The above video shows a few goals scored in the last 4 or 5 games of season 2, including a nice 2-0 away victory against an under par Liverpool side at Anfield, unfortunately I only won one, drew two, and lost 2 of those final games, leaving me in a very precarious position at the foot of the table.
Here is the league table going into the final day of the season:
As you can see, I’m 18th, only a win in the last game against Chelsea, and a defeat for Crystal Palace at home to Stoke, would see me survive, it’s out of our hands, World Class has been a cruel mistress, it’s very hard, especially against the top sides.
I’ve conceded far too many goals, and as a result far a far inferior goal difference, so not even a draw for Palace would let me off, they had to lose, we had to win, against Chelsea, who were top of the league, it wasn’t likely, or was it?
So there we have it, we got battered 4-0, as expected, another haul of goals shipped, another defeat, it summed up our season really, too inconsistent, and not good enough players or depth to be able to cope in the Premier League on World Class level, so down we went, here’s there final league table.
Second bottom. Down and out. Didn’t deserve much more to be honest.
Now I had to wait to see if I still had a job, as the board objective, the sole objective was to avoid relegation, and I didn’t even manage that.
There was no massaging of the table or fixtures to ease up on me and give me a glimmer of hope, no fixtures going my way, it was just pure realistic hardship all the way, Palace drew in the last game so even if I’d have beaten Chelsea 10-0 I still would have been relegated.
In an attempt to pre-empt the sack, I applied for the vacant managers position at Stoke, who remained in the Premier league, this was their response:
They didn’t want me, can’t blame them.
SO down to the Championship I went, and plundered through my pre-season dealings before finding out if I’d kept my job our not.
Parachute payments from the Premier league gave me a decent transfer kitty in the Championship, around £45 million, I signed Muto at CF from Newcastle for £15mil, Damm, a pacy gherkin RMF for £12mil and Denswill, a strong CB for £9.3mil.
I also let Bojan go, and chose not to renew loans for a few other players.
Then the review meeting from the board came in:
I kept my job, just.
So at the time of writing, I will be taking Forest through another EFL Championship season, my board objective is to win the league, nothing less.
Have a few new signings, and a few mil left in the kitty, so onwards and upwards.
FIFAFX.com 
Paul — genuinely exciting run-in to the season there, not just the league outcome, but whether you would stay at Forest or not. As you say an utterly realistic ending for a club with your resources in that league nowadays. Surely now you have to have you eye on staying with Forest for the duration and doing a Cloughie with them?
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NG – totally realistic if not somewhat disappointing.
My aim is win the championship with Forest, secure promotion, have another season in the top flight and build my reputation enough to take over a bigger team with more realistic ability to challenge for European places. So a good few seasons left in FIFA19 yet.
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Paul – commiserations my friend. It is funny how our careers are mirroring each other. No table scripting, which both games have been guilty of in the past has added true realism to this years adventure. After 17 games of season 4 I have picked back up and am now in 2nd place behind runaway leaders Sunderland. This would normally be a tipping point on FIFA but the games feel as fresh and alive as they did on game one.
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EA have certainly gone down the simulation route this Darryl.
Did you notice in the video clip how the commentary team eluded to. Reading other results to go our way and also 5 mins from the end of the game the Chelsea fans singing ‘Campeones campeones’ ?!
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That’s a beautiful email from Stoke. I rarely apply for other jobs, so I’ve not seen that before.
What’s a pacy gherkin?
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Chris99 – didnt wanna join Stoke anyway. Fuckers.
Haha a pacy gherkin. Apparently German was autocorrected to gherkin. About right.
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Have employed the Operation Sports sliders. Very impressed with them so far, main standout features being that the first touch accuracy is reduced meaning more bobbles, loose balls and as a result, mellees and fouls.
Also the player runs being changed from 50 to 1 seems drastic but it actually makes fullbacks play realistically. Instead of constantly bombing forward, being caught out of position and letting the COM in behind, they now keep their shape much better and will attack with more intelligence, when the time seems right.
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Paul – I played FIFA 16 and 17 with OS sliders. Better that than keeping fiddling and experimenting if the default settings are not quite working for you.
Commiserations on your relegation although this sure just adds to the story. It’ll be interesting to see if the extra funds will help you bounce back and satisfy the Forest board.
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Shed, I played one friendly as an experiment with the OS sliders,a nd was impressed so left them on for my CM.
Many of the OS sliders for FIFA 19 leave the settings as default, such is EA’s refinement in a simulation sense of this gears game play, but the changes it does make lead to a more enhanced, ‘organic’ and natural game.
I had £45mil, My 3 signings have brought that down to about £8 mil, which I will keep and try to bring in a pre-contract signing come January.
SO far this season, season 3, I participated in the European Challenge shield and got 1.6 mil from that, and have played 2 league games, winning one and losing one, and was dumped out of the Carabao cup first round, so a mixed start.
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Paul – I thought you would enjoy them and as both levels for CPU and yourself are the same it is not slider fiddling if that makes sense but just enhances the wonderful gameplay even further. Yes there are now much more physical battles in midfield and less end to end attacks. I have used them for about 20 odd matches now and the games are very fair and balanced. I got tonked in one match 5-0 away at MK Dons but had no grievances with that as they make the better teams stand out.
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Its exactly that Darryl – it enhances the ability between the weaker and stronger teams, plus gives a bit more of that gritty midfield battle play that was needed.
Had a Red card and a penalty after using it too, have had a player hobble with after turning over his ankle, was out for 3 games, and a 2 month dislocated elbow injury.
Definitely enhanced the already shining Game play.
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Another bad run of results has seen me slump from 2nd to 8th. Bad form in this FIFA is like a mobile phone contract as it is bloody difficult to get out of and you just have to see it out to the end. If I don’t get out of it soon we could see another season in Division One come and go.
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Darryl – maybe drop to
Professional to replicate the lesser skill of league one ?
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Paul – It is a bit similar to NG and his dilemma on Superstar as he knows if he drops down to Top Player again he is certain to go up. Where is the fun in that? P.S. Have you seen the new patch notes. These take level of detail to yet another layer further.
https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/fifa/fifa-19/news/fifa-19-pitch-notes-patch-3
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Yeah I understand that Darryl. That’s why I haven’t changed from world class back down in the championship. WC does give that level of challenge and realism And ultimately makes it more rewarding when you achieve anything.
I did see the upcoming patch notes. Made comment to it over on the chronicles. EAs detail and transparency should be commended.
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It’s a funny old game as someone used to say. When I got home I fired up a quick game and won 5-1 away at Oldham with goals pinging in from all angles. This was on the back of an 8 match dry spell.
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A pacy gherkin is my favourite Paulerism so far! I’m a sucker for one-club stories so if you do get off to a better start in the PL next time round I hope you give it a shot! Have you considered changing formation?
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Jay – have changed formations, touch on it in the new post today,and will stick with Forest for a while, if i get a big club offer though, I’m off.
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