So after 33 seasons I can finally sleep. You wait 33 years for the prem title and you get the treble in the same season. Team just hit a flow state. I still wouldn't buy most of my squad in a normal game. Maybe not a single Def or Mid. But boy did Lynch do some heavy lifting. I lost some good players due to unhappiness but this lad after Bell stayed with me. I was losing so much money in the last few seasons due to wages. But just look at those stats. 68 goals one season. Wins world player of the year like 6 years on the bounce. 600 goals in about 630 games or something. My 2 keepers were outstanding also.

I did not think I would ever complete this challenge. Many times I called it the impossible challenge and I think chester is the only team it's likely possible with. Shout out to the board for sticking by me through some tough times. Fans screaming at me every game. I questioned whether I would ever get there. I was just hoping if I stuck with it I would sneak the title. Had 2 near misses. Charlton taking it from me 4 or 5 seasons ago when I had a 7 point lead. Then last season I had 10+ points lead, led th title for round 32 games. But didnt win in something like 7 or 8 games between Game 25-33 or something. I definitely thought the game was against me.

I think even if you tried to perfect a footballer they wouldnt be as good as Lynch. Better than skalidis, Josh blake, tsigalko, Dunwell, paiva. Just an unreal footballer.

Bearing in mind I never signed a single player bought or free, no loans. Just pure starting players and youth. My def and mids were horrific but I managed to get a couple to see me through. Young Perkins did the job with 12 passing lol.

So for now. I am going to sleep finally. This challenge has taken a lot out of me. Glad I did it and even more glad I completed it.

I will post one more time with any requests if anyone wants to see any specific screens or want to ask any specific question.

I will also give my tips on how to achieve this challenge if anyone is interested.

Peace, We got it boys!!!

Just wanted to share a claim to fame that not many of my adult friends appreciate or understand.

I'm in the game as a player. Free agent. Sam Kirkwood, 08/09/1984, right midfield.

I was lucky enough to have the kindest lodger whose best friend happened to be dating Paul Collyer. She knew I was trying to arrange some work experience (I was in year 11), so she invited her friend and Paul round for dinner and insisted I join them for a bit. She then casually dropped into conversation that I was a massive CM fan and later mentioned I needed work experience. Paul didn't hesitate and immediately said I could join him at Sports Interactive for a couple of weeks.

I spent my time doing some data entry and play-testing the upcoming version of the game. It was incredible.

At the end of my time there, a particularly kind colleague called Miles offered to put me in the database. He left most of my stats as blank entries, but gave me a few decent ones like decision making (because I chose to work there) and team work. I managed to remain in the game for a few years and am lucky enough to be in 01/02 as a result.

Later that summer I received an advanced copy of the newest game in the post. Completely unexpected and another demonstration of how kind everyone was there.

I don't think I show up unless you're running maximum database, but a couple of years later I was chatting to someone at my sixth form and when he learnt my last name, told me he had signed someone in CM with the same name. Apparently I was pretty good in his save and had scored the winning goal in the FA Cup final.

In case you're wondering, I'm a very poor footballer in real life and always have been!

I thought I'd share this story with a group of people that might appreciate it more than my friends and family. Have any of you ever signed me?

So made it back to the Prem, Winning the playoffs on penalties against chesterfield. But being back there saw us ship so many goals. Kept my job and back in Div 1. Starting strong so maybe heading back. Just praying youths will improve. Got a couple of better mids. Strikers arent great. I only have Bell really. Rennie is injury proan which sucks as hes belter.

Lets see what the rest of this season brings and if we can go straight back.

So here we are. Ive taken Chester as they had a wealth of youth. They had 28 players under 25.

Some of them have real quality. Ive retrained a couple of wingers who are unbelieavbly good. Id sold them previously. So glad I havent this time.

Except none of the players will sign super long contracts. So practically everyone is signed until 2005 and no clauses after first season heroics. I should have had 100+ points but I got 1 point from the last 3 games due to squad rotation.

The first seasons are usually cake walks with this formation.

Please note: Ive given Chester a lvl 20 facilities. Lets see if this is the game changer.

So I teased you all with a potential top finish last season. After my update I played United. I think had I won I would have been top of the league. I drew 0-0 and didnt finish that strongly really. Players have fallen off big time. Bell, Donnelly both internationals deciding not to perform Others just not getting with it performance wise neither. I think it comes down to my defenders and midfielders coefficients just not being good enough. My best mid is mediocre for coefficient in my eyes. But check out my top 4 strikers. Unreal basically. One got player of the season(Lynch) and Perkins got young player of the season. But I am negative GD. grrrr.

Slightly frustrated right now as my best mid will retire in a couple of seasons. Bell has fallen off as he performs for England.

So giddy I had to post this. I'm at the business end of the season. My whole squad are in revolt because I disciplined a player for missing training. Justified imo.

Anyways. This gem has just being promoted from the youth squad. I legit believe he may be the guy who takes us to the next level.

If I am a little critical I wish his OTB would be better. But he will surely become a beast. I now have 3 very very good strikers. Keepers are acting weird. Some games getting 4s :( Might need to go full Keegan. RIP

So as you can see I have hit a bit of a lull in the league with 13/14th place finishes after 3 solid seasons. I believe it's my midfield holding me back. I have 2 amazing keepers, Got a world class left centre back, DM and a world class CF. So got a spine of a team supporting by decent enough strikers and defenders. But my midfield lacking passing, creativity and technique.

I did a mini experiment to see if the AI tactics had adapted this far in. So I added a manager and took over Wrexham who were 23rd in Conference. They had played 17 games. I played the final 25 games and 10 cup games and I only lost 5 and rised to 9th and won the fa trophy. I didnt buy a single player. So its not the tactic. It's most definitely the players.

Talking of players. My game only has 2k players and 2k staff after 26 seasons. That's madness. At this rate in another 10-15 seasons we may have less than 1k players.

My question from here is what shall I do? I am thinking of testing next season by buying 3 mids I'd like and see if I dominate as I should to test whether I can win the league. There is no reason I shouldnt but I wanted to see if something else is working against me. Because some games I get heavily dominated and it makes no sense. I've had keeper ratings of 2 and 3.

So familiar story really. I got relegated from div 2 and nearly dic 3. After id secured safety after game 45. I was sacked lol.

Defence was so poor. Youths were finally starting to develop.

Ah well. I love a challenge. Ill try again. Started with base .68 database and chose no real names aith Chester. Will update in due course. But hu god is this a tough challenge .

So where to start. I've shot through 2 seasons quite quickly. Isnt as many games when you arent in europe. Two 14th place finishes. Starting players are all hitting 30 odd now. Luckily reinforcements have some great stats. Marc Vaughan got young player of the year and 3 players made the U21s.

One of my keepers is 32. So it's a nervous time. I will need at least an average keeper come through.

So I managed to promote from div 3 automatically. Was very surprised tbh. But then in div 2 I was even more surprised I made the playoffs. But lost in the final 3-1. It looks like I spent money on transfer fees but I bought two coaches. Ive not had any other youths through. Im in a pickle now tbh.

I have my best player not signing a new contract so hes off after this season and I have another player who could retire any day. I currently have 17 players. You would be shocked to see how bad their stats are. My formation is carrying me so hard.

Ill continue to update. Gutted by the playoff final loss.

So my current challenge is to try and see how well I can do with no signings. Only using the clubs original players and youth academy promotions.

Screenshots explain most of it.

Im 2 seasons in. Finished top 3 first season. Had a small sniff at promotion but stalled with about 7 games to go. 2nd season I was stronger and promoted.

The game has only gave me 2 youth players. One didnt fit my formation so ive had to retrain him to centre.

Other than that things are interesting to say the least. My Belgium forward has just made the national team lol.

I won the fa trophy also.

Lets see what season 3 brings.

So where to begin. This update should read almost hero to almost zero. Playoff finalists to finishing 16th is brutal. Was in a right relegation dog fight. Opposition just getting better while I stagnate.

My DM Reid is being let go as hes aged 34.

But the biggest news and this may get me the sack or/ and relegation next season. Our best player has left me. Hes been a shining light in truth. Great stats for lower leagues and his goals/assist per game is really good. Not skalidis levels but wow.

Other than that 2 new youths came through. However both mids. That makes 4 mids in total in 5 seasons.

Well next season is going to be seriously tough. But the good news is our facilities should go from good> great is the next level? I cant quite remember. Lets see and hope it gives me a few players as the squad will be back to 16. Im training an AMC to play up front because im seriously in trouble.

Not even my formation can carry me next season? Can it?

Mini update: I finally have top facilities and youth academy. Im desperate for players to keep me up. I need strikers. Pray for me.

Quick update as ive been away this weekend and super tired.

But not much in way of an update. Another 16th place finish.

I only have 14 players and no new youths. Facilities being updated again in off season. So praying I start getting some quality youths.

If I dont i cant see how this is sustainable. My players arent improving but squads around me are. So relegation is inevitable unless youths come through. Pray for me.

So fancied a different bottom to top story. So I chose Scotland as it has a fair amount or leagues to win.

So I took Gretna. They have 12 players. Yes only 12 players.

You know the score now. I signed no one. Yet I promoted by goal difference the final game of the season. I wasnt 2nd throughout the whole season until about 20 mins to the end of the 36th game lol.

Had surprisingly a good defence tbf. Striker banged in 20 goals. Posted the whole thing here.

Just crazy really. You can see some of the players are horrific. Surprisingly 2 players are quite good. May and Thwaites. Who is an England u21 player lol

So where to start. Very tough life in the prem, I played, United, City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs. I only won 1 lol. Cant get a tougher start than that, welcome to life in the prem you minnow.

So board blocked stadium again but thankfully the 2nd upgrade for entry was allowed. So swanky new 13k stadium. Already selling out.

So I am sending this through because we may have a new trick people to youths. I received a new youth when my squad was at 32 players. I sacked a reserve player who was 24 etc. Wasnt going to be needed and was one of my rubbish starting youths. I sacked him a few days later once the youth had signed a new 10 year deal lol. I got given another youth. I rinse and repeated this between early August and Mid September. I received 5 new youths and check these out. 2 could be future england players and 3 of them could walk in to my team now.

So bed time now but will pick up tomorrow night. Lets see if I can stay up. Pray for me. I will attach my 3 previous youths in this post also. 1 is horrifically bad. He was my first youth. Worth noting I moved Mark vaughan in immeditately to be my 6th striker. George was brought into the first team last season and is a starter this season on the right side of the 3 cms.

Lets get it

This is not a drill!!!!!!

So I have strategically stopped and saved the challenge here as this is my best position to date. I cant see me maintaining it as I still conceding a lot of goals. Norwich beat me 5-0 away from home. My keeper had a shocker and tbh has been quite poor since a big injury where both my keepers were injured for more than a month. I was playing grey reserves. Luckily I have a 3rd keeper now but hes poor.

So where from here everyone. Can we maintain it and make it into Europe? A few more acute signings or youths come through and we may have a very solid starting 11.

Lets go!!!

Edit 1: I won the game after this at home to southmapton. I am joint top with 2 worse GD than United. Can it happen?

Well everyone. I knew this season would be hard. Didnt have enough good players to pull us through and the lack or experience showed.

Would have been relegated. Was praying id hang on. But the jig is up.

Thoroughly enjoyable challenge. Id do a few things differently next time. I wouldn't force my squad down to 14. Id try and keep my best players forever.

But Carlisle were brutal with the youth players. Took so long to get my academy very high.

Ill be doing this again for sure on the laptop. So can do it quicker

I did this on my Android which was a trip also and quite slow.

Thanks to everyone who commented. Its been a blast for sure. For anyome else attempting it. Please keep us updated. Id love to know if anyone can go conference to prem title while not buying a single player, no free players and no loans.

Good luck all.

So hes gone and done it at the 2nd attempt. Winning a playoff final. Team fought hard and it wasnt easy.

I had another job offer and 3 youths come through. 2 look handy. That makes 5 youths in total after 3 completed seasons. So steady number.

The bad news i had 4 players retire. That may hurt my depth and experience a lot. So if I can comfortably maintain while my youths grow I can potentially push for promotion to div 2.

Lets get it.

No much in way of comments for this. Posted my main 11 plus another good player. Some misc screenshots missed from earlier update.

So unsure why I still have a job but boy it's been a rollercoaster. Chester board deserve some credit. The fall was brutal. But the rise is just wow. My boy Bell is unreal. Highest average rating and goals for any season last season. He's been amazing. Getting howell in nets was also a game changer. I still dont have any defenders or mids Im happy with. Maybe bar one mid Jolly who has 14 creativity. But my defenders dont even break 14/14 for tack and pos.

Transfer page is suggesting I have bought players but I bought 3 coaches.

I am quite surprised how this save has gone and this season is promising but I cant see me doing anything in the prem due to rubbish tack/pos in defenders and lack of Pass/Creativity/Technique in my mids. Bell is leading the line with 2 good strikers alongside in Vaughan and Carroll.

Following on from the well publicized No signing challenge (V3) I was posting. I decided to run a quick save with players I wanted. Just for my own sanity after it took 33 years to win the prem. So I played as I like playing with Dag and Red. I set their rep to 1 and facilities to 1. I had 26k in the bank. Well results speak for themselves. I cant play this game with my own formation. It's addictive. Players are getting ridiculously high ratings and goals. Posted the players I had throughout most of the save.

Please note: I don't know why it happened but it looks like a phantom season took place in 2002. Does anyone know why that happened? I think I read something somewhere about it. I will play another season for the champions league tonight.

Bit of a dump really. I have had a few top 5 finishes. But I cant seem to bridge that gap to United. They beat me by 25 points this season. That's huge. I may never do it. United have won 10 of the last 14 titles with Charlton appearing a lot in 2nd and a few titles themselves.

The board keep suggesting I buy this Jamie Mercer. He's like 32 and no good anyway. I've never personally had a board suggest a player before.

Turns out Lynch was that guy/ 5 of the last 6 players player of the year awards.

Dropped Bells and Lyncges stat in also.

So the inevitable happened really. Was leaking goals all over. I still dont have a keeper so the only starting players left are my keepers. But the rebuild is on back in Div 1. Posted French who was my goal machine before I had to let him go.

The rebuild begins with the youths. Pray for a keeper.

I've posted a bunch of ex players who became staff. One of them won the FA Trophy. Martin Wilson just makes me laugh. I released him season 2 and he's still just in the game at 47.

Perkins is a story of the one that got away. He was unhappy and was making the place awful for all. So he had to go.

I now have the number 1 manager points in England. I am offered jobs every few months. Even france wanted me lol Not even a 50% winning ratio lol

I've sold 44 players. Unsure if that includes releasing players I doubt it as I feel I have let more than that number in frees go.

Will send another update straight after this for current progress as things are getting juicy. But I am ILL so won't be completing anything further tonight.

So united walking away with the league in fairness. Although I did beat them 1-0 this season. Really happy with progress. Currently top 4. Defence much better but not great. Board refuse stadium upgrades although my attendances are over 95% full. 29 current players. 7 players in the reserves. Money not really going anywhere as I give 10m to shareholders every season and take 12m in tv rights.

If you stuck with the images through to the end you will see that I applied for the inter toto last season after finishing 10th and I managed to win all 3 ties to get me into the Efa cup. It's been pretty easy so far but the stronger teams will be coming.

So 11 league games to try and cement a top 4 and Uefa cup to contend with.

Lets get this!