Rick87

So then, dear reader, we move onto the club I will be leading on a domestic level; My local club, Until the great Cumbrian secession last year, played in the Cumberland County League in a nondescript tier of English football. They now suddenly find themselves sitting at the top table of Cumbria's newly formed league system. They are as basic as a football club can really get, just local lads having fun on the local park, surrounded by kids shouting on the playground next to the pitch and dogs running on and off the pitch as walkers transverse the park. No stands, no real facilities at all other than a small changing room in the corner of the park, and certainly no fancy pants corporate nonsense. This is grassroots football at its very heart. Aspatria (or Spyatri if you are local) is in the Noth-Western part of Cumbria (midway between Wigton and Maryport on the map below, it's a small town with a population of just below 3,000 and is a heavily agricultural area. The chairman doesn't have much ambition regarding our five-year plan, beyond finishing mid-table in the Premier League every year. This suits me as there will be less pressure, however my personal targets far exceed that of the board; Club Objectives (Short-Term, Mid-Term, Long-Term) - Achieve a top half finish in the Premier League -Win against rivals Wigton - Defeat one of the professional teams (Carlisle or Barrow) - Become recognised as 'the best of the rest' behind the two professional clubs -Qualify for the Conference League -Win the Cumbrian cup - Reach the League stage in the Conference League -Win the Premier League -Be ranked Cumbria's top club -Reach the league stage of the Champions League - Win the Champions League Clearly, much needs to happen if any of the objectives in amber or red are to be achieved. Foremost, I need to make money to pay for upgrades to the facilities and enable us to produce high quality trainees who can help not only the club, but eventually go on and play for my national team as well. Here is my squad on day one; Obviously, much strengthening is needed ahead of the new season. The entire squad is newgen players, there is some potential, but I think I need to bring in some experience to fill in the gaps the squad has. We kick off with a tough opening fixture away to semi-professional Workington, who are third in stature to Carlisle and Barrow; I'm targeting seven points from those five fixtures with wins over Maryport and Keswick and a draw with Whitehaven MS. Workington will in all likelihood be a defeat in which we will do well to keep the score respectable against the reds, who were in the Northern Premier League last season. Cleator Moor is a possible win, but they too are of a larger stature than us, so we will need to be at our best. Here are the media predictions for the inaugural Premier League season; OK, that is day one covered for both club and country, time to begin building a league and nation capable of winning the top prize in World football!

Welcome back all, thank you for your continuing readership! So here we go; day one on the job(s) I will be starting this build-a-nation challenge managing both my local club and the glorious independent nation of Cumbria in tandem, with the hope of raising the standings of both in the world. I've tested my file and everything seems to be working, there won't be any Continental fixtures for any of the clubs in the first season as Kazakhstani clubs are playing their final UEFA season before they go back to AFC in 2024/25. It's the same with the national team, there won't be a competitive qualifying match until the World cup 2026 qualifying campaign gets underway after Euro 2024, But perhaps that year may be a blessing as I look to get established at club level. I will start my introduction with the Cumbrian national team; Cheers Josh, I'm glad to be here! I have an entirely blank slate with the national team, nobody has ever earned a cap for Cumbria yet, and we have no staff in place yet (aside from Josh who for some reason was hired before me), so I can build a team with my own ideas and philosophies, which is naturally quite an exciting prospect. I've arranged a handful of friendlies for the coming season. Our nations debut on the international stage will be against Macedonia in September before we head to Tbilisi to take on Georgia. But it will be next March's games that will be peaking the interest of our supporters; We take on our neighbours to the North on the 23rd when Scotland visit Brunton Park, before Wales head up the M6 for a visit three days later. I cleared the AI selected squad and have gone through all the positions to pick my own players, my selection will most likely change before the first fixture against Macedonia in September, but here is my initial selection; A handful of elite players such as Jarred Branthwaite, James Trafford and Ben Davies who will be the base I build my team on, the rest are occupying various levels of the football league and in several case non-league positions (And one with no club at all!) . Scoring goals is my main worry as none of the forwards are great, so defence will likely be our bread and butter, at least to begin with. As a collective group I would say we should climb the world rankings pretty quickly, this is a squad that I think is considerably better than our fellow European minnows San Marino, Andorra, Kosovo and Faroe Islands. If I were to pick a level I think this group should be operating at, I would say a stature akin to that of Albania, Latvia or Cyprus, someone of that ilk. My National team aims; (Short Term, Mid-Term, Long Term) - Win any game - Get promoted from our Nation's League Group - Have a player reach 100 caps for Cumbria -Have a player reach 50 goals - Beat England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland in competitive games -Qualify for the Euros -Qualify for a World Cup -Win the Nation's League -Win Euros -Win World Cup That's everything covered from a national team perspective, let me know what you think, how do you reckon we Cumbrians will fare on the world stage? Next update I will cover my club team who I will be hoping to transform into a European powerhouse!

When setting up Cumbria in the editor, I have ensured we are the lowest ranked nation in the world to make this as challenging as possible; I have changed the nationality of everyone who was born in a Cumbrian town or city, from English to Cumbrian; with the exceptions of Scott Carson and Dean Henderson and Rob Edwards who have all represented England at senior level. That leaves a talent pool of 91 players on day one. (Not including generated players) There are a couple of EPL players in the National team, Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite and Burnley's James Trafford are both young and the national team could be built around them for years to come. Rangers's Ben Davies will also important. There won't be any competative fixtures for the first year as we are mid cycle with Euro 2024, this will be Kazakhstan's last outing in a UEFA competition, afterwards they will move to Asian competitions and we will begin World Cup 2026 qualifying in the UEFA place they have vacated, and later Euro 2028 and so on. OK, so that's the Cumbrian national team, now let's have a look at the domestic system; Cumbrian Premier League The top tier of Cumbrian football comprises of sixteen teams who play each other home and away. The winner is crowned champions and will have the honor of being the first club to represent Cumbria in the UEFA Champions League next season, entering in the first qualifying round of Europe's elite club competition. Second and possibly third (depending on th Cumbrian cup winner) will embark on an adventure in the UEFA Conference League, also in the first qualifying round. The bottom two clubs are relegated to the first division below, the team in 14th faces a play-off against the side finishing third in the First division. Reputation-wise, the league is ranked 180th in Europe; alongside the Welsh second division and English seventh tier. My job will be to help raise the profile of the league to make it more attractive to top players and indeed sponsors so clubs can afford to upgrade their facilities and produce high quality academy players to supply the national team with talent. Prize money is modest for realisim, as is TV money, over time they will increase as the league's profile increases. The biggest obsticle I foresee is Carlisle and Barrow completely dominating, I'm sure they will do for at least the first few years, but hopefully the smaller clubs can gradually improve and eventually challenge the two big boys, I'd prefer not to have an Old Firm type dominance where nobody else can win for decades at a time. Cumbrian First Division The promotion tier has eighteen teams vying to reach the top table, the top two go up whereas third place can gain promotion if they can overcome the 14th place Premier League side. All the clubs down here are amatuer, There isn't much to chose between them in terms of stature so hopefully that meens they will all get a chance to play in the Premier League over the next decade or so. Cumbrian Cup The national cup is contested in a single leg knockout tournement by the 34 clubs, the winner earns a place in next season's UEFA Conference league. If the winner is the same as the club finishing first or second in the Premier League, the team finishing third in the League takes the Conference League berth. Supporters Shield A super cup type game between the Premier League champions and the Cumbrian cup winners. (Or League runners up if they are the same) Visit Cumbria Cup A cup competition for the clubs in the First Division, to give them a chance of some silverware.

Hi all; after my sacking in my Sutton Coldfield save I decided to try something a little different. After much fiddling in the editor I have helped my home county, Cumbria to declare independence and secede from England. At around 2,613 square miles, Cumbria is the third largest English County in terms of area behind Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and is in fact larger than a number of the European countries that we will be facing in our quest to become a footballing powerhouse. Dispite it's size, it actually one of the least populated counties with around 498,000 people calling it home which could be an obsticle as I look to develop the nation's football pedigree. Bordered to the North by Scotland, the Irish sea to the west and by England to the East and South, Cumbria becomes the fifth nation to make up the United Kingdom. Cumbria's location within the British Isles. Best known for the beautiful Lake district which is almost entirely within the new country's borders, as well as historic castles, sandy beaches and vibrant towns; Cumbria attracts around 47 million tourists a year which is a huge contributor to the areas economy. In the next post I will begin outlining how I have set up the proud nation of Cumbria in the editor and take you through the league set-up. Keep reading and get involved!

I pay little attention to it other than to get an idea of my first starting XI when I first take over a club whose players I don't know. I've had many who have poor ratings who are consistantly brilliant for me. Once I've been at a club a while and know my squad I don't pay attention to the ratings anymore.

I'm going to give this a go, playing as Matlock. I have many happy memories of trips to Matlock and Matlock Bath, so come on the Gladiators!

I'm quite tempted to try this, I did got quite deep into it years back on the Sortitoutsi forum. One question though, is it really necessery to win both the Cymru North & South and the National League North/South seperatley? as they are the same level. Seems like one of each should be enough.

Good luck, nice to see a save in a league that doesn't get posted about alot on here.

Good idea, but I'm surprised that if your a Saddlers fan your not playing as Pelsall Used to go Walsall games quite a bit with a mate who supported them, when they had Jimmy Walker, Daz Byfield, Jon Macken and Emmanuel Ledesma under Dean Smith. Got quite a soft spot for them. Good start to your season though, keep it going!

Interesting save idea, I played in Bolivia with Club Aurora for a few seasons, but I did find the file I was using to make Bolivia playable was inaccurate and lead to some very funny scheduling such as no Apatura or Clausura, sometimes not having games for a month at a time, having no awards and incomplete trophy histories. all of these combined kind of spoiled the experience for me. But hopefully you have found some better editor data. Good luck with a momentous challenge!

Good luck, always interesting to see regional stuff like this, especially as it's not that far from where I grew up (Sutton Coldfield)

2024/25 preview I've been ringing the changes at Goodison Park as I try to turn the Toffees from relegation battlers into a European competitor in a single season. Objective The board want to finish in the top half of the table, given the amount of money I've spent this summer that should be the absolute minimum, personaly I'm aiming for at least a spot in the Conference League, perhaps even it's two more established counterpart competitions. Winning one of the cups following our poor showing at Wembley last season would also be great. Transfers Out (£148.5 - 165.7M) Yousef Cherminti - Nottingham Forest - £7M (£8M) - Decent prospect but he didn't feature much last season and wasn't really in my plans so it seemed right to let him go to Forest Eli Campbell - Sheffield United £1.5M - Wasn't in my plans so happy to take the money Ben Godfrey - Al Nassr - £20M - I was disapointed to lose Ben who I rated highly but he had his mind made up about going to Saudi so I had to accept their offer. Dwight McNeil - Al Nassr - £34M (£37.5M) - Very hot and cold player, sometimes brilliant and then anonymous. Nearly £40M seemed a more than fair price for him Abdoulaye Doucore - Real Socredad - £9.5M - Good player but with better options coming in I let him go as i don't want unhappy players who arn't playing reguarly. Billy Crellin - Wolves - £300k - back up who hasn't played a minute for me, wolves can have him. Charlie Whittaker - Blackpool - £155k - Same as above Vitaly Mikolenko - Al Ittihad - £25M - Was on loan at Milan last season and wanted to leave for a bigger club. not sure how Al-Ittihad are a bigger club than Everton but hey ho. Idrissa Guye - Real Socriedad - £1.7M - A tough tackling midfielder, but he is nearly 35 now and it seemed prudent to cash in on him why we still can. Jordan Pickford - Arsenal - £48.5M (£59M) - Won player of the tournament at Euro 2024, I really didn't want to sell Jordan but when Arsenal's intrest became known he handed in a request and I didn't want to hold him against his will. £60M seems a good price at least. Jao Virginia - Released - Never going to forgive him for his abysmal performance in the FA cup final. He's returned to his native Portugal with Casa Pia. Ashley Young - Released - I wanted to keep Ashley as a player-coach as he was still a useful back-up, however he wasn't prepared to accept that role so I let him go. Currently unattached. Dele Ali - Released - Never kicked a ball last season due to his hip problem. I wasn't prepared to chance a new contract with his injury history. Now at Rotherham in the Championship. Andre Gomes - Released - Now with Alaves in the Spanish second division. Tidy player but I didn't see him getting too many starts this season so I let him go. Transfers In - £138M Daiya Maekawa - Top goalkeeper who I signed from Japanese J-League side Kobe for a very modest fee of £2.5m Neco Williams - Replaces the outgoing Ben Godfrey at right-back. Neco cost me £19.5M from Forest. Marc Guehi - Part of a triple raid on relegated Palace this summer. Marc is the ball playing defender I want in the heart of my defense alongside James Tarkowski. He set me back £27m Mo Camara - Experienced ball winner who joins us for £10m from Monaco Emile Smith-Rowe - Could be a massive for us, he was listed by request at Arsenal after only getting seven starts last season. For £23M he could be an amazing signing for us if he can reach his massive potential. Ebere Eze - Second Crystal Palace signing; Explosive midfielder who is a nightmare for opposition to deal with when on form, him and ESR could be a real creative force together. £19M Anthony - My replacement for Dwight McNeill; Anthony is a potential world beater on the wing even if it hasn't worked out at Old Trafford, he is initially on loan from Man United but I have the option to buy for £40M. we will see how it goes. Samuel Iling - Signed for £23M from Juventus, an exciting winger who will be hoping the move to England will get him an international call up. Lorenzo Luca - Italian target man signed from Pisa for £9.25M, he spent last season on loan at Udinese where he scored 18 goals in Serie A. Sam Johnstone - Rotation keeper, signed from Palace for £4.5M when Pickford left for Arsenal. He will be my cup goalkeeper and Maekawa my first choice in the Premiership, at least to start with. I'm very happy with my squad now, it is massively improved on last season and should be able to play some exciting attacking football rather than the Tony Pulis Stoke-esc route-one tactics I used last season to keep us up. I'm working on training 4-2-3-1 during pre-season. I now have two quality options in all positions as well as a decent youth prospect who can step up when injuries and suspensions occur; Perhaps you'll disagree, but to my mind, that is a top 6-7 squad. Time will tell if I'm right. Come on you toffees!

My first season at Everton came to a bitter-sweet end; We stayed up comfortably, finishing in 14th place which pleased the new owners. We also reached the Toffee's first FA Cup final in 14 years as we overcame Wigan in the semi final, however we took a battering in the final against City to end the season on a bit of a sour note. Ihenacho was cup tied, so I started with youngster Lewis Dobbin up front as he has scored in every round we've played, unfortunatly he limped off after just two minutes so I had to put on Yousef Cherminti who has not played much since my arrival. Malacia also had to come off at 2-0 down and when I decided to throw on an extra midfielder to stem the flow, that was all my substitutions used before half time. We did briefly show some fight and scored a couple, but we completely ran out of steam and City destroyed us in the second half. It's never nice to lose a final but to get annihilated like this was tough. Still, look forwards; the new owners are making the best part of £200M available to me in the summer so expect a full squad rebuild as I try to reverse years of steady decline at Goodison park, in the final season at Goodision! We will move to the new Bramley-Moor Dock stadium at the end of the season, marking the end of over 130 years at the ground. A real transitional season ahead!

Decided to have a go at this, after holidaying until November 6th, Everton occupied 19th place in the table. So, can I help the Toffee's out of a sticky situation? or will the pressure chew me up? (sorry) I found it hard going at first, it took ten games for us to pick up a win (although it was very hard run of fixtures), thankfully though it looks as if we have turned a corner and are steadily climbing. Beating Liverpool in the Merseyside derby is the highlight so far, reaching the FA Cup quarter finals is a close second, where we will face Wigan for a place in the Wembley semi-finals. January I sold Dominic Calvert-Lewin to Al-Ittihad for £48M, which frankly I snapped their hands off for. Vitaly Mykolenko has also moved to AC Milan on loan with a mandatory purchase for £24M next summer. We also said goodbye to Seamus Coleman who retired following a serious recurring injury. I wanted to keep him at the club and have made him a coach with the under-18's. I've reinvested that money to bring in four players who will hopefully get us playing in the way I want in time; Kelechi Iheanacho - Just the two goals for the Nigerian so far, although he seems to put the ball in the net in most games, just for VAR to rule it out. I reckon he will thrive with a decent partner up front which will be a priority in the summer. Jaeo Rego - Hot prospect winger, signed from Benfica for £7.25M with future fees. He doesn't speak much English yet which has perhaps held him back, but he is a dynamic player who fullbacks hate playing against with his skillfull dribbling. Todd Cantwell - I had hoped to transition to 4-2-3-1, and picked Todd as my man to play attacking midfielder behind Iheanacho, paying £6.75M to Rangers for him. However he tore an abdominal muscle in his first training session which ruled him out for three months, so he still hasn't kicked a ball for us yet. Tyrell Malacia - Deadline day signing from Man United for £6.75M (Half of what United paid for him just last year) to replace the outgoing Mykolenko. He's been solid so far and can still develop plenty in the coming years. So, doing ok at the moment, we've climbed out of the relegation zone a developed a six point cushion I'm aiming to finish 11th or higher as that's what Sir Alex achieved in his first season with United. A trip to Wembley in the cup (preferably two trips!) would also be fantastic. Things could get very interesting next season; Some lovely oil money would certainlly make my attempt to outshine Fergie a lot easier!