Back from a nice break and straight into pre-season. The team reported back in top condition, most likely a result of having 4 months to do nothing but relax, or maybe work out at the gym.

I had hoped the Board would show some willing and increase my wage budget but they opted to keep it the same which meant i was spending £300 over the budget each week. I should point out that this is a significant amount for Nosaby who's total wage budget is around £1200p/w. Despite my best efforts i could not offload my 6 veterans that were surplus to requirements and so i focused my energy on other things, hoping the Board would give me some patience of results were good.

They asked for a top half finish but given the discontent of some of my players, i instead opted for the target of reaching the playoffs. I didn't get any more money for it but my squad were much happier with our ambition.

I had a few affairs to get in order before the season started, beginning with squad registration and short number allocation.

I'm a big fan of reallocating shirt numbers to match the position the player is suited to. For example, 2 and 3 are for the full backs while 9 and 10 are the strikers etc. I then apply the same logic to the reserve 11 as well so 13 and 14 are given to the back up full backs and 20 and 21 to the reserve strikers.

I find this particularly useful when in the lower leagues as you're far less likely to know the players you're working with. Therefore it's hard to remember which position, role and duty they're supposed to be playing in, but more importantly, which one is the first choice and which one is the backup. Because I will know my formation and tactic quite well, I can use the shirt numbers to tell me the position, role, duty and comparative ability of each player.

Squad List

Next on my to do list is to look through what my assistant had the team working on in training. Given my in-game experience on the training pitch, I think I'm better off leaving the bulk of it to my Assistant, but i did want to review the individual positional training. He had some of the players working on positions that they were highly unlikely to play in, while their familiarity of the position i did want them in was still quite low. I made this adjustment for the next month and will check back again to see if any others need changing in the future. I, like many other FMers, tend to focus on the players attributes for the position, rather than their familiarity with the role as this will improve the more he plays there anyway.

The next thing I notice is my assistant hasn't set up any pre-season friendlies despite me asking him to organise it. With time already against us I schedule half a dozen games against similar and higher reputation teams. and am delighted to see we win all 6 comfortably which gives me tremendous optimism for the coming season.

Unfortunately for me, my optimism was short lived. I took a pitiful 1 point from my opening three games and by which point was fearing the worst. With the number of new signings I had made, I was sure that squad harmony was to blame for my poor start, but since that's beyond my control at this point, I ploughed ahead regardless.

In the two previous games where I had lost, the scores were 3-2 and 4-3 which proved my tactics were ok from a goal threat stand point, but I needed to shore up my leaky defence. I made a few changes and tweaked the tactic slightly to get stuck in and close down more. To say that it worked is a huge understatement. I would go on to win all of my next 9 games, including the home fixtures against both of my local rivals, and best of all we conceded just 3 goals in the process.

We rocketed to the top of the league and stayed there for most of the season. With a handful of games remaining, and an 8 point gap at the top I was confident we would secure promotion with ease. Of course the God of Sod with his crazy laws had other ideas. Not only did we let our lead slip, but we dropped down to second with 2 games left and ended up finishing there.We would have to contend the playoffs to get promoted.

I was expecting a playoff with one of the relegated teams for the First Division but in fact we were drawn into a group with two other teams, that then progresses to a knockout semi final and final.

A lot of hoops to jump through but I accepted our fate and got stuck in. We lost the first group game, but one the other one comfortably and progressed in goal difference. We won our semi final across two legs as well and made it to the final where we ran out comfortable winners.

We were up! Promoted to the Swedish First Division South for the first time in our history. A proud day for all and a nice achievement so early in my career.

End of Season Awards

Thanks to the massively over complicated playoff system, we finished the season almost at the start of the Transfer Window and so I only had a little time to assess our needs.

The board showed their true colours and immediately doubled my wage budget ready for the new season. If anything, I had too much money now! I quickly learnt that my top targets that we'd been scouting throughout the season still saw me as a low level team. I had some luck getting transfer fees agreed but before I could negotiate a contract, the players were telling me they had no interest in signing.

I picked up some good free agents, including a new front line, a Croatian midfielder and a new full back. In the end the squad were looking really good just before the Christmas break.

My only worry was the sharp decline of my no. 1 keeper. My promising young reserve goalie isn't ready for first team football so I picked up an established keeper from the first division for the astronomical fee of £1k.