5 replies to this topic

[JohnP]

Arsenal Invincibles: 2003/04

Overview:

Arsenal made history in the 2003/04 season going the entire domestic season unbeaten, a feat only accomplished before by Preston North End in 1888/89 when the top tier only had 12 participants. The team has since been broken up, with Kolo Toure being the last of the "starting XI" to leave to Manchester City at the start of the 2009/10 season. Arsene Wenger was the manager back in 2003/04 so I have kept the same staff team around him as a) it's proved hard to find accurate staff lists for the said season, and B) it's not really as important in the players in my mind. Although, should someone have accurate information about the staff team I'll be happy to release a new version if you can send it me!

Onto the database now, and below is a complete change list I jotted down as I was creating the DB so ignore any spelling mistakes please, but that gives you a complete overview. In short, I added the 2003/04 squad back to Arsenal, put their year of birth forward by 6 years so they're the correct age on FM as they were back in the 03/04 season. Bergkamp, Parlour and Keown were created from scratch as players as, on the game database, they had retired and were set as non players. The rest were just moved back to Arsenal and the current ability changed so most are peaking in this coming season. Jose Antonio Reyes joins in January from Sevilla, with Van Bronkhorst on loan at Barcelona with a £1.5m future fee agreed. Current Arsenal players who were not in the youth team in 03/04 such as Eduardo, Walcott etc have had their contracts put back to the team they were with in 2003/04 (Walcott at Southampton, Eduardo at Dinamo etc). Players in the current Arsenal youth/reserve team who have no real pedigree such as Galindo, Watt etc have just been removed from the club and are now on a free transfer.

As any Arsenal fan will know, the invincibles season was back when Highbury was Arsenal's stadium. I have changed this back and put the Emirates stadium "in construction" and the move will take place at the start of the 2012/13 season on FM (to coincide with the 2006 move in real life).

Onto the League structure, I have changed the teams from the top 4 tiers so they are all correct, although I struggled with the conference and below as many clubs have gone into liguidation, changed their names, merged, and to top it all off... the conference has been extended by 2 clubs since 2003 so it's not as accurate as I wanted really. I have changed a number of the more obvious team names back - MK Dons = Wimbledon, Ebbsfleet = Gravesend and Northfleet, etc. I have also renamed the divisions to what they were in 2003/04; the FA Premier League, Football League Division 1, 2 and 3, Football Conference etc.

Squad List:



Complete Change List:

Spoiler

Jens Lehmann: DOB changed to 1975, contract moved to Arsenal, CA now 178, not retiring in 2010 anymore
Lauren: DOB changed to 1983, contract at Arsenal, CA now 162
Sol Campbell: DOB changed to 1980, CA now 179
Toure: DOB changed to 1987, CA now 150
Ashley Cole: DOB changed to 1986, contract at Arsenal
Freddie Ljungberg: DOB changed to 1983, CA now 165, contract at Arsenal
Patrick Vieira: DOB changed to 1982, contract at Arsenal, CA now 180
Gilberto Silva: DOB changed to 1982, contract at Arsenal, CA now 170
Robert Pires: DOB changed to 1979, contract at Arsenal, CA now 174
Dennis Bergkamp: DOB changed to 1975, contract at Arsenal, attributes created from scratch
Thierry Henry: DOB changed to 1983, contract at Arsenal, CA now 185
Edu: DOB changed to 1984, contract at Arsenal, CA now 150
Ray Parlour: DOB 1979, contract at Arsenal, attributes created from scratch
Pascal Cygan: DOB 1980, contract at Arsenal, CA now 150
Sylvan Wiltord: DOB 1980, contract at Arsenal, CA now 155
Gael Clichy: DOB 1991, CA now 115
Jose Antonio Reyes: DOB 1989, contract joining Arsenal on 28/1/04 [FM date 28/1/10], contract changed to Sevilla, CA now 130
Nwankwo Kanu: DOB 1982 (LOL), contract at Arsenal, CA now 160
Martin Keown: DOB 1972, contract changed to Player at Arsenal, attributes created from scratch
Jermie Aliadiere: DOB 1989, contract at Arsenal, CA now 140, PA now 140
David Bentley: DOB 1990, contract at Arsenal, CA now 115
Graham Stack: DOB 1987, contract at Arsenal
Efstathios Tavlaridis: DOB 1986, contract at Arsenal
Justin Hoyte: DOB 1990, contract at Arsenal, CA now 110
Cesc Fabregas: DOB 1993, contract at Arsenal, CA now 136
Jerome Thomas: DOB 1989, contract at Arsenal, CA now 100
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie: DOB 1992, contract at Arsenal, CA now 111, loan to Pompey cancelled
Frank Simek: DOB 1990, contract at Arsenal,
Giovanni van Bronckhorst: DOB 1981, contract at Arsenal joining Barcelona on season long loan with a permanent deal for following season for £1.5m, CA now 155
Francis Jeffers: DOB 1987, contract at Arsenal, CA now 122, PA now 152.
Ólafur Ingi Skúlason: DOB 1989, contract at Arsenal
Michal Papadopoulos: DOB 1991, contract to Banik Ostrava, on loan to Arsenal for the season, CA now 105
John Spicer: DOB 1989, contract at Arsenal, CA now 95
Ryan Smith: DOB 1992, contact at Arsenal
Phillipe Senderos: DOB 1991, loan to Everton removed, CA now 123
Johan Djourou: DOB 1993, CA now 100, wages now £2500
Manuel Almunia: DOB 1983, contract at Celta Vigo, CA now 102, wages now £3800
Bacary Sagna: DOB 1989, contract at Auxerre, CA now 101, wages now £4000
William Gallas: DOB 1983, contract at Chelsea, CA now 154, wages now £40000
Thomas Vermaelen: DOB 1991, contract at Ajax, CA now 113, wages now £4000
Alex Song: DOB 1993, contract at Bastia, CA now 90, wages now £55
Abou Diaby: DOB 1992, contract at Auxerre, CA now 100, wages now £2000
Samir Nasri: DOB 1993, contract at Marseille, CA now 90, wages £350
Andrei Arshavin: DOB 1987, contract at Zenit, CA now 123, wages now £45000
Nicklas Bendtner: DOB 1994, contract at KB, CA now 80, wages now £400
Emmanuel Eboue: DOB 1989, contract at Beveren, CA now 100, wages now £300
Tomas Rosicky: DOB 1986, contract at Borussia Dortmund, CA now 143, wages now £15000
Eduardo: DOB 1989, contract at Dinamo Zagreb, CA now 128, wages now £4500
Theo Walcott: DOB 1995, contract at Southampton, CA now 70. wages now £55
Aaron Ramsey: DOB 1996, contract at Cardiff, CA now 65, wages now £55
Denilson: DOB 1994, contract at Sao Paulo, CA now 70, wages now £55
Robin van Persie: DOB 1989, contract at Feyenoord, CA now 150, wages now £20000
Mikael Silvestre: DOB 1983, contract at Man Utd, CA now 149
Carlos Vela: DOB 1995, contract at Guadalajara, CA now 70, wages now £200
Armand Traore: DOB 1995, contract at Racing Paris, CA now 70, wages now £200
Lukasz Fabianksi: DOB 1991, contract at Mieszko Gniezno, CA now 90, wages now £200
Vito Mannone: DOB 1994, contract at Atalanta, CA now 75, wages now £50
Fran Merida: DOB 1996, contract at Barcelona, CA now 60, wages now £55
Keiran Gibbs: DOB 1995, contract at AFC Wimbledon, CA now 60, wages now £50
Jack Wilshere: DOB 1998, contract at Arsenal, CA now 40, wages now £50, loan to Bolton cancelled
Wojciech Szczęsny: DOB 1996, contract at Agrykola Warszawa, CA now 50, wages £100

Changed current stadium back to Highbury, 38000 capacity.
Move to Emirates will take place in 2012 (2006 in "real" years)

Released from Arsenal:
Havard Nordveit, Pedro Botelho, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Kyle Bartley, Benik Afobe, Emmanuel Frimpong, Henri Lansbury, Rhys Murphy, Nacer Barazite, Luke Freeman, Francis Coquelin, Sean McDermott, Samuel Galindo, Sead Hajrovic, Jay Simpson, Sanchez Watt, Luke Ayling, Craig Eastmond, Chuks Aneke, Ignasi Miquel, Daniel Boateng, Gavin Hoyte, Conor Henderson, Hiles Sunu, Roarie Deacon, James Shea, Jernade Meade, Thomas Cruise, Sam Byles, Nico Yennaris, George Brislen-Hall, Cedric Evina, Rhema Obed, Kerrea Gilbert, Mark Randall.

Players coming into Arsenal like K. Toure, A. Cole, Henry and Vieira in particular have had their wages lowered to fit into the "Arsenal wage structure".

League Structure Changes:

Premier League: Newcastle, Charlton, Middlesbrough, Southampton, Leicester, Leeds.
Championship: Norwich, Sunderland, West Ham, Wigan, Millwall, Stoke, Rotherham, Crewe, Burnley, Gillingham, Walsall, Bradford, MK Dons
League 1: Plymouth, QPR, Bristol City, Port Vale, Bournemouth, Luton, Barnsley, Wrexham, Blackpool, Sheff Weds, Peterborough, Chesterfield, Grimsby, Rushden, Notts County
League 2: Doncaster, Hull, Huddersfield, Mansfield, Yeovil, Oxford, Swansea, Boston, Cambridge, Bristol Rovers, Kidderminster, Southend, Leyton Orient, Rochdale, Scunthorpe, Carlisle, York

League Name Changes:
Barclays Premier Division > FA Premier League
Coca-Cola Championship > Football League Division 1
Coca-Cola League 1 > Football League Division 2
Coca-Cola League 2 > Footbeall League Division 3
Blue Square Premier > Football Conference
Blue Square North/South > Conference North/South


Team Name Changes:
MK Dons > Wimbledon
Ebbsfleet > Gravesend and Northfleet
Hayes & Yeading > Hayes
Leigh Genisis > Leigh RMI


*Note* Since the Conference is now 24 teams, I have added Newport and Gateshead to the Conference. The league structure below that is not factually correct but could be edited in a future release. The main part of this database was getting Arsenal and the Premier League correct so I'm not really bothered about the 5th tier and beyond!

DOWNLOAD LINK = CLICK (updated 23/8/10)

[JohnP]

Just been told the stadium shows up as the Emirates still, I did change it, just didn't untick the "Extinct" box on Highbury so it just went back to how it was. I have no idea why it's not working, I have the editor open now and it's all set to Highbury, Arsenal are the owners etc, move in date to the Emirates is 1.7.2012 etc but it STILL shows as Emirates ffs! Any ideas?

In the next update I've also changed:

Ray Parlour was not showing up as a player but again, that's sorted now. Nicklas Bentnder was a free agent as his original club (KB) are now extinct so I've moved him to Kobenhavn (the team they merged into). Vito Mannone was still at Arsenal, now Atalanta. While I was at it, I also changed the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League names back to what they were at back in 2003/04.

I'll update the link when I sort out this stadium \o/. HELP!

Any more errors/improvements, let me know.

Edit - Sorted it, cheers BlueAngel <3.

[Giggsy's Chest Wig]

Jesus, some great memories looking at that team. Fantastic work John. Have you changed any other teams or just Le Arse?

[Game]

He mentions in the second paragraph that it's just Arsenal and some teams which changed their names. Some teams will of course have their players back (Southampton & Walcott etc).


BTW excellent job with this, the attention to detailing is superb.

[Giggsy's Chest Wig]

Ah right, I missed that.

[JohnP]

Yeah - just Arsenal. There are a few databases going around with full years re-created, not sure if 2003-04 is one tho.