Ana, FM 2012 : Season 3 Black Aces 2013-14

Hi everyone!!

Welcome back to my pentagon challenge, and having had a rather disappointing season last time we achieved our goal of surviving so was very keen to build a new squad with a much more youthful look.

I lost my best player through a forced retirement and struggled to replace him, but here is my third season from start to finish.

So lets go!

Managerial C.V

— Black Aces (June 2011 – Present)

First Division : 2012

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So the season began with another new contract, well the same wages as last time but I extended my stay for another 12 months.

My board are very happy with me at the moment and they have full confidence in me.

So another parent club and another +40k every season for my club which wont sound like much to most but now we can afford to rent our stadium for free now.

Alongside Burnley from last season we now earn over £80k for our parent clubs so its like free money for us!

So the media predict we will struggle once again as we are predicted 14th out of 15.

But last year we were predicted 15th so we gained a place! Only a £130 pounds a season to watch us and seeing as we play all out attack its defiantly good value for money!

However this season I will stand on the side of caution (yes I did say caution!) as I cant concede another 75 goals but I will still play quite attacking, so dont worry. :)

Transfers In And Out

Busy, busy, busy!!

I released/got rid off most of my high earners and players over 30, McCarthy was released which didnt please our fans! He is on our favoured personal list but at 36 and big wages I had no choice but to let his contract expire.

I wont post every single player as it would take forever!

But I spent a bit of money, £30k to be exact on a new central defender but I failed in my attempts to replace Shongwe from last season so we dont really have a good center forward which is quite worrying going into the new season.

Sandile Sibande

Easily my best signing and will be play in the centre of my midfield. On big wages but I feel he is worth it as his stats are very good and and I have really high hopes for him.

Siyabuela Songwiqi

So as requested by CsAtlantis from my previous post he wanted  a picture of Songwiqi my star man from last season.

He was on loan but his contract expired at the Kaizer Chiefs so I quickly signed him up and he will play AML again this season.

Club Finances

I am so happy with my finances at the moment as we are making money and thats a hard thing to do in South Africa!

We are closing in on a million pounds which would be fantastic, lets just hope my players can keep us in the division!

Results And Table — Halfway Point

Hmmm, not too bad I guess.

We are 10 points clear of Tuks, but amazingly my biggest problem is actually scoring goals!

Our defence has done really well but we lack a player who can take chances so in the January window I made that my main priority.

January Transfers

So January we saw our transfer records smashed! I bought our most expensive player and earned the most ever received in our clubs history.

Mungomeni was bought in for free so it was a fantastic piece of business he was a good player but I would have accepted half of what Sundowns payed.

Both my new players were front men and I was delighted with both of them.

Andile Kwelete

So the more eagle-eyed of you may have noticed I bought Kwelete on the first of January so his debut was against the Golden Arrows the last team we played in my first half results and yes he scored!

Infact he created the other two goals also, so for £30k he looks a real bargain.

Sibusiso Ntuli

So he was an attacking midfield player that can also play as a striker and thats where I will play him, he will partner Kwelete.

I like his speed and that he has good finshing so hopefully he can forge a good partnership and score some goals!

Milestone — 100 games!

So seeing as I managed about 1600 games last time I felt it would be nice if I posted my milestone games at every hundred.

That way you can see my stats and how well I am fairing! Win percentage over 50% is nice and as you can see I dont draw many games as I am very much an all or nothing type manager!

Note : we lost that game! :)

Final League Reasults And Table

Wow, am very pleased!

We managed to finish 6th a new record and to be honest we never looked in any danger of slipping out of the division and we comfortably survived.

I feel we are establishing ourselves but dont expect a title push just yet as the Sundowns and the Kaizer Chiefs are way to far ahead of us but if we can finish top six again next season I will be delighted.

We defended very well considering last time I conceded 75 and we only scored 8 goals less but were without a decent strikeforce over the first half so I feel if I had my two new strikers we would have easily scored more.

Performance Of The Season

So I just had to post this, not just for the excellent 7-1 victory but the fact we played most of the game with 10 men!!

We are extremely effective on the counter and we showed such a clinical edge that despite losing Gumede after 18 minutes we manages to score five times!!

Considering that Supersport only finished two points behind us I thought it was a terrific victory. :)

Final Player Ratings

So my new front two settled very quickly scoring thirteen times in twenty four games between them.

Kwenene was outstanding at the heart of my defense and despite his injury he thankfully decided not to retire. :)

Sibande was also fantastic in my midfield and Rakhule was a fantastic surprise as I bought him as a back-up player, but he forced his way into my first eleven and now he is almost a first pick!

Star Player Of The Season — Awonke Eddie Kwenene

Seeing as Kwenene played the whole season I gave him my player of the season with Sibande very close.

But I dont give too much credit to defenders as am very attack minded but he was fantastic alongside Gumede who is also a young and talented defender so am very pleased with them both.

Save Game Status And Finances

So with the January sales I broke the million pound mark!

Despite spending over a £100k on new players, we had a massive turnover of almost £2.6 million and a whopping £750k profit!

So the clubs finances are looking very healthy and remember we receive no TV rights money.

Round-Up And First Job Link!!

Made me smile!

For those who dont know I am a very passionate Barcelona fan so the idea of joining anything affiliated with Real Madrid, well lets just say I declined. :)

So in the end we had a really terrific season and even surprised me on just how well we did.

To finish sixth was a great achievement and I sort of had a four year plan of promotion, survival, an easier survival and then establishing ourselves as a top six side.

So you could say we have achieved that a year earlier than I imagined but we wont be title contenders so dont expect that!

I am just so happy with our finances and with our team, its a young side but its seems to work as we have good pace and some very good players.

So once again thanks for reading, and any requests for pictures of anything just let me know and I will post them.

Next up will be season four and am confident of surviving again with my aim of being top six once again.