Career "Goal a Mile" challenge - what the world looks like in 2048!

[Mr Tree]

Cheers Sandwich @broodje kip- struggled to find many i liked, so the squad is just STACKED with loanees now, starting 7-8 regularly...

This was bittersweet, ofc:

ESPECIALLY cos it was a top-of-the-table clash, the Superbees' first defeat of the season, and more than doubled the number of goals they'd conceded in their previous nine games

Rick on 13 so far, taking us past 60 goal-miles... probably have to play this season out, with Rick looking so good and the team doing well... Not promising I'll take the Cobblers to the prem, but i still haven't had a season there yet so........

Edited January 17, 2021 by Mr Tree

[broodje kip]

Should’ve done the @Kun Aguero . Lose on purpose you’ll feel better  

[Mr Tree]

It's working out nicely though, @broodje kip - at the halfway stage...

Beautiful 😍

And here's how Big Rick looks:

I'm not risking a new contract discussion until he brings it up - worried he'll want a lot of ££££

And he has 28 goals in 25 games so far this season, putting us on 76 miles overall - i was worried cos he had a bit of a funk in Sept/Oct, but we're flying now:

Thanks for reading!

[George Traistă]

He looks superb. Yeah, don't talk with him about new contract as he will ask for a lot. Good luck for the rest of the season! 

[broodje kip]

What an impressive stats for L1 player. He only earns £600? Poor guy 😂

[Paul186]

Good going, don't offer a new contract you will never afford it.

[Mr Tree]

On the verge of promotion now, and Rick's had a great season. Individual honours for December:

Smashing a Championship side in the FA Cup:

Before losing very unluckily to an EPL team in the 5th Round:

Meanwhile, example number 7 or 8 now of me slaughtering the Reserves sides in the PJT:

Looks like Rick's 16yo brother or cousin plays for Chelsea

We are 15pts clear of 3rd with 9 games to go, so it's looking good. But we're only 2nd because we can't get past this gorgeous beast:

End of season update to come later today, i guess! 

Edited January 19, 2021 by Mr Tree

[broodje kip]

When families are great at goalscoring they’re the highlight for both teams

[Mr Tree]

Thank you, Lord Sandwich @broodje kip!

Sadly the end of the season was a bit anti-climactic, as this happened with 3 or 4 games to go:

(yeah i casually crushed the 3rd-placed team anyway)

Out for a month so that was his season over

We claimed glory in the greatest league campaign ever seen, outlasting the best team in the world to take top spot:

I've just gone through and checked, cos there was a period where we both seemed to win all the time. Well, after i smashed them on October 1st to end their 9-game unbeaten start, they reeled off a further 20 unbeaten games (16 wins!), before finally tripping up again. And then they promptly beat me and won 4 of their next five, going 21-5-1 between Oct 8th and Feb 29th (to add to their 7-2-1 start!). So they were 28-7-2 after 37 games, before limping home with a 4-3-2 finish. What a team. 

But the Cobblers were better - after i lost to the bees in January, we went unbeaten the rest of the way, 16 games, 14 wins. And before the bees match I'd been unbeaten in 9, winning 8 of them, meaning i finished 22-3-1 from my last 26 games. Tasty

Ricky's late injury meant he couldn't break 50:

And yeah his strike partner did pretty well. Rick led the league in assists. You can see a bit of my reliance on loans there... my two starting CB's were loans too...

We added the Pizza Plate too, of course - played a few reserves as my lads were knackered from securing promotion a few days earlier, maybe a bit too much partying

We took home some prizes at the League One Awards Gala:

I'll update my summary sometime soon but for now, Rick is on 96 overall, nearly half the required remaining distance. I'm hoping he'll enjoy the Championship too and we can try to go straight through, then see how he gets on in the Prem...

Otherwise, a quick look at the profile two-thirds of the way through the career:

I love the Continental rep, lol... "Ah zis Monsieur Tree, ave you seen vot he is doing wiz ze Norzampton Town at ze zird level? C'est magnifique!"

Thanks for reading! 

[broodje kip]

Great work on reaching the Championship. Premier League up next!

[Mr Tree]

Slow couple of days here, sorry... Difficult to get the right players in, but we're 6th after 10 games and the squad seems in pretty good shape...

Rick struggled with the step up, although he still played well enough to get some recognition:

My loanee winger from Barcelona with top spot. Barcelona S.C., that is...

Ricky hasn't been finishing well though, including a couple of missed penalties

Of course this year sees a few reunions, with Bradford and newly-relegated Stoke joining me in the Championship. My first such encounter was Stoke at home, with Hepworth missing out injured (no doubt a broken heart) :

Good to see Ricky bag a brace. Newman is a loan winger from established SPL powerhouse East Fife, but he can't stay bloody fit

And finally...

"Ah... mio bueno massivo complimento linkare trainer espana... ¡tengo mucho espanola, i mucho bueno opportunidad!... ale con Northampton es importante, so i no go nowhere. ¿Comprende?"

Edited January 21, 2021 by Mr Tree

[geordiekrispy]

Great season! I reckon you've got 2 more seasons and you're done!

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @geordiekrispy! Plan A is that the goal that gets us to Plymouth will be the winner in the Champions League Final... But it might not work out that way...

We beat these fools:

But got kicked in the goolies by my old buddies:

(don't know who he is, not one of mine, but i HATE him now!)

Rick caught fire a bit:

But a rotten spell in November set us back. We're still doing "well" but not quite marching to glory - probably need another good CB and CM in January...

One success story - look at this kid blossoming:

Btw i got the notice that Rick's contract had six months left, so i took the plunge - increased his wage x10, and he has a £10m release clause, but he's staying and he's happy, for now. He's scored 15 in 21 so far this season, so we're on 111 goal-miles overall.

Thanks for reading! 

[Paul186]

Hope Rick pick things up and gets back to his high scoring ways and you soon be in  Plymouth.

[Mr Tree]

Thanks @Paul186, always appreciate your support mate! 

We needed to find some upgrades in the January transfer market, and we got a stroke of luck...

Happy New Year!!

But it wasn't much money...

But useful, can't complain...

Every now and then, i remember a big part of the transfer market I'm missing out on... And this time, it was the dawning realisation that 99.9% of the players signed in this career have been Free or Listed (either). Now that i had some cash, i could go and bully some slightly smaller clubs and nick their best players. 

Not that i got anyone too significant - struggled to find affordable players who looked like good investments. But i got two old friends back on loan in wingers Matheson (Bradford youth now at Liverpool) and Taylor-Crossdale (star loanee last season). A good loan CB from Aberdeen. A quality young RWB loanee from (somewhere foreign). A couple of midfielders, one of whom cost £1m from palace. And a young Italian striker whose u21 caps got him a work permit on appeal. 

February was pretty good - not perfect, high-flying Sunderland got an injury-time winner which hurt... But a 5-0 win over Blackpool vaulted us up to 7th all of a sudden, 2pts off the playoffs... Rick has 24 from 32 now i think...

But most importantly:

And i believe we can journey now down into the bowels of Sixfields to discuss tonight's victory with the winning manager - Mr Tree, are you there? 

Hi, good evening Harry!

Good evening... Mister. Congratulations on tonight's win - tell us what it means to you...

Ha, thank you... Well it's fantastic, we're thrilled of course - reaching the FA Cup Quarter-Final, the last eight in the country - it's a remarkable step for us in our journey. Couldn't have imagined this when i joined three years ago and we were scrabbling around League Two mid-table! And who knows - we smashed a League One team 6-0 when we were in League Two, in the cup, and last year we beat a Championship team 5-1, so... we're not scared of anyone, we think we can beat anyone on our day. I mean, obviously, tonight we played a team who are clearly "almost Premier League" themselves, I'd regard them as premier league, so to get past them is just incredible for us. 

A word please for young Terrell, the match-winner.

I mean, they're all match-winners for me Terrell, we had him on loan here a couple of years ago, he came through the ranks with me at Bradford - there was no surprise at all for us that he went to Liverpool. I know things haven't worked out for him there so far, but he's still young, plenty of time. We suggested to them that he needs to get some game-time, and I'm glad they could allow him to come. And what a goal eh! Cutting inside and smashing it in, that was a beauty! 

Mm, wasn't it... There were some grumbles about your team selection before the match, but it all worked out...

Yeah i mean, we're clear - the league is the priority, the bread and butter. Everyone loves the cup but it's just a bit of fun, y'know - it's always difficult, you just throw all the teams in a pot and see what comes out. Now we're at the business end, we'll see how our fitness is at the quarter-final stage and take it from there. We really wanted to make sure that everyone who started tonight was at 100%, so we rested a few - but we're always confident in the lads behind them, and we knew extra-time was a possibility. And we got some great performances, Ollie at centre-back was immense, played for me at Stoke and now this, sensational... Isaiah, we just brought him in for a mill last month, he was brilliant... and obviously Murray up front, in a purple patch with Nicky out, hat-trick last week and fantastic again tonight. 

Great thanks Mr Tree - and if i could just ask you to stick around for an instant reaction to the quarter-final draw...

(Draw: Happens)

Ooh!

Oof i mean... there's no easy teams at this stage. Leicester away, that's about as tough as it gets - we all know, they've been phenomenal the last 25 years. But we'll be ready, we'll fight with honour and class, we'll fight for the town, obviously they're big rivals for our rugby team so I'm sure we'll get a few more fans involved for that. Should be a great day! 

Ok, thank you for your time Mr Tree, enjoy your evening! 

Namaste.

Edited January 23, 2021 by Mr Tree

[George Traistă]

Great interview Tree! 😂

Hopefully the Cup dream is not over but I think the league is more important. 

I just looked at a map and there are around 215 miles to Plymouth, would you stick around or try a new job along the way, maybe deep lower Bath or something in the middle like Yeovil? 

[Mr Tree]

Cheers @George Traistă! Leicester beat me 4-0 (three late goals when i went kamikaze) and went on to win the cup. As for the league...

and...

...as we hit 5th place with 3 games to go. But it was very tight and i had away to 3rd then home to 1st. Drew both, then bottled an easier last game of the season to stumble home and tumble down

We were the people's champions, of course:

and...

So you can see there, Tricky Ricky got 31. Up to 127 goals in total in 3.5 seasons since signing for £1k from Dover. Decent

As for your question though, George - I've flicked on to the new season and there appears to be an ideal job available... So it looks like we won't play in the Prem in this career

[George Traistă]

38 minutes ago, Mr Tree said:

Cheers @George Traistă! Leicester beat me 4-0 (three late goals when i went kamikaze) and went on to win the cup. As for the league...

and...

...as we hit 5th place with 3 games to go. But it was very tight and i had away to 3rd then home to 1st. Drew both, then bottled an easier last game of the season to stumble home and tumble down

We were the people's champions, of course:

and...

So you can see there, Tricky Ricky got 31. Up to 127 goals in total in 3.5 seasons since signing for £1k from Dover. Decent

As for your question though, George - I've flicked on to the new season and there appears to be an ideal job available... So it looks like we won't play in the Prem in this career

I bet there are a lot of options around 100-125 miles from Northampton so I won't try to guess it. I'm waiting on the next update. Cheers! 

[Mr Tree]

Ok @George Traistăhere you go:

A great efficient move that really puts us within sight of home. Find a good striker now for the next couple of seasons and we should be laughing...

Newly promoted to the Vanarama South, the computer was lazily filling their squad up so they have 11 players (total) when i join. Typified by the note in the middle of this assessment:

Also, it's a one-man show for now! 

So some fun ahead filling that all up

[George Traistă]

Nice move. I saw it it's in reach but didn't knew if it's playable or not. Good move! 

[Paul186]

great move the end is in sight.

[Mr Tree]

Many thanks as ever, @George Traistăand @Paul186!

I was gonna say "frantic transfer dealings" but actually, i had the luxury of all of July to work on the team. And not an awful budget. But it was hard to get used to the idea of putting a whole squad together for less than £3k a week! 

Kept £55 aside for a couple of celebratory curries in due course...

This was the man identified to take me to the promised land:

And the early returns weren't shabby:

But this:

...aside from being brutal personally, cos it just meant a lot of pressing Continue without being heavily invested, the injury also led to a tailspin with seven winless league games

Even that cup defeat was a kick in the balls:

Couldn't send everyone upfront at the end as i was distracted by wailing child! 

Also, plot twist - Truro City are in the mix! They are currently in the VNL, and they are more southerly than Plymouth - argh!

[George Traistă]

The bad news about Truro are in fact good news, that will add 40-50 miles to the game! You still have plenty of time to do it, fingers crossed with Kilman, hopefully this is the only injury, take care of him

[Paul186]

Unlucky on the injury and Truro being in the league, but there is still time for a double relegation for them to fallout before you reach Plymouth.

[Mr Tree]

Many thanks @George Traistăand @Paul186- i just hope Penzance FC don't manage to get up to Tier 6!!

Despite that 7-game winless spell, we're doing alright at the halfway stage:

But to be honest, i thought I'd smash the league, so I'm a bit disappointed. The budget is very restrictive and i thought there'd be plenty of options but sadly, i haven't done that well with my recruitment really. Killie has his moments...

...but not really prolific. Oh well. Most annoying was my 18yo CM being worth 100k or so, would've been a huge cash boost - but he turned down all the moves on the table saying he was happy with me. So i said some mean things about his mother so now he's upset, but no one would come back and bid for him, sigh...

[George Traistă]

Mousehole AFC awaits you even further down 🤣

[Paul186]

Keep going I'm certain you will achieve another promotion with lots of goals for Kilman

[Ian]

It’s going to be touch and go for promotion this year. Incredibly tight from two down to nine. 

[smoggy90]

Hope you nick promotion mate, fantastic few seasons to catch up on.

[Mr Tree]

Many thanks @George Traistă, @Paul186, @Ian and @smoggy90 - it wasn't smooth sailing, but not all that bad...

The budget prevented me from changing much in January (and they spent all season telling me to cut the wages). We were horribly inconsistent, so i was just aiming for the end of the season and checking the options - Yeovil, Taunton, Tiverton could all be good moves.....

But then we got rolling, including some remarkable games:

That's the runaway leaders copping a thrashing, fyi.

A beauty, on what would be my real-life birthday

This was the day that we secured our playoff place, although sadly this goal didn't actually change much itself. Still funny though. 3mins injury time, we forced 5 corners in a row before finally scoring

On the last day of the season, we helped to flush a club who originally start in the EFL back down to regional level. Their last-minute equaliser was futile, they'd have gone down even with a victory...

However it did help to sap our morale - we finished with one defeat in 11 but actually, we won 6 of 7 before finishing winless in our last 4...

...and that continued into an anticlimactic 0-1 playoff loss to Welling to end our season

Killie did alright in the end:

Would probably bag a ton if i can get some better players around him:

So we'll see - maybe they'll give me some more funds to play with, or maybe another job comes up...