FM09 : Dunfermline Athletic Football Club - turning cup form into league form

Welcome to the Dunfermline Athletic Football Club thread for football manager 2009

INTRODUCTION

Dunfermline Athletic Football Club are a Scottish football team based in Dunfermline, Fife, commonly known as just Dunfermline. They play at East End Park and are nicknamed The Pars.

They are currently managed by Jim McIntyre who was given the job on a permanent basis on Thursday January 3, 2008.

HISTORY

The golden age (1960s)

Jock Stein became manager in 1960 and so began the club's golden decade. The club played regular European football in the UEFA and European Cup Winners Cups throughout the 60s (and also early 70s).

Under Stein Dunfermline won the Scottish Cup in the 1960–61 season.

Sir Alex Ferguson was a player in the Dunfermline squad between 1964 and 1967.David Moyes and Billy Davies have also played for the pars.

Stein took the club to their greatest achievement to date, the semi-final of the European Cup Winners Cup in season 1968–69, losing 2–1 on aggregate to eventual winners Slovan Bratislava (Slovan beat F.C. Barcelona in the final). On the way to the semi-final Dunfermline beat APOEL, Olympiacos and West Bromwich Albion.

The club's captain and all-time great player Norrie McCathie died suddenly at the age of 34.East End Park was redeveloped and the home fans' end of the ground was renamed the Norrie McCathie stand.

Scottish Premier League (2000–2007)

Dunfermline's seven year stay in the Scottish Premier League proved to be patchy, but the club did endure some fine seasons. The 2002–03 season saw them finish 5th, their highest position yet with Stephen Crawford scoring 19 goals. The following season, Dunfermline did even better finishing in fourth place as well as reaching the final of the Scottish Cup which also in addition saw them qualify for the UEFA Cup.

Dunfermline were relegated from the Scottish Premier League on the 12 May 2007 after losing 2–1 against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Jim McIntyre had put the Pars one nil up after 37 minutes, but two late goals from Caley Thistle sealed Dunfermline's relegation to the First Division. Dunfermline lost their 3rd major final in four years (losing the 2007 Scottish Cup Final to Celtic May 27). Since Celtic had already qualified for Europe by winning the SPL, Dunfermline were able to compete in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, thus managing the notable feat of being relegated and qualifying for Europe in the same season.

McIntyre was appointed as Dunfermline manager on a full time basis on the 3 January 2008, signing a two-and-a-half year deal.After languishing near the bottom of the table for the first half of the season, the Fife side managed to improve their results after Jim McIntyre was brought in, finishing 5th in the league after 36 games.

Dunfermline have just finished third the in the 1st division and reached a semi final and quarter final of their domestic cups

FM09 INFO

Nation - Scotland

League - Irn Bru Scottish First Division - THE TIGHTEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD !

Year founded - 1885

Status - Professional

Reputation - National

Chairman Status - Will listen to offers

Legends - Jim Leishman and Norrie Mccathie (R.I.P)

Icons - Andrius Skerla , Istvan Kozma , Craig Brewster , Bert Paton , Lee Bullen

Favoured Personnel - Andy Tod

Fierce Rivals - Falkirk , Raith rovers

Other Rivals - East fife , Cowdenbeath

Media Prediction - 3rd

Finances - Okay

Captain - Scott Thomson

Vice Captain - Scott Wilson

Transfer Kitty - 60K

Wage Budget - 19 k p/w

SQUAD

GK - Paul Gallagher , Calum Reidford , Greg Paterson

DL - Austin Mccann

DC - Scott Wilson , Scott Thomson , Lee Graham , Stuart Dearden

DR - Calum Woods , Greg Sheilds , Greg Ross

AMR/MR - Stephen Bell, Kevin Harper , Simon Wiles

MC - Nicky Phinn , Graeme Holmes

MC - Stephen Glass , Alex Burke

AML/ML - Scott Muirhead

ST - Graham Bayne , Rory Loy(loan from rangers) , David Graham

ST - Andy Kirk , Jamie Mole( loan from hearts) , Iain Williamson

SQUARD ANALYSIS

GOALKEEPER

Paul Gallagher is a decent keeper and good enough to be the best keeper in the league.Should be first choice without a doubt.Same as in real life where he is a fan favourite and also known as Peter Barlow because of his look-a-like with Coronations Streets Peter Barlow

Backup is ok for this level of league with calum reidford as 2nd choice and Young greg paterson as a future star.Will have to make do due to the lack of funds.

DEFENCE

Left side - Possibly the weakest part of the team in the game along with centre defence with Austin Mccann being very poor and there being virtually no backup.

Scott muirhead and calum woods could provide cover but are unlikely to be outstanding.

Right side - Greig Sheilds is easily good enough to cement his name in this positon but is getting old so won't be here forever.A great servant to us in real life and decent in the game.Calum woods is young and got our young player of the year in real life this season but seems to be very poorly rated in the game but could improve.Greg ross is decent enough to provide back up and is a versatile player who can fill a few positons if need be.

Centre Back - Another weak position with Scott wilson probably being the only one who can do it in this league.Club captain and star man in defence, again not the youngest of players though.Scott is off to Australia in real life to play in the same team as ROBBIE FOWLER, and was recently given a special award from the club and fans to say thank you for his brilliant dedication to us over a long period of time.

Scott thomson is too old and not the best in the game so will probably need to be offloaded or kept for 4th choice and the other two lads are too young so new signings are a must here.

MIDFIELD

Left side - Scott Muirhead is decent and can do a job but it's easy enough to get a better player in on loan and keep muirhead for backup

Right side - Stephen bell is one of the best in the division which is the opposite to real life where he is seen as a bit of a scapegoat after a poor first season.Never the less though he is good in the game and is equally as good in centre midfield but i would recommend playing him on the right as there are more players good enough in the centre than on the right.

Kevin harper is ok but not great and Simon Wiles is awful in the game.I would try and get rid of both to free up some wages and get a loan deal in from the premiership or old firm.

Centre Mid - Nicky Phinn is a promising young player and is ready for first team football.Himself and Stephen Bell are very useful players in the team but iv'e gone for nicky phinn as the star man in midfield as he is also the star man in real life.I would allow Nicky to attack often as he can get a few assists if allowed.

This is, along with the strikers the strongest area of the team.Stephen glass , Graeme Holmes , and Alex Burke are all good players that can do well in this division.

FORWARDS

Target Man - Graham Bayne - great player for the division and should score goals if the crosses come in and can set others up for goalscoring chances aswell.

Goal scorers - Jamie Mole and Andy Kirk are two fantastic players for this league and give dunfermline the most dangerous strike force in the league by far !. Jamie mole is only on loan and is usually wanted by prem clubs when he leaves to return to hearts so make the most of him while he's yours.Rory loy is decent backup but i'd send him back to rangers as better loan deals can be brought in.Iain Williamson isnt very good but is young so try and send him out on loan or sell him.David Graham is also a very good player to have and provides excellent cover to Kirk, Mole and Bayne.Some may even prefer him to Kirk.

I'd let Jamie have quite a bit of creative freedom as he is likely to bang them in from distance

RECOMMENDED FORMATION

442 with a AMR and AML and two centre mids.

I'd also set the use of a target man and make that target man graham bayne.

Also use an attacking mentality as dunfermline should be able to smoke this league.

Also try and keep it realistic by continuing Dunfermlines proud tradition of brilliant cup form however hard it is lol.3 cups finals in 5 years

PLAYERS TO BUY

Free agents:

Djibril Diawara - great defender for this standard and gets a player for a much needed position.

Phillipe Christanval - same as above.

Marvin Andrews - good defender , not great but should ask for less wages than the above.

Ulises De La Cruz - good right back , up to you if you can afford his wage demands.Not needed unless you feel sheilds isn't good enough.

Patrick Noubisse - Another good defender.

Ian Peare - solid centre back.

Olivier Bernard - much better left back than what you already have.

Seyfo Soley - Great player , best as a DMC but good as a dc or mc.

Robbie Winters - decent striker , could be a back up target man if you want one.

Loan deals:

Darren Gibson (Man Utd)

Rodrigo Possebon (Man Utd)

Michael Woods (Chelsea)

Ryan Conroy (Celtic)

Francisco Merida (Arsenal)

Mark Randall (Arsenal)

James Sinclair (Bolton)

Jay Spearing (Liverpool)

Ronald Huth (Liverpool)

Krisztian Nemeth (Liverpool)

Nabil El Zhar (Liverpool)

Emiliano Insua(slight chance if quick sometimes) (Liverpool)

Mikel San Jose (Liverpool)

Francisco Duran (Liverpool)

Simon Ferry (Celtic)

Niall Mcginn (Celtic)

Mike Mcglinchey

(Celtic)

Buys

Leigh Griffiths of livingston is a good young striker who can get goals and is also a hot prospect in real life(recently been on trial at west brom irl)

Stephen Dobbie of Queen Of The South is a dangerous player (just signed a pree contract with Swansea irl)

Ryan Mccay of St Mirren is transfer listed at the start of the game and is a good player for the first division.

Marco Pelosi of hearts is decent cover and can be bought for 1k.

SELLS - Should be able to get an idea of who to sell from my squad analysis

TIPS

Lower wage budget by going for loan deals.

Get rid of players you are not going to use , waste of money.

Prepare for 2nd season early.

FINALLY

Good luck and i hope things go well.Hope you guys try Dunfermline out as it has taken me hours to write this, im wrecked lol.

Try to bring the glory days back and let me know how it goes.

Also try and give the fans a 4th cup final in 6 years to looks forwards to

Very good thread mate, well done

I'd try and cut down on the history a little - maybe reduce it to only the main years + the last 4 or 5 years?

Very good thread mate, well done

I'd try and cut down on the history a little - maybe reduce it to only the main years + the last 4 or 5 years?

Cheers mate , i have cut it down quite a bit.

I just hope people want to give Dunfermline a try , it's a fun challenge trying to get back to the top 4 in the spl and europe .

How does this become an " official " thread ?

Come on lads , start a game with the mighty pars !

Nice OP mate.

Like the picture

Nice OP mate.

Like the picture

Cheers mate.

Haha yeah , Jim is a legend at the club , Mr Dunfermline really , shakes the hand of anyone who is wearing a dunfermline shirt when he is in the town center.It was even better seeing him do that in the flesh , a day i will never forget .

Nice mate! Great opener, shame I'm from falkirk

Fifer

Nice mate! Great opener, shame I'm from falkirk

Fifer

Lol ya dirty ..... nevermind

Lol good opener though

Lol good opener though

Cheers mate

Just wondering , how well have you done with falkirk in fm09?

Good opening post, great to see Mr Leishman still going strong along the road, he's a great guy.

As you can tell from the username, i'm a good old rival of yours.

Good opening post, great to see Mr Leishman still going strong along the road, he's a great guy.

As you can tell from the username, i'm a good old rival of yours.

Big Jims a hero , was a sad day when his wife passed away last month.Couldn't wish to meet a nicer man than Leishman.

The return of the fife derby next season mate looking forward to it already.

Thought i'd give a quick update.

Managed to sell some players to raise 165k while i only spent 11k so i have improved finances a little bit.

Hope my squad is still capable of promotion to the spl.

I signed :

Brian Murphy for 8k from Bohemians , he is a fantastic keeper.

Howard Beverland for 3k from Coleraine , an 18 year old right back who im hoping will turn into a star.

I then got the rest of my signings on free transfers and battle them to accept lower wages than they asked , i succeded in some cases.

Anyway players i bought for free were:

Berry Hoogeveen

Humberton Pauletta

Matej Rapnik

Pedro Mosquera

Callum Bissett

Elie Ikangu

The rest of my sqyad would have to be loan signings as im trying to save money for the spl , assuming i go up.

I got :

Darren Gibson

Sam Hewson

James Sinclair

John Ruddy

Mikel San Jose

Simon Ferry

Kelvin Etuhu

Ryan Conroy

Lukas Jutkiewicz

Krisztian Nemeth

Shane Lowry

Seb Hines

Hope this squad is stong enough for the tough battle for promotion.

Injuries are proving a problem so far though.

I cant wait either mate, we've had a few crackers through the years. Remember the 5-2 win your mob got at Starks in your promotion year and of course, the millenium derby. Brilliant, more of the same next season.

Decent players you pulled in there. Have a look at Perkins from Colchester (he's a DL, MC) I've got him in my Raith game, he's brilliant.

What does Phinn look like in your game?

I do indeed mate , all brilliant games.

Hard to say how games will go between us next season , btw does simmons get a game with you , he was awful with us.

Cheers bud , i'll have a look at him , Matej Rapnik has really impressed me in my save , he is also a left back.

Do you mean stats wise ? or appearance wise lol ?

Stat wise, I've always thought he's a good player IRL and might bid for him on FM if he's decent.

Simmons has been a gem since we signed him, I think his old mentor McGlynn can get the best out of him. If not, he'll leave.

Stat wise, I've always thought he's a good player IRL and might bid for him on FM if he's decent.

Simmons has been a gem since we signed him, I think his old mentor McGlynn can get the best out of him. If not, he'll leave.

He is a brilliant wee player in real life but not so good in the game , he is good enough for the first division but i can only ever see him being decent enough for the bottom teams in the spl.I just offloaded him to Airdrie for 30k as im builiding up the cash for the spl.

Irl i think he could be good enough for the championship when he matures a little bit.

Im suprised by Simmons , he is by far the laziest player i have ever seen play for the pars , never looked interested.

Got Promotion

Just started as Dunfermline. Have struggled to get into a game on FM of late but this one seems really fun at the moment.

Been a not too bad start for me with:

2 Wins and 1 Draw so far in league, in league cup 2nd round and challenge cup 3rd round.

My squad so far:

GK - Paul Gallacher/Sammy Monin

DR - Regillio Nooitmeer/Greg Ross

DL - Celestine Babayaro/Olivier Bernard

DC - Scott Wilson/Scott Thomson

DC - Marvin Andrews/Patrick Noubissie

MR - Roman Zozulya/Steven Bell

ML - Stefan Milojevic/Scott Muirhead

MC - Elie Ikangu/Greg Cameron(Loan)

MC - Sylvain Legwinksi/Francisco Duran(Loan)

ST - Jamie Mole(Loan)/Andriy Yarmolenko

ST - Artem Kravets/Graham Bayne

I have alot of injuries at the moment to deal with but im hoping that my team can acheive promotion. Got some more loan players possibly on their way to improve my squad.

Most of the players I want to offload are players that were just brought to the club which means they wont be able to be shifted until Jan which isnt very good. I have a player who could easily play for the old firm coming in Jan...Miguel Rebosio for free!

I always play the Pars in FM, with my best run being the SPL twice, Scottish Cup 3 times, League Cup once and the UEFA Cup; all in the space of 3 seasons in FM07.

So far on 09, I've gained promotion.

Signing-wise, I loaned Tomas Kupisz from Wigan and signed Brian Murphy (GK, from Bohemians), David Barron (DR, from St Mirren, and is performing excellently) and James Gibson (DL, from Hamilton, who won the First Division POTY).

I'll try to keep up with this thread with anything else I can find to work for the Pars.

good luck and Leigh Griffiths is a corker player.

snapped him up for my dundee utd team and can score bag loads in scot prem

Nice to see people playing as my beloved team

Yeah Leigh Griffiths scores a good amount of goals and is very young aswell.

Brian Murphy is a must aswell.

My game for deleted so i will need to start it again some time soon.

First one to win the Spl ? lol

I missed out on the SPL by 4 points, but I do have another player recommendation:

Thomas Kind Bendikson (sp?) from Rangers.

I paid about £20k, but he won POTM 4 times, YPOTM 5 times and was man of the match in about 1/3 of the games he played in. Average rating for the season 7.24.

Wierd Al , do you mean that you missed out on winning the SPL by 4 points in your 2nd season ?

If so how did you manage that :o.

Please could you post a screen shot of your signings and out goings for both seasons.

Cheers

Into europe again

I have decided to start a new game as the Pars, since I literally live right next to East End (it's about 100 metres from my house), going to play 433 formation though.