I didn't ask for the ground to be expanded as even though we have one of the lowest in the league we are not filling out the ground week in and week out, in fact our average attendance last season was a mere 9k.

Thank for for reading and I shall update you soon with more as this season develops!

On top of this I also don't feel there is enough of a want from players to come to this club, we need to build our reputation and to do this I am going to have to go a little further in the cups than the third round, so hopefully we will get some smaller teams so we can advance further in the competition this time around and boost our profile somewhat.

To help with this I offered a high bonus for cup competitions.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures15-16.jpg

As you can see how-ever my season did not start as I expected, my league performance has only garnered one win in six games and as a result I am sitting 19th in the league, our form HAS to improve. I have how-ever had two very convincing league cup wins and am through to the third round.... Only to find I have to take on Arsenal!

To be honest I do not give myself a chance, in getting through but we will certainly give it ago!
Well, that was certainly a lucky escape! We only again just staved off relegation, while we got further than we ever had before in the F.A cup, our league form in the end of the season was awful getting just two wins in 10 games. Losing Butlands security affected us more than I expected, we leaked more goals and the rest of my team is starting to become unsettled.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/standings15-16.jpg

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures15-16-1.jpg

My Midfield is not as secure as I lack another tough tackling ball winner and I need a striker as I am clearly not getting enough goals.

Unfortunatly I am only ever to get very young players or old players that just can't cut it anymore, despite having 6 Mil to spend there is no-body of real quality interested in coming to me.

I'm going to have to start thinking about my tactics again if I am to get anywhere, maybe opting for a very defensive tactic and hoping to steal 1 - 0 victorys might be the key to improving my standings.
Season 6.

Well that was a lucky escape last season! This season I have go to do better, I purchase more scouts and coaches and tweak my training a little, most now have a four star rating, the work has been finished on my training ground so now they are "Good" training facilities so with any luck my players will Gel a little better and improve over seasons.

Here is my wheeling and dealing over the summer.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers16-17-1.jpg

I don't make any sales this year, instead simply letting players go on a free, I have enough money in the bank to be able to keep hold of my players that are key to the team and not have to sell anymore and I need consistency if I am to improve my reputation and get players of quality to come to my club. So I am only looking to strengthen key areas.

1.
I am need of two goalkeepers, my loan Keeper and my backup both leave in the summer window with a loan ending and one not liking me very much I am left with a goalkeeper in my team, most of whats availible to me is either 34-37 year old keepers who aren't good enough to make the reserves in championship sides, or young unproven keepers who don't have clubs, Liverpool have just recently released a load of players and one of them was this guy Jason Birch

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/JAsonBirch.jpg
18 but has been at Liverpool for three seasons so he fits in with the league rules which is something I need to keep an eye on, how-ever many of my players have been at my club now for three seasons so the pressure on that rule should be easier to achieve. He is young and has time to develop and more importantly.. He's free!

2.

I need strong replacements for Furman and Norwood, last season the central of my midfield was exposed so I sign three central midfield players on frees, they are all young and need time to develop but the most promising looking one is Jean II Ndi

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/JEANIINDI.jpg
With a good passing attribute and high determination I am hoping he can drive my midfield for a few seasons, obviously time will tell.

3.

I also need a striker, this time I've decided to splash the cash I have a 6 Mil budget but I choose to spend only 1.1 Million of it on Daryl Lloyd

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/Daryllloyd.jpg

Having played for Hull and Luton he meets the needs for the rules of the league having played for a club for 3 years in England, he has experiance in this league and had a very good season at Luton last season scoring 14 goals, he is only 21 so has a few seasons to improve.

My pre-season goes pretty well, I always play larger teams for the money, key fixtures in my pre-season were games against Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

I beat Arsenal 1 - 0, Draw with United 1 - 1 and Lose to Chelsea 2 - 0, yes they played weakened teams in those games, but not to the extent they were unrecognisable. I have also noticed that Arsenal seem to be getting a lot of very very good players coming through their ranks over the past few seasons, so I am keeping tabs on their under 18s for any prospects that can come to loan for us.

So how does our season pan out?

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures16-17.jpg

I've reached November and we are doing very very well! Relegation looks unlikely at this point of the season and we're actually matching the bigger teams and sitting in 6th place, we've even made it to the QTR final of the League cup after a very very lucky 1 - 0 win over Manchester City, how-ever our next opponents are Manchester United... I think if we can get a cheeky win over them to we could actually have a chance of winning as confidence will be high, on top of this United have had a few bad seasons and currently have Kenny Jackett as their third manager since Sir Alex left so they are certainly unstable and given how we're currently doing I wouldn't say it's unachievable!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/standings16-17.jpg

Personally I'd say give me two or three more seasons and I'll have Oldham in the Premier League by all means we will not get promoted this season, and we will do very well to stay in the play offs, and while I believe it is achieveable I think a top half finish is more likely, injurys and form will play a part and only time will tell whether we can keep this momentum going.


Thank you again for reading, if you could suggest things to add, or things you don't like please feel free to let me know.

Kind Regards until next time which will most likely be at the end of this season.
Doing well! Keep it up. Hope you can get up. Sure you can do it in the next season.
Thank you.

So, the season has almost ended.. And.. I made the playoffs!
People have often said that the Championship is the more exciting league and I can understand it with the fact that the playoff positions for us all were decided on the final day of the league season.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/finalstanding16-17.jpg

We got lucky as I was on the outside in 7th/8th place much so after christmas, but fortunatly our last few games we managed to pull together and steal ourselves a spot

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures1617.jpg

Our cup run this year was much better to, we made the qtr finals of the league cup losing to Manchester United in 4 - 2 Extra Time. and made it to the fifth round of the F.A cup losing to West Ham 2 - 0.

In the January window, I signed another Goalkeeper who has replaced the one I purchased at the beginning of the season, his name is Ian Russell and he is 19 from Ireland

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/ianrussell.jpg

He's generally all around better than my previous First choice Jason.

I also signed on loan a chap called Bruno Silva from Man City, he's a striker but also plays left or right wing, which turns out is a good thing I have signed him on loan as I am going into the playoffs without both of my main Left Wingers

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/Brunosilva.jpg

I am already predictiing no-matter what happens in the playoffs for me to struggle to keep some key players, my top striker, captain and strongest central defender all want to leave for bigger clubs, so if I am to keep the core of my team together for next season, I got to hope for another cheeky playoff promotion!

I'll let you all know how I get on!
This is a very enjoyable story.
Cannot wait to see how the playoffs pan out :D
Again, I thank you for your kind words.

Playoff Semi Final Leg 1.

Sheffield Wed v. Oldham.

When I look back at our previous meetings, I notice that Sheffield have had a very similar run over the past 6 years to me, the first year I was in charge of Oldham, Paul Jewell took over and has since turned the club around and looking back on previous league standings we have never been very far apart, we pipped them to playoffs in the 12/13 season for them to follow up the next year by going one further and winning the division in the 13/14 season. in the 14/15 season straight after promotion Sheffield made it to the playoffs of the championship, how-ever they failed to get themselves promoted, in the 15/16 season the same story applied they made the playoffs again but failed to get themselves through. So they certainly have the experiance and they will certainly be up for it to make it third time lucky?
Looking at our previous encounters over the seasons, I have also noted that Sheffield Wedsnday have had the better of us, we have only beaten them twice in ten encounters.. To say that there is a mountain of a challenge ahead is probably an understatement!

The first leg got off to a great start, within the first ten minutes Sheffield conceded a penalty to which we converted confidently, and then just ten minutes later they conceeded another albiet a very lucky penalty of which again we put away, after that it was a case of keeping the ball, we got a 2 - 0 aggragate lead with away goals to boot, but that wasn't enough as my central defender rose in the box from a corner to nod in a third goal to make it 3 - 0

After that we could of had a third penalty but the ref decided against it, although this one was certainly more of a penalty than the one we got to get our second goal!

In the second half there were no goals, how-ever Sheffield did have a player sent off which made it all the more difficult for them, I set the team to retain possession and control the game. The one sour point was the injury to my right wing man Danny Mayor, fortunatly it's not serious and will only miss the next game. The Right wing area is an area which I will need to focus on next season as Danny is turning 27 and I have no direct understudy for him, I have a player called Nabil Muller who is 19 but generally he plays in my central midfield as an attacking playmaker along side Jean II Ndi, who was not part of this game due to international duty with the under 19's which is a massive blow as he has been a truely inspired signing coming up with some wonderful last minute goals. How-ever the French under 19's team is not doing very well and he could be back in time to make the final which would be a bonus.

In the second leg, we drew 1 - 1.
We got off to a good start with albiet with a scrabby goal from my target man John Abdikarim before they equalized after my left back dallied on the ball allowing Maazou to get the goal, we held on though and certainly Sheffield battered against the door all game trying to get more goals. Again though we picked up another injury this time in my playmaker Nabil Muller who will now Miss the final with an injury which will take two months to heal, the good news is though that Ndi will be back as the French under 19's crashed out at the group stage.

We go into the final against Blackpool who for the past six seasons have been in and out of the Premierleague like a yoyo. So no doubt they are going to be a very tough team to beat, and certainly a stern test to see if we are ready for the next step, how-ever I will be without two of my key players so it will definatly not be easy. I'd also like to point out that in the four meetings we have had with Blackpool I have never beaten them, our previous meeting ended in a 1 - 1 draw which is the best result I have had against them, all previous times I have been on the losing side.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/playoffsemis-1.jpg

Oldham V. Blackpool

So game day comes and the first half is a pretty quiet affair, Blackpool are tackling hard and definatly getting more chances, how-ever on the 43rd minute we get lucky and recieve a penalty after Danny Mayor is bought down in the area, my Deep lying playmaker Fabio Ventimiglia converted and we were on our way! We made it to half time and I told the boys not to get complacent, they seemed to gain some focus, how-ever it did not improve the shooting boots as we had the first two chances of the second half, both times it was probably easier to score how-ever they squandered the chances, Daryl Lloyd my first money signing missing an absolute sitter, he's been very much a flop costing 1.1 Million and scoring only 6 goals in 31 league apperances. How-ever my top man John Abdikarim is looking to go to a bigger club and my chances of keeping him next season happy at the very least are slim. So hopefully Daryl just needs a season to settle, I will how-ever be looking for a new striker in the summer transfer window regardless as I am fairly certain John's main strike partner Robert Grimundo will not have the ability to play in the premier league, he struggles against the top end of the Championship teams as it is so potentially next season I could lose two strikers.

Not long after we go in front Blackpool equalize and I am sitting here in my little dugout... and I am thinking it's not going to go my way, when out of no-where John Abdikarim snatches another goal on the 70th minute making it 2 - 1, I go uber defensive replacing three attacking players with defensive ones and hold onto my seat, Blackpool come at us time and time again but they don't get many shots away, we almost go three one up on the 90th minute but for their keeper making a fantastic save, the ref add's two minutes and im literally holding my breath until the final whistle goes.. WE'RE IN THE PREMIER LEAGUE! How's that media you predict me to come 24th and go back to League one, well damnit I've taken us to top flight football... At least for a season!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/playofffinal.jpg

I won't lie, I am a bit disappointed that at the end of the season I didn't get Manager of the Year, and I am also unhappy that I'm not even considered favoured personel especially considering when I took over the club was in debt, had no money and facing the prospect that the media expected them to go down to league 2 the following season.

Never the less, the board are pleased and decide to expand the stadium to meet with our growing reputation and stature.. They expand it with a whole.... 1,750 seats. Taking our total capacity to 12,688.. YAY Obviously our funds have something to do with the low increase, but I've no doubt that we will have packed stadiums with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal coming to the ground that should we manage to remain in the premier league we will increase the stadium even more.

As you have seen Watford and Bolton are the two teams following me up, whilst Leicester Norwich and Birmingham are the teams we will be replacing from the Premier League.

I have no doubt in my mind our team will be battered senseless next season unless some serious strengthening is made, I am also trying to push the board to expand on the Clubs training for both youth and first team how-ever they are having none of it, my back will most definatly be against the wall, looking at who will be in the premier league next season our standing will most definatly hinge on our performances against the weaker teams, although I take heart in the fact that we did beat Manchester City this season in the cup, and took Manchester United who have this season completed the double to the wire.

Speaking of Manchester City as we are now in the same league they can no longer be our parent club, which is a shame as over the six years I have made some fantastic loans from them, and have always been handy to have to get a last minute loan at the end of the season to cover the injury crisis we always seem to generate.

Regardless my friends, I shall next update come Christmas of our first season in the premier league!
Well done on the promotion mate! I look forward to reading about your Premier League campaign
Season 7.

I did a bit of reshuffling in the pre-season in terms of coaches, as a result I now have mostly four and a half stars in each section barring Arobics where it is five star, I am hoping some good hard training will reflect on the pitch this season and my team can make the next step up and perform well in the premier league.

The good news is, I managed to keep my best players and all but one is happy about staying with us I will keep him for this season that player is Fabio Ventimiglia who was somewhat a hero in the playoff's but depending where we end up this season I'll decide his future from there he has already had an extension on his contract due to a clause where he had to play 10 games for a renewal this season and he has met that already.

In the summer I bought in two strikers, another goalkeeper, a right winger/striker and a winger/striker left/right as well as a defensive midfield player. None of them really stand out as exceptional players, as the majority of my squad has remained together these players are simply to add depth to the club.

I did sell Grimaundo which didn't go down well with the fans, but I feel it was the right choice to let him go, he was happy to stay but I don't believe he could make the step up in the premier league.

I got given a 20 mil transfer budget but with all the wage increases from promotion I don't consider a big name signing viable, I did make cheeky free transfer bids for a few big names that got released in the summer, Andy Carroll, Ashley Young and Peter Cech to name a few how-ever as expected I didn't have any luck.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers17-18.jpg

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/earlyfix17-18.jpg

So we've reached December and the media predict me to struggle, the board predict me to avoid relegation again no battle valiantly option here which makes me wonder as to whether I'll still have a job should I fail to keep the team in the premiership, the first game of the season though and we're off to a flyer winning 3 - 1 against Villa at home,

I then lose the next four games straight starting with a 5 - 1 smashing from Chelsea, a sneaky 1 - 0 defeat from League 1 Swindon town (In my defence I've told my team I'm not bothered about the cups and played youth/reserve team) a narrow defeat from Sunderland then another battering from Liverpool which sent the moral of my team to an all time low, fortunatly we didn't go below 18th as Spurs and Everton started off worse than I did.

We took a point away from a 10 man stoke team then lost to Watford which suddenly set the panic bells ringing, they are certainly a team we need to be beating if we are to remain in the league, I hold a team meeting and jolly a few players up, which seems to work as we then go and demolish Arsenal 3 - 0 and Manchester City 4 - 1, in fairness though they blatently underestimated us and played very much weakened sides, regardless it was six points that we needed and I am sure next time around they won't be making the same mistake!

The league has settled somewhat and we are just keeping our heads afloat in the water above relegation, Spurs and Everton are starting to climb back up in the table, but Spurs still sacked their manager, there are rumours in the press that I may be offered the job, but a little secret for you I am a Manchester United fan and whilst I am managing a fierce rival I have no intention of leaving, even if the prospect of playing with players such as Nani, Aaron Lennon, Gomes, Dawson is appealling they are a team in decline and I am a team pushing my way up the ranks! So I don't consider the Spurs job a step up and so I shall see out my time with Oldham until I am either sacked or a large reputation club come in that is in good standing.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/earlystand17-18.jpg

The Oldham board how-ever are beginning to test my patience they are so very strange with their money and very demanding our finances have grown but they will not increase the stadium anymore than they have, they will not increase my youth or squad training facilities, they will not put more money into junior coaching yet they are insistent on me having an under 18's team in the league every season. I have got two good prospects come through who I have sent out on loan but there has been nothing thats made me think about keeping any of them on.

Anyway my friends, I shall finish off the second half of the season and then get back to you.
Thank you again for any kind words and feedback you may have already or may post in the future.
The end of the season has arrived, and we managed to maintain a decent place in the premier league finishing 14th.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/standings1718.jpg

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures1718.jpg

We struggled to keep afloat for most of the season, towards the end we were placed in 18th how-ever good results against Newcastle, Everton and Spurs ensured a good standing, from then it was just holding on and hoping the teams below us slipped up, and they did!

We even had a fairly decent run in the F.A cup, we made it till the 6th round only going out on Penalty's to Arsenal.

So all in all i'm very happy. I am already offloading a few players, Cardo Zazi who was not happy about becoming a second string goalkeeper and Fabio Ventimiglia as he still wants to join a bigger club.

I'll be looking for an attacking midfielder and another second choice keeper in the transfer window, but other than that I do not want to add more to the team. I am under the wage budget but only just and the team is gelling quite nicely. I am also going to consider making a cheeky bid for Evertons Jack Rodwell as he will want to remain in the premiership no doubt.

The board have also finally relented and are going to increase the capacity of the ground by another 6000 seats, it'll still keep us with the smallest ground in the league but we had the most stadium sellouts in the season, and a 97% stadium percentage so I am sure as our stature grows the club will to.


Until Christmas next season my friends!
Well, the season got off to a good start financially for me. I got given another 20mil Transfer Kitty plus 200k to spend in wages so I have room to build my squad, in addition the board have finally agreed to the following.

- 1. Improve the training ground.
- 2. Improve Youth Training Facilitys.
- 3. Improve Junior Coaching.

This is important as it's getting to the stage where players are not reaching their potential, we're not attracting high calibre players to the team and I do not want us to stagnate or worse decline. We survived the first season in the premier league which is always the hardest, now we've got to build on that so that the three teams that came from the Championship do not over-take us in the league and they remain below us.
The teams that came up from last season's Championship league are. Norwich, Fulham and Leicester City.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers1819.jpg

So as always I focus on who has been released from larger clubs, this season Real Madrid release a central midfielder named Mikel Eransus who looks to be very solid, nothing particular stands out in his stats and is just a general all rounder.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/MikelEransus.jpg

I also sign for just under 1 mil a player from Blackburn called Adil Naciri who looks to be a promising right attacking midfielder who I think will come to take over from Danny Mayor.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/naciri.jpg

The rest of my signings are simply small cover players in case injurys occur, those are the two main transfers that I consider mentioning.

The season how-ever gets off to a bad start
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures1819first.jpg
I only win two out of my first ten league games and go out in the second round of the league cup for the second season, we plummet straight to the bottom of the table, and things look bad, how-ever my players refuse to admit defeat in the season so early on.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fixtures1819snd.jpg
Our form picks up and we go on a 7 game win streak which lifts us straight out of the bottom.....

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/standings1819early.jpg

and into 6th place! With the rest of the teams not playing brilliantly themselves it's a two horse race at the top, but the battle is at the bottom, which fortunately we have managed to get ourselves out of! I am hoping this form will continue I have loaned out two more players at christmas to cover any injurys we have along with some under21 internationals we have going out, so I am hoping we can achieve a good mid-table postion, asking for a european spot is far too much but I will be happy with anywhere between 8 - 13th place in the table.

With me luck my friends! And Seasons cheer for you all!
Season has ended, and ended in a way that was far better than expected.
Firstly our final position in the league was 6th place putting us in Europe, this is fantastic for our reputation and finances and I am now attracing interest from some high profile names. In addition other clubs are taking interest in me, I have had offers from Villarreal, Wolves so far but I have rejected all. I have built up the club from scratch and now I am starting to make waves in the premier league.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/league1819.jpg

Aston Villa, Fulham and Derby are the teams that will be leaving the league this season, Watford, Southampton and Blackburn are the teams that will be joining us in the premiership next season.

As you can see from the table there is a massive gulf in quality from the top four teams, and Arsenal won the league with a record 100 points.

How-ever the biggest accomplishment for this season was winning the F.A cup, my first piece of silverware since I took over, the first competition I have won outright and I am very pleased for my team.
To get there we beat

Chelsea, Man City and Watford, by no means easy feats.

I have already started planning ahead for next season and for us to compete in Europe and maintin this level of performance I am going to have to start spending money, my best players are all after improved contracts. There are only a few I shall be offering a new contract to, how-ever others I will be looking to move on as I do not feel I wish to push my wage budget more than it should be.

So as a result I have agreed the transfer of a £10 million striker/AMC in Rodolfo from Real Madrid, I think I got very lucky with this transfer as he was unhappy at not getting first team football and my getting into europe certainly tipped the scale, had I not done so well this season I certainly would never have been able to convince him to join us for the next season.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/rodolfo.jpg

I feel that I now have three quality strikers at the club, certainly goals are going to be the key next season.

I am very much looking forward to next seasons campaign!
Season 9.

Despite investing in Youth Recruitment and Facilities I am still not getting any decent prospects through the system, this is frustrating as I am going to have to dip into the market and actually start spending some of my hard earned money!

I have also allowed many of my coaches to leave this season, and signed in some new coaches and a new assistant manager, I've found that coaches and assistants get greedy after one or two seasons so it's just best to bring a new batch in. Fortunately getting good coaches is no longer really a problem as my reputation has grown so I can compete on a relatively even keel.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/transfers1920.jpg

Anyway, other than Rodolfo I sign two other players in the Summer window, one is a AMC/AML from the Ivory Coast, he's 21, began his career in Germany before going to Fiorentina where I picked him up, I made this purchase because I lost Joaquim fernandes who had been my main AML over the past few seasons, he was also a fan favourite but he wanted a contract worth more than I was willing to give him so I offloaded him to Celta.

The other signing in that window was Mohammed Omar, a french defender who can play all the way across the back. He's only 17 but tipped for big things the media tip him as the next Phillippe Mexes and I believe that being able to play anywhere on the back four will be of great benefit to us in future seasons.

In the January window I opted to purchase two more players a Brazilian winger in Jefferson and another AML in Gino Camps.

I don't rate either to be anything special or magical but I do think they will become good squad players, especially as my team is getting slightly older, I'm playing more games this season due to Europe competition and by the end of last season the majority of my squad needed a rest, so clearly I am still lacking in depth and this is just a means to bolster that.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fix1920early.jpg
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/fix1920early1.jpg

The season gets off to an average start, we lost the Community Shield game to Arsneal 3 - 1 which to be honest was expected given they had just won the league by a record number of points, how-ever this season Man Utd spend £90 million on players and signed Ian Holloway as their manager so I am expecting them to make a fierce return to the top,

We get through to the group stages of the EURO CUP by beating Motherwell 4 - 0 on aggregate and we even get past the group stages finishing second in the group behind Fenerbache, we made it to the QTR's of the league cup before getting knocked out 2 - 0 by Bolton and we're only just hanging on in the FA cup 5th round with a replay to come against Fulham.

All in all, it's what you would expect I guess from us, it's not what I wanted, I wanted us to use the win to boost us forward to challenge for another trophy, the F.A cup is still on the cards but with our form this season I think it is unlikely we will win it back to back.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Oldham%20Football%20Club/standings1920halfway.jpg

In terms of the league, we're predicted ninth place and we're currently sitting in 10th and there is six points between us and Spurs who are sitting in 6th. I do not think we will be in Europe again next season, but I shall be happy if we finish anywhere 10th or above.

In terms of finances I am still very comfortable, I have £24 Million left to spend should I need to and while we are set to make a loss in the P/L this season due to my transfer spending I don't think it will do much harm overall.

Next update will be the end of the season take care.
It's been a long time since I've updated, I've been a little busy and got caught up in just playing the game, so here's a little catch up with what has happened.

When I left you, I had just been knocked out of Europe, it was an average season we finished in 9th place, but clearly with a lot of work still to do.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/standings1920end.jpg

Dipping into the Market I signed two more strikers one of whom could also play on the right wing, a central defender, a right full back and a left attacking midfield player as well as a goal keeper on the free transfer list to cover for my Regular number 1.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/transfers2021.jpg

My transfers appeared to work as this season I came runner up in the League cup losing out to Arsenal on penalties, finished in 5th place putting us back into Europe, we scored a lot more goals than we usually do I put this down to my striking finds of Regilson and Bangura. Tim Slot and Van Duijn are both young and more for the future.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/standings2021end.jpg

The season of 21/22 I only sign two free transfers, one is an experianced goal keeper who you may have heard of Areola Alphonse and a young DM who was meerly cover as I have found very few good Central midfield players so I am hoping to rest Ndi frequently during League and F.A cup games, I also signed few as I wanted my players from previous seasons to have a run together consistantly.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/transfers2122.jpg

It appeared to have worked as we had a much stronger season than usual, we were in the top 3 for the good majority of the season although near the end we lost our way and ended up finishing 3rd, how-ever this puts us in the Champions League which means more Money and Prestige!

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/standings2122end.jpg

We also lost in the F.A cup final to Liverpool but in my defence it was a game where I was riddled with injurys and exhaustion, especially over christmas when I played 3 games in a row each a day after each other!! I think the F.A have something against me!


How-ever it was made up for me as I win my first ever manager of the year award, which is a very proud achievement especially considering I haven't actually won anything!

In a non-team related note, England won the World cup this season... Then sacked the Manager Henning Berg for poor performance!!!

This season coming I have decided to spend big, I have spent £18 mil on a single player breaking the record in a season and on one player in one go on this guy Paolo Barison, a left winger/Striker signing him has upset a few of my other strikers but I have simply told them to get on with it, the guy's stats are incredible and I hope to be getting a few more goals from Set Pieces.

http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz123/Melvinrules/Barison.jpg

As always thanks for reading, I shall try to update more often in the future.

You are reading "An Oldham Tale.".

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