Ana, FM 2012 : Season 2 Black Aces 2012-13

Hello everyone!!

So here is my second season in my challenge and if you remember we sealed a fantastic promotion from league 1 in South Africa to the premier league and will play the biggest teams we can.

With financial problems and most of my best players at the wrong end of 30 I was slightly worried going into the season. Throw into the mix the fact I couldnt sign any of my first choice transfer targets it had me very concerned.

So here we go my first season in the premier league so lets see how it went.

Managerial C.V

— Black Aces (June 2011 — Present)

First Division : 2012

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So the season began with a new contract, well the same wage just an extra year so I must be doing something right at least!

Hmmmm 2000-1, I guess that rules us out of winning the title but the fact I set our season target as survival I would say they are correct in their assumption of our season.

Its going to be a long season I fear but to help our finances I set up a parent club and was hoping for Barcelona or Ac Milan but instead I got…….

Burnley! So admittedly it wasnt my first choice but I guess £42k per year isnt too bad considering we only have that in the bank at the moment. Plus any extra money is welcomed and I will try to add more parent clubs every season to help boost our finances.

Transfers In And Out

So as you can see my biggest fears came true! I just couldn’t sign anyone so had to rely on  loans and even some of them are not that great.

I tried everything but with the finances we have it was impossible to stretch our wages at all. My only new player was a goalkeeper and I think he is pretty good, but considering what we had its not much of a statement!

I let one player go for money but that didnt boost our finances at all.

Tshepo Motsoeneng

So is a little old but he is a goalkeeper so he wont need that much pace. He is valued at £130k so is defiantly one of my most valuable players and with my defence I think he will be kept quite busy this season!

Tactic For The Season

Like I said before I reverted back to the classic version as I confuse myself when trying to build tactic with the newer style!

Bold? Maybe but what have I too lose, two of my back four are 35 and Sheller is a poor right back on loan as I have nothing else.

Hopefully attack will be the best form of defence as Zuke in midfield isnt too bad Dlamini wide right still has good stats Songwiqi on loan at wide left has a bit of pace and Shongwe is a decent goalscorer so who knows how it will go.

Just read on and find out. :)

Results and Table Halfway Point.

So pretty good in my opinion, as we are currently 10th through 15 games. We are eight points clear of Chippa Utd and Shongwe our forward has done really well.

At the back were are hopeless, I know my tactic isnt the most defensive but still we concede poor goals far too often, but my attack isnt too bad and we do look a threat going forward in every game.

I was fairly confident going into the second half of the season when this came through…..

OMG! I cant state how important he is to my team think Messi at Barca our Rooney at Manchester Utd its that big.

He suffered a broken leg so thats it, as he wont play again due to injury, at 32 he wasnt the youngest but he defiantly still had a few years left in him and now we are in trouble.

He scored goals but he also created goals and lots of them, and losing him may just crush my season. I asked him to re-consider but failed and sadly our record goalscorer will never play for the Black Aces again.

No surprise there was no transfers in or out so I was stuck with the same squad, minus my best player.

Results And Table End Of Season

I told you! I blame Shongwe for retiring and almost costing me a relegation. That said we did survive but more thanks to the bottom two having the worst seasons imaginable and we did enough in the first half to stay in the division.

I can draw on very few positives but we survived and thats the main thing! We had the worst defence in the league but the third best attack but we only won two games out of fifteen in the second half.

Final Player Ratings

Note I did make a few January signings but for some reason I never took a picture so for that I apologise.

Cele was brought in as a promising right back but struggled in our hopeless defence and Monama was another free transfer and did pretty well in midfield.

The real highlight to come from this season was Songwiqi as I made his loan move permanent also on a free transfer. Gumede is a very decent center back but I can really say too much more a big clear out in the summer, but hopefully we can attract some better players.

Star Man — Sandile Zuke

Finances, Save Game Status And Round-Up

Am pretty pleased with that, we made a good turnover of nearly £2.5 million and in the end with deductions ended with £250k so made a very good profit from last year.

I knew that my finances would be my biggest fight but so far am very pleased with how they look and if we can make a similar amount next season I would delighted!

Round — Up

I guess I should be pleased as I wanted to survive and I did, but it feels more good luck then good management.

With my best player Shongwe gone he left a void bigger than I could imagine, so I must do everything to find a replacement. It wont be easy though so have hired an extra scout to look for anyone good enough to replace him.

My attacking formation worked well at times and if I managed games better and played more defensively when we had the lead I feel we could have won more games, but I just didnt trust my defence so will have to address that next season.

Losing games is never easy but we did play pretty well all season, without a natural goalscorer in the second half we struggled to take chances but my central defenders did chip in with a few goals and we were a huge threat from set plays.

All in all am content, plenty of problems to address for next season but am fairly optimistic as we have the financial side working very well.

Again thanks for reading and will get my next season up as soon as I can. :)