The first round of voting is over. You, my dear readers, have decided that I will manage Premier League bottom team in Football Manager 2012. This case won in the poll with 9 votes distance to the Championship bottom team variant.

The second (final) poll round had been pre-determined by this page: http://www.truefootballmanager.com/p/premier-league-relegation-zone-team.html. Here are 5 clubs one of which I'll start managing after FM 2012 release:

- Norwich
- Q.P.R.
- Swansea
- Wigan
- Wolves

In the first round I tried the new system based on Google accounts. It was very secure but not really efficient because of the low amount of people having accounts or wishing to log on to give a vote. Therefore the new poll will start in traditional way (as it was in the last year) by means of PollDaddy widget.

Now I announce: the decisive final round of the voting started! You vote only through the widget on the right sidebar, comments are not counted.

Dear friends, I am waiting for your help to decide my destiny in Football Manager 2012! Don't linger because the voting will finish on the 14th of September.

 

Napoli video story. Season 3: September

As a bonus, the next episode of NTM's video story:

The other episodes are available under video story tag.

Slightly Mad Studios have released a new render of their upcoming, community-funded, C.A.R.S. project, revealing a brand new car as we get to check out the Audi R18 TDI LMP1 Le Mans Prototype. Following the first renders that revealed the Lotus 49 Formula One car, this is the first time we get to see a modern [...]

It’s been an incredibly long time since I last updated this blog. A lot has changed over the last year, which has meant less time for gaming and more time spent trying to earn a living and beat the terrible effects of the recession. Things are starting to look up now, and whilst I’m working a lot of long days and nights, I’m managing to get back on track a little bit with my social life and chilling out (playing games!).

One of my main focuses has been catching up on some of my unfinished games. You know how it is, you get halfway through a great game, then another one is released that you just can’t wait to play, and before you know it, you’ve got a load of incomplete games that have you thinking “damn that was awesome.. why didn’t I finish it?”. I got Mass Effect 2 on release and that is still in it’s cellophane!

So, what games have I been playing lately…?

Resident Evil 5

I don’t consider myself a fan of survival horror games but this one really surprised me! I think mainly due to the co-op element. I always love games that you can experience with a friend. I just find them more fun. And what could be more fun than trying to survive a mad chainsaw-wielding zombie creature with limited ammo?

I also like how you can upgrade weapons and the search for hidden collectables. I’m working through this game pretty slowly at the moment, but am really enjoying spending the odd hour here and there working through it.

Darksiders

Darksiders is definitely one of those games where I thought “why did I stop playing this!?”. The graphic style is awesome, the characters are dark and interesting, and the story and gameplay really have me hooked! At first this game feels like a linear adventure game (a bit like crash bandicoot), but after about an hour it really opens up into a style of game similar to Zelda: Ocarina of Time. There’s loads of puzzles to solve, big bosses to fight, secrets to find and unlockables to upgrade your character. Great stuff!

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Those who have played online with me or have me on their friends list know that I’m an “achievement whore”. Not quite to the extent that I’m a completionist… I just don’t have the patience. But I love playing games and improving my gamerscore. I played Modern Warfare 1 and 2 online and didn’t really get into it. But, for some reason, Black Ops really pulled me in to the whole online multiplayer experience. Since Darksiders, I haven’t played this as much, but if I have some time to spare and some friends online, this is a game I get a lot of enjoyment from at the moment!

So, there’s a brief summary of where I’m up to at the moment and the sort of games I’ve been playing. There’s loads of new ones that I’m very eager to play (such as the new Deus Ex game), but for now I need to finish some oldies.

What games have you been playing, or feel you need to revisit and complete?

I think Wenger has to leave Arsenal after this deep disgrace and failed transfer campaign

Alex Sawczuk has released Putnam Park for Game Stock Car, adding a new track to Reiza Studios’ recently-released simulation. Putnam Park is the second of Alex’s excellent rFactor tracks to make it into GSC following the release of Vanport ten days ago, the track comes with four different layouts and some other improvements as listed below. Features - [...]

Reiza Studios’ are in the process of putting a free expansion pack for their recently-released Game Stock Car simulation together. The studio already announced that the expansion will bring alternative layouts for the title’s tracks and now RaceDepartment reports that the pack will also add an open-wheel car to the simulation. Reiza Studios’ have some experience with [...]

Among the plenty of features Fanatec’s upcoming ClubSport Wheel base, the ability to use different wheel rims thanks to the quick release mechanism may be the most ground-breaking one. Along with the base, Fanatec has unveiled the F1-style rim and announced that several other rims are already in the works. Thomas Jackermeier has now shed some [...]

Codemasters has released three new previews of their upcoming Formula One 2011 title for the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The previews show off a few of the title’s most popular features, including the extensive wet weather mode and the Mercedes Benz SLS AMG safety car that will add a new depth of strategy to [...]

Custom Compagneros have released six new preview screenshots of their VW Scirocco 1 for GT Legends modding project. The shots show the legendary German touring car in three different specs, sporting different paint jobs, wheels and body styles. Introduced in 1974, the VW Scirroco Type 53 was a popular racing car in many touring car series, including [...]

Fortune Online is a new free to play 2D hack and slash browser MMORPG from Gazillion Entertainmen. The game delivers incredible graphics, real-time multiplayer game play, and an epic fantasy world. players can finally jump into endless dungeon-crawling ...

As a bonus, here is the new episode of Napoli video story:

Boston United

The 14th position in the Premier League is the only Boston achievement in the 9th season because both our participation in the both English cups was failed. Let's try to figure out if it is really achievement.

Boston in the Premier League

The latest pack of played matches wasn't too successful.

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There were strangely lost game with Blackburn, poor draw against Stoke when we had an absolute advantage. These missed 4 points cost my Boston the 12th position in the table:

By the way, pay attention at fantastic Manchester United with 98 points.

The 2nd season of Boston United in the Premier League resembled me roller-coaster. Look at the league position graph and you'll understand:

We had 3 winning streaks but didn't manage to hold on them for long time. So I cannot say that the 14th is an achievement for Boston Utd this season. Actually, I am feeling slightly disappointed. But nevertheless there is some progress comparing to our debut season in the Premier League:

Boston defence played better this season, though attack remained on the same level.

 

Season results and board confidence

By the way, if you need any other Boston story information, you are always welcomed to ask me it in the comments. Most likely I will post it in my additional blog True Football Manager +.

 

Players

OK, now about the players.

Only one player managed to get average rating higher than 7.00. It's the Brazilian wonderkid - Robson. I can state he became the best player of the season. Confident performance was shown by my other central midfielders David Abbott, Gary Deegan, Mohammed Sissoko. The centre of the midfield is the strongest part of Boston United squad.

Our leading wonderkid striker Stivan blended into the team and woke up to start scoring goals only in the season's end.

Potential squad changes

The weakest parts are attacking wings, we need new wingers. Only Freddy Adu plays football on more or less acceptable level. Left and right backs didn't impress me as well.

Suddenly my main goalie George Forsyth started play worse finish making unexpected mistakes and having low 6.63 average rating in the end. Take a look at the screenshot above and answer the question:

Should I search for a new goalkeeper instead this one?

 

Future plans

The 10th anniversary season is ahead. I dream to reach Top 10 or maybe even qualify to Europe League! The should be smart transfer campaign be made to provide the result I expect. I am not going to make squad revolution this time. Just want to strengthen the most problematic positions.