I'm A Football Manager Get Me Out Of Here

So after recent unfortunate failures I have quickly come up with a new idea for my long term career save (this time more regular back up saves need to be done).

I’m A Football Manager Get Me Out Of Here

So basically the idea is a journeyman career thread but one that will have certain challenges along the way these will be known as Bush Tucker Trials, these will be challenges with certain aims and ways that I have to do it.

There will also be Dingo Dollar Challenges these will be challenges that I wish to complete along the way. These however will not be with any restrictions and can be completed at any point and with any team.

The last point is that I would like this to be interactive as possible, so a little bit like the show I want people to get in touch and give me challenges to do (rather than voting) for example my first challenge will be in Australia.

Bush Tucker Trials

- Win the Asian Champions League with an Australian Team

- Win the Asian Nations Cup with Australia

- Restore a Former Great Club to the Top

- Surpass the Old Firm in Scotland and win Champions League with the team

- Win La Liga and Champions League with a team who aren't Barca or Real

- Win Serie A and Champions League with a team other than Milan, Inter, Juventus

- Win EPL and Champions League with a team other than Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal, Chelsea or Liverpool

- Win Copa Libertadores and Argentinian League with a team other than Boca and River

Dingo Dollar Challenges

- Win the Asian Champions League

- Win the European Champions League

- Win the Copa Libertadores

- Win the World Cup

- Win the European Championship

- Win the Asian Nations Cup

- Win the Copa America

Please all provide as many suggestions as possible, I hope you all follow and enjoy this as much as I know I will.

NB:I have ran a holiday on this past the previous point where my last save failed and it seemed to have worked well.

So to began my challenges I have decided to start here with Australia.

I will be looking to take Sydney all the way to Asian Champions I am not sure how long it will take but we have a decent enough squad to do well in this league.

Wanderers FC - Season Preview 2013/14

Board Expectations:

Hyundi A League: Achieve a mid table position

My Expectations:

Hyundi A League: Fair enough I think, there is plenty of worse teams than us

Budgets:

Transfer Budget: £0

Wage Budget: £48,653 (currently spending £48,653)

Balance: £3,137,805

(credit to SRL88 for the layout)

2013/14 - Mid Season Report - Wanderers FC

The season began with a draw at home to a side that I felt we were better than. We had the best of the play and also had plenty chances to win so I was not to down about the result. We then lost in a game where we absolutely awful, I was slightly more concerned about this game as we were truly awful. We then faced local rivals. I really wanted to mark this with a win as nothing does more for a manager than an early win over the local rivals. It was not to be as we could only manage a draw, it was once again another match which we should have won.

Things did not get much better in our next few games as we lost 3 of our next 4 and we only managed a draw in the other game. At this stage my job was slipped down to insecure and I felt that my first bush tucker trial may have been an early failure. To be fair at this stage I was really struggling with injuries so I don’t think that helped my cause at all.

Once the injuries began to come back we played much better. We drew our next two games before finally recording our first win of the year. Like buses once one game along more were sure to follow as we won our next two games as well. This pulled my job back into secure status. We then lost our final game of the first half of the season in a very poor performance. We played much better in our local derby but could not do enough to rescue a win.

As for the next section of the year I will be looking to pull this club into the play off section. I feel like we have just about enough talent to get us there but we will need to improve our form. I am not able to bring any new faces in as we have maxed the wage budgets so I will have to work with what I have.

Some challenges have no been updated, I will continue to update this as when I get suggestions or can think of others.

2013/2014 - End Of Season Report - Wanderers FC

This season did not go very well at all for us. I did not manage to kick on from the early part of the season and we really just maintained the poor from throughout the remainder of the year. In the end the board decided that this was not good enough and decided that I would be relieved of my duties as manager.

TO really show how poor my form was last year this team won this league and now this year I manage to lead them to all but the bottom of the league, no wonder they wanted to get rid of me as manager, I am surprised that they held onto me for this long.

This was not how I envisaged my first season into this challenge but I must take what comes. For now I am going to leave the A League and try to find a new club where I can hit at least one of the aims in my career.

Year                  Club                   League           Position              Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14          Wanderers FC            Hyundi A League       9th                   Sacked
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2014/2015 - Scottish Championship - Mid Season Review

February 18th will be a very important date in the future of Raith Rovers football club if I get my way. I have taken over the club, I have not been given any transfer budget nor have I got a great deal of change from my wage budget.

As you will see from the table the club are not doing as well as I reckon they could be. Especially considering last year they finished 5th in the league so that is enough to prove that they can challenge at this level. For this year or at least what's left I will be looking to just keep us in this league before next year looking to kick on. I am not going to be able to make any changes before the end of the year so we will just have to run with what we have.

I am out of all cup competitions except for the Scottish Cup where we have Celtic in the quarter finals. I am not expecting to progress past this so it wont be too much of a distraction for me.

2014/2015 - Scottish Championship - End of Season Review Review

I only came in for last part of the season.

We began against a very decent side and as usual with the massive changes in the club its obviously going to take time for the group to settle. We then went out in the Scottish Cup to by far the best team in Scotland. I then beat Cowdenbeath who at the time were top, that was followed with a win over fellow relegation prospects which helped out our chances of staying up. We could only manage a drew against Rangers but I was happy to be out of the relegation zone.

We then won 2 out of our next 3 games before loosing our final game of the season. This however is enough to keep us up.

Finances - Fairly poor but hopefully this are is something which I can improve

Kenny Miller - Was a real professional for me when I was here. He was asked to play just behind the striker and was superb, although he refuses to sign a new deal so he may not be here for me next year which would be a real shame.

Ryan Callachan - Young centre midfiled player who got plenty of chances this year, he will get plenty more next year if he continues to improve at this rate

Year                  Club                   League              Position              Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14          Wanderers FC            Hyundi A League          9th                   Sacked
2014/15          Raith Rovers            Scottish Championship    6th                   Took over in Feb, club was 9th
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I will look next year to get closer to the playoffs. I will look at add a few more bits of quality into the team as I feel were a bit light in some places which is not great. I will also like a little cup run

Raith Rovers - Scottish Championship - 2015/2016

Board Expectations:

Scottish Championship: Achieve a respectable position

Scottish Cup: Round 5

Scottish League Challenge Cup: Not important

My Expectations:

Scottish Championship: I think that is fair enough I would be upset if we didn't reach it

Scottish Cup: Ok, if we get the draw

Scottish League Challenge Cup: I would like a little run

Budgets:

Transfer Budget: £1,000

Wage Budget: £9,573(currently spending £10,627)

Balance: £-8,021

Best wishes on your challenges.

Best wishes on your challenges.

Cheers pal, things are going much better in Scotland

2015/2016 - Scottish Championship - Mid Season Review

In the league things began in tough fashion against a recent relegated Dundee United side. We tried everything we could but we could not manage to break them down and we succumb to an opening day defeat which is unfortunate. We won our next two games against sides that I think will be struggling for survival this year, its good to know that we seem to be so much better than sides like that.

We then faced a tough game we were two nil up but due to a few injuries mid game we had to change things round slightly and this resulted in a defeat. We faced another one of the bigger sides in this league and were unable to get through them as only a lucky 2nd half goal saved us from a defeat. Two wins followed against teams that I felt would be near the top of the table this year.

I was disappointed to only get a draw against the Queen of the South, they are really struggling and I felt we should have got three points against them. We played really well in our next two games and recorded a very needed six points. I could not believe that I was unable to beat Dumbarton but in a game we dominated only resulted in a draw. We then lost to Berwick in a very poor performance.

We carried on in the league with a very tough game, thankfully though we did record a very solid victory to return to some sort of form. In the next game against another promotion contender we did very well to record an away win. Another massive team was next up for us, they were bang out of form so it was great to secure such an overwhelming win. Another tough game against Cowdenbeath resulted in another strong three points for us

In the Challenge Cup, we beat Montrose and Berwick before loosing out to a much inferior East Fife side, I really felt that I could have won this competition. In the League Cup we destroyed Montrose and Cowdenbeath before meeting Hearts. We absolutely battered them to get through to the next round were we would face Celtic who we would take all the way to penalties which we lost 10-9 on penalties. We began the Scottish Cup against Livingston which was were it would for us aswell.

2015/2016 - Scottish Championship - End of Season Review Review

The end of my first full season in Scotland and there is two things to note. Firstly I am enjoying my time in Scotland and with Raith more than I have done anywhere any so far on Football Manager 14. Secondly I did not expect the season to be as superb as it was.

We began the second half of the season with four straight wins, all of which were fantastic but the win over a very good Dundee United side was particularly pleasing for me. I was starting at this point to believe that we might just have enough to hold on to get promoted this year which would be fantastic. My thoughts of promotion came firmly crashing back to earth with a defeat to fellow contenders Falkirk. We responded superbly with three straight wins, the two over St Johnstone and Dunfermline were amazing and really showed that we could contend with the superpowers of this league.

I don’t think we have played as badly all season as we did in the loss to Queen of the South we were lucky to get nil in this game and the players were told of this. I was just hoping it would not lead to a huge collapse. I needn’t had worried as we responded with three more wins on the bounce to put us firmly in control at the top of the table.

We then went on a streak of four games without a win. Luckily in this time none of our contenders had enough about them to capitalise on our poor form and our mini revival at the end of the year was enough to hand us the title in the end with relative ease.

Finances - Really improved this year with the title and the little cup runs. Should only continue to get better next year with the SPL money

Callum Elliot - Much like last year with Kenny Miller, was asked to fill an unfamiliar role and was fantastic till the very end, a real shinning light in our campaign

Blaise Makiese - A transfer I sorted out last year, I was a little worried how he would settle but he has took to the task like a duck to water, a true credit to us and another who will improve year on year

Year                  Club                   League              Position              Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14          Wanderers FC            Hyundi A League          9th                   Sacked
2014/15          Raith Rovers            Scottish Championship    6th                   Took over in Feb, club was 9th
2014/15          Raith Rovers            Scottish Championship    1st                    Champions
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Next year its all about survival, we should be in a much healthier financial position so I will look to upgrade my squad and provide a little bit more depth as we struggled this year with that. However I will not mortgage the future of the club with silly signings.

Shame about the sacking in Australia but you have done really well with Raith and congrats on winning the title

Shame about the sacking in Australia but you have done really well with Raith and congrats on winning the title

Cheers pal, I had just got a new stadium agreed to be built with some fantastic loans and sponsorship deals to cover the same. Then I got a power surge in my laptop and caused mini crash dump. I didn't loose any games but lost my new stadium, its been replaced this time round with Undersoil Heating which has put me in debt again.

Please all provide as many suggestions as possible

Lose the god awful I'm A Celebrity theme. The show is total dross, other from the fact that it allows me to play Football Manager while the Mrs watches it.

Lose the god awful I'm A Celebrity theme. The show is total dross, other from the fact that it allows me to play Football Manager while the Mrs watches it.

To be honest I dont mind the show too much it the best of a bad bunch of shows in my eyes.

2016/2017 - Scottish Premier League - Mid Season Review

The off season had been a fairly busy one for me and my club. A few new faces joined the club to try and add some depth to what was a very small squad, I also signed a few youngsters who have been put into my Reserves and Youth Squads. My aim is to send this lads out on loan few the next couple of years to gain some experience before becoming first team players. To that end a couple of youth players came into my first team over the summer to fill in a few gaps where players had left in the summer and I had not been able to fill in due to my tiny wage budget of just over £10k.

Apologies, I forgot to an intro to the season this year it completely slipped my mind.

My first game was against Ross County. This is a team that in my eyes were closest to us in terms of quality and ability, so I felt that it was very important to gain an early win over these. We did this with two great goals coming from our midfield, this gave us a great start. I made a few changes for the League Cup game and we just about came out on top in a nervy affair. This is by no means my top priority this year. Survival in the SPL is. This began a somewhat inconsistent run of results. We got beat by a far superior team in Kilmarnock, before gaining three more vital points against another team who I think we will be fighting against to secure survival.

This was followed by a defeat at home to Hibs who I earmarked before the start of the season as a team who should make it into Europe. We then went to the blue half of Glasgow. Now whilst they may not be the force that they once were to come away with three points was fantastic.

Again it was time for League Cup action and for the second year in a row, I found myself second best to an East Fife team. I wish I could say that I sent out a weakened team, but I didn’t we were simply outplayed. The same could be said for our next SPL game where we lost on our travels to Aberdeen. It was another game where we didn’t really turn up and with our squad, if we don’t turn up we will be on the receiving end of a hiding.

We beat another side that I had pegged for a relegation dogfight in St Mirren we were really good in this match and it just shown me a glimpse of what this side could achieve. We followed this up with a poor performance against Inverness. We then played Dundee on the road. This side had last year qualified for Europe and I was in the midst of a severe injury crisis which lead to me only being able to field two subs and most of my first team were young kids. It mattered not as we slaughtered them this really gave me a shot in the arm and made me realise what this group of young lads could achieve if they stick together.

We ended this half of the campaign with losses against Celtic, Hearts and Kilmarnock, before only being able to draw with Motherwell and Ross County

I was relatively pleased with the progress so far and if you had said I would be where I was at the half stage in Pre Season, I would have bitten your hand off. However I am slightly disappointed to be only able to have scraped two draws against the bottom two sides. I have also just had to sell one of my young players Ian Liddell, he will be leaving us for Hull for £450,000 plus 25% of his next sale. The general consensus is that its great business for us as a club. He was a decent enough striker who had bags of potential, I am not sure that I could turn down that cash for such a young lad who may in the end not make it big.

I have begun to be linked with a few jobs, most recently Motherwell but before that I was in the running for the Aberdeen and Hibs jobs. Now whilst it always nice to be linked to jobs and especially to teams that I consider being just behind Celtic and Rangers in terms of fan base and reputation, I am not considering leaving here.

As for the next part of the season, my aim will be very much the same. Survive. Everything else comes secondary. I will look to continue to add some more young players to my youth and reserve teams providing that firstly they have the potential required and secondly that they have the drive and determination to reach their potential. At this stage I am also becoming very aware of the mental attributes of players as I have seen a few become a bit to big for their boots and begin demanding playing time or crazy wages. I have just got the club into a relatively secure financial position and I will do nothing to put this at risk.

I also will be looking at the possibility of offloading a few players towards the end of the year. Some players here are not quiet good enough and I don’t think will make the grade, for some reason they seem to raise some interest. My rule of thumb here is that if someone comes in with a bid for any player over £100,000 I will consider it, I will of course try and add my favourite sell on fee.

All in all the future is bright for Raith Rovers I will soon be approaching my second anniversary here and I feel that the club are in a much better position than when I took over, not just in the obvious league stature but also financially. I am really enjoying it here, long may that continue. Sorry for the wordy update, I seemed to have allowed my enthusiasm carry me away slightly.

Good to see you have a nice gap between yourselves and Motherwell,hopefully you can find some form to pull further away!

I notice that after retiring as Doctor Who, that Matt Smith joins your team.

Unlucky losing to Celtic on pens, good luck in top division

Good to see you have a nice gap between yourselves and Motherwell,hopefully you can find some form to pull further away!

I am hoping to see us move a little further away from them in the coming weeks.

I notice that after retiring as Doctor Who, that Matt Smith joins your team.

He did indeed, he is 34 now so I could do with a Regeneration

Unlucky losing to Celtic on pens, good luck in top division

I was gutted to loose to Celtic was a very close game

Doing very well with Raith. Well done!

I have Matt Smith in my squad in my FM11 too. It's the year 2040. He must have been using that blue phone box of his.

Doing very well with Raith. Well done!

Cheers mate

I have Matt Smith in my squad in my FM11 too. It's the year 2040. He must have been using that blue phone box of his.

I am not sure I will get that long out of him. I think this may be his last year with first team football

2016/2017 - Scottish Premier League - Further Mid Season Review

The next section of the season began with a televised game against Rangers, once again we failed to turn up and we seemed to freeze on the day as we lost 2-0. In all honesty they could have picked their score it could have been so much worse for us. We began the Scottish Cup against a lower league side who had a few of our younger players on loan. Of course they were not allowed to play today and we left with a very solid win to progress into the next round. Aberdeen would be the next team who we hosted at our little stadium and once again we shown they we were not a side to be taken lightly as we drew 2-2. In fairness they were probably just about the better side but we battled away and snatched a late draw. We then travelled to the capital in a game which I knew was going to be tricky but as they had recently lost their manager I fancied my chances as once again another battling performance resulted in another late goal this time to seal a win.

The next set of games before we faced Celtic would be vital in our campaign for survival as I felt everyone of them was winnable and if we really did well in this little mini section we could rocket up the table as everything was very tight. We began at St Mirren, we could not pick up any points here as conceded two goals early on and that put us on the back foot for the rest of the game. I was fairly pleased with the never say die attitude but in this league if you give someone a 2-0 start you will loose. We then faced Inverness at home this in my eyes was the most winnable game but we completely lost our fighting spirit that we had previously shown. A first half goal for them and a second half goal for us meant a poor draw in a match where I expected so much more. We then faced Dundee which is another side we could beat, this time we were let down by our strikeforce as we never seemed to threaten, our lack of ability really shown in this game as we suffered a bad defeat. We ended this mini section with a very good win over Hearts although it was only by one, it could have been many more.

As we had really lost our chance to rocket up the table in the last section this next section became the most important in it we would face relegation rivals and six points from them was very much needed. We began however with the Celtic machine and we lost 4-0. So often we have played well against them this was not one such occasion. I was not to worried as next we faced Ross County and I needed three points here, we went ahead in the first half with two very special goals. In the second half we looked much the poorer team and they scored not long after the break. This resulted in a very nervy second half, they scored late on put it was ruled out and we secured three very good points. Motherwell came next and I wanted another three points, it was not to be. As once again a great first half display was over shadowed by a terrible second half were we conceded 2 goals. Read the above and repeat for the game against Kilmarnock.

With the last section behind us, I knew I needed to garner a few more points in this next section to make my position in this league safe. In each of these games we were either winning or drawing with 35 minutes to go before loosing every single one of these games.

I am unsure what the problem is. I can only think that it must be fitness my lads try hard all year round but due to the small squad fatigue may well be setting in with this lot. With the window closed and no wage budget there is not a great deal I can do. I will be switching the training schedules a little bit and maybe changing the tactics slightly to try and seek improvements.

In preparation for next year I have already done a spot of shopping. I have signed up some hot young prospects to come in here on July the 1st when their contracts expire, I do not think many if any will get first team duties next year, the majority will be sent on loan for a year or two to improve before coming back to the club as stronger prospects. Hopefully at that stage we will still be in the Scottish Premier League.

2016/2017 - Scottish Premier League- End of Season Review Review

I began the next and final section of the league with a game against high flying St. Mirren, I was not to hopeful of a win but a decent performance got us a fantastic draw. Dundee were next up for us and again I was to sure about a win here nor was I expecting a win against Celtic, needless to say I did not get wins against either and succumb to two defeats. We finished off the regular season with a fantastic win over a solid Hearts team in the end this just about secured our place in the SPL for next year.

The cut off section of the league then happened and with the pressure squarely off us we won 3 games and lost the two other games.

Finances - Really much better than previous years, the finances in the SPL are much better

Callum Elliot - Again a very very solid season from one of better players. This lad is a fantastic striker come attacking midfield player. He has reached his potential here however I am unsure if he could perform with a better club

Hamish Vigurs - A centre back that I had a bit of a falling out with midway through the season he wanted to leave and I needed him because of my small squad. He could be a superb player in the future and one I will be keeping an eye on

Year                  Club                   League              Position              Achievements
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013/14          Wanderers FC            Hyundi A League          9th                   Sacked
2014/15          Raith Rovers            Scottish Championship    6th                   Took over in Feb, club was 9th
2015/16          Raith Rovers            Scottish Championship    1st                    Champions
2016/17          Raith Rovers            Scottish Premier League  10th                  Survived
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As for next season I am unsure what to do next, I have received a very small budget for our wages next year and once again I will not be receiving any transfer budget. Considering this I have decided to leave [b]Raith Rovers[/b] with a heavy heart. I am not to sure how far I could take this team without some serious investment. I have decided that I will leave the SPL all together as I have a real connection with Raith and I am unsure if I could take anywhere else. I may look to return to the club sometime in the future but at this stage I really want to win some silverware. Its time for me to return to England.

Leeds United - Sky Bet Championship- 2017/2018

Tough job here but what a massive job. Everyone knows the recent struggles of Leeds and in game they have not got any better. They have suffered the indignity of a relegation and have not really been anywhere near going up. For the remainder of the year I will be looking to slowly edge them away from the drop zone whilst building my squad up. What a fantastic job opportunity for me though.

Board Expectations:

Sky Bet Championship: Achieve a respectable position

FA Cup: Round 3

English League Cup: Will not be judged

My Expectations:

Sky Bet Championship: I would be looking for something similar to what the board want really

FA Cup: I enter at Round 3 so I think I can meet that

English League Cup: We were knocked out by Charlton in round 2

Budgets:

Transfer Budget: £145,317

Wage Budget: £147,123(currently spending £143,473)

Balance: £9,416,934

Boooo dirty Leeds.