Career Mr.Manager takes on the PL Second Chances Challenge

[Mr.Manager]

Mr.Manager takes on the Premier League Second Chances Challenge

Welcome all to my latest career, wherein I will try to take on @kts365 interesting challenge. If you never saw the original topic, here's a link:

After a couple of gruelling careers recently, I'm not really interested in diving too far in to the details and minutiae this time round. I'm hoping to zip through each season fairly quickly, which will hopefully make this fun and easy to follow!

So, first things first, let's find out where I'm going to kick things off:

 

 

The Club: Blackpool FC

The Pedigree: Who could forget Blackpool's one season in the Premier League back in 2010/11? Top of the league after day 1, Charlie Adam dominating the midfield  (no really!) in a vibrant attacking side, and Ian Holloway's Ian Hollowayisms ("In the first-half we were like the Dog and Duck, in the second-half we were like Real Madrid. We can't go on like that. At full-time I was at them like an irritated Jack Russell").

Further back in time they had an even more illustrious history, winning the FA Cup in 1953 in the Matthews Final and finishing league runner up to Busby's Babes in 1955/56.

The Reason: Two former Premier League clubs have plummeted all the way down to League 2: Blackpool and Portsmouth. But whereas Portsmouth have excellent facilities, a super stadium and a good chance of earning promotion themselves, Blackpool look dead and buried. If I'm going to get everyone back in the top flight, I need to sort out these problem clubs first before they fall further...

Next update to come shortly!

 

[mcandrew003]

Nice challenge mate, was actually thinking of starting this one myself after my current save. I look forward to the first update!

[KennyMiller27]

Hope ya do well!Blackpool were THE underdog club for me back then and it's sad how they've plummeted back down the ladder!

[kts365]

Wow. Thought this had been forgotten about. Thanks for digging it up and giving it a go. Blackpool are a great starting point too. And hopefully Newcastle, Norwich, villa, Leeds and.such clubs all do you a favour by being promoted in the meantime.

[BatiGoal]

Looking forward to seeing them back in the EPL. Great pick for a challenge!

[Mr.Manager]

Season 1

 

Highest division for second chance teams:

 

Premier League: 20

Championship: 17

League 1: 8

League 2: 2

 

Right, let's get this show on the road.

 

Board expectations were low, but Blackpool had a half decent squad at the start of the game. One striker in particular caught my eye - Jack Redshaw:

 

 

His finishing, pace, movement and dribbling stats were great, and he should be able to bag a heap of goals at this level.

 

I made few additions...

 

 

...got rid of the deadwood, and started the season in earnest.

 

Things started well…

 

 

And again…

 

 

And again…!

 

 

And though we weren't able to win the league outright, we had earned promotion by the end of April.

 

 

Not only that, but we also managed to take home the Checkatrade Trophy earlier that month.

 

 

It was quite bizarre to win that trophy, as I constantly played my weaker players so that I could rest them for the league.

 

Rotation in the cups meant that my star striker Redshaw missed a large chunk of games, but he still finished the season with a respectable tally. I had hoped that he might set Blackpool's all time record for a season, but he ended well short of Jimmy Hampson's 46 goals scored in the 1929/30 season. Maybe next year!

 

 

At the end of season awards ceremony, Redshaw and I were honoured with the divisional awards.

 

 

Speaking of awards, we have a multiple Oscar winner in our ranks:

 

 

You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

 

Elsewhere

 

Manchester United finished champions of England, whilst three ex-premier league teams returned to the top division.

 

After our promotion, Portsmouth are the only team still in league 2, having fallen short in the play offs.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Thanks for reading, all comments welcome!

[kts365]

Nice start mate and I love the snappy but thorough enough update style. Are you going to so some sort of checklist for the second chance teams to make it back to the premier league?

[Mr.Manager]

33 minutes ago, kts365 said:

Nice start mate and I love the snappy but thorough enough update style. Are you going to so some sort of checklist for the second chance teams to make it back to the premier league?

Thanks mate! Yeah, that's a good suggestion. I'm not really sure how to do that without it looking messy though - any ideas?

[kts365]

9 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

Thanks mate! Yeah, that's a good suggestion. I'm not really sure how to do that without it looking messy though - any ideas?

Maybe just have the list but hide it in a spoiler? 

[BatiGoal]

Congrats on the promotion. And amazing getting Cain on a loan. Massive quality boost for your squad.

[Mr.Manager]

13 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Congrats on the promotion. And amazing getting Cain on a loan. Massive quality boost for your squad.

Thanks BG.

[Mr.Manager]

As recommended by @kts365 I'll include the list of Second Chance teams with each season update, as follows:

Spoiler

Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Derby County, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth, QPR, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town, Wigan Athletic, Wimbledon, Wolves

 

 

[kts365]

6 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

As recommended by @kts365 I'll include the list of Second Chance teams with each season update, as follows:

  Hide contents

Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Derby County, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth, QPR, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town, Wigan Athletic, Wimbledon, Wolves

 

 

Looks spot on mate

[mcandrew003]

Nice start mate, a challenge I've looked at and considering trying myself.

Like the Update style, and a great season, looks like this is gonna be my go to career on here now after your other one!

[Ashez]

Nice little challenge this and you've made a great start having two crossed off and a successful season for yourself, well done mate. 

I loved Blackpool in the Premier League and often considered being them  

[Mr.Manager]

Season 2

 

Highest division for second chance teams:

Premier League: 23

Championship: 16

League 1: 7

League 2: 1

 

At the start of our second season, my assistant made me laugh with his damning indictment on the state of our youth graduates:

 

 

Still, with a decent transfer allowance we were able to make a few impressive additions. The pick of the bunch were a pair of top level youngsters.

 

 

Both were absolute bargains and should be able to tear up League 1 defences.

 

And so it proved, as we walked the league. Champions in March!

 

 

With another promotion secured, I set about trying to help a few of the other second chancers to promotion.

 

Bradford City and Barnsley were amongst my final fixtures, and lo and behold, both were scrapping away just outside the play off places

 

 

Being very sneaky, I decided to throw both of those games to help their chances of promotion:

 

 

I opted for Batigoal's TKO tactic in the second game, just to keep it interesting. I knew we'd lose as my players aren't strong enough for it, but our fans got their moneys worth!

 

The underhand tactics proved worthwhile, as Barnsley won the play off final and joined us and Sheffield United in the Championship.

 

 

Elsewhere

 

Chelsea won the top flight this season, and again we saw a fresh set of second chance teams gain promotion.

 

Down in League 2, Portsmouth suffered play off heartache for the second season in a row. Looks like I'll have to head down there if they don't buck their ideas up!

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Derby County, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth, QPR, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town, Wigan Athletic, Wimbledon, Wolves

 

 

 

 

 

[mcandrew003]

Good season again mate, KIU!

[Mr.Manager]

1 minute ago, mcandrew003 said:

Good season again mate, KIU!

Thanks mate! You responded before I managed to edit my post, I was hoping no one would be as quick as you were!

[mcandrew003]

Mate I'm loving this career already, as soon as I saw it I clicked on it.

Nobody is as quick as me ( muahaha 'plays evil music')

[BatiGoal]

Great progress. You walked the league, mate. Can't wait to see how your team fares against stronger opposition next season, but I've got every faith in you.

[kts365]

Well played there helping Barnsley up. That's really how you'll have to play this challenge. As clever and sneaky as possible

[Mr.Manager]

2 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Great progress. You walked the league, mate. Can't wait to see how your team fares against stronger opposition next season, but I've got every faith in you.

Cheers mate

[Mr.Manager]

44 minutes ago, kts365 said:

Well played there helping Barnsley up. That's really how you'll have to play this challenge. As clever and sneaky as possible

Yeah, it didn't occur to me straight away, but you've got to give the other teams a leg up as much as possible. I'd like to target selling players to some of them but I don't think there's any way of engineering that.

[BatiGoal]

16 minutes ago, Mr.Manager said:

Yeah, it didn't occur to me straight away, but you've got to give the other teams a leg up as much as possible. I'd like to target selling players to some of them but I don't think there's any way of engineering that.

Try player exchange

[kts365]

4 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Try player exchange

Great idea.

[Mr.Manager]

On 13 April 2017 at 17:23, BatiGoal said:

Try player exchange

Oh yeah! Will do.

[Mr.Manager]

Season 3

 

Highest division for second chance teams:

Premier League: 26

Championship: 15

League 1: 5

League 2: 1

 

Into season 3 with Blackpool and we have our sights set on a hat trick of promotions. Rising all the way from the fourth tier to the top league in successive seasons has never before happened in English football, although Swansea and Wimbledon have managed it in just 4 seasons...

 

In order to make the step up, I set about replenishing the squad, bringing in a mercurial regen:

 

 

And two ageing but still formidable wingbacks:

 

 

Bringing in such talent is likely to be trickier from now on, as brexit was enforced partway through the season:

 

 

Fortunately, our new talent were well bedded in by then, and we managed to battle our way to promotion by April.

 

 

With promotion secured, it was time to visit the job centre and see where I should head out to next.

 

Unfortunately, there was nothing doing:

 

 

With no other second chance teams in the market for a new manager, I finished the season with Blackpool and celebrated with a Championship winners medal and the manager of the year gong.

 

 

Elsewhere

 

Manchester City romped to the Premier League title, making it three different previous champions in a row. Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers and Leicester are the only remaining previous winners that haven't regained the title in this career.

 

Alongside us, Burnley (boo) and Wolves (yay) won promotion, giving us another second chancer back in the Prem.

 

At the other end of things, Portsmouth finally won promotion up to League 1, meaning that we have no more second chancers stuck in the fourth division. Things seem to be going well eh?

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Aston Villa, Barnsley, Birmingham City, Blackburn Rovers, Blackpool, Bolton Wanderers, Bradford City, Cardiff City, Charlton Athletic, Coventry City, Derby County, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Norwich City, Nottingham Forest, Oldham Athletic, Portsmouth, QPR, Reading, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town, Wigan Athletic, Wimbledon, Wolves

 

Thanks for reading, all comments welcome!

[Mr.Manager]

Hmmm... formatting is a bit weird on that post. I'll try to fix it.

[mcandrew003]

Nice work mate, your really killing this challenge at the moment! Can't wait for Update 4

[Mr.Manager]

2 hours ago, mcandrew003 said:

Nice work mate, your really killing this challenge at the moment! Can't wait for Update 4

Thanks man! You won't have to wait long, update 4 will be with you shortly...