Naitch

I have to bring up the question of Britani Knight being based in the Midlands. I know it isn't a major factor in your database, which will naturally focus more on non-UK wrestling scenes until 2010 onwards, but I presume that it will still be featured. Pretty sure there's been discussion before about how the UK (specifically England) is actually supposed to be split up in TEW, but I'm firmly on the side that sees East Anglia as "southern" given that East England isn't an option of its own. Basically this: In the five years I've been with WAW there have only been a handful of (non-camps) shows run outside of Norfolk or Suffolk. All of those have been in either Essex or Boston, which is just about where that coastline pokes inland near the East Midlands/East Anglia border. The Wrestling Weekender in North Wales, and intended summer follow up in Southport, are exceptions, but they're more based on the location of holiday camps than any other factor. You also don't get any Midlands-based companies running anywhere in East Anglia whereas quite a few southern promotions have done Ipswich, for example, in the last few years.

He didn't say the scenarios would be accurate.

I'd say England's 'Golden Generation' but they didn't even come close to winning anything. The best they actually managed was the quarter finals (on four occasions).

I feel like I need to expand on this one a bit more. Without it I wouldn't... 1. be on EWB. My enjoyment of GM mode, and its absence from SvR 2009, is undoubtedly what led me here in search of a replacement. Being on here led me to interact with @The Munchies, which eventually led to a much greater impact on my life than either of us could possibly have imagined when I turned up at his first DOA show with a shitty digital camera to take photos at ringside. I still have these photos, which include a very young looking Kip Sabian. It also gave me the opportunity to meet many of you lovely people, and create some great memories at various PTTS events over the years. 2. have encountered WAW. I can't imagine what my life would be like right now if I hadn't thrown myself into the company back in early 2015. My life felt like it was crumbling, despite my best efforts, and keeping myself around people, as well as regular exercise and generally giving myself purpose definitely kept me in check. I'd learned that the camera crew, who Munchies also used for DOA, needed an extra body for WAW's big weekends in Norwich and I blagged my way into it by referencing my Media Studies A Level. Five years later and I'm basically part of the furniture; I run the website, have a key advisory role in all things online, and have performed every role in wrestling I can think of except for referee, agent, and manager. I've also made many friends and met lots of well-known wrestling personalities over the years. I still find it bizarre that I can say Steve Corino attended my 21st birthday party and that I've had multiple casual trips to Wetherspoons with Scott Hall. 3. work in marketing. In addition to starting camera work for WAW in 2015, I'd also noticed a distinct lack of social media output from them in the previous year. It was this interest that led to my decision to do an MSc in marketing, because American Studies didn't feel like it had direct employability. The combination of WAW and my masters inadvertently led to my first actual marketing job which, although ultimately very disappointing, has helped me establish myself as an employable marketer capable of successful job interviews purely based on my own merit. While there I added quite a few more encounters with well-known people thanks, including Chris Eubank, Newton Faulkner, and Brian McFadden. Since then, I've branched out into more typical marketing roles but added a wealth of knowledge and skills which have ultimately brought me into my current (furloughed) role. These skills have helped me help a lot of people, and given me an opportunity to continue doing so throughout what will almost certainly be a lifelong career.

Sly 2: Band of Thieves - I loved this game when I first came across it and have since played the franchise multiple times. I just started the first game again last weekend with the intention of getting the Platinum trophy on Slys 1-3 and the minigames, because I've already got it on 4. Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 - This is the game that got me into wrestling. Football Manager 2012 - I still play it, literally put at least two hours into a Monaco save today. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - I think I've completed Oblivion two or three times. As in, 100% completed including Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles. It would be more if the graphics didn't look so outdated now but I don't think that'll stop me from coming back to it once I force myself through the main Morrowind story (Morrowind gameplay really hasn't aged well). In contrast, I still haven't completed the Civil War questline on Skyrim nor started any of the DLC bits. GTA: San Andreas - I was several years late but loved the game regardless. It eventually led me into GTAs IV and V, the latter of which was the last game I bought on release. Honourable mentions go to Populous: The Beginning, Crash Team Racing, FIFA 02 & 04, PES 4-6, Worms World Party, and THPS1 from my pre-teen years.

We already have a lead candidate for their new name in FM21.

I think it's a good idea, tbh. Otherwise you'll end up getting the same massive crowds outside the stadium that various European clubs had while they were still playing in March. This keeps tens of thousands of people occupied, therefore not going outside and avoiding the possibility of extending various issues into the summer.

No wins and just eight goals before the winter break. Lol, back to Serie B we go. At least I managed to tie down most of my first team players who got us promoted in the first place. EDIT - But I did manage to beat 3rd place Sampdoria away in the Coppa Italia 1st round to earn a cool €500k EDIT 2 - And immediately followed that up with a 2-0 win against Cagliari for our first league win on matchday 20! EDIT 3 - We're in the semis! Took Napoli to penalties after a 1-1 draw and managed to scrape it back after missing our first one. That's another €500k and some youth training upgrades paid for to help the challenge.

Just secured my first ever back-to-back-to-back promotion in a San Marino challenge on FM12! It's my third attempt at it, so I kinda know who the best lower league players to get are, but it still went down the final day of the regular season. Beating Livorno with a couple of games to go meant that their final day defeat to Torino gifted me 2nd place and condemned them to the playoffs, where they've choked and been knocked out in the semis!

It certainly would've saved Kyle Walker a whole lot of grief if he'd done the same.

Totally agree with you there. Presumably just deleting the FA badges would revert it back to the original flags. Facepacks should definitely come in teams or leagues, like the logos and kits tend to. I think what's left of the FM12 images out there does this but only for an odd selection of non-English but top European clubs.

Don't doubt penguins and their ability to play football...

@Benji I'm currently watching Clone Wars, although I'm only a few episodes into the first season so far. It's definitely worth watching the 2008 film first (and possibly AOTC immediately before that too), otherwise it might seem like its just jumping into a story with new characters inexplicably being added alongside existing ones. It's been decent so far, a few episodes have followed on from each other so it's not like its basic kids TV with a familiar setting. My understanding is that the series' best purpose is expanding on several of the characters who don't feel relevant enough in ROTS, building up an actual investment in some of them, as well as expanding upon several things that tie into several of the later films (i.e. the originals, Rogue One, and Solo) and that follow up series they've already done, Rebels. I definitely plan on getting through the entire run as I've heard it really nails bridging the gap between Episodes II and III, and great character development throughout the series. Not sure whether I'll press on afterwards with Rebels though. What little I've seen of it makes it seem more like the kids TV concept I mentioned above.

Hopefully he can make it to seven before he retires. Then he can move on to completing the Pentagon irl before you do on FM.

Same. Mildly disappointed that its only 1+2 but 1 was my most played skateboarding game until Project 8 came out. It's probably also responsible for my music tastes strongly leaning towards pop punk/skate punk/ska punk.

Plus it would mean that clubs can prioritise paying their other employees for whom many of them were more than happy to jump on the furlough money train.

I'm torn on that one. I've already got Just Cause 2 and 3, as well as Sleeping Dogs and two of the Tomb Raider games, and I'm not familiar enough with any of the other games to know how good they actually are. Just not sure whether I'd actually play any of them.

It's hardly a fair comparison though. Everton are 38 points ahead of them but City have played 191 fewer games. City leapfrog both Spurs and Everton to take 5th based on the Points/Match column. Everton drop down to 9th with Newcastle, Blackburn, and Leeds all overtaking them. Link if anyone is interested in looking.

I agree that imposing the current "Big Six" concept retroactively is rather silly. Leeds were arguably part of the "big" teams from 1997 to 2002 and Newcastle have had multiple periods where they could also be considered. Spurs have technically been in the wider mix for ages but weren't much more than a "best of the rest" team until recently. The only reason a "Big Six" even exists is because Man City and Spurs caught up with the "Big Four". Pre-money City being irrelevant to this list doesn't even need explaining, they weren't even in the Premier League for five of those seasons. It's a shame that there isn't any variation in their lists, which have the same ten players in different orders. One of them having someone like Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, or Mark Viduka if you want a slightly older name, would at least have made it seem more interesting. The lack of Shearer is presumably modesty on his part. Can't explain why Ian wouldn't put him on there though.

Played FM19 for the first time today. Did they actually change anything about the game for FM20 or were teams, leagues, and players, etc. just updated for the new season? It feels basically identical.

There's a May the 4th sale on every single Star Wars game available on Steam right now. There's quite a lot of games available, including the original Battlefronts, and a few different types of bundles if you like their grouping of them/want all of them.

In my opinion, TLJ was a lot better than TFA and everything I've heard about TROS makes it sound like trosh. I finally got round to watching the Solo movie a few days ago and actually really enjoyed it. Hoping that they make more as I recall there being some backlash surrounding it when it was first released, poor box office performances maybe? I'm about to post this in the Steam thread too, but Steam have a May the 4th discount available on every single Star Wars game the platform has, which is a lot.

Same with the 4/10 both times. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'm doing best when its either Chelsea or Norwich players.

You say that but I've been playing FM05 recently and trying to play Arjen Robben or Joe Cole as an M R (they're both AM LCs) has led to some absolutely awful match ratings. This is despite me setting them to train as AM Rs in the Training section.

Auxerre any big clubs we've missed so far?