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Football Management 101 (LOTR Challenge)

Doctor Who

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Doctor Who

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Course: Football Management 101

Place: University of Grey Haven

Semester: Spring

Teacher: Professor Gandalf

Student Elegibility: Everybody who has completed Football 101

Tuition Fee: N/A, but bring your own lembas

Course Description: This course will guide you into the secrets of managing a football team (see Football 101). This will prove helpful once we figure out how to travel to the recently discovered alternate universe known as Lower Earth, as the inhabitants here seems to have very high opinions about this game. The course will use a simulator to take you through some different phases designed to give you a broad yet thorough introduction to football management. The phases are:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Phase 1. Basic football management: Squad analysis, tactics, transfers, staff. This will take place in a topflight club in the area known as Scotland.

<LI>Phase 2. Lower league management: Promotions. Use your honed skills to take a lowly placed team in Scotland up to the top flight.

<LI>Phase 3. Stabilizing: Avoiding relegations. Dealing with low reputation. Once on the top you need to avoid the drop.

<LI>Phase 4. Managing in other countries. Different cultures. Different rules. Different languages. Now it's time to go to the mainland and take a lowly placed team from the area known as Italy to the top flight.

<LI>Phase 5. Setting goals for yourself. Beating rivals. Planning ahead. Now it's time to pick a team in Southern Scotland (aka. England), where the professor will give you a goal and show you how to reach it.

<LI>Phase 6. Budget crisis. Motivation. Using what you've got. Staying with the team and surviving.

<LI>Phase 7. Youth academy and free transfers. Growing yough players. Spotting the forgotten gold. Droping to a low-division team in England you must take them to the top.

<LI>Phase 8. International competitions. Champions Cup. UEFA Cup. How to bring European glory to your club.

<LI>Phase 9. Summary. Return to Scotland and apply the lessons learned.

Authors notes:

There will be little if any LOTR references in this story, but I have a diffent idea in mind:

As this is a course, I would like some students present to make the story interactive. If you're ready for that, please sign in on your first visit by posting a "Present" e.g "Doctor Who is present, Professor Gandalf. Sorry for being late." Once you've enrolled, feel free to ask questions to the professor or throw pencils at you fellow students, or whatever students do these days.

If you would like to post something outside the story, please do so in Italics.

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Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Posted
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Course: Football Management 101

Place: University of Grey Haven

Semester: Spring

Teacher: Professor Gandalf

Student Elegibility: Everybody who has completed Football 101

Tuition Fee: N/A, but bring your own lembas

Course Description: This course will guide you into the secrets of managing a football team (see Football 101). This will prove helpful once we figure out how to travel to the recently discovered alternate universe known as Lower Earth, as the inhabitants here seems to have very high opinions about this game. The course will use a simulator to take you through some different phases designed to give you a broad yet thorough introduction to football management. The phases are:

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Phase 1. Basic football management: Squad analysis, tactics, transfers, staff. This will take place in a topflight club in the area known as Scotland.

<LI>Phase 2. Lower league management: Promotions. Use your honed skills to take a lowly placed team in Scotland up to the top flight.

<LI>Phase 3. Stabilizing: Avoiding relegations. Dealing with low reputation. Once on the top you need to avoid the drop.

<LI>Phase 4. Managing in other countries. Different cultures. Different rules. Different languages. Now it's time to go to the mainland and take a lowly placed team from the area known as Italy to the top flight.

<LI>Phase 5. Setting goals for yourself. Beating rivals. Planning ahead. Now it's time to pick a team in Southern Scotland (aka. England), where the professor will give you a goal and show you how to reach it.

<LI>Phase 6. Budget crisis. Motivation. Using what you've got. Staying with the team and surviving.

<LI>Phase 7. Youth academy and free transfers. Growing yough players. Spotting the forgotten gold. Droping to a low-division team in England you must take them to the top.

<LI>Phase 8. International competitions. Champions Cup. UEFA Cup. How to bring European glory to your club.

<LI>Phase 9. Summary. Return to Scotland and apply the lessons learned.

Authors notes:

There will be little if any LOTR references in this story, but I have a diffent idea in mind:

As this is a course, I would like some students present to make the story interactive. If you're ready for that, please sign in on your first visit by posting a "Present" e.g "Doctor Who is present, Professor Gandalf. Sorry for being late." Once you've enrolled, feel free to ask questions to the professor or throw pencils at you fellow students, or whatever students do these days.

If you would like to post something outside the story, please do so in Italics.

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HD

HD

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I like this icon_wink.gif

HD here, Professor Gandalf, but you may call me Halbarad.

I will sit beside Faramir and make snidey comments about the other class members as they arrive

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Carrplos

Carrplos

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Carrplos here, Mr Wizard

I'll sit in one of the back corners, as I don't like having people both in front and back of me, nor left and right of me.

Can we leave class early? icon_smile.gif

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Doctor Who

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"Good morning class".

Gandalf magically appears in front of the board. He looks around in the auditorium.

"Welcome to Football Management 101. Now, let's see if I recognize any of you students. Oh, young master Terk, what a surprise, is this your 4th attempt at this course?"

"Halbarad, is that you? Well somehow I figured you would be up for a challenge. Just try not to disturb the class to much."

"And the young Faramir too. Be careful with that arrow. Somehow I believe you will fare better in this class than your brother did. He simply didn't have the patience for management."

"Is that apple for me? Why, thank you cms186. As they say: An apple a day keeps Saruman away....if you can hit him."

"What did you say young master Carrplos? Leave early? Not a chance, but you can close the window over there and tell that young dopehead OMDave to drag his arse inside the classroom."

"Welcome SoS. I believe you dropped something. And quite accurately I might add"

"And welcome to you too, BoN. Is everything well? Did you remember to wash your hands? Please consider a seat closer to the door."

Gandalf returns to the podium, and turns on a strange machine. Pictures start to appear on the board.

"Now, let's get started. We'll be using this simulator to show how football management is done in Lower Earth. As you've already read in the course material, we'll be starting in the Scottish Premier League. Here you can see a list of clubs, and for this semester, I've desided that we'll start with this club, Hiberian. It's not a very remarkable club, in fact they haven't won the title for more than 50 years, but nevertheless it seems like a good place for you to learn the basics."

"Now, the first thing to do when taking over a club, is to find out what the board and the supporters expect of you. In this case the board expects nothing at all, which is quite worrying. The supporters expect a safe midtable position. If we take a look at the finances, we'll see that the club is in debt, which may explain the low expectations from the board. Nevertheless there is 137K of the local currency available for transfers."

"Let's jump right into it and start analysing the players at our disposal. The main types of players we'll be needing are Goalkeepers, Centerbacks, Fullbacks, Central midfielders, Wingers and Strikers. Each of these types needs to be strong in different sets of attributes. First goalkeepers."

"Class, which attributes should we be looking for in a good goalkeeper? Anyone?"

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Doctor Who

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"Indeed, young master Terk. Agility is a good thing for a keeper, but let's not forget other skills as handling, jumping, arial ability and positioning either. Saruman ehh, no wonder you haven't passed yet. Let me know if you need an apple. And welcome to you, mmaattyy, I presume you've already learned a lesson. Right, let's take a look at the available keepers at Hibernian."

Goalkeepers:

Morten Hyldgaard, GK, Danish, 25: Looks like a good keeper with good allround skills. Will be 1st choice between the posts.

Daniel Andersson, GK, Swedish, 30: Good goalkeeping skills, but the lazy ******* wouldn't lift a finger for the team. Backup.

Ian Westwater, GK/Coach, English, 39: This veteran is well past his prime, and should never see action again. Listed for transfer.

Nick Colgan, GK, Irish, 29: Decent keeper, but we're already covered, so he's listed for transfer, and currently loaned out to Stockport.

Alistair Brown, GK, Scottish, 18: Hot prospect loaned out to Cowdenbeath. He will have to grow mentally if he wants to make the first team.

"Now it's time for the fullbacks. A good fullback should excel in these areas: Tackling, marking, crossing and determination. Passing, dribbling, pace and long throws aren't bad either. At Hibernian we've got:"

Fullbacks:

Gary Smith, D RC, Scottish, 32: His mental skills earns him a place in the first team, where he'll appear on rotation as right back.

Alen Orman, D/DM R, Bosnian, 25: Somewhar lacking mentally, his pace and technical skills still earns him rotation as right back.

Roland Edge, D L, English, 24: Decent left back, who'll appear on rotation.

Allan Dempsie, D RL, Scottish, 20: Another promising youth for rotation as left back. Could use better tackling and marking though.

"In the center we need centerbacks. These are crucial for our success, and they need the following skills: Pace, jumping, heading, marking, tackling and positioning. They also benefit from aggression, bravery, determination, teamwork and strength. These are tough criteria, so let's see how the defenders at Hibernian measure up."

Centerbacks:

Yannick Zambernardi, SW/D LC, French, 25: Good defender, who'll easily claim a spot in the lineup.

Mathias Doumbe, D RC, French, 23: Another certain starter to complete the french connection in the center.

Paul Fenwick, SW/D C, Canadian, 33: A veteran who'll make a useful backup.

Colin Murdock, SW/D C, Northern Irish, 26: A backup defender, who will not see too much action due to lacking pace.

Colin Morton, D C, Scottish, 22: He can head the ball, but that's it. Transfer listed.

Johnathan Baillie, D C, Scottish, 17: A hot prospect, who may or may not make it into the first team.

Jamie McKenzie, D C, Scottish, 18: Another hot prospect with a lot to learn.

Steve Fletcher, D/DM C, Scottish, 17: I'm a bit unsure about this one, but we'll let him hang around for a season, and see how he develops.

"Next we'll take a look at the midfielders, both central and wingers. What should we look for here? Anyone?"

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"Very good, HD and cms186, excellent suggestions. So in summery, the wingers will need the following: Dribbling, crossing, pace and acceleration. They also benefit from passing, technique, agility and balance. For the central midfielders we look for passing, decisions, flair, teamwork and work rate. If they play defensive midfielders we also like marking, tackling, aggression, bravery and determination. For the more offensive types the following are good: Long shots, technique, creativity, dribbling, pace and acceleration. Let's look at the availble players at Hibernian:"

Central midfielders:

Ian Murray, SW/D/DM LC, Scottish, 22: Probably the best player in the squad. He's versatile and captain material. Will most likely feature as defensive midfielder.

Grant Brebner, DM C, Scottish, 25: Determined and hardworking, he'll probably claim a spot as central midfield, even if some of his skills are average at best.

Steven Whittaker, D/DM C, Scottish, 19: This lad is a good backup for the midfield positions.

Richard Barr, M RC, Scottish, 18: He really isn't very good, but we'll use his as backup until we sign some reinforcements.

Kevin Nicol, D/DM C, scottish, 21: Pretty useless overall, so we'll transfer list him. We could use the money.

Darren Thompson, DM RC, scottish, 18: Totally useless at this level. Transfer listed.

Kevin O'Neill, M C, Scottish, 17: His determination may yet make a player out of him, so we'll hang on to him for now.

Stephen Sproule, M C, Scottish, 17: Good technical skills, but lacking mental skills. Let's see if he develops.

Wingers:

Stephen Glass, AM LC, Scottish, 27: Decent left winger, who'll be a regular, if no reinforcements arrive.

Jarkko Wiss, DM RLC, Finnish, 31: Probably the weakest link in our lineup, but currently our best bid for right wing.

Andrew Cruickshank, AM L, Scottish, 18: Backup player at best, which is what we're forced to settle for right now.

Kevin Thomson, AM RC, Scottish, 17: Decent backup player who'll probably see some action.

"Finally we need to look at the strikers. Preferably they'll excel in Finishing, heading, technique, determination, off the ball and all the physical skills. We have quite a selection to choose from at Hibernian:"

Strikers:

Tom McManus, F RC, Scottish, 22: A very good striker, who'll be first choice in the attack.

Derek Riordan, S C, Scottish, 20: A young striker, who'll get his chances on rotation.

Garry O'Connor, S C, Scottish, 20: Capable young striker. Rotation player.

Stephen Dobbiev, S C, Scottish, 20: Very useful backup, who'll get some appearances.

Scott Brown, F RLC, Scottish, 18: Probably not ready for the first team yet, but we'll keep him there as a versatile backup.

Alan Reid, S C, Scottish, 22: Useless compared to the rest. Transfer listed.

Ryan Pow, F C, Scottish, 17: Prospect for the future, when his technical skills have improved.

Darren Smith, F C, Scottish, 17: Not so hot prospect. Transfer listed.

"That completes the squad analysis. It should be clear to you, that we need to strengthen the midfield, so we should start looking for a right winger and perhaps an attacking midfielder too.

You'll notice that no time has passed yet in the simulation. That's good, because there's still plenty to do. Who want's to guess at, what we should do next?"

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"Welcome OMDave and Tyrone, please take a seat. Very good suggestions class, well most of them anyway. The next steps are to look at the staff, set up training and tactics and finding reinforcements. Now, the training isn't covered in detail in this course. If you want details you should attend Professor Lyssiens class at T&TT. But you should know that we'll have 4 different training regimes and thus we need staff for these 4. Fortunately, there's plenty of staff available at Hibs, even if some are below par. Let's see if we can find 2 coaches and 2 physios to fill the holes. As you can see, it's really easy to find physios. And there also seem to an abundance of coaches to choose from. Good.

Now it's time to look at tactics. SoS, we won't use the Diablo tactics, instead we'll be using a 4-1-3-2 inspired by the El Asesino tactic. As for your Oskarsson suggestion, it's not a bad idea, but if you think again and remember what will happen in the next phases, you'll realize that we might wan't him in phase 2, and it could be difficult to sign him once he's gotten a taste of topflight football. Let that be a key lesson, class, alway look beyond the next match and even next season. Keep in mind, where you want to go later.

So who can we sign then? We'll here is a Spanish right winger without a club. Òliver is his name. Let's offer him a contract. In case that fails we'll also make an enquiry for the veteran Kevin Twaddle at St. Mirren. We also make an enquiry about dane Stig Tøfting currently playing in China. He could add some punch to our midfield despite his age of 33. If we take a look at left wingers we can't help noticing Italian Alession Scarchilli who's looking for a club. Let's try to give him an offer he can't refuse.

That should be it for now. Now it's time to play some friendlies and hopefully welcome some new signings. Let's have a lembas break."

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"Welcome back. Young master Terk, you've got a piece of lembas in the corner of your mouth. Right, on to the friendlies.

First friendly is against Queens Park. The players are not in shape yet, so we keep our expectaions low. Still we get a 3-1 win with goals from Garry O*Connor(2) and Stephen Dobbie. Here we see the new staff members arriving and Òliver signing his contract. With that contract secured, we tell St. Mirren what they can do when they demand 50K for Twaddle. Scarchilli also desides to move to Scotland, so we already have reimforced our midfield without spending money. Next we play Berwick, who is beaten 2-0 (Wiss, Dobbie). Already Òliver gets his first MOM. Unfortunately we don't have the budget to pay Tøfting the salary he demands, but please note the clever trick during the enquiry phase where we lowered the prize for a 50% sell-on clause. Come on, the guy is 33. I guess the Chinese still have a lot to learn.

Next we play Hamilton and win 3-0 (Whittaker, O'Connor, Thompson). As you see the training is starting to kick in as the players are getting into shape. Moving on with a 4-1 win over Stenhousemuir (Brebner, McManaus, O'Connor, Sambernardi), we get to the final friendly against Ross County. Here we need to settle for a 1-1 draw (Riordan).

While we fast-forward to the first league match, we observe a annoying fact of football management: Nobody wants to buy your surplus players, while everybody is trying to lure your gems away. For now we'll just reject all offers on our certain starters."

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"Well, OMDave, Stig Tøfting (aka The Lawnmower) playing in China at least explains why they are so short over there

Alright class, let's go through the first third of the season. As we go you'll see the inevitable long term injuries, that'll force you to reconsider your lineup. In this case it'll be nasty injuries to O'Connor and Scarchilli. You can't do much about it, just accept it and move on. You'll also notice that you often find yourselves on the wrong side in surprising cup upsets. Lesson is, that you should never underestimate lower division sides."

Results:

Livingston-Hibs 1-0

Hibs-Dundee 4-0 (Brebner(2), McManus, O'Connor)

Hibs-Kilmarnock 2-1 (Doumbe, O'Connor)

Rangers-Hibs 2-1 (Riordan)

Hibs-Dunfermline 2-0 (Brebner, McManus)

Partick Thistle-Hibs 1-1 (Glass)

Hibs-Dundee Utd 3-0 (Ã’liver, Brebner, Thomson)

Brechin-Hibs 4-0, League Cup 2nd round exit

Hearts-Hibs 2-1 (McManus)

Hibs-Celtic 2-2 (McManus(2))

Aberdeen-Hibs 1-3 (Doumbe, Dobbie(2))

Hibs-Motherwell 1-0 (McManus)

"Overall a good campaign so far. We're sitting in 3rd place only 5 points behind Rangers in the lead and 1 point behind Celtic. Now is a good time to renew any expiring contracts, that is, if they are worth renewing."

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"That's a very keen observation, young master Terk, but nevertheless it goes to show, that you must expect the unexpected.

Let's continue with the season, and see how we fare."

Results:

Hibs-Livingston 0-0

Dundee-Hibs 6-1 (Brebner(2), McManus(3), Riordan)

Kilmarnock-Hibs 4-1 (Glass, McManus, Riordan(2))

Hibs-Rangers 0-2

Dunfermline-Hibs 0-1 (McManus)

Dundee Utd-Hibs 3-1 (Brebner)

Hibs-Partick Thistle 1-0 (Dobbie)

Hibs-Hearts 3-0 (McManus(2), Whittaker)

Celtic-Hibs 0-0

Hibs-Queens Park 8-1 (Murray, Brebner, McManus(2), Riordan(3), Whittaker), Scottish Cup 3rd round

Hibs-Aberdeen 4-0 (Doumbe, Ã’liver, McManus, Riordan)

Motherwell-Hibs 1-3 (McManus, Riordan(2))

"Things are still going well. We're still on 3rd place, 2 points after Celtic. Rangers are leading us by 10 points now, but on a positive note, we're 11 points clear of Livingston in 4th place. Also note how well Mathias Doumbe has been performing. He deserves some public acclaim, and that's your responsibility."

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"Good observation cms186, but to be honest I find him a bit too young to handle such praise. Besides, nobody is trying to lure him away from us, while Doumbe has been getting a lot of attention from his home country called France."

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SoS

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Doumbe is playing 'exceptionally' claims manager

According to 'Professor Gandalf', Mathias Doumbe is on the form of his life. 'Eh? Oh, great lad, great lad. The boy's only getting a loaf of lembas a week, yet he still produces quality performances like this. Great lad.' This quote has sparked controversy in the media, as the minimum wage in Lower Earth is of course 1.7 loaves of lembas per week. 'Professor Gandalf' is of course already under investigation for molesting an elf.

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"Yes master Terk, McManus was another candidate for praise, as well as Ã’liver and Hyldgaard, but if we praise too much the praise loses its meaning and effect. Let's see how the season continues."

Results:

Livingston-Hibs 2-4 (Murray, McManus, O'Connor, Riordan)

Rangers-Hibs 1-2 (Zambernardi, McManus), Scottish Cup 4th round

Hibs-Kilmarnock 2-1 (Óliver, Riordan)

Hibs-Dundee 1-3 (O'Connor)

Rangers-Hibs 2-0

Hibs-Dunfermline 3-1 (Murray, McManus, Riordan)

Hearts-Hibs 2-4 (Doumbe, Brebner, Riodan, O'Connor), Scottish Cup Qtr Final

Partick Thistle-Hibs 0-1 (McManus)

Hibs-Dundee Utd 0-0

Hearts-Hibs 0-0

Aberden-Hibs 1-3 (Zambernardi, O'Connor, Dobbie)

Hibs-Motherwell 1-0 (Dobbie)

Dundee Utd-Hibs 1-0, Scottish Cup Semi Final exit

Hibs-Celtic 2-2 (Doumbe, Dobbie)

"The endgame looks pretty uninteresting for us. We're still sitting 3rd with 10 points up to Celtic in 2nd, and 19 points down to Dundee in 4th."

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Results:

Hibs-Celtic 3-0 (Dobbie(2), own goal)

Aberdeen-Hibs 1-4 (Brebner, O'Connor(2), Glass)

Hibs-Livingston 3-0 (McManus(2), O'Connor)

Dundee-Hibs 0-0

Rangers-Hibs 0-1 (Riordan)

"We finish comfortably in 3rd place, while Rangers take the title.

So class, we have now completed our first season. Remember, that you should rest the players for a while, before they start the new season. We're going to do another season with Hibs, as I notice that some of you were easily distracted. See you all next week."

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"Good morning class, and welcome back.

Last time we finished the first season with the Hibs. Before we start all over again, we have a summer. For a football manager, this is not a season for vacation. A funny thing about football is, that most contracts expire around the first of July. A clever manager takes advantage of this to get some practically free reinforcements for his team. And as the Hibs

needs to prepare for UEFA Cup football this season, I'll do a demonstration of this."

New signings:

Richard Rufus, D C, English, 29: A strong defender, that will feature heavily, after Charlton failed to extend his contract.

Kristijan Djordjevic, AM R, Serb, 28: Excellent right winger, who felt left out a Schalke 04.

Sunday Oliseh, DM C, Nigerian, 29: No longer wanted in Dortmund, but we sure can use him.

Simone Pavan, D RL, Italian, 30: Good fullback snatched from Modena.

Ian Tomlinson, SW/D/F LC, English, 16: First useful finding by our youth scout, but he looks very useful indeed.

"Our youth academy only produced 2 youngsters of questionable quality, which was disappointing, but since we only plan to

stay here for another season, we'll survive. Now the circle is completed, and we start all over again with the new season."

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