Written In The Stars

Welcome to the WRITTEN IN THE STARS thread. After our most successful clan to date earlier in the year on FM14 where we managed to complete 10 seasons(not as many as other clans but we don't like to hol between matchdays as to us FM is more than a matchday experience ) We are back after taking a break to watch the world cup with our last clan for FM14 before FM15 comes out.

We have decided to start in the most competitive league in the world the Sky Bet Championship as this leagues offer you loads of ex premiership teams who are all fighting it out for the top 6 spots in the league and some decent players.

This could promise to be the best year yet for our new clan WRITTEN IN THE STARS as with starting in such a competitive league in the world which is sure to give clan members even more thrills, spills, relegation battles, top 6 fight , heart ache, you might find a gem that could prove to be a swift piece of business and have the big clubs in the world after him, blow your budget on a rough diamond and good banter (which is always the most important thing). There maybe times where arguments happen due to results and pressure of being a football manager but whatever the outcome it will be an exciting roller-coaster ride that you will want to hold on tight to until the bitter end.

Each clan member will get their team via a random draw where each member will pick a number between 1-24 so you could find yourself very lucky and have one of the 3 clubs who have just come down from the premiership or be unlucky and get one of the newly promoted sides whatever happens it will just make the game more competitive between each member and of course if you do well you might find yourself in charge of one of the top premiership clubs soon enough however if you do badly you could find yourself in a lower league scrap to get back to where you feel you belong.

Days/Times

Thursday – 6.00pm – 11.00pm

Sunday - 6.00pm - 11.00pm

Teams/Managers

Rules

1) No using FM Scout or cheat machines

2) Committed players only

3) If you can't make a session, an e-mail in advance would be useful.

4) Start with past experience reputation set to automatic

5) You MUST Post on forum during following – End of August transfer window, End of January transfer window, end of season review. Everyone can post anytime other than these if they wish to do so.

6) Random Teams selected.

7) No unsettling other Manager's players when you're not actually interested in buying the player

8) Use Skype to chat during times, banter is fine, but NO foul insults, so keep it a friendly game

9) If you get sacked or resign for some reason you must continue as unemployed and apply for the jobs that are available. If you can’t get a job after 1month of applying then you can retire and get a random club one division below.

10). Matches must be played Highlights Mode "Key" or "Only Commentary". Match Speed must be at full or at least near to full speed. Replays must be turned off, you will be allowed to play 3D matches aslong as they don’t slow the game down for other members.

11) "Show Player Pictures", "Show Background Pictures" and "Show Badges" must all be unticked

12). Assistant Manager must take control of friendlies in pre season and timer will be set to 2mins for transfers. During season timer will be set to 1minute unless end of August and January where timer will be set longer (maximum 2mins) if requested by a clan member.

13) If you have a problem with any of the rules, speak to me, don't go whinging about it to other members or keep your frustrations to yourself.

14) If a board takeover takes place and manager gets sacked, clan member may retire and go back to club if they wish.

15) Everyone must use own tactics/training schedules downloaded ones are not allowed.

16) Online shortlists are not allowed as can spoil transfer activities between members.

New to WRITTEN IN THE STARS clan will be our own voting system at the end of the season for – Manager of the season, Team of the season, Best Buy of the season and Worst Buy of the season.

PLEASE DON’T POST ON THE THREAD IF YOU’RE NOT A MEMBER THANKS

Hope you all enjoy this thread and I hope to keep u posted as and when we go.

Good luck this year Chewy, hope the success continues for the clan!

Good luck Mark.

First of all Mark, Welcome to St James’ Park

Thanks very much, it’s great to be here, smiles

What are your first impressions of the club?

I’ve watched Newcastle over the last few years and I think they are a good side and seeing the training facilities and the stadium I think the club has a lot of potential.

Its your 1st team in management, how did you find yourself in charge of a Premiership club?

I started doing my coaching badges in my late teens after I unfortunately picked up a knee injury which ended my career as a player. I then worked my way up to my pro license and when the Newcastle job came up I thought I had gained a lot of experience working with the youngsters at my local club and was looking for a full time position at a well respected club. Luckily during my interview with the chairman and the board they could see my vision for the club and have given me this great opportunity.

You have said that your going to be dipping your toes into the transfer market, do you have any targets in mind?

I have a few areas in mind where we could improve the team but of course I am going to keep them to myself, smiles.

Do you think you could push for a Mid Table or Top Half place?

We'll anything can happen if we work hard enough on the training pitch

Thanks for your time Mark and good luck with your new position at Newcastle United.

After looking through the squad although I would like to change most of it decided against my initial thoughts and decided I needed to build the club up slowly. I looked through the transfer market and managed to get a few decent players which I thought could improve the side straight away and reach my aim of a mid table or top half finish.

My Signings after the Summer transfer window were

As you can see I managed to sign Lampard who was arguable my biggest signing after he had been released by Chelsea I was supprised to get him with no compettiton from other memebers of the clan but think mainly this was down to his initial demands of 125k which most clubs couldn't afford and I myself was struggling to match. After some tough negotiations I managed to persuade him to take 60k a week which for a player of his quality was a bargain. The only other signing I would say I decided to take a gamble on was Chico mainly because the other centre halfs I was looking at were more expensive and having played in the premiership before with Swansea I thought he'd settle pretty quickly and if it didn't work out I could sell him for a much higher fee than I bought him for.

Pre Season to October Results

Well as you can see above when the fixtures came out at the start of the season we were handed a tough run in and although pre season results were good when the new season started and we got off to the worst possible start I was starting to think we might be cut a drift at the bottom of the league for the first few months but I'm glad to say I was wrong and one week after that hammering at Chelsea we responded in the best possible way beating Arsenal at home. We have had a few draws where we could of really done with turning a couple into wins but now in October I feel the squad is starting to gel more and back to back wins have put us in the top 10 where I would although along way to go be more than happy with if the season finished now.