Football Manager 2012 Scarborough AFC season 3 report, year of youth

Hey guys and welcome to this Football Manager 2012 Scarborough AFC season 3 report. Last season finished with Scarborough winning and gaining promotion from the Evo-Stik League Northern Premier League Division One North. So we are now just one promotion away from the Blue Square Bet North, that is the league in which Scarborough last played before going out of business so reaching that league again would be a huge milestone. We have managed two consecutive promotions so far and I expect the same again, but with every promotion comes tougher opposition so I can’t let my guard down. We’ll start the post with my boards expectations, odds, transfers and squad depth before moving onto the all important results and stats.

The board weren’t as ambitious as myself, just requesting a mid-table finish but I guess its to be expected considering our quick rise through the divisions and the fact only top spot gets promotion while 2nd to 5th fight it out in a play-off. What did impress me though was their willingness to invest in wages yet again. While we can more than cover for £2.7K a week if sensible with arranging mid-season Friendlies, most boards don’t like to install such faith. The minimal transfer budget isn’t even worth mentioning but it’s to be expected for the next few seasons.

The media seemed far more confident in my teams ability, pricing us at 2-1 favorites for the title ahead of Chorley and recently relegated Vauxhall (sorry Johnny.)

Now we move onto transfers, while my side is already capable of challenging at this level I decided to offload some players and then replace them for better and younger additions. Below are the unfortunate lads that were left to leave on a free transfer or offered to clubs for a whopping £0!

Now for my new kids, and believe me the word kids is an understatement :) I brought in 9 new players, eight of which are 16 years old and one is just 20 years old. Crazy I know, but wait until I show you these guys at the end of the post…they are certainly worth waiting for! One thing you should note though, four of the best signings weren’t made until the seasons end and therefore were not available for this years campaign.

My squads depth seemed pretty good and to consider almost every single player has 4.5 or 5* potential too says a lot. My Goalkeeper, center back, right back, two of my central midfielders and main striker have all been with me from season one. So its great to think that they will be leading the line for their third consecutive season. In terms of new recruits, you should note the name Reece Hendrie, he will be massive for many years to come if I can stave off the likes of Leeds, QPR and Stoke.

Results — August to October

A new league, new season but same old results. :) Scarborough dominated in the league winning all 11 matches and managed to progress in the FA Cup and FA Trophy. I also arranged a Friendly versus Aberdeen to raise more cash, but it was nice to gain a shock 1-1 draw at the same time.

Results — November to December

The great league form continued into Winter as my boys lost one game but managed to win the rest. We also did well in the FA Cup beating Stockport before losing to League One’s Luton in the 1st Round. That great Cup run provided a tonne of cash, which was also boosted by our FA Trophy victory over BSP’s Mansfield. The ESL Cup also began in which Scarborough progressed to the Fourth Round. The ESL Cup is basically a knockout competition for teams in the same division as myself and one below. While the FA Trophy is the none league version of the FA Cup.

So with just over half the season remaining Scarborough are already 16 points clear of second with a game in hand after failing to win just once.

Results — January to March

So with the league table looking rather favorable my boys carried on the great form through January, but our fortunes changed come February and March. It all started with two excellent draws to top Scottish teams during some Friendlies arranged to raise cash…those games provided some unwanted injuries which were followed by an FA Trophy defeat to Newport. That wasn’t so bad, but Scarborough then drew two matches and lost one in the league. This run of draws and losses in all competitions had been my worst to date and effected the teams morale. But on the upside we beat Marine in the ESL Cup semi-final to reach our first competitive final.

Results — April to June

With the FA Cup and FA Trophy behind us, Scarborough could finally concentrate on one competition (bar the ESL Cup final of course.) Our previous struggles resulted in one further draw and a loss, but in the remaining months my boys managed to win 12 matches including some scary scorelines.

After a small dip in form we regained some composure and continued our march to the league title. In fact we won the ESL Northern Premier by our biggest margin to date, a whopping 42 points separated us from second. This was largely down to poor performances from the other contenders including a shock relegation for Vauxhall, this was there second consecutive drop.

ESL Northern Premier Cup final vs Eastwood

Venue: Glanford Park, Scunthorpe

Attendance: 2,695

Starting formations:

So this is Scarborough Athletic’s first competitive final, we have already won the league and gained promotion so it would be nice to wrap up another trophy. The ESL Premier Cup basically consists of all the clubs from the same level as myself and the tier below, to be honest we dominated the league so I expected to go far in this competition. The opposition finished their season with a bitter relegation, so I fully expect to beat Eastwood. Rather than delve into detail, I’ll just leave you to watch the match highlights below.

Match highlights: Click here to watch the ESL Northern Premier Cup final highlights

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Match stats:

So not only did we gain promotion this season but Scarborough did the double! We beat Eastwood to the ESL Northern Premier Cup and in style too. All the match stats above tell a story and the fact that my lone striker, Aquart, is just 16 years old makes me very excited for the future.

Stats and finances

After an incredible season you can still see some names from our very first season. Hodgkinson my center back, McArdle at right back, Hartley in goal and Bridges upfront have been first team players from the off and are still a huge part of my plan. But the newbies outshone the oldies this season with Parry scoring 21 goals from corners and Hendrie scoring 22 as well as assisting 20 from the right wing.

You may still be wondering about the title ‘year of youth’, well all will be explained now. During this season and the end of last season I found a wealth of talent within clubs I never knew existed. Some finds were thanks to backroom staff meetings, some were from scouts and others were down to my own curiosity in match day squads. Either way, check out the players below as they are the future of Scarborough Athletic FC. Click any of the players names to view their profiles.

Reece Hendrie: Found on a free transfer like all of my signings to date, Reece plays upfront but will be used on the right wing as an inside forward. This wonderkid has already attracted major interest from Leeds, QPR, Peterborough and Stoke. While no offers have been received my asking price of £2.5 million won’t stave off the vultures forever. Hendrie struck 22 goals this season complimented by 20 assists.

Sheldon Aquart: A player with great mental attributes and the ability to grow in other areas. While Aquart still needs to improve he is already good enough for the Blue Square divisions and managed 8 goals this season from as many starts.

Bob Shepherd: Now this is my favorite signing, while Shepherd joined at the end of the season and therefore couldn’t play, he has tonnes of ability. He will be my number one front man next season. As for the rest well I’ll leave you to view their profiles which I seriously recommend.

Nikos Nikolaou (ST/AMR, 16 years old)

Lee Proctor (DR, 16 years old)

Stuart Nancekivell (DC, 16 years old)

Nigel Vetere (GK, 16 years old)

So the future is very bright indeed with all those kids been capable of battling within the BLP already and we are only in the BLN next season. Most seem to have the potential to make it in League’s Two and one but Hendrie in particular may not have a limit judging by the interest from top clubs.

Moving onto finances and I am delighted to report that we enjoyed an excellent year. Due to reaching the FA Cup first round and arranging loads of high profile Friendlies Scarborough made a profit of £175,000 meaning the new bank balance reads £237,000.

Well that about does it for today, Scarborough have enjoyed their third consecutive promotion and title, but now the challenge really begins. The Blue Square North consists of a big step up in quality and I can’t wait to dive in head first. I hope you’ll join me next time for that, but until then I look forward to reading your comments and thanks for dropping by as always. I’ll leave you with the usual ladder image of the Seadogs progression to date.