Football Manager 2012 Scarborough AFC season 2 report, stepping stones

Hey guys and welcome to my Football Manager 2012 Scarborough AFC season 2 report. We left off with Scarborough gaining promotion to the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier League Division One North….now that’s a mouth full. :) That first season was near perfection as my Seadogs finished unbeaten in the league setting all kinds of records. More importantly I had set a solid foundation to build on and felt very confident in the ability of my players to last the next few promotions. We may have walked into our current division but it is still a step up, so lets see how Scarborough reacted to the improved opposition.

My board were very hopeful demanding we at least reach a play-off place, I agreed to be honest and settled on the top 5. First place gains automatic promotion in this league while 2nd down to 5th are thrown into a play-off. As you see I have a lot more to work with this year as the board can give £700 p/w extra for wages, I put that down to the fantastic financial year we had.

The media seemed even more optimistic offering Scarborough at evens to gain promotion with only Bradford PA rated above us for the title. While I have a very strong squad those odds seem a little short considering we just gained promotion.

With a decent amount of wages to work with I set about offloading the waste. Some players left to leave room for better replacements while the likes of Ingram and Price were on £100 p/w which they didn’t deserve. I also managed to sign two scouts, two new coaches and a decent assistant manager which is all thanks to the boards willingness to grow.

I probably over did it in the transfer market signing no fewer than 10 players but some were absolute bargains. Lokando at CM, Taylor at AML, Lee at CM and Bover at AMR may even make a difference in the Blue Square North but certainly can have an effect on the division above us which is what I’m looking for.

Now we move onto the squads depth. My defense remains largely the same as does my attack, but the wings have received a boost and so has central midfield. However, looking through the list of players below only 5 players are new to the club, meaning that the strength from last season has translated well into the tier above.

Results — August to October

OK so the start of the season is upon us, I won’t drone on about pre-season Friendlies but I arranged some money gainers and they served their purpose. The official season started very well though as Scarborough were held to just 2 draws. We even progressed in the FA Cup, FA Trophy and ESL Northern Premier Cup…that’s right, I’m in four competitions this year, its like been in Europe lol :)

Results — November to December

The good form continued but not before I drew Blue Square Premier’s Forest Green in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round, we came so close to an upset but were eliminated just before the 1st Round. I also drew Crewe in the FA Trophy which was very unlucky and we lost out there too. So just two competitions remaining…ahhh maybe not, we lost in the leagues little cup comp too. :( So I wasn’t feeling all too festive after all, but at least my boys were outstanding in the league winning every match by a good margin, bar our first league loss in 1 and half years of course.

While Scarborough did exit three competitions in the space of 2 months our morale wasn’t too damaged and this was in no small part down to the league form. After Christmas I found myself top of the tree by 13 points and still to play 2 games in hand. Scarborough’s domination had transferred up a level and retaining the current form should lead to an easy promotion.

Results — January to February

So with Scarborough left to concentrate on the league alone we enjoyed another outstanding run of form winning all 10 games from January to February. I also found some extra time to arrange Friendly matches, we managed an impressive 1-1 draw to Hearts and lost  to Aberdeen but the cash brought in re-boosted my finances.

Results — March to April

So this was it, my final two months of a very surprising season. And the old Seadogs kept their heads winning our last 10 matches, some were a little scrappy in the middle but March started very well and April finished with three scorchers. I also arranged two further Friendlies, this time losing to Hibernian and Motherwell but the cash was welcome yet again.

End of season league table

You all know what this may look like, but for the record I’ll show you the screenshot anyway. Scarborough finished on 119 points losing just once and drawing twice. We had a gap of 31 points to second place and averaged 2.6 goals per game as well as just conceding an average of 0.45 goals per game.

Our domination was very pleasing and filled me with confidence going into next season. My next division is the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier League Premier Division…even more of a mouth full than the two previous leagues :) Basically I am now just one promotion away from the Blue Square North. :) And I think we can challenge in the league next season, just look at my players league stats in comparison to the teams around us this season.

Squad stats and finances

After securing our second consecutive title and promotion, I was left to examine my teams performance. One thing is for sure, it was more down to the team than individuals…while we enjoy some exceptional talent for our level the whole squad chipped in at some point in the season. So take a look at the stats below and then I’ll name my top four performers.

Top four performers of the season (click the players names to see their profiles)

4. Peggy Lokando (CM)

3. Tommy Taylor (AML)

2. Scott Bridges (ST)

1. Ashley Hodgkinson (DC)

One other thing you may notice from the screenshot above is that my squad is evolved around youth including three 17 year olds, I am very proud of this and will try my best to keep the average age down in the seasons to come.

As for finances, well you saw me arrange four Friendlies mid-season to help raise the bank balance. This worked wonders yet again, leaving Scarborough with £61K,  a staggering £43K more than this time last year. Lets hope the finances keep heading in the right direction as the club does on the pitch.

Well that about does it today, I am really enjoying this save and happy to report no bugs or glitches so far. Bar a parsing error I can’t see anything holding me back, I just hope you are all enjoying the ride as much as I am. I hope you’ll join me next time as Scarborough look for promotion into the Blue Square North, but until then I look forward to reading your comments. I’ll leave you with an illustration of the Seadogs progress to date.