Poll: Lower League Diaries - FC United

Diddley-doodley-doo

Doing well so far, keep it up!

I'm looking at a copy from a NZ company (online though) for $39.19, so that is a reasonable price as far as I am concerned. I'm checking availability and shipping times first though. Although, I can't say I am really looking forward to the defensive issues with '13.

Is you squad big enough yet that you could have your bit part players play the friendlies for you and keep your 1st squad (such as it can be at this level) for your competitive fixtures?

I have every confidence in your ability to get promoted though.

2012-10-23 13:35#68285 akash.vidyasagar :

2012-10-23 06:51#68259 Kiwi : If you have someone visiting idea, you can have it for less than £10
The finances, I can't do anything about, because the wages are in check. If they were to create a big problem in the future, I'll just have to play friendlies when I'm supposed to be giving my players a break. But thankfully, my cup run has allowed me to not resort to such drastic measures.

Say what, isn't that something the Cookie Bear used to say?

2012-10-23 16:37#68302 Arvind K : Diddley-doodley-doo

Nearly £14k in the bank with another win in the FA Cup, and we have now surpassed expectations in the cup competition. If we are lucky with the draw, we could be doubling this prize money.

And lucky we were! Stafford are in the league below us, and more importantly, we beat them comfortably in pre-season without all our important signings. Stafford have had a ridiculously easy draw getting here, but could provide a shock in the first-round proper.

It was close, but a very nervy 1-0 victory against Stafford, resting a couple of my key players saw FC United to the 2nd Round of the FA Cup. The crucial goal being scored by Noubissie in the 60th minute.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture the amount I received for winning in the cup and the screenshot of our next round opposition, but it was around £17k and we will be facing Saint Neots - a team my game has no information about. No league, no players. Do we get a bye, then?


A new competition kicked off - the FA Trophy, and FC United would be playing in the 3rd Qualifying Round of the competition.
The draw, again, was favourable for FC United, having to face Lancaster City. This team is two divisions below us, and our coaches couldn't give us a "team report" before the match because they didn't know enough about the team.

I played my absolute fringe side for this match, some of them so far from the first-team, I was surprised they were part of the team. Apparently, my fringe squad is not good enough. A crazy 4-3 win saw us move into the FA Trophy first round. Didn't get any financial benefit of winning this game, surprisingly.This is how far I was expected to go by my board, which is a surprise. I would think we can go a couple of more rounds at the very least. Time for the 1st Round Draw - yet again, I have failed you. No screenshot, but I will be facing Southport, who are a Blue Square Premier side.

With them being favourites, I decided to play my best team and tweak opposition instructions, looking at player attributes. It worked.

The 2nd Round draw of the FA Trophy is out, and FC United will be facing one of two teams they've had trouble with in the Blue Square North.

A massive number of matches in a 30 day period in November, but we got through it with seven wins and a draw. We will be facing 3-4 title challengers in the next couple of months, so I'm glad we made full use of this month.

Nothing to separate between us and Chester, although they have one game in hand over us. I'm now looking at a possible playoff spot, which would mean finishing in the top 5. However, if at the end of the month, the board decides I need to change my season expectations, I will still go for a mid-table finish, because I doubt there'll be any change in personel and I don't need extra pressure on myself to get the job done.

An absolutely incredible profit this month, with an impressive £43,500 coming from prize money. My club's estimated value is now almost doubled, from £300k when I started to £530k at the end of November.

2012-10-23 16:37#68302 Arvind K : Diddley-doodley-doo

That is exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Next time, add a little more emphasis on the double Ds

2012-10-23 16:38#68303 manchesterblue97 : Doing well so far, keep it up!

Thanks, blue. at the end of 2013, I have a league position in mind that sounds very acceptable, and I hope I can comfortably finish there. As of right now, I'm setting monthly targets though.

FA Cup

Our opposition, Saint Neots Town, came out fighting. Chance after chance, they created and they missed. They actually had more shots that we did, but we converted our chances - winning by 3-0.

A second round victory means we have a chance of facing a Premier League side next, which would boost the finances even further, or we could get a small side and have a chance of progressing further which would be incredible for the team and the fans.

Lying in 7th place in the Premier League, behind the six biggest sides in England, Welsh side Swansea are doing incredibly under Michael Laudrup. It would be nice to think "anyone can beat anyone", but there are 111 teams between Swansea and us. Our FA Cup dream surely ends here.

This is what reaching the 3rd round of the FA Cup means for smaller sides. A £120,000 boost to the finances will do wonders for us when we get promoted (hopefully this season).

FA Trophy

This match was going to be tough, because Guiseley beat in-form Chester in the last round and are just below me in the league, but to my surprise, we were leading 5-0 in the first-half. They did pull 3 back, but we were comfortable for most of the game.


A big month. We played 9 games in December, including one against title rivals, Lincoln. I'm happy about not losing too much ground to Chester, who will be one point ahead if we win our remaining game in hand. That we have hit January, I will set a target of automatic promotion. My goal is to win every game possible, not being satisfied by just 'being competitive' against the top sides.

I am at 80% confidence with the board, and winning will only make it better. A profit of £37k is very, very healthy.

Wow. And you said you can't handle LLM o.O
Anyway, FC United are doing superb so far. Keep up the good results
Oh, and try not to get 8-0 from Sawnsea

This is looking great! You certainly are looking good for promotion this year. Top 2 are auto-promotion, right?

This makes me want to do an LLM save once I get FM13.

There was no easy way to put it. FC United, a team just promoted into the Blue Square North, would be up against Swansea City, a club that had established itself as a Premier League side. There were 111 places separating the two teams on the English League tables. I think the best way to put it is this following screenshot:


The match began, and the first half was absolutely magical. Every player was up for the game and we took a shock 2-0 lead.

Goals from Moore and Torosidis in the second half meant we were back on level, and Swansea had the momentum. We were more than happy going into injury time level, giving us the opportunity to get some more money with a replay, but Gorman had other plans. A corner in the 93rd minute saw Gorman heading the ball into the net. We have won against Swansea, and a crowd of over 10,000 witnessed it!



What a joy to behold. It would've been absolutely brilliant to in the crowd during such a match, in reality, but your team doing the unthinkable on FM meant I can celebrate with an extra piece of cake for dessert.

West Brom are now in the Championship but still, were highly favoured for the match. All important players are still in the team, and with the tough schedule catching up, it is going to be incredibly difficult to pull off an upset yet again.

FA Trophy

The match against West Brom was at the end of the month, however, and we would be participating in a relatively achievable task of competing against AFC Telford. A nice and comfortable 3-1 victory gave me the hope that we can go all the way in the tournament, because a win against our next opposition would mean we enter the Quarter Finals of the tournament.


Grimsby are doing really well in the Blue Square Premier, but with the home draw favouring us, I think we can get through this without a hitch.

FA Cup

With two matches in a row, first against West Brom, and then Grimsby, the month would be a disaster if we lost both. I am resting quite a few players for the West Brom match, so we can win in the FA Trophy.


I'm not surprised we lost, and the margin could've easily been bigger, but it is still disappointing to not go further.

Surprisingly, I wasn't given any money for exiting the competition, but I'm hoping it got added up in the finances.

FA Trophy

The next match, against Grimsby, was a much easier match, with us winning 2-0, once in both halves - both being penalties.

Again, the match is tough to get through, but Dover's run to the Final last year from the Blue Square Bet South gives us hope that we have enough quality to win.


All in all, a brilliant month for us. As you can see, we are playing double the matches most of the other teams are, but it has been worth it, when I have a look at our finances. 3rd place is the league should become 2nd place after we play our game in-hand, but Chester are running away. We are playing them 2 games later, and a win is the only result that will do if we want to finish on top.

2012-10-24 11:27#68376 or.dabool : Wow. And you said you can't handle LLM o.O
Anyway, FC United are doing superb so far. Keep up the good results
Oh, and try not to get 8-0 from Sawnsea

I can handle the one lower league, Or, but promotions ruin me :\
FM13 is a new start, and I'm going to try my level best to not get sacked after promotion because of my finances. That is why it was so important for me to have good profit this season. Thanks for reading

2012-10-24 11:39#68377 Arvind K : This is looking great! You certainly are looking good for promotion this year. Top 2 are auto-promotion, right?

This makes me want to do an LLM save once I get FM13.

I just realized, Arvind, that only the first team wins promotion. I was on cruise mode until I knew about it, but now it looks impossible. Chester are impossible. They have come back from 3-0 scorelines with ease.
If I inspire you, man, that would be brilliant for me!

2012-10-22 18:51#68222 the pharoh : hi i love this story
a little bizzare request
can you send me the save for this game?

I'm sorry I'm a little late, Pharoh, but here's the save:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?33ep4j3dkbpnfpi

I think it is after my win against AFC Telford, so you have every chance of beating West Brom and going further in the league.

Important Things to know:
- There is a new D(C) that will sign before your next game, and I've released a couple of more non-contracted players for free.
- The new 4-4-2 formation I have is Joannes3000's and it works brilliantly. Even if you want to get rid of the other two tactics and get your own, keep the 4-4-2 for emergencies.
- You might need a couple of strikers, because the team has only 4 strikers, with one of the them being useless.
- Anything you notice that can embarrass me, keep it to yourself

thanks Akash.
Fc United have facinated me since Eurosport wrote an article about their promotion last year.
i hope one day they get in the league and sign like a former man united legend as a player or coach maybe Scholes or Giggs,and if that ain't gonna happen in real life...well you'll just have to do it in FM13.

8=========D~~~~ (.)(.)

2012-10-25 16:53#68476 The FM Rookie : 8=========D~~~~ (.)(.)

I know this story is orgasmic, but next time, aim lower