The only way is up!

[laBOMBA]

Intro

With my previous thread in the back of my mind: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/297353-laBOMBA-s-World-Class-Journey

I decided to temporarily stop with that career, based on following experiences I had with FM games:

I love building up a club from a lower league, and getting it through the leagues to become the best team in the country, and possibly Europe. I usually jump ship when I get a better offer from a higher ranked club, but I decided not to do that in this new save game and to see how far I could go with one club.

I also wanted to start as low as possible, so I looked around in the editors forum and decided to use this database, which brings the game down to level 14 in England. I started at level 14 but found my computer can't cope with all the leagues, so I reduced the database to an acceptable speed, level 11.

Furthermore, I wanted my manager to come from an obscure country. Just to see if I can get lots of regen players in my youth squad and form a good national team after a while.

So, my goals with this game are:

• Take control of a level 11 club
• Get the club promoted to the premiership.
• Win the premiership with the club
• Win the champions league with the club
• Build up youth facilities to the maxumum possible
• Create a national team with players from my youth academy.
• My chosen country to qualify for the World Cup (not necessarily managed by me)

I will do seasonal updates with the best players of my club and league results. I will keep track of the generated players of my chosen country, reputation of my club, my nation, and my manager reputation.

I looked at the different obscure nations and decided to go with Saint Kitts & Nevis. The locals have English sounding names so a random name generator determined my manager was to be known as Trevor Weston.

[laBOMBA]

I thought I'd show the stats in a graph format. I might change or add a few later.
Note that these stats are taken after the last game of the season is played when the squad has their first day of holiday.

[SRL88]

Good luck fella .

[markyosullivan]

Will be following this, good luck!

[laBOMBA]

Cheers guys, first update coming up...

[laBOMBA]

All the lower clubs were all managerless so I had heaps of clubs I could choose from. I wanted a random picked club so I went on holiday while applying for any job in the lowest leagues. The first club that offered me a contract was Harwich & Parkeston so I decided to join them.



2011-2012
Harwich & Parkeston
Essex & Suffolk Premier Division (level 11)

Harwich & Parkeston General Info

The club has a stadium (Royal Oak) that allows for 1000 people to stand and watch the game. Furthermore, the club has decent facilities and should get some relatively talented youngster in.
Here are my managers details and experience.
I had a look at the clubs history, and instead of pasting the whole history below, here is the link to the history page on their website:
http://www.harwichandparkestonfc.co.uk/col.asp?cid=39

The club plays at level 11 (Essex & Suffolk Premier Division) in the English league system. We're an amateur club which is both good and bad: I don't pay a single player, but they can leave whenever they feel like. I set out and scouted about a gazillion free players, which turned out great as I was able to sign lots of new faces for the club. And it was needed as a few players got poached by other clubs every month throughout the season (Transfer Overview). It was quite hard to have a consistent line up because of this but we somehow managed to get great results. We blitzed the league and secured promotion with 5 games to go.

Results:

English League Level: 11
Essex & Suffolk Premier Division: 1st
FA Cup: did not participate
FA Vase: 4th round loss to Larkhall Athletic
Eastern counties league cup: did not participate

Key players:

Josh Klein-Davis - Welsh Striker who moved to Tiverton Town before the end of the season. He played really well in our team: 29 apps, 19 goals, 10asts, 7MoM, 7.52 AvR
David Goodwin - Took over Josh's role and picked up the goal scoring duty
Trevor Mutero - player from Mozambique who played ok. Got a goal here and there and the crowd voted him to player of the year.
James Gilpin - I was amazed this player wanted to come and play for H&P. He could easily get a paying job somewhere, but nevertheless... very happy to have him as my other goalies were rubbish and this guy could actually stop a shot

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 202

Club reputation: 431
Club finances: +$6385
Club worth: $5K
Club facilities: no change
Club youth academy best player: Ben Glass
Club youth academy SKN player: none

SKN reputation: 2000
SKN FIFA ranking: 124
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

SKN players from club: none yet

[laBOMBA]

2012-2013
Harwich & Parkeston
Eastern Counties League First Division (level 10)

Having lost lots of players last season, and expecting the same this season, I beefed up the squad with lots of players. Luckily I got the new players in before the board decided to go Semi-Professional. It really sucks as every new player now needs a part-time contract and we're not earning enough to support part-time players. On the other hand, I can now pay a few key players so that they can't move clubs at will, and I will at least get some money if another club wants to but my key players. One Scottish lad in particular (Hamish Hay) looks like he ll be able to drag the team forward, and I made him sign a part-time contract so I wouldn't lose him. With his pace he found himself with lots of one on ones with only the opposition goalie to beat, which he luckily did most of the times.
We started off really bad and it took 5 games before we had our first win. Once we got kicked out of the cups, our form increased and we steamed through the league to claim first place. 2nd promotion in 2 seasons! Hamish Hay did great and got rewarded with a call-up for the Scottish u19 team.

Results:

League Level: 10
Eastern Counties League First Division: 1st
Fa Cup: kicked out in the extra preliminary round against Biggleswade Town
Fa Vase: lost to Crook Town in the 3rd qualifying round
Eastern counties league cup: lost in the 3rd round against Brantham Athletic

Key players:

Hamish Hay - very fast, makes himself available a lot and scores a lot as well even though is finishing and composure is not too good. But he gets to the open spot most of the times

Andrea Zola - This Italian ex-West Ham, ex-Histon player was happy to join us on a part-time contract. He did really well as a left back and charged forward quite a bit. He did lots of assists to Hay, but also found the head of Underwood with corners and free kicks.

Gavin Underwood - Was very good at the back and at free kicks with his height and jumping. He scored a fair bit from corners and free kicks. He is actually one of our own youth products.

Claude Seanla - This strong target man from Ivory Coast won heaps of battles and scored a fair bit out of them. He paired up really well with Hay.

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 450 (+248)
Club reputation: 698 (+267)
Club finances: -$19375 (-$25760)
Club worth: $20K (+$15K)
Club youth academy best player: Bradley Palmer
Club youth academy SKN player: none

SKN reputation: 2000 (unchanged)
SKN FIFA ranking: 128 (-4)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

SKN players from club: none yet



More stats available in 2nd post of this thread.

[Lenzar]

Any chance the finances could be put in GBP?

It'll be easier to understand transfer values as you go up the leagues.

KUTGW.

[laBOMBA]

2013-2014
Harwich & Parkeston
Eastern Counties League Premier Division (level 9)

Even though we're Semi-Professional, it's quite hard to sign new players as we're quite low on funds and I don't want to spend money on players when we're in the red. I also reduced my scouting range and told my scout it was pointless to go outside of England to look for players. It's cheaper this way and we need to save money wherever we can.

Again, the season didn't start off that great. Lots of narrow losses and I feel the luck we had last season is now working against us. We belong in the league, but we mostly get that 1 goal against, totally against play. We usually have most possession and shots at goal but no wins. Quite frustrating, but nothing we can do about it. As a result, we didn't climb up the league as far as I would have hoped and finished on a 13th spot. Our defence was decent this season, it was our attacking that let us down. Most games we had the upperhand but we just missed composure when it mattered.

This was a season to quickly forget. We didn't even get far in the FA Cup. There was however one highlight: We won the Eastern Counties League Cup with a 1-0 win over Kirkley & Pakefield. Unfortunately the prizemoney associated with this cup is not that great so we didn't get much financial gain from winning the Cup.


Results:

League Level: 9
Eastern Counties League Premier Division: 13th
Fa Cup: got kicked out early: AFC Fylde beat us 2-0 in the Extra Preliminary Round
Fa Vase: 5th round loss to Tividale
Eastern counties league cup: Winner!

Key players:

Hamish Hay - with 16 goals and 13 assists, again a good season for this Scottish lad.
Gavin Underwood - also Gavin had a good average rating, although I would have hoped he would have scored more.
Andrea Zola - on of my 2 wing backs who did a lot of work in the team by both defending, but also moving up whenever possible
Thomas Lyskov - the other wing back who did exactly the same as Zola, but on the other wing.

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 548 (+98)
Club reputation: 748 (+50)
Club finances: -$69968 (-$50593)
Club worth: $20K (-)
Club youth academy best player: David Wood
Club youth academy SKN player: Richie Bates
SKN reputation: 2000 (-)
SKN FIFA ranking: 131 (-3)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

Graduation Year | Name | Age | Reputation | Reputation difference | Caps (goals)

2013-2014 | Richie Bates | 16 | 86 | - | 0 (0)

[laBOMBA]

Any chance the finances could be put in GBP?

It'll be easier to understand transfer values as you go up the leagues.

KUTGW.

The currency is Australian Dollar because it makes it easier for me to relate to since I am based in Melbourne. However, the game is in England so I'll give the GBP a go next season and see if I can get used to it.

[SRL88]

Slowly rising. Good first season at this level to.

[markyosullivan]

Going good so far, promotion next season?

[FMtillidie]

Gunna follow this mate.

[laBOMBA]

2014-2015
Harwich & Parkeston
Eastern Counties League Premier Division (level 9)

This season has a completely different feeling than last season. I feel that when you win your first few games in the league, it is likely you'll end up high in the ranking at the end of the season since the vibe has been set at the start. That is exactly what happened this season. I revamped the tactics in the hope to get the strikers to score more. I was massively in depth that the board had to provide a cash injection and I couldn't afford any new players as my wage budget was low. But surprisingly, we won a fair bit. The league started great and we stayed within the top 5 throughout the whole season. At the end of the season, we needed that final push in the last 5 games to stay ahead of everyone else and we did exactly that. We finished 1st and have another promotion under our belt.

Compared to last season, this was a season to remember as we also did really well in the FA Cup and the associated cash flow. We kept drawing home games in the qualifying stages which gave us great attendances, and also prize money for winning a lot of games. We played lots of teams from leagues above us and won! We ended up qualifying for the FA Cup! Suddenly our financial status went from "Insecure" to "Ok". We played Wycombe Wanderers in the first round but they were way too strong for us: a 1-3 loss.

Results:

League Level: 9
Eastern Counties League Premier Division: 1st
Fa Cup: 1st round loss to Wycombe Wanderers
Fa Vase: 2nd qualifying round loss to Horley Town
Eastern counties league cup: Quarter Final loss to Wroxham FC

Key players:

Gavin Underwood - Won a lot of balls in the air. Only scored once this season but played well in defence
Andrea Zola - Lost of crosses for him again.
Ken Prosser - New player this season and is a well balanced player. Good up front as a poacher
Derek Mathias - Played really well on the wing as an inside forward. He got his fair share of goals as well.

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 1074 (+526)
Club reputation: 998 (+250)
Club finances: -$7871 (+$62097)
Club worth: $35K (+$15K)
Club youth academy best player: Christian Warne
Club youth academy SKN player: -
SKN reputation: 2000 (-)
SKN FIFA ranking: 152 (-21)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

Graduation Year | Name | Age | Reputation | Reputation difference | Caps (goals)

2013-2014 | Richie Bates | 17 | 270 | +184 | 0 (0)

[laBOMBA]

Slowly rising. Good first season at this level to.

It looks not too hard to rise through the leagues at his level

[laBOMBA]

Going good so far, promotion next season?

Sure did!

[laBOMBA]

Gunna follow this mate.

Hope you'll like it!

[laBOMBA]

2015-2016
Harwich & Parkeston
Isthmian League First Division North (level 8)

The new season already started on the wrong foot by the board deciding to go professional. We're struggling financially as it is, and I don't feel offering my players full time contracts as I can't afford it. Most players are still on an amateur contract, including me!

Both board and media are expecting us to go for top5 this season, and if I can keep my players motivated, that might just happen. However, most players felt they deserve professional contracts and kept whining about getting an improved contract all season. I ignored every single one of them and the mood in the squad changed. Nobody was happy, and bad results followed. We tumbled down the rankings and landed on a final 10th spot. Everybody labeled us underperforming.

We also had a new chairman at the end of the season, but he already indicated he wasn't going to invest in anything any time soon. The only thing we can do is to try and win as many cup games as we can, and hope for a promotion soon so we can boost up our attendances.
I wish there was an option to discuss with the board to go back to semi-professional status as it really screwed us over this season and I'm worried about the next few seasons.

The FA Cup wasn't too good either: lost 0-1 in the 2nd Qualifying round to Belper Town. The only positive news was that we reached the Semi Final of the Isthmian League Cup.

Our academy (or what looks like an academy) produced another SKN player. He doesn't look that good to get a cap, but you never know. The SKN national team is still full of greyed out players.

Despite the mixed results, this goal was a great shot from McGuiness.

Results:

League Level: 8
Ryman's Isthmian League First Division North: 10th
FA Cup: lost 0-1 in the 2nd Qualifying round to Belper Town
FA Trophy: lost 1-2 in the 1st Qualifying Round to Aylesbury
Isthmian League Cup: Semi-Final 1-2 loss to Bedfont Town

Key players:

Hamish Hay - solid season again, 14 goals in 31 games.
Thomas Lyskov - he is developing into a key member of the squad, fast on the wings and comes forward quite a bit
Richmond Kissi -Played as one of the strikers in the 4-3-3 formation, played really well in Cup games and brought us to the semi final of the Isthmian League Cup
Ken Prosser - another striker who did well in the 4-3-3 formation. Like Richmond, he too played better in the Cup games

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 1174 (+100)
Club reputation: 998 (-)
Club finances: -$41921 (-$34050)
Club worth: $12K (-$23K)
Club youth academy best player: Ben Watson
Club youth academy SKN player: Jordan Doherty
SKN reputation: 2000 (-)
SKN FIFA ranking: 152 (-)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

Graduation Year | Name | Age | Reputation | Reputation difference | Caps (goals)
2013-2014 | Richie Bates | 18 | 446 | +176 | 0 (0)
2015-2016 | Jordan Doherty | 16 | 172 | - | 0 (0)

[SRL88]

Thomas Lyskov looks a decent talent for this level.

[laBOMBA]

Thomas Lyskov looks a decent talent for this level.

He is! I'm surprised no one has done a bid for him yet...

[laBOMBA]

2016-2017
Harwich & Parkeston
Isthmian League First Division North (level 8)

I can be brief about this season: Horrible, horrible, horrible. One to quickly forget. We dominate most games, get most possession, most shots and LEAST goals. It felt like there was a curse on my strikers. And just when I think we win a game when we're ahead in the 80th min, they always manage to score a goal or two in the last 10mins. We ended up15th in a season where we were supposed to be top 5. The new chairman hasn't seen a good season yet.
Luckily the Cups were better and brought in some well needed dough for the club.

Results:

League Level: 8
Ryman's Isthmian League First Division North: 15th
FA Cup: lost 1-2 in the 1st Round to Scunthorpe Utd
FA Trophy: lost 0-1 in the 1st Round to Macclesfield Town
Isthmian League Cup: 1st round 0-2 loss to Uxbridge FC

Key players:

Not suprisingly, my defenders have the best rating this season.
Kevin McEwan - Scottish defender who got injured once in a while, but played great when he was on the pitch.
Graham Browne - This kid really improved this season. He is an academy player from my first season at H&P and earned his spot in the starting line up.
Andrea Zola - Again a solid season from Andrea. Good for 11 assists this season.
Ben Watson - Probably one of the best youth players that has come through the academy in recent years. First full season for him and he beat Hamish Hay to become the club top scorer this season.


Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 1374 (+200)
Club reputation: 998 (-)
Club finances: -$10739 (+$31182)
Club worth: $20K (+$8K)
Club youth academy best player: Lewis Cobb
Club youth academy SKN player: -
SKN reputation: 2000 (-)
SKN FIFA ranking: 169 (-17)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

Graduation Year | Name | Age | Reputation | Reputation difference | Caps (goals)
2013-2014 | Richie Bates | 19 | 461 | +15 | 0 (0)
2015-2016 | Jordan Doherty | 17 | 403 | +231 | 0 (0)

[fat Lion1]

Good read this, I am currently taking a team up from level 14 and hoping to achieve similar asperations as yourself.

[laBOMBA]

Good read this, I am currently taking a team up from level 14 and hoping to achieve similar asperations as yourself.

Thx.
You must have a super computer! I found mine too slow when I played 14 levels so reduced it down to level 11. Do you post updates somewhere as well?

[laBOMBA]

2017-2018
Harwich & Parkeston
Isthmian League First Division North (level 8)

After 2 bad seasons in a row, the motivation to continue has faded somewhat. I hanged in there though, hoping promotion would happen this season, or at least a top 5 finish. The season started promising with a higher efficiency up front. Something I haven't experienced in a while. I also alternated my tactics here and there as I see fit. It worked well and were 2nd with 6 games to go. For some reason we lost 5 them and tumbled down to 4th spot. Bummer as we could have challenged for the title. Luckily we won both of our playoff games and secured promotion!
The cups weren't anything special this season.

Results:

League Level: 8
Ryman's Isthmian League First Division North: 4th
FA Cup: lost 0-2 in the 2nd Qualifiying round to Harrow Borough
FA Trophy: lost 0-3 in the 3rd Qual. Round to Workington
Isthmian League Cup: 1st round 0-1 loss to St Francis Rangers


Key players:

Graham Browne - great season! Probably my best defender in the squad.
Hamish Hay - 16 goals out of 34 games. Not a bad season, but good enough
Andrea Zola - A regular in my top players list. 11 assists again this season. He does take all the corners and sometimes finds the head of a tall defender.
Ben Watson - top scorer this season again. 21 goals.

Stats:

Manager (world) reputation: 1564 (+190)
Club reputation: 1248 (+250)
Club finances: -$57209 (-$46470)
Club worth: $20K (-)
Club youth academy best player: Cameron Wilshere
Club youth academy SKN player: -
SKN reputation: 2000 (-)
SKN FIFA ranking: 138 (+31)
SKN best player (avg rating): -
SKN best player reputation: -
SKN new players in national team: -

Player Watch:

Graduation Year | Name | Age | Reputation | Reputation difference | Caps (goals)
2013-2014 | Richie Bates | 20 | 536 | +75 | 0 (0)
2015-2016 | Jordan Doherty | 18 | 580 | +177 | 0 (0)

[fat Lion1]

Thx.
You must have a super computer! I found mine too slow when I played 14 levels so reduced it down to level 11. Do you post updates somewhere as well?

I do indeed: http://community.sigames.com/showthr...!-Rubbish-Team!

Good luck in level 7!

[laBOMBA]

I do indeed: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/311347-Rubbish-Player!-Rubbish-Team!

Good luck in level 7!

Cheers. Hopefully I can get to a national level soon as I really need to drastically increase my attendances at games.

[fat Lion1]

I'll be watching your progress! Nothing more satisfying than dragging a club from obsecurity.