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From Somewhere to Somewhere... via Somewhere!


Mike7077

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Hi, folks. With the patch out and my editing of various things done, it's time to carry out a threat I've been making of late - to start up a career thread. I've done one in the past and one or two of you might remember vaguely following a three-season stint I had with Juventus on FM10 (though probably not, and that's okay). I can say that I've been inspired to come back by a handful of threads already here so I apologise if some of what I do appears derivative. For the first time ever, I'm starting unemployed.

What countries have I loaded

Well, imaginary questioner, to put it simply, quite a lot of countries. My laptop does a decent job handling lots of leagues and a large database, so I'll start out that way. I've loaded leagues in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey, Israel, Australia and the United States.

What are you hoping to achieve?

I tend to play FM pretty slowly so I would probably be kidding myself if I said I was aiming for a full-on career save. But I want to start out somewhere with plenty of potential for building a career if I can manage to keep the save moving at a decent pace. Wherever I go, I'd like to win as many matches as possible (obviously) and hopefully, at some stage, get somebody somewhere promoted. I've not done many promotions in my FMing history.

What's your starting reputation?

I know quite a few people like to go with Sunday League, but I'm a bit of a stickler for reality and feel that the majority of the leagues I'd want to start in wouldn't look beyond a professional, or at most a semi-professional. For that reason, I'm a former professional English footballer with no international caps. I'll be 33 at game start, but I must state forcefully that this is not my real age and won't be for a few years yet, thankfully.

What did you have for tea tonight?

Spaghetti bolognese. It was nice.

A few notes on my updating style

As pompous as it sounds, I was an early advocate of the monthly update, and I certainly enjoy reading month-by-month updates more than season-by-season, so this what I will go for. Unlike some others, I will tend not to embed screenshots into my posts. Rather, each match will have a link to a screenshot, which you can click if you want to have a look at that match's details. Each match will be accompanied by a few very short words about my feelings on how it went. Nobody is forced to read this, but a few people told me they liked it last time, so I'm bringing it back. I'll also declare my Man of the Match - it will always be a player on my team and it will be the player I feel performed the best based on what I saw rather than what the games tells me necessarily. I'll also provide screenshot links for anything I feel worth sharing, and I won't rule out the odd embedded screenshot if I really feel it's worth it.

Okay, I don't think there's much else to say. The game is loaded and I've applied for every available job. I'll be back soon with details on what jobs, if any, I am offered. Wish me luck!

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Thanks, withnail316. As you'll see below, I have a lovely variety of options straightaway.

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After pledging not to embed very much, I figured embedding is actually the best approach for this first post.

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My interest has registered. I wonder who'll come in for me.

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Well, I've received eight job offers in total. I've discounted offers from Donegal Celtic and Glebe Rangers in Northern Ireland, Hereford Utd in England, Krymteplytsya Molodizhne in Ukraine and Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia, all of which I feel would be bit too hard. The above offers are seriously interesting me. I really fancy a bash in the A-League or MLS, so both Gold Coast and New England stand a decent chance of getting their man. As for Hansa Rostock, a decent-sized club in the German second tier is an appealing thought.

I've decided to delay any decision and have a think about it.

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Thanks everyone. It's been a hard decision to make in all honesty. There was a clear leaning towards New England from people in this thread and they certainly looked an interesting proposal. They were the only side whose season was well underway and, after 27 games, lie third in the table. A great opportunity to hit the ground running. However....

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So, a decision has been made. It might comes a surprise but hopefully it can serve as a good starting point in my career. I'll post a full introduction to the club and my expectations and hopes in my next post. The fun starts here!

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Thanks, AcidBurn. I'm a bit worried about getting to grips with the squad rules in Australia, but I'm determined to make a go of this.

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Welcome to Gold Coast United

GoldCoastUnitedLogo.jpg

Stadium

Skilled Park (capacity: 27,400)

Robina, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

SkilledParkSnip.jpg

Introduction to the Club

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So my mangerial career begins in the affluent, leafy surroundings of the city of Gold Coast in Queensland. Surprisingly for a club that finished 4th in the previous A-League season (and then 3rd in the play-off phase), they are predicted to finish 9th out of 10 this coming season. So I anticipate a tough season ahead.

Aims and Expectations: With the club predicted such a lowly finish, I'd be satisfied with even a modest overachievement. I'm not fully availed of the way in which the A-League works, but I intend, in my first season, simply to achieve respectability. Anything else would be a bonus.

Finances: These are described in the game as "okay". I get no transfer budget, and a salary cap budget of £25,000-per-week. We are currently spending £21,000, so maybe there's a little room to bring in a player or two, but not much.

Key Players: It's hard to evaluate who will be key players, but the below strike me as having at least something I can work with. Strangely, there are three Eritreans in the squad.

Maceo Rigters - A former Dutch U-21 international, Rigters is a striker who spent several seasons with Blackburn Rovers, but made only two league appearances. He may not have been good enough for the Premier League, but I suspect he might have a thing or two about him in Australian football. I'll be hoping for goals from Rigters in the forthcoming season.

Peter Jungschlager - Another Dutchman, Jungschlager is a 27-year old midfielder with experience in the Eredivisie with De Graafschap, VVV and ADO Den Haag.

Michael Thwaite - The Australian defender is one of the few squad members with full international caps to his name. He's been a regular for the club for two seasons and will need to perform well if we're to exceed our lowly expectations.

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I've had a career in Australia and it is definitely one of the better leagues on FM. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Good luck! :)

Glad to hear someone had fun in Oz. Makes me hopeful I will enjoy it too. I'm gonna give it my best shot. First thing is to get my head around the rules here.

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Thanks for the good wishes, folks.

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GoldCoastUnitedLogo.jpg

Season 2011/2012

PRE-SEASON

Looking at my squad, there are appear to be reasonable options in all positions. Nevertheless, it's hard not to feel that one or two additions would make a difference. I drafted in four players in total.

Signings

AlioumSaidouSnip.jpg

Alioum Saidou is a 33-year old midfielder from Cameroon. Although not getting any younger, his experience could well be useful. He also has 21 caps for one of the leading African football nations, which is not to be sniffed at in this league. I'm hopeful that Saidou will slot well into the DM position.

KazPataftaSnip.jpg

Because of the heavy restrictions on foreigners, it was important to find a decent Australian. With no money to spend, I was lucky to find Kaz Patafta without a club. The young midfielder looks a decent player and will hopefully prove to be a decent signing.

MatejaKezmanSnip.jpg

I wanted to find a decent Australian striker for free to act as competition to the likes of Maceo Rigters, but nobody remotely good enough was available. In the end, I turned to Mateja Kezman. His career has been spiralling downwards since his Chelsea days, but I hope we can spark him back to life in the A-League.

I also signed a young Australian midfielder called Howard Fondyke who was released by Perth Glory at the end of last season and impressed my scout during the trialists match.

Pre-Season Results

Gold Coast Utd 4-2 Brisbane Strikers

Coomera 1-2 Gold Coast Utd

Surfers Paradise 0-3 Gold Coast Utd

Burleigh Heads 0-2 Gold Coast Utd

Musgrave FC 0-6 Gold Coast Utd

A 100% percent record in our pre-season games, but you don't learn all that much when you're playing obviously inferior opposition. Nevertheless, there were positives in our work. We passed the ball really well in all fives matches. There's no guarantee we'll take that into our league matches, but you can only beat what's in front of you and we controlled all the games. If anything, we should have scored far more goals than what we did. In particular, Peter Jungschlager in midfield performed extremely well. On the other hand, Mateja Kezman looked short of fitness and confidence until his hat-trick in the Musgrave game. And for what it's worth, I think Surfers Paradise is an awesome name for a football team!

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They've had very low attendances in real life - averaging between 3,000 and 5,000 for home games, and it's actually been going down. This was the lowest attendance in the A-League. Apparently, if they find a new owner, they might still be able to continue, but it was probably never a viable franchise, really.

But this is Football Manager. Anything is possible. Especially with me in charge. :)

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I guess this is a case of James Brown not feeling good! ;)

Brown is a 21-year old midfielder who I like the look of but who took exception to being placed in the youth squad (basically the reserves). I don't see him being involved in the first team right at the start so I thought it made sense, but he obviously really didn't like it. He's now transfer listed by request. Maybe I'm throwing my weight around a little early but I won't be dictated to by a kid who's proved nothing and needs to impress me in the reserves before anything else.

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Only one fixture in the A-League goes ahead on the opening weekend, with all other matches cancelled due to international call-ups. Makes for a more-than-subdued opening day if you ask me! I'm disappointed because instead of starting with a home games against Wellington Phoenix, the one side predicted to finish below us, we have to wait a week and start with a much more difficult game away to Central Coast Mariners. This also means we will start with two away games now.

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I was wondering if James Brown was still in the A-League, I had him on FM10 and he was awesome obviously not as good on FM12. Surfer's Paradise is one of the best names for a club ever, wonder if any edited files can make them playable. Good luck dude, hopefully I will be doing a new thread in the next couple of weeks.

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I'll keep an eye out for it. It'll be good to jump in at the start for once!

I've just noticed that you only get to name four subs in the A-League, and one of them has to be a goalkeeper! Crazy.

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GoldCoastUnitedLogo.jpg

Season 2011/2012

OCTOBER

This Month's Fixtures

OctoberFixturesSnip.jpg

A fairly awkward start to the season. I take the view that, if we can escape relatively unscathed from two tough-looking away fixtures, there probably points to be had at home against Wellington Phoenix and Newcastle United Jets. If we could come out of the month with between seven and ten points, it would represent a more-than-acceptable start. I find myself having to remember what the media predicts for us this season.

This Month's Results

Saturday October 15th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford

Central Coast Mariners 1-1 Gold Coast Utd

I'll settle for the result, but we barely deserved it. Our performance was clumsy and disjointed, while Central Coast took the game to us, especially in the first half. I was relieved to go in at the break at 0-0. Then, somehow, we took the lead on 49 minutes. The second half was more even, but they probably still shaded it. In the end, it took an implosion from my left back, Traore, to gift the home side the equaliser. He received the ball from Moss in goal, and attempted a straightforward pass to centre-half Rees. His pass fell well short and laid it on a plate for Central Coast. He followed this up by getting sent off for a wild tackle. Still, a point away from home is not too bad a start, regardless of the sloppiness of our overall performance.

MOTM: Ante Rozic - the Croatian centre-half defended stoutly throughout, and boy did he have to!

Friday October 21st, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane

Brisbane Roar 2-0 Gold Coast Utd

This one went much the same way as the previous fixture. The main difference was the quality of Roar. They dominated throughout and it is to our credit that we kept the score respectable. We'll have easier games than this so I'm not too worried at this stage. Brisbane were really very good and it's nice to have this fixture out of the way early on.

MOTM: Michael Thwaite - On an evening when nobody covered themselves in glory, our captain and right-back was reasonably solid and tried to drive forward when he could.

Wednesday October 26th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Skilled Park, Gold Coast

Gold Coast Utd 1-0 Wellington Phoenix

Oh, how nice it is to be off and running. We were the better side, without playing all that well. I'd worry about Wellington. They look to lack any real quality. We didn't produce any great passing moves and a lot of our attacks broke down too easily, but it's my first three points, and it feels great.

MOTM: Michael Thwaite - It's clear that Thwaite is going to be very important this season. He was head and shoulders above everyone else on the pitch. He was our most effective attacking threat at times, despite being a right-back.

Sunday October 30th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Skilled Park, Gold Coast

Gold Coast Utd 3-1 Newcastle United Jets

This was the performance I was waiting for. It really looked as if we clicked a little today. Forget the fact we conceded a stupid goal late on, the Jets barely laid a glove on us all game. This was a solid, impressive and comfortable home win. It was especially pleasing to see both Mateja Kezman and Maceo Rigters on the scoresheet. I still believe these two could be key players for us.

MOTM: Joel Porter - I had to go for Porter. An attack-minded left-winger or a striker by trade, Porter was forced to fill in at left-back and turned in a really strong display.

League Table

A-LeagueTable-October2011.jpg

Player of the Month: Michael Thwaite - Our captain led by example drove the team on. It's no surprise to me that Thwaite is the first player to impress me.

Monthly Reflection: Well, we took seven points from our first four games, which was within the parameters I'd set for us. We were much better at home than away, but the two away fixtures were really tough. I saw enough in that month to suggest we have a chance of bettering the lowly predictions.

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GoldCoastUnitedLogo.jpg

Season 2011/2012

NOVEMBER

This Month's Fixtures

NovemberFixturesSnip.jpg

Just the three games in November, but they look like toughies. Sydney are yet to win, but I'm sure they will eventually. It's still a tough fixture. As for the Melbourne clubs, they've both made really strong starts to the season and will ask huge questions of us. It could be tough to get any points at all from November.

This Month's Results

Sunday November 6th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney

Sydney FC 1-2 Gold Coast Utd

Incredible. Again, we find ourselves under massive pressure and, again, we get a result. This was not unlike the draw at Central Coast on the opening day, with the exception of us taking three points this time. Sydney played well and can feel aggrieved, but I don't care.

MOTM:Jonas Salley - The Ivorian defensive midfielder, on loan from Chinese side Chengdu, was forced to play at centre-back thanks to injuries and had a superb game. His goal helped us to a really good win, and he was as solid as an experienced centre-half at the back.

Friday November 18th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

Skilled Park, Gold Coast

Gold Coast Utd 3-0 Melbourne Heart

At the moment, we look really good at home. This was a thoroughly deserved win from a game we controlled from start to finish. Heart have made a good start to the season so this looks like a really good result. 0-0 at half-time, we turned the screw nicely after the break. This result sees us go top of the league, at least until Melbourne Victory play tomorrow.

MOTM: Ante Rozic - He looks excellent at this level of football. Scored two goals and dealt well with Heart's occasional forays.

Sunday November 27th, 2011

Hyundai A-League

AAMI Park, Melbourne

Melbourne Victory 3-2 Gold Coast Utd

The good run comes to an end. I'll go out on a limb now and say Victory will win the league. They have some cracking players, including Harry Kewell. Despite how well we played in patches, Victory were deserving of the win. Nevertheless, I'm frustrated with how many goals we concede from set pieces. I can't be too downhearted, though. We managed to stay with a very good side.

MOTM: Peter Jungschlager - The midfielder hasn't played anywhere near as well as I thought he would, until today. He scored a goal and assisted another. A competent display.

League Table

A-LeagueTable-November2011.jpg

Player of the Month: Ante Rozic - It could have been Jonas Salley, but I felt Rozic edged it with a really impressive month. He's very strong and anticipates things well. I'm really impressed with what I've seen so far.

Monthly Reflection: This looked like such a tough month, but we've come out of it with four points and lie third in the table. I'm pleased. The win over Melbourne Heart was excellent, while the defeat at Melbourne Victory had plenty of positives. And we proved at Sydney FC that we can win ugly, as well.

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A great month, hope you can continue your good form into December. :thup:

Thanks, man. Six games in December. It's gonna be a key month.

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Always nice to break a record, even at a club that's only three years old!

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This is my left-back. He got sent off on the opening day and missed the rest of October. But, to be fair, he played well during November. He's doing okay.

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Nice work, dude and a pretty good start too. I keep meaning to try Australia, but never get round to it, will be interesting to see what you make of it. Perhaps you could end up trying Ant's continental dominance challenge.

I'm using your lovely tactic. It's serving me quite well so far.

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Chengdu are Chinese not South Korean!! I managed them, I know, Salley was a key player for me, glad he's doing well for you.

Thanks for pointing that out. I'll correct it now. I did actually know, so it's just a simple mistake. By a simple person.

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Chengdu are Chinese not South Korean!! I managed them, I know, Salley was a key player for me, glad he's doing well for you.

Nothing wrong with calling a Chinese club South Korean, just don't call a South Korean person Chinese or vice versa. The two nationalities don't look alike contrary to popular belief. :lol:

Doing well early Mike. Keep it up.

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