King Puck: my career at Killorglin AFC (FM 15)

Over the weekend, I decided to begin a new Football Manager save and write about it for the Career Updates forum. I made a brief appearance here last year, writing about a FMC career in England, but for some reason, I lost interest in it...now, I have no idea why. I am also writing for the FM Stories forum, and while I'll continue my story there, I thought it might be fun to write a tale with some illustrations, too. That's what brought me here.

Yesterday I spent some time thinking about where in the footballing world I wanted to manage this time. I knew I wanted to manage a small club, possibly an amateur side. I nearly chose England, which is where I usually play. I was very close to picking Germany, because I've never managed there, and I still think there's a German career in my future.

I ended up choosing Ireland, with some help from my first-born child. He's 11 now, and he's started to take an interest in Football Manager, too. Two years ago, our family vacationed in the British Isles. None of us had ever been there, and for my wife and me, it was a trip we'd always dreamed of making. In fact, that trip is what got me interested in playing Football Manager, but that's another story.

One of the places we visited was County Kerry, Ireland. We spent three days there, and hated to leave when it was time to move on.

You might see the village of Killorglin on the map above. We discovered it on our tour of the Ring of Kerry, the road that winds around the Kerry Peninsula.

Killorglin is well known for its Puck Fair. According to one legend, the fair pays tribute to a male goat, or a "puck," who broke away from his herd and warned the inhabitants of Killorglin about the approach of Oliver Cromwell's army during the conquest of Ireland. Each summer, a goat is captured from the nearby hill and crowned "King Puck." He reigns over the fair for several days, and is then taken back to the wild.

I downloaded a database that includes many lower level Irish teams and leagues, and Killorglin AFC appears in the Premier Division of the Kerry District League. My son thought it would be cool for me to manage Killorglin, so that's where this story will take place.

The King Puck even appears on the Killorglin badge.

The Kerry League is somewhat unique because, in this particular database, it is a self-contained "world." It's not connected through promotion or relegation to any other league, so the ten league clubs will compete against each other year in and year out. If I stay at Killorglin, which I plan to do unless I'm sacked (which might well happen) or unless I get an offer I can't refuse (not nearly as likely), I'll get to know the nooks and crannies of the Kerry District League very well.

I'm keeping my world very contained. Ireland is the only nation I've loaded, and I'm using a Small database.

I'd like to have a nice, long run at Killorglin AFC, adding a nice assortment of Kerry League cups to the club's trophy case. I'll never be King (Puck) in Killorglin, but I'd settle for being the crown prince.

It'll be interesting to see how long you can maintain interest with such a self-contained league.

It'll be interesting to see how long you can maintain interest with such a self-contained league.

I don't think I would try this save if I were managing a random club in a random town. I think the fact that I've visited there and had fun with my family there will keep it interesting, at least for a while.

In a way, it might feel a little like managing in the highest league in a country, since we can't win promotion to a higher level.

Sounds like a tough one.

Will you get any European adventures?

If not it will be interesting to see how you do. How many league games and cups do you play? Might be one for trying the 1000 games challenge and seeing if you can keep your top stars from being poached.

Good luck anyway

Sounds like a tough one.

Will you get any European adventures?

If not it will be interesting to see how you do. How many league games and cups do you play? Might be one for trying the 1000 games challenge and seeing if you can keep your top stars from being poached.

Good luck anyway

Unfortunately, I can't imagine any possible scenario in which Killorglin will play outside Ireland. That would have been fun.

The Kerry District League season is short. Each team plays only two games against each opponent, which makes an 18-game programme. I think there's at least one cup competition, but given those parameters, the 1000-game challenge will, therefore, be impossible. I'm thinking a player who makes 500 appearances for the club would qualify as a true club servant, an icon or a legend.

Thanks for the good wishes. I hope my story will be engaging enough that some of you will enjoy following along.

Those dimensions will make this save a very different one for me, but I believe that gives it the potential to be uniquely fun.

January 2014

My manager character, Chris Keohane, is 37 years old as his tenure with Killorglin begins. I've created him as a former semi-professional player with a National A Licence. Here's how his coaching attributes look:

My staff is absolutely unremarkable. Assistant manager Joe Scully has no coaching attribute higher than a 3, except Working With Youngsters (8). His Adaptability (10) and Determination (9) are decent for this level.

My Head of Youth Development, Aaron Barry, is a little more talented than Joe is. Fortunately, he's exceptionally good with youth (17).

Phyisotherapist Tom Falvey has a 5 for his specialty, and scout Liam Kiely is a 4 for Judging Ability and a 3 for Judging Potential.

Right now, nobody else is interested in a job with Killorglin, so I'll be working with these guys for now. It looks like they're fairly typical of the back room staff in our league.

January 2014

Let's take a look at the squad I'll greet on my first day at Killorglin AFC.

Goalkeepers

Assistant Joe Scully seems to think King is a lot better goalkeeper than O'Brien, but since Scully's ratings for evaluating talent and potential are both 2, feel free to take Joe's assessments with a shaker full of salt. O'Brien is a significantly better at distribution than King is, while King's decision-making is far superior. Both of them show lots of determination for such young players. I'll give them both a shot at the number one shirt.

Defenders

Bennett and Sweeney could be mistaken for ball boys or lads from the U13 side who crashed the senior team's training for a prank. They will start at right and left back, respectively. Bennett has lots of pace, but is not comfortable on the ball, while Sweeney is especially tough and determined, but might be exploited by fast wingers.

Gargantuan O'Gorman looks like he'll begin the season as one of the center halves. might be the slowest player I've ever seen, goalkeepers excepted. He's only 16, and he'll be a monster when he's full-grown. Purcell and Hughes, who are very similar, well-rounded defenders, will also feature at center back. Hughes has youth on his side, but our staff don't think he's ambitious enough to make the most of his talent. None of the center backs can do much with the ball at their feet, which I'm not crazy about since I like to play from the back.

The others tend to be fairly quick, athletic players who are very raw technically, but who are exceptionally determined and hard-working.

Midfielders

Keane is best as a defensive midfielder. He lacks the non-stop intensity I'd like to see in a midfield destroyer, but he'll see a lot of action, either at DM or as a central defender.

Finding central midfielders is one of my top priorities for my first weeks on the job. Adam King is the only player in the team who is a natural there and, like many Killorglin players, he's nearly devoid of technical skill.

Caulfield and Murphy offer pace and flair on the wings, and Murphy is good at dribbling and crossing. John King and O'Halloran are serviceable backups, with similar skills. Murphy and O'Halloran are also comfortable playing higher up the pitch as wide forwards.

Forwards

All four of these players have plenty of pace. Wolfe and Hayes are the most dangerous finishers, while Steer is a slightly more composed forward. Dolan, a promising youngster, is probably better playing as an AM©.

None of them are terribly good at setting up a teammate; in fact, almost nobody on the team can pass a football. I'll be looking for a player who is effective as a deep-lying forward.

Unless I want to use a formation that doesn't include central midfielders, I need to find two or three M© in a hurry. That's the only gaping hole in the squad. Ideally, I'll add some players who are better at taking care of the football.

On the other hand, I'm very happy with the determined nature of the squad. They don't seem like the kind of lads who will fall apart if they go a goal down. We'll see once the season begins.

Getting to Know You: The Kerry District Premier League

As deltablue mentioned earlier, the Kerry District League is a "self-contained league." It contains ten teams, none of which may be promoted or relegated to other circuits (at least, as this database is structured). I wondered if I'd be able to remain interested in a save that's based on such a microcosmic football world.

I'm already getting caught up in it, and I hope I'll be able to convey that sense of fun to you in my thread.

Killorglin will see a lot of the nine other teams in the Kerry League, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to introduce them to you before the season begins.

Camp United

Camp is a small village on the Dingle Peninsula, not far from the county town of Tralee. United are picked by the pundits to finish third in the league. Their top players are wide man Pat O'Donovan and striker Jake Horgan.





Castleisland

Tapped to finish fifth in the league, Castleisland are led by forward Liam Scully and hard-nosed center half Chris O'Donovan. The club is named for the town it plays in, which has been described as a "street between two fields."



Dingle Bay Rovers

Rovers play in the harbor town of Dingle, a popular destination for tourists. Many of them make their way to the grounds to watch players like midfielders Gareth Fadden and Colman O'Brien. They're tapped for the middle of the table.



Killarney Athletic

One of two teams in the famous town of Killarney, Athletic are regarded by many as the "smaller" club. They hope to better their predicted ninth-place finish, relying on right wing Greg Doyle and left wing Sean Purcell.



Killarney Celtic

Dressed in their iconic green and white hoops, Celtic are considered one of the glamour clubs of the Kerry League. Sean White is one of the league's most dangerous scorers, while Ian MacNamara is among its top goalkeepers.



Listowel Celtic

The "other" Celtic call the village of Listowel home. They are expected to be one of the league's top defensive clubs, led by defenders Patrick Mooney and Jamie Sweeney.

Rattoo Rovers

I couldn't find this club's badge, but I know they wear green and black kit and call Tralee their home. Right back Brian Carroll and striker John McCarthy will try to keep them off the bottom of the table.



St. Brendan's Park

Park supporters are looking forward to cheering the exploits of midfielder Evan O'Hanlon and left back Daragh O'Flynn. They could contend for the league championship, and are located in Tralee.





Tralee Dynamos

They're a big club from a big town, by County Kerry standards. Dynamos are the odds-on favorite to win the league. Midfielder Robbie Butler is the darling of the pundits, and forward James O'Brien might be an even better player.

what are attendances like in your league?

I assume your paying no wages at all

Looking forward to seeing how this goes, Come on Killorglin!

Camp Utd

Interesting overview of the clubs and their locations.

I'm guessing a lot of them ran local school competitions to design their logo's lol

I thought my Oostaker one was bad but some of those are terrible

"Dingle Bay Rovers"... you couldn't write that...

what are attendances like in your league?

I assume your paying no wages at all

We've drawn between 70 and 80 people for the two friendlies we've hosted so far. We have 62 season ticket holders, so I'm guessing our crowds will be 100 or so once the league programme begins.

All our players are amateurs, and that's true for our league rivals, too.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes, Come on Killorglin!

Camp Utd

Thanks for the early support! I think this is going to be a save that grows on me. And, if I ever get tired of playing in the Kerry District League fishbowl, I can always look for jobs in leagues that are part of a promotion/relegation system. I think I'll enjoy getting to know a group of clubs very well, though. It will be a different experience, unlike anything I've tried with Football Manager.

Interesting overview of the clubs and their locations.

Thanks, deltablue. I looked them all up because I was curious about them, and I enjoyed getting to know them better...so I thought, "why not post about it?"

In my own mind, at least, the clubs now seem to be forming identities of their own. Tralee Dynamos seem like the big club that wins all the time, the club even neutrals love to hate. Celtic look like the "fancied" club in Killarney, with Athletic cast as the scrappy "outsiders. Little village clubs like Camp Utd and, yes, Killorglin seem to have rabid local fan bases that live and die for their team, and who aspire to one day be top dogs.

I'm guessing a lot of them ran local school competitions to design their logo's lol

I thought my Oostaker one was bad but some of those are terrible

Yeah, a few of those are far from classic works of graphic design. I like Killorglin's, though, with the King Puck.

"Dingle Bay Rovers"... you couldn't write that...

My eleven-year-old son particularly likes that one, too.

Thanks to all of you for your comments, questions, etc. It's heartening to know a few of you are following, and please keep doing so.

25 February 2014

We've spent the last month tuning up, playing friendlies against other clubs (and against our own U19s, when we can't find anyone else to play that week). I've also signed four new players, whom I'm going to introduce to you now.

I enjoy looking at the "attribute polygon" when I'm sizing up a player. I have a preferred "shape" in mind for each position, which I use as a reference when I'm deciding whether or not to take a closer look at a player--either one I would like to sign, or one I'm possibly going to use in the first team.

Here's the "polygon for Jack Mahon, a 16-year-old central midfielder from Tullamore, in central Ireland.

Ideally, I'd have a player with a perfect octagon here, as big as possible. That's the shape of an all-rounder with elite skills. Those kinds of players don't sign with clubs in the Kerry District League, so I look for a player with the same shape, only smaller.

Here, I can tell what kind of player Jack is. He's got decent pace, and he's a pretty good passer--better than many of our players. He's slightly better suited for a defensive role than an offensively-minded one. He's like a terrier, active, quick, and compact at 5'5".

Jack will serve us well as a backup, and he's got some promise for the future.

The other three players I signed are all VERY good for our level. Here's the first of them, striker Derek Coyle. He's from Birr, which is close enough to Tullamore that he knew young Jack Mahon as a wee lad.

Derek is 19, and he's an athletic striker with a good nose for goal. He's mentally tough, and he's got decent technical skills.

Coyle will play as a deep-lying forward who can both play in his strike partner and score on his own.

I like to see a striker with a heart-shaped polygon. His defensive skills don't matter as much as the ones at the bottom of the shape.

Here's Jon Kinsella, a 19-year-old central midfielder from the town of Newbridge, in County Kildare.

I saw Jon play in the Ireland Trials match, and signed him as quickly as I could. He is the most skilled player in the team, technically sound with an especially deft first touch. "Jonny K" also plays with an edge that I like to see in the middle of the pitch.

By Kerry League standards, Jon Kinsella is a beast. I hope I can keep him in Killorglin.

And, here's the final member of our "Big Three," Gary Kelly, a 20-year-old Galway lad.

My "ideal" center back has a polygon that is more or less the reverse of the "ideal" forward, with the weight at the top of the shape.

Kelly is about as close to that ideal as you'll see in the Kerry League. He isn't especially fast, but he has good defensive instincts and a non-stop motor. He's also surer on the ball than any of our other defenders, and he'll be the one I ask my goalkeepers to find when they're looking to pass the ball forward and put our attack into motion.

This week, I awarded the captain's armband to Paul Keane. He seemed a little concerned about taking it at so young an age--he's 21--but after I asked him for his opinion on the team's morale, he felt more comfortable.

My choice for vice captain, Fred Hayes, is sulking because he's not the captain. Suck it up, Freddie. One factor that swung my decision in Paul's favor was the fact that I like my skipper to be on the field almost all the time. Keane will be a fixture in the first team, while Hayes will not feature quite as regularly.

1 March 2014

I would describe our pre-season results as "mixed." A little good, a little bad, a little in between.

The victory over Everton was the highlight, even if it was the Irish Everton, not the Merseyside variety. On the other hand, we lost 2-4 to our youngsters, with Jon Kinsella being sent off for a professional foul.

Neither of our goalkeepers, Jamie O'Brien nor James King, has distanced himself from his rival for the number one shirt. I'll probably continue alternating them until one or the other seizes the opportunity.

Derek Coyle has been knocking them in on a regular basis since he joined the club. Here's hoping his form continues, as we begin league play tomorrow. We open at home to Killarney Celtic, the pundits' choice for runners-up in the league. We're in a cluster of teams at the bottom of the odds list, on 50-1.

Time for Tactics

I'm going to preface this post with my own admission that I am far, far from a tactical genius, lest any of you think you might want to use any of the tactics you might see me try here. I've read some of the excellent writing about tactics on this forum, and I've tried to apply what I've learned.

I try to keep things very simple, and I've learned to control my urge to change things up too drastically.

This is the tactic I'm starting out with at Killorglin: a fairly plain, simple 4-4-2. The starting eleven for our first match are included, too.

I don't use many team instructions. I have Work Ball Into Box and Play Out Of Defense selected, and that's it. I have my goalkeeper set to make short passes, and to look for Gary Kelly, who is the only one of our defenders who can do much more than hoof the ball out of danger.

:mad:

I had almost completed my first month at Killorglin when I noticed something weird.

Killorglin sold 65 season tickets, so I'd expect my usual attendance to be at least that much. I was looking at the report from my last match, played at home, and my attendance was 5. That's 5, as in five.

I went back and looked at my other home game, and the attendance for that one was a whopping TWO.

Killorglin doesn't have a stadium in the database, and I'm wondering if that's the issue. Most of the Kerry League teams don't have one either, and they're drawing "crowds" that would fit in my car.

I'm not sure what can be done about that in the middle of a save, if anything. I'm tempted to pack this career in, and do one of two things: either edit the database to give Killorglin (and the other clubs in the league) a stadium to play in and begin another Killorglin save, or try my luck somewhere else.

I went back and looked at my other home game, and the attendance for that one was a whopping TWO.

Well, at least your Mum and the club chairman turned up...

or was it just one man and his dog?

Well, at least your Mum and the club chairman turned up...

It was actually Mum on one side of the stand, and an old geezer from Dingle on the other.

or was it just one man and his dog?

The club chairman threw a rubber bone out of the grounds, and the dog and he both ran to chase it, so neither of them were in attendance.

Thanks for your comments, which made me smile in spite of my minor frustration. I've decided to begin a new career thread, in a different setting.

Hi Greyfriars Bobby, thanks for trying out my database, and sorry about your problems. I think that the problem with the season tickets is a bug to do with FM itself: I've seen matches in the KDL myself and single-digit attendances are more common than you think. For that reason, I deliberately did not add stadiums to the clubs added to the database, since this would automatically give them crowds in the region of 50-100, which is unrealistic for that level of football. I hope you understand why I did this, and again, I'd like to thank you for giving my file a go.

Thanks for your post, BoyInGreen. I had no idea a KDL match might draw an audience that small! Do KDL teams ever draw larger crowds, or is a crowd of even 50 a rarity?

Now that you've explained it, I can understand why you didn't add stadiums for the created teams. And, knowing that, I'll give your file another go. I liked managing in County Kerry.