County League - Animo et Fide

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
It'll be interesting to see whether you can make any inroads into the playoff places, with so many 'bigger' clubs in there.
Stockport County did spend some seasons in the Championship (might not have ben branded that, then) a number of years ago, so they have operatd in higher divisions in the past...

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Yes they did. Back in the late 1990's they made an 8th place in the second tier, their best ever position. No, it wasn't called the Championship back then, but at least it was in the Premier League era.

Maybe I'll be able to threaten a few bigger clubs, I don't know. First my focus will be on developing the club a little. I started with a closed window and haven't targeted any free agents, so January will be my first opportunity to fill a gap or two.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
I'm interested to see what kind of scores are being posted by the game for other clubs; for instance, are Chelsea thrashing just about everybody?
As far as Stockport are concerned, it's going as expected, losing to the big boys and doing well against League 2's usual suspects.

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Glad you asked mate. League table coming up shortly, after the next few games played. I won't say that it's THAT one-sided. Fulham and Brentford have also proved to be the most scoring teams so far, where there doesn't seem to be a noticeable difference between Chelsea and the other Prem sides.

I did notice Barnsley starting out pretty well, being the surprise leaders here after a few games. Chelsea just beat them 5-0, dropping them to an 8th place with a negative goal difference. So maybe the Blues are just getting started.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
10th is very respectable, given the teams above you. Only Fleetwood are normally sort of on the same level as Stockport. Interesting to see where Birmingham are, and Coventry for that matter.
The negative goal difference needs to be addressed, though, but I guess with so many big teams in there, it's probably not going to be easy to do.

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You're right, I've lost by three goals on three occations now; Fulham, Brentford and now Blackpool (coming up in a minute). And I've won by the same margin only once, vs Morecambe. So that has affected my goal difference negatively. I am also still to get a draw. Seems very win or lose-ish, never being able to turn a threatening defeat into a saved point. Something to address too, I reckon.

£700k is a big fee for a club like County to be paying, and for a club like Salford to be getting.  Is he a young player with potential?

The Blackpool result must have been a bit of a shock; 3-0 and not being in it, according to the report, is not a good place to be.

As for the outgoing transfers, are these a result of the irrational 'I want to leave' submitted transfer request 'bug'?

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@CO88LER5 wrote:

£700k is a big fee for a club like County to be paying, and for a club like Salford to be getting.  Is he a young player with potential?

The Blackpool result must have been a bit of a shock; 3-0 and not being in it, according to the report, is not a good place to be.

As for the outgoing transfers, are these a result of the irrational 'I want to leave' submitted transfer request 'bug'?

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I'm not sure about his potential, but he is a 23 year old, who has a stamina rating at 90, which I really want in a central midfielder. My right back Kyle Knoyle has 87 stamina, and I never seem to need to take him out, contrary to my left back, who is usually subbed early in the second half of games.

I used to take much note in player potentials, but since the "dynamic potential" was introduced, I don't see the point anymore. If I play him regularly, I'm pretty sure he'll exceed the potential anyway, whatever it is. 

Outgoing transfers, yes, I am actually starting to become a bit concerned about the January window. I'll definitely lose a number of loan players I haven't played regularly, but it seems quite a few of my rotation players have submitted transfer requests too, with two having already agreed a move away. Potentially I can stand here on January 1st having lost 8-10 players over night. That's also why I am beginning to start up my January business already in October. And with 700k allocated to Watt, perhaps I'm left with loan players etc for the second half of the season.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
Results going as expected. It's going to be really hard to crack the bigger teams.

On an admin note, how do you get the heads to go on the pitch graphic?

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I use createformation.com to make these. Sometimes it's not completely up to date, but you can find most players there.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
You have 10 clubs in this division that should be first in line to get out of it, so it'll be interesting to see how long it actually takes to get into that position yourself.

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That's true. But whilst I probably won't be able to beat the Prem sides to a promotion, I do expect to push a little above the weight of this club to try and be among the next in line. 9th place now, and with a few wins I could already be in the playoffs this season. So I'm slowly closing in on expecting it in the next.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
As expected at this point, Stockport lose against the 'bigger' sides, but are doing well against the typical 'tier 4' sides.
You're probably going to finish as 'the best of the rest' in that regard.
Still, if you get some new players in during the January window, things might change...

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I think you're right. I had hoped for more against Barnsley though, especially with 11 vs 10 for most of that game.

In regards to the January window, I have made the early move for a central/defensive midfielder in Elliot Watt. And I'm in need of a new goalkeeper too, with Hinchliffe departing, leaving Jordan Smith as my only keeper. Apart from that I don't expect to spend a lot (I also don't have a lot to spend), perhaps just filling a gap or two with all the players departing - almost every loan player plus the reserves, who made a transfer request during the fall.

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@CO88LER5 wrote:
Still going well. A draw at last; I'm quite often the same in my careers.

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Yes, now you mention it, I think you're quite right. But I think it's a new situation for me.