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||''|   .|  '|. .|  '|.  ||    ||'  || '' .||   ||   ||
||      ||   || ||   ||  ||    ||    | .|' ||   ||   ||
.||.      '|..|'  '|..|'  '|.'  '|...'  '|..'|' .||. .||.
'||    ||'
|||  |||   ....   .. ...    ....     ... .   ....  ... ..
|'|..'||  '' .||   ||  ||  '' .||   || ||  .|...||  ||' ''
| '|' ||  .|' ||   ||  ||  .|' ||    |''   ||       ||
.|. | .||. '|..'|' .||. ||. '|..'|'  '||||.  '|...' .||.
.|....'
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/\   /\\   /\\  ||  `
(  ) || || || || ||_
// || || || || |/ \
//  || || || ||    ))
/(   || || || ||   //
{___  \\/   \\/   /'
*Say goodbye to your social life*
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~~IMPORTANT NOTICE~~
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This guide is copyright to me, Peter (tranmerefan) Sale. You cannot use it
without my permission.
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Guide Updates
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Version 1.0 (17/7/2005)
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Started the main layout of the guide, and started to input the information
about the english leagues and cup.
Version 1.05 (31/08/2005)
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Added www.dlh.net to the allowed list.
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Contents
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1. Contact Information
2. Introduction
3. League Information
A. Premiership
B. Coca-Cola Championship
C. Coca-Cola League 1
D. Coca-Cola League 2
E. Nationwide Conference National
F1. Nationwide Conference North
F2. Nationwide Conference South
4. Cup Guide
A. FA Cup
B. League Cup
C. LDV Vans
D. FA Trophy
E. Community Sheild
5. Credits
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1. Contact Information
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This guide is copyrighted 2005 to me, Peter Sale. You may not host this guide
without my permission. If you have any queries regarding this guide then please
contact me at:
tranmerefan@gmail.com
When e-mailing me please you a sensible subject line, such as "Re: Football
Manager" or anything along those lines. A subject line of "help" means that
your e-mail is unlikely to be read.
The only sites at the moment that can host this are www.gamefaqs.com,
www.neoseeker.com, www.dlh.net and www.mogelgott.de
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2. Introduction
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This is a basic guide regarding the english football leagues. In this you can
expect to find how the leagues and the cups all work and who plays in them. I
will also give any additional information regarding the leagues and some star
tips, should you want to choose a good team in each league. This is not a full
FAQ, so tips on players will not be posted here. If you want to unearth a gem
without doing all the hard work then read the other FAQs that list the players
you want.
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3. League Information
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Here I will list all the major and need-to-know rules of all the divisions that
are playable in England. Interesting as it is, the North West Counties league
isn't playable so it's no use me telling you about the exploits of footballing
heavyweights such as Cammel Laird FC, especially as the lower down you go, the
criteria for promotions changes. It stops being the usual "win the league" and
becomes "you're going up because you are the only team in League X that has
floodlights installed and League Y requires floodlights". It would be a great
challenge, hopefully SI will implement at least the Unibond/Dr Martins/Ryman
leagues next year.
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3A. The Premiership
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Background: The premiership is widely regarded as "the best league in the
world". This is untrue, League 1 (soon to be the Championship if we (Tranmere)
ever get our arse in gear) is the best league in the world and the title race
in League 2 wasn't decided until the last day whilst the Premiership was
wrapped up so long beforehand teams like Manchester United had taken their ball
home and stopped playing.
The Premiership features 20 teams, 16 of them having no chance at winning any
Silverwear (unless you manange someone other than the top 3 + Liverpool). So,
once you choose your team other than Chelsea (you _do_ want a challenge) you
need to do a number a things. Number 1 you need to panic buy whilst making sure
that relegation won't cripple you. Alternativly you can panic buy and leave
before you go down and leave some poor bugger (usually Allerdyce because Notlob
sensibly get rid of him) to sort it out. Secondly, you need put 11 men behind
the ball and play 451. It does seem to the trend nowadays for teams like Fulham
and Everton.
Teams:
Arsenal
Aston Villa
Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers
Charlton Athletic
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester Utd
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Norwich City
Notlob
Portsmouth
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Bromich Albion
Games: 38 (20 teams all play each other twice)
European Competition: Top 4 go to Champions League, 5th to the UEFA Cup, 6th
and 7th to the Intertoto Cup (Depending on the winners of the FA Cup and the
League Cup)
Relegation Slots: 3. Bottom 3 go down Automatically. (They don't return too...)
Star Tip: Chelsea have all the money, Arsenal can do well, Man Utd bribe
referees and Newcastle/Man City can all implode. Try and get the underachievers
from Merseyside (not Everton :P) to finally win a trophy. And yes, I am aware
they won some European trophy so don't bother e-mailing. I live on Merseyside
and it's only just safe to open a newspaper.
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3B. The Coca-Cola Championship
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Background: The promised land (unless you happen to be a Leeds fan). The coca
cola championship offers plenty of excitment, with close promotion races, nerve
wracking play-off campaigns and Rotherham finishing bottom. That may be too
harsh on them but anything can happen. One game they stayed up one year!. This
is a decent competitive league. A few good signings and you can really excel
and the competition to have 12 months in the Premiership is always fierce.
There are 24 teams in this league, making 46 league games (48 minimum including
the cups) so a small squad isn't going to get you far. I found my Bristol
Rovers team to tire in the latter stages before throwing away promotion to
teams that are clearly worse than me in the play-offs. Still, hard work (and
decent replacements) soon stopped that as I scooped the title one year. It is
eventually easy to get promotion from. Patience is the key (and the ability to
manage someone other than Rotherham).
Teams:
Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley
Cardiff City
Coventry City
Crewe Alexandra
Derby County
Gillingham
Ipswich Town
Leeds United
Leicester City
Millwall
Nottingham Forest
Plymouth Argyle
Preston    North End
Rotherham United
QPR
Sheffield United
Stoke City
Sunderland
Watford
West Ham United
Wigan Athletic
Wolverhampton Wanderas
Games: 46 (24 teams all play each other twice)
Promotion Slots: 3. Top 2 go up automatically. Places 3-6 play-off for the
final spot. Usually 3v6 and 4v5 in the two legged semi-final and the two
winners meet in the final at Cardiff/Wembley. If it gets built.
Relegation Slots: 3. Bottom 3 go down automatically unless its a "big team" in
which case they can whine and moan about it until they get promoted again.
Someone say Sheffield Wednesday?
Star Tip: Wigan have more money than most, Leeds have the history and
Gillingham gives you the real challenge.
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3C. The Coca-Cola League 1
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Background: Worlds. Best. League. That is, until Tranmere get promoted then it
becomes the hell-hole that it really is. How many crap teams can one league
have? Bad question, it could be league 2. Always could be worse. This league
takes the familiar shape of being the same as the one above, but with more
going down to the league forminally known as Division 4. It has just as good
as title race, but the relegation spots are easier to avoid, because Wrexham,
Oldham, Peterborough, MK Dons and Stockport are all so useless that its
impossible to go down.
Again, with a minimum of 50 games (there is now the LDV Vans trophy to play
for. Aren't you lucky?) you will need a good size squad. Don't have too many
players otherwise you'll go bankrupt and lose 10 points. Always watch out for
Tranmere and Hull. Hull have more money then sense (IE, they have a penny) and
Tranmere's crap squad always puts them in the top 6 in the first season.
Teams:
Bournemouth
Barnsley
Blackpool
Bradford City
Brentford
Bristol City
Chesterfield
Colchester United
Doncaster Rovers
Hartlepool United
Huddersfield Town
Hull City
Luton Town
MK Dons
Oldham Athletic
Peterborough
Port Vale
Sheffield Wednesday
Stockport County
Swindle Town
Torquay United
Tranmere Rovers
Walsall
Wrexham
Games: 46 (24 teams all play each other twice)
Promotion Slots: 3. Top 2 go up automatically. Places 3-6 play-off for the
final spot. Usually 3v6 and 4v5 in the two legged semi-final and the two
winners meet in the final at Cardiff/Wembley.
Relegation Slots: 4. Bottom 4 go down automatically. Bet you one includes the
MK Dons.
Star Tip: Tranmere and Tranmere Reserves are the two best teams here, with
Hull in third.
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3D. The Coca-Cola league 2
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Background: Good Old divison 4, or the Rochdale division as it's more lovingly
known. In it's old life as the Division 3 N/Division 3 South it gave Tranmere
fans their only league title. All the way back in the 1930's. (We then had to
wait until 1990 to win another trophy, so Man Utd fans shouldn't whine at a
trophyless season). Here you need to avoid relegation even more so. Going out
the league is unforgivable and if anyone here has been relegated from League 2
they should feel throughly ashamed of themselves. Shame on you, how do you
think the fans feel?
This division features 4 different types of teams. The "also-rans" (Rochdale),
the "Newbies" (Kidderminster, Yeovil), The "HELP, we need more money again!!!!
(Bury, Notts County) and the "We're so **** it's unbelievable" brigrade
(Chester). Choosing your team can be very difficult. There is no money and no
talent. At Chester you have an alleged crook as the chairman too. Ah well, this
is football, are any chairmen not greedy bastards trying to asset strip their
latest fodder?
Teams:
Boston United
Bristol Rovers
Bury
Cambridge United
Cheltenham Town
Chester City
Darlington
Grimsby Town
Kidderminster Harriers
Leyton Orient
Lincoln City
Macclesfield Town
Mansfield Town
Northampton Town
Notts County
Oxford United
Rochdale
Rushden & Diamonds
Scunthorpe United
Southend United
Shrewsbury Town
Swansea City
Wycombe    Wanderas
Yeovil Town
Games: 46 (24 teams all play each other twice)
Promotion Slots: 4. Top 3 go up automatically. Places 4-7 play-off for the
final spot. Usually 4v7 and 5v6 in the two legged semi-final and the two
winners meet in the final at Cardiff/Wembley.
Relegation Slots: 2. Bottom 2 go out the football league altogether. Talk
about Cruel.
Star Tip: Bristol Rovers have the arrogance for the journey upwards.
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3E. Nationwide Conference National
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Background: Ah, the start of the football league pyramid. This gets called "The
unofficial 5th division" by those who have been relegated into it and
desperatly want to have their credibility remaining. It isn't the 5th division,
it's non-league hell and it's a bloody tough division to gain promotion from.
Only 2 promotion slots to get your team into the football league and there are
around 8 or 9 semi decent (in regards to the division) all wanting to go up. It
does offer a great challenge for you and you do really feel like you achieve
something. This is the start division in non-league football and whilst it
may seem bad for some teams, it can be a great joy to manage it, especially
when you are a really small club like Leigh RMI and you can punch above your
weight for a few years.
Teams:
Accrington Stanley
Aldershot Town
Altrincham
Barnet
Burton Albion
Carlisle United
Canvey Island
Crawley Town
Dagenham & Redbridge
Exeter City
Farnborough
Forest Green Rovers
Gravesend & Northfleet
Halifax Town
Hereford United
Leigh RMI
Morecambe
Northwich Victoria
Scarborough
Stevenage Borough
Tamworth
Woking
York City
Games: 42 (22 teams play each other twice)
Promotion Slots: 2. 1st place goes up automatically, places 2-5 face a play-off
with the winner going up.
Relegation Slots: 3. Bottom 3 go down automatically in theory and in the game.
Real life is different with Margate being kicked out because of their ground,
Northwich down on a technicality etc.
Star Tip: Barnet have a good side, Carlisle are usually pretty strong and
Hereford are a good team. Try them.
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3F1. Nationwide Conference North
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Background: A new division, formed at the start of the 2004-2005 season (the
one you are about to play) after the pyramid reshuffle. It's not complicated at
all and is great to play in, after all there are no southern ponces visiting
your backstreet northern slum. Most teams are fairly strong and the size of the
town does matter here and small clubs with everyone nearby gloryhunting won't
survive.
There is 1 definate promotion place, followed by a normal play-off. However,
the winner of the play-off here will face the winner of the southern play-off
and the winner from that game is the one that goes up. Relegation is pretty
normal, however teams become unplayable after going down so should you finish
in the bottom 3, it's Bye Bye job, hello giro time.
Teams:
Alfreton Town
Altrincham
Ashton United
Barrow
Bradford P.A.
Droylsden
Gainsborough Trinity
Harrogate Town
Hinckley United
Hucknall Town
Kettering Town
Lancaster City
Moor Green
Nuneaton Borough
Redditch United
Runcorn FC Halton
Southport
Stafford Rangers
Stalybridge Celtic
Vauxhall Motors
Worcester City
Worksop Town
Games:  42 (22 teams play each other twice)
Promotion Slots:  2. First place goes up automatically, places 2-5 face a
play-off. The winner places the play-off winner from the south in a one off
game and that winner goes up.
Relegation Slots: 3. Bottom 3 go down automatically.
Star Tip: Southport
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3F2. Nationwide Conference South
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Background: A league for all the people from the South. Great for all of you
from the South, you can play a league without facing northerners. Anyway, this
is exactly the same as the other regional division you'll be pleased to here,
just more toffs in the stand rather than wife-beaters. (I'm from the north too,
get used to sterotyping, this is football).
No complications, but for the lazy I'll copy and paste for you the format from
the Conference North section;
"There is 1 definate promotion place, followed by a normal play-off. However,
the winner of the play-off here will face the winner of the southern play-off
and the winner from that game is the one that goes up. Relegation is pretty
normal, however teams become unplayable after going down so should you finish
in the bottom 3, it's Bye Bye job, hello giro time."
Poor Joke again. I'll work on them later.
Teams:
Basingstoke Town
Bishops Stortford
Bognor Regis Town
Cambridge City
Carshalton Athletic
Dorchester Town
Eastbourne Borough
Grays Athletic
Havant & W
Hayes
Hornchurch
Lewes
Maidenhead United
Margate
Newport County
Redbridge
St Albans City
Sutton United
Thurrock
Welling United
Weymouth
Games:  42 (22 teams play each other twice)
Promotion Slots:  2. First place goes up automatically, places 2-5 face a
play-off. The winner places the play-off winner from the south in a one off
game and that winner goes up.
Relegation Slots: 3. Bottom 3 go down automatically.
Star Tip: Hornchurch, Grays Athletic
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4. Cup Information
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Theres nothing like a cup competition to get in the way and ruin your promotion
plans is there? Then again it can rescue your season and the two main ones
can provide entry into Europe. Here is all the background for the cup, the main
rules (ie, knockout, when PL teams decide to send their reserves in etc). I'll
also list the leagues that participate as well, so you know what to expect.
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4A. FA Cup
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Background: The oldest cup competition in the world I believe, and one the best
domestic cup competitions going. The FA Cup is famous for it's giantkilling
shocks (Hereford V Newcastle, Sutton v Coventry, Tranmere V Southampton). These
acts are what makes the competition great and should you be in charge of a
lower league team you should always play your strongest side in the hope of a
shock.
The prize money in the FA Cup is always worth it too.
Format: Straight knockout, Conference North/South enter at Second qualifying
round, Conference National at 4th qualifying round, Leagues 1/2 in the first
round proper and the Championship and Premiership enter at Round 3.
Participating Leagues: All
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4B. League Cup
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Background: This started around the 1960's and is a cup for the football and
the premier league. However, no-one takes this seriously except for the
premiership teams who have no chance at finishing high enough for a European
place and aren't good enough to win the FA Cup.
Still, it's always worth a go for anyone in my opinion. If you are a lower
league team then winning it will mean a lot to the fans. Fans of chelsea are
spoilt and won't care though.
Format: Straight knockout, Championship/League 1/League 2 enter at round 1,
Premiership teams not in europe enter in round 2, the rest in round 3.
Participating Leagues: Premiership, Championship, League 1, League 2.
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4C. LDV Vans
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Background: This used to be known as the associate members cup and is now for
the lower league teams. I personally like this trophy because Tranmere won it
in 1990 beating Bristol Rovers in the final. It is split into north/south
sections and features leagues 1 and 2 and the top 8 from the conference. A
couple of teams get a bye from the first round, to make it a straight knockout
from there. It is always worth trying to win it at least once, however do not
let it get in the way of promotion because there isn't much prize money from it
unless you go all the way and win.
Format: Straight knockout. Two sections - North/South. Northern Area final
winner faces the southern area final winner (Regional finals are two legs) in a
one-off game at Cardiff or Wembley depending on what season you are in.
Participating Leagues: League 1, League 2, Top 8 of conference national.
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4D. FA Trophy
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Background: This is a major trophy for all the non-league teams. I have to
admit I don't know how they treat it in real life because I don't follow a non
league club. In this game, it's always worthwile winning once, because it's
nice to get a trophy in the bag and it's a good day out for your supporters.
The prize money isn't great, but a win will boost your players morale and your
reputation. Just do _not_ let it get in the way with promotion to the football
league, which is far better financially for your club. As with the LDV, it's
always a bonus not a must have.
Format: Straight knockout, unsure of when all the teams enter. I'll have to
research it.
Participating Leagues: Conference National, Conference North/South
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4E. Community Sheid
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Background: This is a traditional game played between the Premiership champions
and the FA Cup winners. Nowadays it isn't treated seriously by anyone but the
charities it supports. Winning it doesn't give you much bonus bar a nice start
to your campaign. I haven't actually won it so I do not know about prize money.
I am guessing that there isn't anything.
If you're Man Utd then you must try your best here, it'll be the only thing
you win. :P
Format: One off game at Cardiff/Wembley
Participating Teams: Winners of Premiership V Winners of the FA Cup
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5. Credits:
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Thanks to SI for making the best management sim, CJayC for putting this guide
on GameFAQs and thanks to you for reading through and putting up with attempts
at jokes. I can only apoligize for them.
Sorry.
Could be worse, I could be Ricky Gervais, then they wouldn't even raise a groan.
Sorry again.
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Copyright 2005 - Peter Sale