[FM24] [EN] LLM - The Oldest Club in the World - A Carlos Dolbeth Adventure

[cadete]

Damn you playoffs. Ai ai o Sporting.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de Banks29, Em 13/04/2025 at 21:57:

Não contava nada com a queda logo assim no play-off. Bem, para o ano há mais,

Acontece...

Citação de cadete, Em 14/04/2025 at 10:47:

Damn you playoffs. Ai ai o Sporting.

Podes crer!

[Burkina2008]

July 31st, 2025 - Old acquaintances coming back!

 

After 3 seasons where Sheffield managed to maintain a decent continuity of players from one year to another, 2026-2027 with many players retiring and many others leaving the club, would be a real challenge for Dolbeth, who at this time was getting more and more engaged with life in South Yorkshire, to the point that for the first time, his grandsons came to spend the summer and watch the world cup in Sheffield. And contrary to last Euro, this time the Portuguese National team had the last laugh by eliminating (once more), England in the round of 16 by 2-0. It was nevertheless a short-lived happiness as Portugal faced and lost (also once more) by penalties against the French in the quarter-finals. France went all the way to beat Ivory Coast in the final in the first time an African team managed to reach such late stage in the competition, with Nigeria losing the third place to Italy on penalties. In the end it was neither glorious for the Portuguese or the English, so the jokes at the club were kept to the minimum…

International competitions aside, Sheffield F.C. began their pre-season with only 13 senior players and there was a bit of panic showing in some of the supporters that came to see some new faces on the first day. Slowly the squad grew with loans out of Birmingham, including the return of Mazwi for the left midfield position, where he performed so well last season, as well as some new faces with experience at higher levels of the pyramid. Timi Davies a stricker from Blackburn (with origins in the Arsenal academy) was from the start seen as a very good attacking option, while Cody Johnson arriving from Stockport on loan quickly established himself as the midfield distributer that the squad missed last season. Still the best was yet to arrive. Only 3 days away from the first official game of the season, Ciaran McGuckin was announced. Having scored 18 goals in 42 games in the previous season, the player had been released by Rotherham United, and the club made a big financial effort to bring him onboard to the delight of the supporters.

While there had been a lot of business in incoming players, on the outgoing there was barely any movement, with little to no interest from the other team, something that Carlos was happy about. The friendly matches were also a mixed bag, never with a complete starting 11, the boys managed to win the games where they were superior and did not make a bad impression on the other matches with a very decent performance against Bristol Rovers. With the league about to start, the president while speaking with the local reporters made it clear that “…the least that I expect is a playoff run…”. The bookies also share the same sentiment with Sheffield F.C. tipped as one of the favorites for promotion, but Carlos Dolbeth wanted to remain cautious and reminded everyone “that there are professional teams in this division, so I don’t want to have any extra pressure on the boys! Lets take it one game at the time”. Well…good luck boys!

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

A azia já me tinha passado depois de perdermos outra vez com os franciús. Eder volta que estas perdoado, não jogas boi, mas contra Franca fazes falta. Mas depois começou a mexer o mercado em Alvalade e alem de ainda não terem mandado aquele Amorim as favas foram vender o Trincão e comprar dois gajos na Alemanha que ninguém conhece? Mais uma vez deve ser para ficar em terceiro!

 

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

[jacoslacon]

A não subida não mancha em nada a excelente época. Embora com a idade que o Carlos já tem convém não falhar muitas subidas. 😁

[cadete]

É desta que subimos? Equipas africanas bem fortes no Mundial.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de jacoslacon, Em 17/04/2025 at 10:09:

A não subida não mancha em nada a excelente época. Embora com a idade que o Carlos já tem convém não falhar muitas subidas. 😁

Ele aguenta ate aos 120 pelo menos

Citação de cadete, Em 17/04/2025 at 11:09:

É desta que subimos? Equipas africanas bem fortes no Mundial.

Nestas divisoes acaba sempre por ser complicado

[Burkina2008]

September 4th, 2026 - Zero losses

 

Slowly slowly Sheffield F.C. was more and more on the favorite list from the bookies together with AFC Telford, Chester, South Shields and Boston United. That said, as everyone knows, in the Vanarama divisions anyone can beat anybody on any given day, so the first games in a visit to Blyth, Dolbeth really wanted to grab a win against the Spartans. It was a relatively bad display in the first half, with a big improvement in the second 45 minutes…and when the win seemed secure, in the last minute of extra time, the home team managed to get the draw. It was not the result Carlos wanted specially because similar to the past season, Jow Snowdon got injured this time for 8-9 months, but 3 days later there was the first home game with the expectation of a win…which despite a good display ended in another draw. Finally on the third game, again in the Home of Football and despite being closed to suffering another draw, the boys pulled up in the last minutes to defeat Spennymoor Town.

5 points in 3 games was not a bad start but was also further from where a title contender wants to be. Worst was that now also Sheffield’s starting goalkeeper got injured with the boys really needing to grab points in Oxford. It was time for McGuckin to finally start showing why the club made such a financial investment on him and for the first time this year, Sheffield F.C. did look like a team and trashed City 4-1. Climbing up the table only 4 days after, Gloucester City a team that had beaten the club last season in the promotion playoffs, was visiting the Home of Football in what was announced in the local paper as the “revenge game”. For the first time in years there was a crowd that seemed to want to beat up the visitors’ bus on their arrival. It’s uncertain whether it was the crowd and the ambience created by the fans or another proper display by Dolbeth’s boys, but the game ended in a more than fair, 2-0 win and Sheffield was back in a playoff spot for the first time this year.

 

Things were improving but still with 3 important players injured and with the amount of games piling up, a deal was struck to bring Norwich central midfielder and Scottish U-19 international Gabe Forsyth on loan and we did not have to wait long to see his capabilities as a couple of days later at the Flamingo Land Stadium, Sheffield gathered further 3 points on Scarborough Athletic. While some on the injured players started to become fit for 45 minutes, defensively the team was similar to last season, having serious troubles, which were visible in the home draw against Merthyr Town and even more evident in the visit to the league leaders and promotion contenders of South Shields in a 4-4 thriller that should have resulted in a win, given that the boys were up 2-4, 10 minutes to the end of the game. Obviously and as expected, the table is tight at the top (all over), but Sheffield with no losses yet, sits in a good 5^th place, 4 points from the top…still something was bothering some of the players as higher league teams were trying to pouch the stars of the team.

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

Epá parece ser milagre, um início só com vitorias no campeonato e conseguimos voltar a Champions. Deve estar para nascer algo esquisito. Bem vamos ficar contentes, demos tareis nos austríacos e conseguimos virar a eliminatória com os franceses…bom não vamos embandeirar em arco. E que diabo se passa na seleção, sim não estivemos ao melhor nível mas contratar esse alemão para selecionador? Não há treinadores em Portugal?

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

[cadete]

Entras sem perder e mesmo assim estás em 5º...raios partam os empates. 

O Sporting até começou bem a época.

[Banks29]

Ainda não houve derrotas, o que é importante.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de cadete, Em 19/04/2025 at 09:43:

Entras sem perder e mesmo assim estás em 5º...raios partam os empates. 

O Sporting até começou bem a época.

Demasiados empates....

Citação de Banks29, há 20 horas:

Ainda não houve derrotas, o que é importante.

Importante era estar em primeiro!

[Burkina2008]

November 6th, 2026 - Early Cup Exit...

 

More than 3 years had passed since Carlos had arrived in England but despite that there seemed to be always the feeling that the stay in Sheffield was at best medium-term, if not temporary, so the manager never got settled properly, living out of a hotel and flying whenever possible back to Lisbon. But somehow in October 2026 Dolbeth was looking for an apartment in the center of Sheffield, a news that was worth cheering for at the clubhouse which now had evolved into a trendier coffee bar but still keeping its old charm. Despite hopes that Carlos would get an apartment right next to the club grounds were a bit of a stretch as being from a big city the move was to a new apartment complex in North Sheffield by the river and within relative walking distance from the town center. It was a clear statement in the end when asked about the move “I am here to stay”.

On the field things did not look so good in early September. Fan favorite and long-time squad stricker, Mintus expressed his unhappiness at not playing frequently and despite Dolbeth caving in on the request and Mintus scoring, Sheffield F.C. lost its first league game of the season against Coalville Town. Worst even was a bit of a miscalculation on the capabilities of FA Cup first opponent, Mickleover which ended in a fielding of an uneven team and a well-deserved defeat in one of the worst games ever under the management of our Portuguese coach. There was an improvement in the remainder of the month and the 3 straight wins brought the team back up into the playoff spots, with a particularly good exhibition and performance of McGuckin, who was now making sure there were no doubts about the price being paid to him.

There was an unusually long break during October and only 19 days after the last game against Chester was Sheffield back on the road to grab an unfair draw in a game that should have resulted in an easy win against Morpeth Town. The following match at home was a battle for promotion, with AFC Telford sitting in 2^nd place but with a much tired squad due to a midweek game, our boys dominated and grabbed a 2-0 lead at half…which was insufficient mostly due to the lack of luck in the second half and despite the quality of the opponent the game was clearly seen as a loss of 2 points. Away against Boston United the game was similar as well as the result finishing October with 3 draws for the same result (2-2). Already in November another game where the boys did enough to win but which ended up again in a draw to get to only 1 loss in 16 games but a lot of draws that are keeping Sheffield from a real contender to the automatic promotion

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

Isto parece quase mentira…o Sporting parece que se dedicou apenas a fazer bons resultados na Europa e foi dormindo no campeonato. Depois de ter começado bem, agora vai empatar com o Guimaraes e o Benfica…pior perder com o Moreirense para mais uma vez estar num quarto lugar (se bem que a apenas 3 pontos do topo e com menos um jogo). Valha-nos a Europa onde conseguimos vencer o Red Bull e empatar com Inter de Milao e Arsenal, bom se ganharmos na Europa que se f*da o campeonato!

 

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

[LUIZ CESAR]

Rapaz, o Leão pegou a febre dos empates(empatite). Qual a tática que esta usando?

[cadete]

Viver num hotel esse tempo todo? Boa vida. Já devias ter pedido nem que fosse um apartamento ao clube. E pronto, continua a luta pelos playoffs.

[jacoslacon]

Ainda falta muito campeonato, mas esses empates todos colocaram-te mais longe da luta pela subida direta. Agora resta ser consistente e ver se consegues galgar mais uma ou outra posição.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de LUIZ CESAR, Em 22/04/2025 at 05:07:

Rapaz, o Leão pegou a febre dos empates(empatite). Qual a tática que esta usando?

Estamos num 4-4-2 muito ingles

Citação de cadete, Em 22/04/2025 at 05:13:

Viver num hotel esse tempo todo? Boa vida. Já devias ter pedido nem que fosse um apartamento ao clube. E pronto, continua a luta pelos playoffs.

Depende do hotel...pode ser um beco qualquer de meia estrela

Citação de jacoslacon, Em 22/04/2025 at 08:46:

Ainda falta muito campeonato, mas esses empates todos colocaram-te mais longe da luta pela subida direta. Agora resta ser consistente e ver se consegues galgar mais uma ou outra posição.

Vamos ver mas deteste playoffs

[Burkina2008]

December 18th, 2026 - No youth prospects

 

The growth of the status of Sheffield has brought many positive things (and no, not really talking about the coffee bar), but also brought players with a different mindset. As in the truly amateur leagues, most players were happy to just get minutes here and there, now close to profitability some of the players were keen on moving to bigger clubs or leaving due to having very sparse playing time, most of the time deservedly so. While Mintus was happier after starting a few games and coming in from the bench in as many other games, Charlie O’Connell made the club promise that a 350k fee would be accepted for his departure (in what would beat the highest transfer fee received in 7 fold), Reece Devine, clear second choice for the left back position, asked to be transfer listed, the same as Keey Dyke, who is still only 18 years old but thinks too highly of himself and even the third choice goalkeeper wanted to be loaned out. So not all was swell in the team atmosphere…

…although you would not notice it given the 3-0 win over Chorley, to stop a 4-game drawing streak and continue a now 8 game winning streak. Scoring was never an issued with our Sheffield F.C. boys but defense was always the weaker part of the team and this was clearly the case during the month of November with tight goal galore wins for the league and during the first FA Trophy (still with a weaker fielded side) and a second loss of the season in a game where Dolbeth’s boys were on top for 80 minutes and slipped in the end to let two easy goals in a lose three points, which might prove important to the team at the end of the season. The runs cannot last forever and 9 straight games without defeat were already a good series, which the team was aiming to rerun following a return to convincing wins against Bradford Park Avenue in a revenge over last season’s result.

December started with an exhibition that was as bad as it was unexpected. All other defeats until now had been even if not unlucky breaks, but this time against overachievers King’s Lynn Town at home, the whole thing was a debacle with midfielder Forsyth getting a straight red and Sheffield being completely overrun by a team that was inferior on paper. That was maybe the reason why in the second FA Vase game of the season, Dolbeth decided to go all out with the best 11 possible and win with a slender 1-0 result that got the job done. The first round ended with 2 expected wins and 6th place that was far from the top of the table where South Shield had been absolutely dominating, but only 4 points away from the second place, meaning that the playoff objective remained strong. That said there was some bad news…the youth team was once again below par and needing to refresh some parts of the squad and already planning for next season, there was no player that can grow into the first team, leaving Dolbeth again criticizing the lack of investment in the youth ranks…

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

Isto há coisas que a razão não consegue explicar, na Champions, mais duas vitorias com o Chelsea e o Napoles…ou seja nada de adversários fracos, no campeonato, empate com o Rio Ave e derrota com o Portimonense em casa…ou seja estamos mais uma vez a fazer melhor exibição na Europa do que em Portugal. Sera que devíamos ir jogar para o campeonato espanhol crl?

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

[cadete]

South Shields está fugindo no topo, mas estás no teu caminho, certinho e direitinho.

[LUIZ CESAR]

Em relação ao Sheffield...Vem fazendo uma boa campanha, tanto que está a 4 pontos do segundo colocado. Tem time para melhorar de posição. Uma pena que a diretoria não perceba a importância de se investir nas categorias de base. Boa sorte na sequência.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de cadete, Em 25/04/2025 at 14:19:

South Shields está fugindo no topo, mas estás no teu caminho, certinho e direitinho.

Sim vamos tentando...

Citação de LUIZ CESAR, há 19 horas:

Em relação ao Sheffield...Vem fazendo uma boa campanha, tanto que está a 4 pontos do segundo colocado. Tem time para melhorar de posição. Uma pena que a diretoria não perceba a importância de se investir nas categorias de base. Boa sorte na sequência.

Pois isto sem ovos nao se fazem omoletes

[Burkina2008]

January 29th, 2027 - From great to worst

 

The second round of the league was proceeded by new faces in the team. With the known fact that Dolbeth was not counting on anyone from the youth squad due to the lack of capabilities, it was down to observed players by the scouting staff that have been without club since last summer. Mostly in the defensive end was where the quality needed to be improved and Bent Garratt, ex-Swindon, was brought for the goalkeeper position while Brad Hill from Norwich Youth Academy arrived as a central defender. Also due to the number of injuries in the midfield, Adian Manning ex-Wycombe Wanderers was acquired. All 3 players started in already on the next game at Alfreton Town, but little improvement on the typical dominance but poor defensive effort was seen in this game which resulted in one of the most common result for Sheffield F.C., the 2-2 draw.

That said, the next 3 games ended up with clear improvements in defense, only suffering 2 goals in 270 minutes of play and with good performances, especially in a 3-0 win at home against Blyth Spartans which saw the boys climbing up to the second place in the table in the dawn of the new year of 2027. It was not all good news as more and more players now felt that they were not given fair chances and some offers started coming in resulting in the sale of Harrison Holgate in early January for 35,000 Euros…it was not a starting 11 player anymore, but his performances coming from the bench had been good on and off, resulting is a weaker bench in the midfield for the rest of the season. The first game of the new year was the 4^th FA Vase Round, against Eastleigh at home, where once again Dolbeth, made things harder than they should have been…

With a mix of starting players and rotated ones, the team did well but broke in the second half and had to go into penalties to secure a place in the next round at Woking. In the league the wins continued, with another goal feast in the Home of Football against mid table Oxford City, but the real challenges started in the visit to Merthyr Town who sat in the 6^th place of the table, but did little more than defending deep against our boys, who also failed to net a single goal and ended a series of 4 straight league wins. One week later there was the visit from the league leaders in what was expected to be a definition of a possibility to still gun for the first spot…but before that another visitor, relegation struggling Scarborough Athletic and this should have been an easy win for the boys which turned out to be a horrible nightmare when the visitors came from behind to win at the last breath of the game. Sheffield’s hopes for an automatic promotion seem no more than a dream at this point…

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

Desta feita nem foi o Natal…foi antes. Como pode ser possível que depois de vencer o Chelsea, se consiga perder com o Portimonense, Estoril e Gil Vicente, sendo que dois destes jogos foram em casa. Da taca da liga ninguém quer saber, mas…uma equipa completamente bipolar, porque logo de seguida vence o Boavista duas vezes, o Porto, o Braga e o PSV. Na Champions ficamos em nono…a uns golos de diferença do playoff directo…no campeonato em quarto lugar mas apenas a 3 pontos do Porto que lidera! Tomem mase a medicação!

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

 

[cadete]

Que bela fase. Playoffs estão muito perto mesmo.

[Burkina2008]

Citação de cadete, Em 27/04/2025 at 08:31:

Que bela fase. Playoffs estão muito perto mesmo.

Sim ja temo!

[Burkina2008]

March 12th, 2027 - So many draws...

 

The end of a slim hope of getting into the first spot of the league could be decided in the next game. South Shield was first and deservedly so, and the team was almost unbeatable. It was probably one of the most tactical games seen by our Sheffield team in a long time. A penalty at the end of the first half made the boys get the lead and then it was a parking the bus second half which resulted in a deadly counterattack already in extra time which put the game 2-0 and beyond recovery by the visitors. It was all cheers and joy after the referee whistle, but Dolbeth was quite cold stating that “Its not impossible, but we are still 12 points away from the top and the objective is exactly what it was at the beginning…a playoff spot. But now we need to concentrate in the next game for the FA Vase or whatever is the name of that competition”. And already deep into February, that was the next challenge.

Having arride at this stage, it was not anymore, the case of fielding a weaker team, also because there was a 7-day interval since the last game, so with a normal starting 11 went to Woking, to face a team in the mid-table of the Vanarama National. The game was more even than expected, but the home advantage and the finishing decided things on the side of the Working and Sheffield is out of the cup. Still the best performance yet in this competition by the boys! Coalville Town and Banbury United were the two next league games which were dealt with in good fashion despite only with a late goal in the away game long into extra time…but the ones in the front of the table were not losing point either so, the three remaining games of February, all against teams in the top 5 were crucial at this stage. On the 20^th of February, Dolbeth’s boys were once again unlucky at the Neben Stadium in Radcliffe, given that despite the clear superiority on the field, two disallowed goals and some peculiar decisions, the game ended up in an unfair draw.

More important even was the home reception the 5^th placed Chester only 3 days later where again and this had been a trend all season, despite the good performance and hitting the bar twice, Sheffield gathered another draw… AFC Telford United was the last game of this three hard matches and that was a really good football game for anyone that enjoys goals, at a certain point Sheffield was down 4-1, only to make it 4-4 at the end of the game and missing a penalty in extra-time that would have given Dolbeth the second spot on the table. The lack of luck was clearly visible in the x table, where the teams in front of us had +17 and +8 more points than statistically warned…but also in the squad with the left defender Logan Pye and one of the lead strickers, Trey Ogunsuyi getting injured for a couple of months. Prior to the end of February, Billan also left the club, the left midfielder had been an important player for the squad in the past but hardly registered minutes this season. March started with two wins but with 8 games to go, only a miracle would see Sheffield fighting for automatic promotion at this point.

 

 

Cronica Leonina!

Vergonha da prestação europeia? Nenhuma, fomos aos oitavos, perdemos com o Liverpool, quando se tem os Beatles e dinheiro fica mais fácil, mas no campeonato…os empates com os morcões e com os lampiões assim como resto dos jogos no inicio de Fevereiro, pouco a dizer, mas depois perder com o Académico de Viseu e empatar com o Guimarães…epá quinto lugar e já a 8 do topo…mais uma época e m*rda e nada muda no Sporting?

 

Obrigado a quem segue e sobretudo a quem comenta! 

 

Editado 29 Abril 2025 por Burkina2008

[cadete]

Com os empates lembra-me uma equipa qualquer que conheço, hehehe. É ir cumprindo calendário até aos playoffs.

[Banks29]

Os play-offs estão garantido, esperemos que consiga ser desta a subida de divisão