(FM13) The Scandinavian Shankly: From paupers to kings vol II (The Scottish edition)

Evening all

I've had something of a break from FM after my last long-running career, which you can find here if you like, but my batteries are finally recharged and I'm ready to commit to a new save. Sadly it's not a shiny copy of FM15 I'll be using as I'm not convinced my 4 year old laptop can handle it, but I've loved FM13 so that doesn't matter too much to me. Hopefully it won't be a problem to any of you reading, either.

The objective of this save is the same as my last one, albeit in a different country, so is quite simply to turn a lower-league Scottish club into the biggest side in Europe. Unlike the last save though I'm going to start as a semi-pro club, and of course that also means I'll be battling Rangers in my attempt to work my way up the leagues. Rangers will start in the 4th tier, and the absolute highest I'll start will be the third, so I'm sure to cross swords with them soon enough. In an ideal world I'll stay at the same club throughout this career, but if I do move on I'll be restricting myself to other relatively small clubs.

Might also be worth me saying that in all the time I've had FM13 I've never ventured into the British Isles, so this should feel pretty fresh for me.

Right then, the starting details, and then on we go:

FM13.3 - no edits

Leagues loaded: England (BSS/N and above), Scotland (Third Division and above) Ireland (First Division and above) France (National and above)

On view-only, I've also loaded Denmark (Second Division and above) Germany (Third Division and above) and Italy (Serie C2 and above)

Medium database, 21,000 players.

Start date: June 2012.

32 year old Johan Andersen is the man in the hotseat. He is Danish born to Norwegian family and with an automatic reputation. He is a lifelong fan of his local team Brøndby IF but his club will be decided by the wonderful "pick a club for me" button. Only 3rd tier and below clubs are eligible for my destination, I'll be back to update in just a moment...

Peterhead F.C.

(With thanks to Wiki)

Peterhead F.C. are a football club based in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. They currently play their football in Scotland's fourth tier, the Third Division.

Their home ground is Balmoor in Peterhead, with a capacity of 3,150. Peterhead's traditional rivals are the Highland League team Fraserburgh, however since their election to the Scottish Football League, this rivalry has waned somewhat. They now have a new rivalry with Elgin City.

Formed in 1891, the club spent over a century outside Scotland's Football League, but in 2000 they were voted to take a place in the newly expanded league system. The highest level of football they have ever played at was in Scotland's third tier, which they reached for the first time after promotion in 2004/05.

The club have won the Highland League Championship five times in their history, although they have never won a major trophy.

From FM

The club are valued at £250,000 and possess adequate training facilities and basic youth facilities. The club are expected to finish in 5th place in the Third Division by the media, and have 50 season ticket holders.

Seems like a good choice for this.

Peterhead F.C.

I've signed a one year contract on £500p/w, and the board expect us to finish in the top half of the table. While I'm not too familiar with the quality of any of the sides in this division bar Rangers, I'd like to think that's more than possible. For those who don't know, the Scottish Third Division contains 10 teams, with one automatic promotion spot and the sides from 2nd to 4th go into a play off with the second bottom side in the Second Division. While the board will be happy with 5th, I'll have one eye on those play off spots.

I was pleasantly surprised to see around about £100,000 in the bank upon my arrival, and the club is also debt-free. In a stunning development, there is also about £600 worth of wiggle-room in the club's £5,480 weekly wage budget, so hopefully that will give me the freedom to bring a couple of new arrivals in. Sadly though we don't have enough money for me to bring in my own assistant manager, so I'll stick with my current (terrible) number two until his contract runs out. I will try and bring in a scout and a coach though, and hopefully build my own back room team next year.

For what it's worth, here is my assistant's report:

Our best player is probably this fella, but I've got some work to do to improve our overall quality.

Seems like a good choice for this.

I'm quite happy with them, yeah. I quite like taking on small-town or village clubs, and Peterhead certainly fit into that category.

Bloody cold in Peterhead! Good luck!