A New Start - Holmesdale FC (Level 1)

[talisman]

Day 1 (continued)

Team news

With a couple of injuries in the last two matches of last season, Holmesdale started the season with two players (DMC Agustin Cervera and AMR Laurens Blumens) injured and not available until Day 4.

The new Daily Recommendation didn't appear for Holmesdale today, not that it will be missed...

One of the Management's other teams was being shut down, and they used their remaining tokens to purchase a few official shirts and gift them to Holmesdale FC. So the team start with matching home and away strips.



Cup match

First match of the season, and our heroes flew out to Saudi Arabia for their away Leg in the Cup 1st Round. For the first hour of the match, the two teams fought tooth and nail, but eventually the visitors gained the upper hand and scored three late goals to finish with a healthy lead in the tie. Backup AMR and lowest-Quality man on the pitch Mitch West bagged a brace and Player-of-the-Match.

[talisman]

Day 2

No daily recommended player again <yawn>

The return match in the Cup 1st Round was played and Holmesdale took it easy, conceding first but livening up after the break, scoring three, to progress to the next round with an 8-2 aggregate score. The old 'get a striker to score by slating him for substitution' still works, BTW...

[talisman]

Day 3

Daily Recommendation for the first time this season - reasonable enough, but only one position and no SA...



Transfer News

The Management made a breif visit to the Transfer market for some defensive strengthening, and came away with a left- and right-back for an outlay of 3T and $1.2M.





Midfielder Anton Zahariev was transfer listed and has left the club.

Champions League

Holmesdale FC made their first ever outing in the Champions League, and recorded a nice 3-0 win. Both new signings were included in the starting XI, and 2* right-winger Mitch West continued his golden streak in the absence of first-choice winger Laurens Bloemen through injury, bagging another brace...



League

The Season 2 Level 2 League consist was unveiled overnight, and Holmesdale find themselves as one of the six top Quality teams in the League.



For the opening League match, recent goalkeeper signing Vetle Vik made his club debut, Mitch West bagged his second brace of the day, and Youth Graduate Paul Clarkson netted a free-kick to open his scoring account...

[talisman]

Day 4

Daily recommendation today was really poor - very old and no SA.



Cup

Early Cup Round of 32 match today, and striker Stewart Black led the way with two goals, and right-wingback Dong-Dae Lee opened his spot kick account with a late score.



Stadium

The upgrade to the Youth development facility completed today, and the Management was forced down the seating and stadium upgrade path if he was to develop the other facilities further. The Medium seating upgrade will take 1 day and costs $120k (was 4 days and $160k).

League

Stewart Black bagged his second brace of the day as Holmesdale FC hit the top of the table with a 4-1 away win.

[talisman]

Day 5

Another recommended player this morning, younger, still no SA, but the cash asking price a little too near the current balance for comfort...



Training

This morning's training sessions produced another Training Level upgrade, this time to Level 22. The Management chose to unlock the Attack drill WIng Play (Hard) out of the three options (one upgrade, two unlock).

League

The Management got a friend request from today's league opponent, but chose to delay answering until after the match. The lower-Quality opposition put up a good fight, left-winger Fabian Kraiger netting the only goal of the match five minutes before the break.



Stadium

The Medium Seating upgrade completed late this afternoon, and the Management immediately started the Large Seating upgrade, costing $130k with a construction time of 1 day (previously $160k and 4 days).

Champions League

Another lesser-Quality team this evening in the Champions League, and Holmesdale efficiently put them to bed with a 7-0 drubbing.



At the end of the match, the Management got an Achievement notification, and claimed the Gentleman Level 1 achievement

[talisman]

Day 6

Holmesdale FC played their latest League match and had a tight 2-0 away win against a relatively low-Quality opponent.



The Recommendation of the day was the weekly recommendations for Week 1, and after a lot of thought, the Management decided to use some of his accumulated Tokens to purchase the two-position third option player.





Defender Carlos Burchell has been sold and has left the club.

The new player was immediately installed in the squad for the evening Cup 2nd Leg match, a good end-to-end tussle resulted in a 3-2 win for Holmesdale, and they progress to the next Round 6-3 on aggregate.

[talisman]

Day 7

A daily recommendation not acepted today, certainly the Management didn;t have anything like the cash amount requested in the kitty...



Stadium

The Large Seating upgrade completed yesterday, but the Management waited until today to get the next bit of construction started. The Level 3 Small Town Stadium will take 1 day (3 Days) to build, and costs $120k ($160k).

The third Round of the Champions League match was first up today, and a convincing win over a lower-Quality opponent makes 3 out of 3 and the lead in the Group at the halfway stage...





The evening League match saw Holmesdale's 100% record go as the evenly matched visitors inflicted a 1-2 defeat on their hosts. Holmesdale FC end the first week of their second season in 2nd place in the table.

[talisman]

Day 8

Training

Daily training advanced the Training Level to Level 23 and the Defence drill Video Analysis (Very Easy) was unlocked.

Stadium

The construction of the Small Town stadium (capacity 7000) was completed today, and the pitch upgrade Grass Carpet started. This costs $46k and takes 2 days ($60k, 3 days).

The day's League match ended in a 0-3 defeat for Holmesdale FC. Playing away to a slightly better Quality opponent, the visitors had no luck at all.



Playing Squad

The two recent League defeats have prompted the Management to do a bit of revamping of the Holmesdale FC squad.

Two wingers and a right-back have been purchased



Wingers Dominic Pope, Max Gaunt and Mitch West have left the club.

The Cup Round 16 beckoned in the evening, and at home to an evenly-matched opponent, the revamped Holmesdale starting XI grafted their way to a 2-0 win in the 1st Leg.

[talisman]

Day 9

A goal-fest in the latest Champions League Group match, and the Management was upset with the three goals conceded, and the way that they were conceded. Holmesdale FC 100% in their Group and guaranteed top spot as the other teams keep taking points off each other...



Obviously the team were a bit hung-over from the CL match, as their League match against a poor-Quality but clearly over-performing team ended in a frustrating draw.

[talisman]

Day 10

Stadium

The latest pitch upgrade (Grass Carpet) complted today, and the Training facility having produced its latest Green packs, was immediately selected for upgrade. The Medium Ground will take 3 days for construction and costs $110k (3 days, $160k).

The Cup Round of 16 2nd Leg match was first to play today, and Holmesdale FC made heavy weather of recording a 2-0 away win, to proceed to the next round with a 4-0 aggregate score.



Playing Squad

The Management was passing through the Transfer Market and spotted a decent Quality striker, currently at 5T and with only a few seconds to spare. he put in a bid, expecting to spark off a bidding war with the other four bidders, only to find that the bid held and Holmesdale FC have a new striker...



Striker Dean Seymour-Shove has been sold and has left the club.

The evening League match saw Holmesdale FC the architects of their own downfall, the Management unable to attend, and thus prevent the home side from scoring three goals in the last 8 minutes after central defender Ximun Poteau got his marching orders after two yellow cards.