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What could Mukjic realistically do if he got angry under his current contract - aren't the clauses pretty watertight? Would he start underachieving or something?
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Mar 17, 2014 18:27
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How is Tackleford doing?
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Mar 17, 2014 18:30
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steinrokkan posted:What could Mukjic realistically do if he got angry under his current contract - aren't the clauses pretty watertight? Would he start underachieving or something? Yeah. He might sit out practices, malinger, become a cancer in the clubhouse and a distraction to the team, etc. But like I said on the last page in comparing Tottenham and Liverpool, you don't sell your best players unless you have to. benzine posted:How is Tackleford doing? Don't rightly know, I turned off League One and forgot that I won't be able to track their progress. I'll fix that next year. VVVV Reposting for ease of reading for folks.
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Mar 17, 2014 18:42
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Chapter the Seventh: Kicking in Opportunity's door. February 1, 2019-March 1, 2019 We've got two matches a week for the next three weeks. And that's assuming we don't advance in the FA Cup. The team is going to be a little tired by the time they get to late February. But this update sees the return of Meteor Mujkic, so it can't be all bad.  My first of the season. If we do make the promotion playoffs I have to think I'm a lock for manager of the year. Again.  Sky Shadowing, why am I getting calls from guys named Vinny?  We're on pace to make a profit this season? I wouldn't believe this until I see it at the end of the year.  Mujkic finishes the Asian Cup in fine form, earning a 9.3 rating, an assist, and scoring a goal. I cannot wait for him to be putting in that type of performance for us. At Hull City, February 2, 2019 Championship  I'm stunned that we're doing so well in the league. We can't keep up this pace forever, we haven't lost a game since December. So I don't want anyone being surprised when we eventually drop some points. I'm good, but not that good. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter. Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Lewis, Poole, Mejasic, Troelsen, Holland, Bailey, Coulson, Gorman, Harrison (c). Subs: Love, Peters, Chapman, Simpson, Tedesco, Rainey, Pym. The counter works to perfection early on, and we irritate the hell out of Hull. Ryan Gorman takes a knock while fighting for a header but it doesn't stop him from scoring when Bailey springs him late in the half for a very pretty goal. Unfortunately, we let Hull hit back instantly. We're the better team, but that doesn't matter when the scoreline reads 1-1 at the end of the game. It's not the worst result we could have come away with, and it's a sign of my raised expectations that I'm frustrated with the team for failing to put Hull down for the count when we had the chance. Man of the Match: Ryan Gorman   Hull 1-1 Wrexham  Mujkic is going to be thrown right back into the fray, there's no opportunity to rest him when our only other competent left winger is out for a week.  This deal was made before I even arrived in Wrexham, and it's paid out £20,000 so far. The guy has been awful, a 6.17 average rating, but I hope he gets into five more games before the season ends.  Gorman deservedly makes the team of the week. If only he were as good when playing right wing! vs. Crystal Palace, February 6, 2019 FA Cup, Fourth Round Replay  Does our FA Cup run continue? Or do we finally get to focus on just one competition? I don't know, all I know is that Mujkic is back! So is Vaillant, which means I can stop relying upon an unproven teenager as our reserve centerback. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Lewis, Poole, Garuti, Simpson (c), Shirra, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Peters, Vaillant, Troelsen, Tedesco, Rainey, Pym. We take the lead thanks to a Poole set piece goal, and we lock down Palace tighter than a convent during it's annual “Girls of God” calendar photoshoot. Crystal Palace doesn't get a single shot off until the 56th minute. Shortly thereafter Coulson knocks one off the crossbar, and it seems much more likely that we'll go up two than they'll draw level. That all changes when confusion between Lewis and Poole leaves the opposing striker unmarked for an easy equalizer in 74th min. Palace strike again in 85th minute on just their third shot of the day, and that's the ballgame. We're out of the FA Cup after two matches where we outplayed our higher division opponent and couldn't seal the deal when we had a chance.   Wrexham 1-2 Crystal Palace  I picked the last option, if you were wondering. By far our biggest problem this season has been reliable finishing. We're getting plenty of good looks and we're not making them count. This game was a perfect example of that. Our defense could stand to be stouter, but that's a secondary issue compared to our finishing.  Here I am, completely overachieving with a tiny payroll in a better league (Championship's got the 13th best rep in Europe, Liga Adelante has the 20th) and you're only offering me an interview? That's insulting. Offers start at full control over the club, the club president's firstborn, and a salary that would make Scrooge McDuck blush. At Bolton Wanderers, February 9, 2019 Championship  The Wanderers have been struggling this season, and find themselves in 15th coming into this game. If we can win it should prevent any type of skid from developing after the Crystal Palace loss. It's going to be very chilly at game time, 16 Fahrenheit or -9 Celsius, with snow. Considering that Bolton's average low for February days is 36/2, that's a cold day. For comparison, Minneapolis in January has an average high of 19, and from several years experience I can tell you that the very last thing I want to be doing on an average January day in Minneapolis is sitting on the bench as a substitute for 90 minutes. Playing is at least a little better, but I expect any bearded starters to look like one of those Scandinavian cross country skiiers, with their faces covered in rime by the time the game ends. Oh, and it's snowing. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter Starting 11: Higgs, Peters, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Troelsen, Holland, Tedesco, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison (c) Subs: Love, Garuti, Vaillant, Simpson, Djurovic, Rainey, Pym. It's all Dragons early, when Tedesco pounces on a rebound to score our first goal the only surprise is that it hadn't come sooner. It looks like we'll cruise to an easy victory despite the arctic weather, but Holland gets sent off in the 23rd minute after a moronic two footed challenge in what I can only assume was an effort to get sent into the heated locker room. I have to significantly change our plan, going three at the back by bringing in Vaillant and replacing Holland with Simpson. The makeshift defense keeps Bolton off balance over the final 20 minutes of the first half. I have real concerns that we won't be able to survive a whole half of being a man down. Those are at the forefront of my mind as I watch a feisty Bolton try to unlock us in the second half, but we limit their chances. That's not to say they didn't put a scare into me a couple times, most chillingly in the 89th minute when I'm beginning to relax. They hit us on the break, and it's a cruel late equalizer after our defense had played so well despite Holland's desire to avoid frostbite. Fate smiles on us, however, and the goal is waved off. Bolton's goal-scorer was clearly well off sides on the far side of the pitch when the ball was crossed. The nerve wracking and finger numbing game ends. We take our third victory of the year when playing a man down. Man of the Match: Antonio Tedesco   Bolton 0-1 Wrexham  Next time I'm going to light your pay on fire in front of you.  Sure, fine, why would I need a fully healthy set of centerbacks?  Good job, loaner! We have a glut at central midfield, which is preventing any single player from getting enough playing time to settle into a real groove. It's not ideal. vs. Huddersfield, February 12, 2019 Championship  Huddersfield is still in the playoff hunt, though they're now only a single spot above us. If we win here we move into a playoff spot. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'm not going to change up our play style, though. We've gotten here through playing unafraid, we're going to live and die on it. For this season, at least. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack. Starting 11: Higgs, Peters, Vaillant, Poole, Garuti, Simpson (c), Shirra, Djurovic, Rainey, Gorman, Pym. Subs: Love, Siegrist, Todd, Troelsen, Bailey, Coulson, Harrison. The good news about the first half is that we're decidedly more spritely than the team that Huddersfield soundly thunked back in August. That doesn't mean too much, Huddersfield edges the first half, has better opportunities, and we're lucky to hold them scoreless. I'm forced to pitch a fit at halftime in an effort to wake them up, I'm concerned that telling them that their performance wasn't bad and that the result would come could only lead to more danger after the restart. We come out stronger in the second half, and Vaillant puts us ahead from a corner. Pym then ices the game in the 79th minute with a goal of his own after having previously looked hapless before the net. Gorman adds an emphatic exclamation point by adding a third goal in the 81st minute. A great deal of credit has to go to Dejan Djurovic, who for the first time this season bossed the midfield and was integral in each goal we scored, notching assists on the Vaillant and Gorman goals. Moreover, we were incisive with our finishing, which is a wonderful thing to be able to say. That sharpness allowed us to win comfortably despite Huddersfield not giving us an easy win. The difference between now and just six months ago is apparent. Man of the Match: Dejan Djurovic   Wrexham 3-0 Huddersfield  We are a long way from lower league tiki-taka.  Going through an ownership transition is not a fun time. You get a transfer embargo set upon you and your position as manager is called into question. They're much more enjoyable to watch from the outside, especially if it's happening to your bitter rivals.  Aww, I'm talented. Also, who's criticizing me for not signing enough Englishmen? We play in Wales! vs. Derby, February 16, 2019 Championship  Derby sits ensconced in first place at the moment. It was a 1-1 draw against them on September 22nd that marked the start of our remarkable tear. Since then we've only lost three league games out of twenty-four played. We've won thirteen. It's the most surprising season I've had in Football Manager, and one that I want to see continue all the way to a glorious finish and an unheard of three straight promotions, our fourth in five years. Derby won't be an easy foe, they're on a torrid streak of their own and haven't lost in their last ten matches. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Vaillant, Garuti, Troelsen, Shirra, Bailey, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison (c). Subs: Love, Mejasic, Poole, Simpson, Tedesco, Gorman, Pym. Derby is at our gates early, but after a shaky first 10 minutes we're in control. Coulson puts us on top before the end of the half, and things are looking good. It turns out to be the best they'll look all day. Derby comes out firing and crushes our pretentions, scoring three in rapid succession to take a commanding lead. Coulson gives us some hope with his second goal of the game in the 76th minute, but Derby slams that door shut immediately by regaining the two score advantage. It's our worst performance in months, coming almost entirely after half-time. We got complacent against a very good team and paid for it.   Wrexham 2-4 Derby  Holland's brutal tackle merited further suspension. I saw no point in objecting when it came up for review after looking at the tape, it would have only given him the impression that I condoned his bloodthirstiness.  You see that we're in a promotion playoff spot, right? And that this club has gotten there despite you being gone for about a third of the season?   At least I can still get him to respect me. I don't want to promise promotion this year, he'll get upset if we don't make it and a playoff crapshoot is a playoff crapshoot. I don't think we can earn automatic promotion, we're still eight points back with fourteen to play, and I put our odds at making it through the playoffs at maybe one in three. This makes for our sixth player coming to me complaining about something.   Followed immediately by the seventh player. You'd think he'd realize why I'm not going to send him on loan, especially since he gets it the moment I tell him he's needed as backup.  I imagine I have a bulletin board up somewhere in the club facilities with team of the week clippings and a dry erase board showing who's made the team and how many times they've made it during the current season. vs. Peterborough, February 23, 2019 Championship  From a game against the first place club to a game against the last place club. Let's get right back to winning, boys. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack. Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Poole, Mejasic, Simpson (c), Shirra, Djurovic, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Garuti, Vaillant, Troelsen, Bailey, Coulson, Pym. Our offensive movement has been a sight to behold for most of the season, with our speedy players tirelessly stretching the opposing defenses. Yet despite three chances in the first ten minutes we have nothing to show for it. That number doubles by halftime, and we still are empty handed. I'm concerned, this is the type of game we could easily lose on an unlucky goal and continued failure to take our chances. When play resumes we don't give Peterborough a chance to take a lead on us, but we also stop creating good looks for our attackers, and I'm forced to pull Harrison and Gorman to try and spark the team. It doesn't appear to work, and we're facing the likely prospect of a draw as stoppage time begins, but Coulson finds us a very late winner as the seconds tick down. I don't ease off the team, and scald their ears with exhortations on how we can't afford to be so sloppy when we face better clubs. Man of the Match: Michael Coulson   Wrexham 1-0 Peterborough  Our potential future striker is now Qatari. Odd. This makes no difference to us, but in some leagues there's strict foreign player rules. Naturalizing players means you don't have to use one of your limited foreign player slots on them, and can enhance the team.  To say we're exceeding all predictions is to understate the matter considerably. I feel confident at this point stating that May will see us still in contention for promotion, but I'm not going to go beyond that. Before I worry full time about the possibility of moving to the highest level of English football, though, I'm going to be stocking our youth system with talent from all over Europe. Voulez-vous jouer avec moi? Répondre oui, s'il vous plaît. 
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Mar 17, 2014 18:43
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I loving hate Derby, there was one game I had to play five games against them in a season and failed to win any of them. Two games in the League (lost both), an FA Cup draw, the FA Cup replay (lost), and the League Cup (lost). I think the game sometimes assigns a bogey team, I once saw a screenshot of a guy's history against a team and he'd drawn or lost every game he'd played against them in 10 years, despite winning the league most years.
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Mar 17, 2014 18:50
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Fat Samurai posted:I'd love if my local got promoted to First Division and became competitive again. habeasdorkus posted:
I meant in Real Life, not in an Internet LP, game, but thanks for trying. 
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Mar 17, 2014 18:52
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Fedule posted:On top of that, wasn't he complaining earlier that Wrexham wasn't big and famous enough for him a season or two ago? And yet he still chooses to step on ants with Australia rather than help the manager he respects lift his squad to Premier League glory. He realized that Wrexham was going to be big and famous for him. And now that we're one promotion away from the big time, that time is pretty drat soon. Also we were the only team in England that gave a poo poo about him tbh. Also Holy poo poo you're in the Top Five! I thought top ten (my prediction) was a bit overambitious. We're five points out from an automatic promotion with 13 games to go, I'd say we can pull that off especially with Meteor on our squad. And Sky Shadowing, I know you aren't the only one embezzeling money from the club, can you try to hold off on that until we get in the Premier League?
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Mar 17, 2014 21:09
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(Furiously) "Perhaps we might be nearer to being in the Premier League next season if you hadn't hosed off for three months to waste time kerb-stomping poo poo teams in some meaningless international 'competition', you ungrateful little poo poo." 
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Mar 18, 2014 00:25
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That's not the drubbing I was expecting against Leyton Orient - going 0-0 away and then barely squeaking out a 3-2 at home is not the display of superiority we should have seen.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:29
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Sentinel Red posted:(Furiously) "Perhaps we might be nearer to being in the Premier League next season if you hadn't hosed off for three months to waste time kerb-stomping poo poo teams in some meaningless international 'competition', you ungrateful little poo poo." If we can't stand on our own for a bit in the Championship without him, then obviously we didn't bring in enough of that talent we promised him.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:37
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KDavisJr posted:And Sky Shadowing, I know you aren't the only one embezzeling money from the club, can you try to hold off on that until we get in the Premier League? I promise to try, now could you please carry these bags to my car for me? It's not like they're full of money or anything. They're full of money.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:41
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Ferrosol posted:My inner sperginess requires me to defend my home town. First of all it is not a city but a town (lacking a cathedral and/or royal warrant to call itself one). Secondly we are nowhere near Newcastle those Geordie bastards are 60 miles away and we want nothing to do with the entitled idiots who think they are a big club despite not winning a single trophy in the last 60 years. As for the cock lopping thing it's a once in a lifetime event. Really if you want to know what Middlesbroughs like think Detroit or somewhere like Flint a former industrial giant now rotting away while the remaining population turn to drink and drugs to get through the day. It has the highest unemployment rate in the country and highest teen pregnancy rate so it's a lovely place to live. I can't think of many worse analogies you could make when trying to defend your hometown than "It's like Detroit". The distance thing is also kind of funny. I used to commute more than 60 miles one-way to work every day. I have a friend who lives in Wales, and it struck me how different the roads are in some parts of the UK to how they are here. I live in a fairly rural area, though still near Washington DC and Baltimore. The roads around here for some of our side roads were better suited to high speeds than the main thoroughfares he had nearby. I wonder how much that affects it even on top of the already mentioned population density differences.
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Mar 18, 2014 00:41
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Sky Shadowing posted:I loving hate Derby, there was one game I had to play five games against them in a season and failed to win any of them. Two games in the League (lost both), an FA Cup draw, the FA Cup replay (lost), and the League Cup (lost). It was Burton Albion for me. They started a league below me but still both the League Cup and Johnstone's Paint games we met for, and they then got promoted to League 1! They beat me at both games then, but I then got promoted to the Championship, thinking I'd escaped...but we met once again for the FA and I lost 4-1 at home. That particular moment even triggered a slump of losing the next several games. I never finished that season due to losing the save file, but I was relegation-bait so I'd imagine it would've happened even more on the fourth year!
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Mar 18, 2014 01:14
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habeasdorkus posted:Yeah. He might sit out practices, malinger, become a cancer in the clubhouse and a distraction to the team, etc. But like I said on the last page in comparing Tottenham and Liverpool, you don't sell your best players unless you have to. Please fix it by ensuring Tackleford gets promoted and ends up in the same league as us again.
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Mar 18, 2014 01:21
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Zaodai posted:I can't think of many worse analogies you could make when trying to defend your hometown than "It's like Detroit".  I don't mind it being called poo poo I just want it called poo poo for the right reasons 
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Mar 18, 2014 01:25
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Ferrosol posted:
Cheating in a league cup final?
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Mar 18, 2014 02:03
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Zaodai posted:I can't think of many worse analogies you could make when trying to defend your hometown than "It's like Detroit". Hey, Detroit is a lovely city in certain parts. <  >Great work on this habeas. Blitzed through the whole thing a short while ago and I'm finally all caught up. I've never been so into an LP before as I am with this one. I've always liked soccer, but your LP has really gotten me more and more interested in it. Can't wait to see what more you bring to Wrexham.
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Mar 18, 2014 05:11
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Yeah, I think Detroit is a highly underrated city. It's got serious, long term, nigh intractable problems, but it still is a great American city. I was there last summer for a little bit visiting friends who live in Ann Arbor, and went to a very nice, very chic barbecue place that was in the shadow of the old Michigan Central Station. If you've seen ruin porn of Detroit, you've almost certainly seen it. It's a gorgeous beaux-arts building fallen into utter disrepair. But springing up around it were a number of very good restaurants, an artisanal whisky distillery, and an urban art collective/gallery. It's at the edge of Corktown, which is the most obviously gentrifying area of Detroit. And while I certainly wouldn't stick around that neighborhood in the middle of the night I didn't feel any less safe than I did in any other major city I've been in. Of course, gentrification isn't always the most popular thing.* This piece of graffiti was really well placed, you could see it coming off the highway towards Corktown:  None of this is to elide or downplay the massive problems Detroit has, but the city does get an unfair rap in people assuming that it's all ruins and that none of it ever gets any better. * Without derailing my own thread any more with sperging about urban development, there's strong arguments on why the gentrification process isn't an unalloyed good. habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 07:02
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I've never been to do Detroit, so I just go off what I hear in the news. I'll never forget the story about bears squatting in the abandoned buildings. I was mostly just joking around. I'm sure Detroit is no worse off than Baltimore. (Never go to Baltimore.)
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Mar 18, 2014 07:16
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Chapter the Eighth: Spring Breakers, the unrated international call-up edition. March 1, 2019-March 18, 2019  Gorman's goal was pretty sweet, but I'm not sure if I'd rate it as Goal of the Month quality.  Gorman agrees. Still, awards are nice.  Even with the Derby loss I was still in the running for coach of the month. Not shabby.  Mujkic hasn't been great since his return from international duty, putting up just a 6.52 average rating in his four games back. I'm unconcerned, he'll break out of this slump soon enough. At Brighton, March 2, 2019 Championship  The next run of matches appears to trade off between tough and easy opponents. Brighton is on the tougher end, sitting just outside the playoffs. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Counter. Starting 11: Higgs, Peters, Todd, Lewis, Garuti, Simpson (c), Holland, Djurovic, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Mejasic, Vaillant, Troelsen, Tedesco, Coulson, Pym. We're down at the half hour mark, a victim of a very pretty bit of passing to set up Brighton's goal ten minutes prior. Harrison strikes back on our behalf, getting on the end of a Mujkic cross for a header that hits first the crossbar and then the goal line before spinning into the net. Brighton push us around after that, while we bend but don't break. Todd and Lewis combine to prevent any clear cut chances, and we win a point away from home against a playoff rival.   Brighton 1-1 Wrexham  He's already complained, so this doesn't increase the number of bratty players. The chat goes as it always does, with him being an impatient teenager who eventually realizes he's being unprofessional.  Our loan players have been wasted at their present clubs, they might have gotten more playing time if they stayed here.  Oh, hello youth of Europe. Would you like to come to the bestest island on the continent? No, not Ibiza. The other one. No, not any of those Mediterranean ones. No! Not Amager! What? Who said the Faroe Islands? We've got a real joker here, huh?  Of course, I forgot that our international reputation is pretty weak right now, so all the excellent young Germans and Frenchmen don't have any interest in joining us. Nor, it turns out, does any young Croatians or Greeks.  Also, clubs have started asking for bigger sums when we come looking for their new talent. While the amounts aren't large, and we'd likely be able to sell for a big profit in a couple years, I'm hesitant about dropping fifty large on prospects who my scouts think are good but not great. Of course, two or three years ago I'd be salivating at the chance to get these guys for just £50,000. The difference in perspective is a sign of how far we've come. At Barnsley, March 9, 2019 Championship  This fixture against 21st placed Barnsley is just three days before a match with 2nd placed QPR. I think we've got a better chance of winning this match than we do against our upcoming opponents, even though we're away. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Lewis, Garuti, Simpson (c), Bailey, Djurovic, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Mejasic, Vaillant, Troelsen, Tedesco, Gorman, Pym. It's an ugly start when Claudio Siegrist puts the ball past Higgs for an own goal in the 11th minute, and our trouble doubles just three minutes later when we allow another goal, this time a pretty one where Barnsley's midfielder controls a whipped cross on his knee before volleying it out of the air and into the back of the net. Mujkic has the chance to pull one back when he's all alone on the end of a Coulson cross, but he first heads it off the post from inside the six yard box, and then when the rebound bounces directly back to him he misses the wide open net. We finally get on the board a few minutes later when Bailey makes a wonderful strike from outside of the area, a certain goal of the month candidate. We're down one at the half despite dominating the game, and it's not Barnsley that's beating us but ourselves. That keeps up in the second half, Barnsley pulls back their two goal advantage when Lewis spends more time waving his hands trying to get the assistant referee to notice that the man he's marking is offsides than making sure he doesn't have space to create a shot. Harrison is able to score from a Mujkic cross for the second straight game, though he could very well have been called offsides himself, but we can't muster a third. It's a loss where we allowed three goals on two chances, and where our best player missed two of the easiest opportunities you'll ever see.   Barnsley 3-2 Wrexham vs. Queens Park Rangers, March 12, 2019 Championship  Now we need a win from this match to keep pace with the leaders. Not the position I wanted to put us in. The good news is that a win here is a big pickup on one of the teams we're trailing. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Troelsen, Shirra, Bailey, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison (c). Subs: Love, Garuti, Vaillant, Holland, Tedesco, Coulson, Pym. Billy the Kid is here for your points. All of them. We outclassed QPR from the very start, but had nothing to show for it until Gorman placed a ball at the edge of the area, knowing that Harrison could beat his man to it. Harrison did not miss the opportunity. The Kid and Gorman hooked up again in the first half, with Gorman displaying excellent patience after he reached the byline to see Harrison streaking in unmarked between the two oblivious central defenders. Harrison couldn't miss. To cap this most puissant first half, Harrison converted a penalty that Mujkic earned, giving himself a first half hat trick. We weren't quite as dominant in the second half, how could we be, but still added two more goals from Coulson and Pym. QPR was able to avoid being shutout, but there was not a single moment during the game where they appeared to have any hope of winning. This was a brilliant and truly unexpected performance. I could not be more pleased with the team. Man of the Match: Billy the Kid.   Wrexham 5-1 QPR  We're now three points back of automatic promotion, but still only two points up on the seventh placed team. It's a tightly packed promotion race. With ten games remaining we have to play the 19th, 11th, 6th, 2nd, 14th, 22nd, 16th, 9th, and 8th placed teams. Six of those games will be away. This isn't going to be easy.  Hey, a couple of these kids don't look half bad.  I doubt Austrian teenagers will want to sign with us any more than their fellow continentals. My plans for bringing in a metric ton of continental talent may have been overambitious.  Or not. This stunning young Frenchman is willing to join us. He's only 14, and he looks like he's going to be a superstar by the time he turns 20. You can get an idea of what type of player they are by the adjective next to their position beneath their name. Most don't have anything other than their position, they're not tabbed as anything exciting. But some players who are exceptional get special modifiers. “Promising” means they have the potential to be world class. “Cultured” goes along with “Midfielder,” and it means they're brilliant creative minds, while “Towering” centerbacks are regarded as great aerial players. Since you only get up to five stars of rating, and you don't know whether the talent is merely capable of being a good Premier League player or a superstar, these adjectives can help you hone in on the very best talent.  You might be surprised at the relatively high wages I'm giving a 14 year old. It's because I wanted him to sign the maximum five year contract the game allows (through 2024) and then I wanted two additional option years on top of that. We can afford that type of contract now for superprospects, and it means if he develops like I expect he'll be brutally underpaid for two or three years. Further, unless the rules are different because he's French and not British, the contract won't kick in until he turns 17, meaning we have two plus years of him at 80/wk. Yes, screwing under-age minors by signing them to unfair contracts when they don't have their own agent to negotiate for them (or parents, apparently) is part of Football Manager. I love it.    I also find some Austrians on the cheap. Neither have anywhere near the potential of Rouissi, and they're most likely to turn into money after a few years of development at the Tom Cannon Memorial Heated Youth Barn.     Along with the Ludwigs, we find some talent from the Isles. All told we've added seven youth players so far, on top of a decent youth intake crop that had three players worth signing. Noble somehow never caught on with a club, so he arrives immediately and is assigned to the U18s. At Nottingham Forest, March 16, 2019 Championship  If we play like last game, we should win easily. If we play like we did against Barnsley, we could be in for disappointment. I wish I knew which to expect. My prognostications also don't know what to make of the fact that Nottingham gave us a whipping the last time we played, embarrassing us 5-1 at the Racecourse Grounds. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Simpson (c), Djurovic, Shirra, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Vaillant, Poole, Holland, Bailey, Coulson, Pym. Ryan Gorman is on fire. In the last match he earned two assists, this match he scored two goals. The first came to put us ahead just after a half hour, when he cut inside, skinning Nottingham's left back and leaving him for dead before lacing a shot home. The second came to slam the door in the 74th minute, when Nottingham's left back saw his day go from bad to worse when he failed to clear a Mujkic cross that gave Gorman a wide open opportunity to score. Add in a header from Lewis in the 61st minute, and we paid back Nottingham in full for humiliating us last fall. Man of the Match: Ryan Gorman   Nottingham 0-3 Wrexham  Gorman has come up huge for us in his second year with the team, especially given Mujkic's absence. He's got one of the highest average ratings on the team and seems to have fully settled into the club. His two goals today make him the third highest scorer on the team and his nine assists tie him for the team lead with Mujkic and Bailey.  That's quite an accomplishment for Simpson. He hasn't been great this year, just a 6.65 rating across 25 matches. If we get promoted I'm going to be morose when I have to either sell him or strip him of his captaincy. If we can't win promotion he'll stick around as he's good enough to play a role at this level, but he'll still lose his captaincy.  How was the Kid left off the team of the week? He didn't play great against Nottingham, but he had a hat trick against QPR. There must have been some really good performances by forwards.  While I'm hunting for young talent I notice that Carl Walley is almost out of contract. We can't have him leaving for nothing, so I give him a fairly cheap extension. I expect he'll be sold within the next year.  We have games on March 23rd and 26th, then a break until April 6th. I can't withdraw the players as it's the U-21 European Championship qualifiers. If you notice, we have six first team players who have been   If were granted these postponements I'm sending everyone on vacation for a week or two, because our April schedule will be just awful.   There we have it. Nine games in just under a month. It's going to be one hell of a ride. Wrexham Training Facilities 12pm, March 18, 2019 (COACH is addressing the first team at their daily meeting)  : As you all heard, our request to postpone the West Ham and Burnley games was accepted. That means from April 6 through May 4 we've got nine fixtures. It also means that we don't have a match for the next three weeks. So it's time for... SPRING BREAK!(silence)  : (tentatively) You're not sending us back to Eurodisney, are you?: No.(Twenty-three players relax in unison) : Use the two weeks for whatever you want. Go see family, friends, whatever. Just make sure you get some rest and spend time refreshing yourself for what's to come. I'll need you all sharp and ready for the final push. : Wait, what about those of us who are playing with our national teams?: Yeah, not much I can do about that. Your sacrifice is what allows the rest of us to have spring break. So, as a reward, everyone is to send instagrams of the most interesting thing you see while on vacation to those who are stuck representing their country. Give them at least a little bit of the view from beyond the patriotic straightjacket. : Uh, Coach, no one uses instragram anymore. Well, except for old people.: Oh, well, whatever. What do you use now? : Actually the cool thing now is to use this service where you actually write out the words on paper and then someone hand delivers it to the person your sending it to. It's really neat, especially since it takes a couple days to get to them and you can anticipate what they'll think when they get it.: (Starts speaking, then pauses, then starts again) You mean the mail? : You know about MailChat? Yeah, they have these boxes everywhere for you to drop off your messages! They may be getting a break, but I'm not. The work never ceases to build the ultimate arsenal of amazing young talent.  It's disappointing that we didn't take even more points given that we seriously outplayed Barnsley, but our knuckledustings of Nottingham Forest and especially QPR were a joy to behold. We're in the mix for an automatic promotion spot, which is something I didn't expect to be writing even two updates ago. We appear to be turning it on at the right time, and we've done well enough this year to put our fate in our own hands. Now we need to hang on through the upcoming storm. 
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Mar 18, 2014 13:45
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Just you wait and see, MailChat is going to be a thing, and it is going to spell the end of everything...
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Mar 18, 2014 14:16
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I lost it at Mailchat
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Mar 18, 2014 14:22
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Do the players always play better after two weeks off, or do some of them come back with the football center of their brain clogged up with malted hops and bongwater?
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Mar 18, 2014 14:27
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I thought scraping into the playoffs was optimistic. We're three points off automatic promotion. Bring on the storm.
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Mar 18, 2014 14:30
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Oh god we're going to go up to the Prem and get our poo poo pushed in for a season aren't we? 
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Mar 18, 2014 14:42
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Zeroisanumber posted:Do the players always play better after two weeks off, or do some of them come back with the football center of their brain clogged up with malted hops and bongwater? Depends. Your physio can tell you if they need a break. For the most part I just gave the team a week off training rather than an extended leave. But after about a week their match fitness begins to degrade. Zip! posted:Oh god we're going to go up to the Prem and get our poo poo pushed in for a season aren't we? That's going to happen regardless of whether we go up this year or next year. We might be able to hang just fine with the mid-table teams after another year in the Championship, but the big teams are just bonkers ahead of where we are.
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Mar 18, 2014 15:01
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My only worry with getting promoted this year, which is a concern in general but may be sped up if we're promoted, is if we go straight back down and some of the key players get restless and want to leave. It happens way too often, and I don't want to lose Meteor
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Mar 18, 2014 15:15
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People have described Premier money as being lightyears ahead of everything else, so if we can start getting some of that money in we'll start rapidly increasing in quality.
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Mar 18, 2014 15:23
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Yeah, I'm foreseeing a glorious promotion followed by an absolutely inglorious season of us getting the absolute poo poo kicked out of us and us desperately trying to hang on by our fingernails. And by our fingernails, I mean Meteor's.
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Mar 18, 2014 15:25
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Zeroisanumber posted:People have described Premier money as being lightyears ahead of everything else, so if we can start getting some of that money in we'll start rapidly increasing in quality. It really is crazy bonkers nuts compared to what we're currently making. But the real thing that allows the top teams to stay ahead of us is that they have by and large solidified places in Europe, which is even more mad cash, especially if you get into the knockout stages.
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Mar 18, 2014 15:33
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habeasdorkus posted:Yeah, I think Detroit is a highly underrated city. It's got serious, long term, nigh intractable problems, but it still is a great American city. I was there last summer for a little bit visiting friends who live in Ann Arbor, and went to a very nice, very chic barbecue place that was in the shadow of the old Michigan Central Station. If you've seen ruin porn of Detroit, you've almost certainly seen it. It's a gorgeous beaux-arts building fallen into utter disrepair. But springing up around it were a number of very good restaurants, an artisanal whisky distillery, and an urban art collective/gallery. It's at the edge of Corktown, which is the most obviously gentrifying area of Detroit. And while I certainly wouldn't stick around that neighborhood in the middle of the night I didn't feel any less safe than I did in any other major city I've been in. So you went to Slows'? I was there a couple weeks ago, had the brisket. Great stuff.
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Mar 18, 2014 16:06
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Chapter the Ninth: The Gauntlet, part 1. March 18, 2019-April 18, 2019 The first part of this update will be sedate. Mostly just looking for more young players that might be willing to come to our little corner of paradise if I offer them a sheep as a signing bonus. The second part will be the first four of our final nine games, and they will come one after another with very little time in between.  No rest for the wicked. Or our scouts. I don't know how much overlap there is between those two groups.  The players who aren't tired are allowed to head off to their international matches.  You think Mujkic will be available to play for you, Australia?  Suffer the same pain you caused me, wretches! Suffer it a thousandfold!  I may be going a touch overboard. Holland and Spain still have their academy graduates to bring in.    A trio of Italians will be joining us. The bastard son of New York City mayor Bill De Blasio might be the best of them. At this rate we're going to be able to have our own Model EU, having signed players from Italy, France, and Austria to go with players from the UK.   These are the last two nations of note to bring in youth players during the spring, so after them I'll be finished. Until next September rolls around and the Scandinavian countries bring in their recruits.  Gorman gets named to the team but doesn't get into the game to earn his first cap.  Maybe things would have gone better if you'd had Mujkic, eh, Australia?   Coulson's got a cabinet full of these now.  Ok, that's the last new player. I promise. That makes eleven youth signings, from seven different nations, to go along with the three youth players from our own academy that are worth giving youth deals to. The total price was just under half a million pounds in transfer fees, and they'll earn a smidgen less than £5,000 a week in wages. A good bit of business, one sale in the future will turn us a profit and we've now got an incredible youth team that should be spinning off galaxies of talent for a half-decade.  I don't know how they're determining profit, maybe certain categories of expense are excluded from the calculation, but we're not in the black right now. I'd wager if we make the playoffs we'll still finish in the red despite the payday of playoff match-day income. Our current deficit arises from my dropping half a million on youth players, so I'm not too concerned about it.   Good on yer, Billy. Now go score a whole bunch for us in the league.  Great timing, Gareth. This puts him out for at least three games, possibly as many as five. At Brentford, April 6, 2019 Championship  Brentford is similar to us. They're the 9th ranked defense while we're the 10th. They're the 2nd ranked offense, we're the 5th. Essentially, they're a better version of us, though they don't play the same bombs away, possession don't get ya points style that we do. They're in second place, and if we want to have any shot at automatic promotion we need to get at least a point. In their house. There will be goals. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Simpson (c), Bailey, Shirra, Gorman, Mujkic, Harrison. Subs: Love, Peters, Vaillant, Holland, Tedesco, Coulson, Pym. I realize in short order that attacking won't work, and after a quarter hour of being thrown back repeatedly I switch us to a counter attack. It doesn't help much, they keep us off balance and in precarious situations. We concede shortly before halftime when our attack leaves us out of position, and Brentford catches us on the break. The second half is, if anything, worse. I'm forced to pull the team all the way back in order to try and lure Brentford in, but our offense is doing nothing with the space created. We're only in the game because Higgs has made multiple spectacular saves, but with time running out the only thing I can do is try a last gasp offensive. In stoppage time we finally earn our third corner of the day. Mujkic's corner finds Scott Shirra, who plays hero with the dramatic goal, his first ever in competitive play. We walk away with a very, very lucky draw. Man of the Match: Danny Higgs   Brentford 1-1 Wrexham   He didn't get vacation time thanks to being called up by Scotland's U21 team. We're deep enough at central mid that I can send him on a break now, but I'm going to see if we can get by on just regular rest. At Wigan Athletic, April 9, 2019 Championship  I'd really appreciate it if the next few teams rolled over for us. Wigan isn't a bad club, but they're four points back of the promotion playoffs with six games left for them to play. They're not going to make it given how many teams are between them and sixth. So what's the difference between finishing 10th and 11th? Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Vaillant, Lewis, Poole, Garuti, Troelsen, Bailey, Djurovic, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison (c). Subs: Love, Peters, Holland, Simpson, Tedesco, Gorman, Pym. The Meteor comes crashing down on Wigan in the 8th minute on a lucky strike from a narrow angle and miles away from the goal. It's the only goal we score, as Wigan forces us to play defense for the latter half of the game. Still, Wigan can't get past our defense, and it's the third minute of extra time when they have a last gasp corner. We knock it out of play, and they get another corner. This one finds the head of a Wigan player, gets over the goal line, and we drop two points at the death. Now we know how Brentford feels.   Wigan 1-1 Wrexham  Our rear end Man is shaping up quite nicely. He's at 19/19 in Judge Ability and Judge Potential now. vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers, April 13, 2019 Championship  This is an absolute must win. Wolverhampton have been dreadful and could get relegated. We're at home. We've got two games in hand on Brentford, and one on QPR. Two wins in those games would put us in the drivers seat for automatic promotion. This has to be one of them. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Siegrist, Todd, Lewis, Mejasic, Simpson (c), Shirra, Tedesco, Gorman, Mujkic, Pym. Subs: Love, Peters, Poole, Troelsen, Bailey, Coulson, Harrison. This game was infuriating to watch. Pym is starting in place of Harrison, who needs a rest. The move doesn't pay off as I watch Pym miss three good chances in the first half alone, and it appears he's been cored of his confidence given how he plays to start the second. It forces me to pull him for Harrison, who was supposed to be resting this game. Harrison quickly sees a clear cut chance of his own, which he doesn't convert into a goal. Our defense holds Wolves mostly harmless, allowing only a couple real moments of worry, but this could easily have been a game where they scored on a fluke while we found every way to not score. The man of the match is the Wolves keeper, who deserved it after keeping our players from scoring when we had five clear cut chances. His heroic effort wasn't enough to keep us from winning, however. The only goal comes from a panicked clearance by a Wolves player that found net for us. I'll take it, but you'll excuse me if I give it some serious side-eye.   Wrexham 1-0 Wolves  I'm going to hope he heals quickly, the next game is only three days off and he wouldn't be starting that match anyways. vs. West Ham United, April 16, 2019 Championship  Hello, West Ham. I see you want my spot in the promotion playoffs. Come and take it, if you dare. I mean, not from me, we're too far up the table. But from the team in sixth. Oh, and check out that little thing about us having mathematically avoided relegation. A bit late to notice that we're not in a relegation fight, media. Starting Formation: 4-5-1 Attack Starting 11: Higgs, Peters, Vaillant, Poole, Garuti, Troelsen, Bailey, Djurovic, Coulson, Mujkic, Harrison (c). Subs: Love, Siegrist, Lewis, Holland, Tedesco, Gorman, Pym. Harrison goes down in a crumpled heap in the third minute, hammered by an opposing centerback. The tackle should have drawn a straight red, instead the ref keeps the cards pocketed. Pym comes on, just three short days after his nightmare game against Wolves, and shows why good strikers have a short memory, scoring in the the 10th minute. West Ham ties it after halftime, though, and for the third time in four games the outcome is determined in stoppage time. We get nothing from the match when our players lose focus and don't see the game out to it's final second. It's a bitter loss, and one that deeply hurts our chances to avoid the playoff. The larger concern is Harrison's injury, however. I can only hope it's not serious.   Wrexham 1-2 West Ham  It turns out I shouldn't have been worried about Harrison. He's as right as rain. Bailey, on the other hand, is getting a course of painkillers for that groin strain. If we left him to the trainers he'd miss the rest of the season.  Our fate is out of our hands, at least when it comes to automatic promotion. We can't catch either Brentford or QPR anymore, but if we were to win out we could still take second if either of them dropped points. More likely we're going to be in the promotion playoffs, a huge achievement for this club. We're guaranteed Wrexham's best ever finish in league play, the highest the club has ever gotten before is a 15th place finish back in 1979. Next up are two games at home, against Chesterfield and Sheffield United, and then three more on the road at Birmingham, Burnley, and Sunderland. Sunderland are our only opponents in the playoff hunt, but we've shown we can lose to anyone this season. Taking anything for granted would be unwise. 
habeasdorkus fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Mar 18, 2014 |
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Mar 18, 2014 16:35
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cbx posted:So you went to Slows'? I was there a couple weeks ago, had the brisket. Great stuff. Yeah, I was impressed. It was just as good as the stuff I've had in North Carolina and Oklahoma. The next update will be in a few hours, I can't wait to see what happens 
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Mar 18, 2014 17:29
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Talk about an overperforming season, I'm actually quite impressed!
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Mar 18, 2014 17:40
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Nottingham has one ugly logo.
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Mar 18, 2014 17:46
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steinrokkan posted:Nottingham has one ugly logo. What, do you want a guy dressed in green tights with a bow or something?
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Mar 18, 2014 17:59
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A Tartan Tory posted:What, do you want a guy dressed in green tights with a bow or something? Yes.
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Mar 18, 2014 18:08
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habeasdorkus posted:Yeah, I think Detroit is a highly underrated city. It's got serious, long term, nigh intractable problems, but it still is a great American city. I was there last summer for a little bit visiting friends who live in Ann Arbor, and went to a very nice, very chic barbecue place that was in the shadow of the old Michigan Central Station. If you've seen ruin porn of Detroit, you've almost certainly seen it. It's a gorgeous beaux-arts building fallen into utter disrepair. But springing up around it were a number of very good restaurants, an artisanal whisky distillery, and an urban art collective/gallery. It's at the edge of Corktown, which is the most obviously gentrifying area of Detroit. And while I certainly wouldn't stick around that neighborhood in the middle of the night I didn't feel any less safe than I did in any other major city I've been in. Yeah, the Central Station is one of my favorite buildings, and even though it's completely gutted on the inside, it still looks absolutely beautiful from the outside. And a lot of people give Detroit poo poo based off what they've heard about its problems, but that's all really in the suburbs. Downtown Detroit is gorgeous, especially if you're down near Comerica and Ford Field, or Hart Plaza. People always go on about the RenCen, too, but if you ever want to look at good architecture downtown, check out the Penobscot, Book, Fisher, and Guardian buildings, especially the Guardian and Fisher building lobbies:   But yeah, Detroit certainly has its fair share of problems, but at least its a beautiful city. Regardless, good job on almost getting automatic promotion. I'm not sure if you'll really want to get it though, like others have said, since you'll probably end up getting smashed by the Premier teams. Then again, you thought that with the Championship League, so who knows?
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Mar 18, 2014 19:27
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I always believed in the dragoons.
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Mar 18, 2014 19:37
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Any chance we can get a look at Rouissi's stats? 
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Mar 18, 2014 19:59
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