Raise Your Hand If You're An International Manager *raises hand*

[HotChocolate]

Excellent career with Northern Ireland so far, hopefully you can take them to back-to-back World Cups

Thanks mate, I'd be dissapointed if I didn't but it depends how good our players are in two years time!

[T_o_M]

Nice thread, I enjoy playing International games (except the loading times as the games on holiday), let's hope you have a bright young star come through to give you renewed optimism. Or clone Jonny Evans.

[HotChocolate]

Nice thread, I enjoy playing International games (except the loading times as the games on holiday), let's hope you have a bright young star come through to give you renewed optimism. Or clone Jonny Evans.

Well, funny you should mention the cloning because look who I found in the Under-21 team. Hopefully a late developer

Recognize his name? Of course!

[HotChocolate]

Northern Ireland vs Faore Island (European Championship Qualifying)

Expected more after winning 5-0 away but how can I complain when Jonny Evans scored only 1 goal and Ryan Scott got a goal on his debut! He has equaled Patersons goal scoring record already! Amazing achievement.

Northern Ireland vs Wales (European Championship Qualifying)

I am starting to get very annoyed now. The penalty we won came from a corner, Jonny Evans got pushed over but apart from that we didn't take any chances and the second goal we conceded was horrible, an attacking free-kick for us, short pass to a nearby player who gets tackled straight away, they run the full length of the pitch put it in the box free shot on goal, open net 2-1, they win the game.

World Rankings - September (2015)

We are slowly moving down the rankings but with being 2nd ranked in the World Cup draw I am still confident we can push back up and make ourselves a top nation, we just need a bit of 'umph' upfront!

[T_o_M]

Well, funny you should mention the cloning because look who I found in the Under-21 team. Hopefully a late developer

Recognize his name? Of course!

Hahaha, that's pretty cool. Hopefully he can beat the other Healy's European Qualifying goal-scoring record.

[HotChocolate]

Italy vs Northern Ireland (European Championships Qualifier)

We are used to scoring headers but conceding them is a bit rare, apart from today. All their goals came from headers, I tried out a new formation of 4-1-2-1-2 and I think 4-4-2 diamond may be better suited because Italy just ran down the wings all game. Apart from that and the obvious fact we've gone past our peak years there isn't much else to say.

FYR Macedonia vs Northern Ireland (European Championships Qualifier)

We never looked like winning, the finishing was as usual and the defending seemed worse. Wales took the lead against Faore Island and that then shot them up into 2nd place due to them having a better head to head record with me. So after the red card and a few chances wasted I used all 3 subs, reverted back to my 4-5-1 formation and hoped for the best. We got a lucky break and Brunt had an open net to put us into the Finals.

Group Table - I was talking about winning the group after the Italy result but since then we've fallen without any style whatsoever, we are down to 44th in the World Rankings and somehow squeezing wins against the small nations, usually with Jonny Evans grabbing the goals. I wont be surprised if we go and get battered in every game of the group stages because I cannot see where we will score goals. Lafferty, Ward, McQuoid, Paterson, Scott are all useless at finding the net. Maybe I should give some youngsters a run out?

[HotChocolate]

Euro 2016 Group Stage - Draw

Bulgaria - A tough test who knocked out Wales in the Play-Offs to get this far, although that did mean them finishing 3rd from Israel, Portugal, Czech Republic and Latvia. Would like 3 points against them if I want to get into the knockout rounds.

Ukraine - Another test but it could have been worse, they topped their group consisting of Greece, Poland, Iceland and Finland. Fortunately I missed out on top teams like England and Portugal. Really could do with 3 points to make sure my team get the winning feeling and secure the place in the next round.

Switzerland - Could have been worse, but don't underestimate them, they did beat Spain in the 2010 World Cup. Scotland, Turkey, Hungary and San Marino all fell at the feet of Switzerland who won every game of the Qualifications.

[HotChocolate]

Well, while sorting out my backroom staff and making sure they all have the required attributes (one of them being they have to be Northern Irish) I never realized how much affect it could have. Glentoran had Iain Dowie as their manager (even I was quite surprised) but after letting my Under-21 manager leave I offered him the job, he took it and resigned as the manager of Glentoran.

Here is my new-look backroom staff.

[AK22]

Well done on qualifying for the Euros. With that group draw, I'd say you've got an excellent chance of making the knockout rounds

[HotChocolate]

Well done on qualifying for the Euros. With that group draw, I'd say you've got an excellent chance of making the knockout rounds

I'd usually agree but the performances have been dipping of late and we have bounced up and down the world rankings, mainly due to the fact I decided to scrap all friendlies once I'd qualified to re-scout all my players and get properly prepared for the Euro's which has built up my confidence in the team, got France in friendly at the start of March then 4 pre-tournament friendlies. Should be an interesting tournament

[deltablue]

Not a bad draw there, should be a competitive group.

[Nobby_McDonald]

I echo what Deltablue said.

[HotChocolate]

Not a bad draw there, should be a competitive group.

I echo what Deltablue said.

We shall have to wait and see! I think it will be competitive and in all honesty I think that we will finish bottom, its these sort of teams we seem to struggle against but we seem to step up against the big teams.

I'm doing a season on my other save at the moment, I find doing a season on one then the other the best way of keeping tracks of both games but it shouldn't be too long now, like I said, college timetable leaves me free all day monday and tuesday

[Nobby_McDonald]

Jammy git. My work rotas leave me free two days a week but I spend them doing real life stuff. Like playing golf.

[HotChocolate]

Jammy git. My work rotas leave me free two days a week but I spend them doing real life stuff. Like playing golf.

Doing real life stuff sounds more interesting than football manager to be honest, but then again when you go all the way down to Stevenage to watch your team lose 2-1 a day on football manager sounds more interesting than football manager!

[HotChocolate]

Northern Ireland vs France (Friendly)

We were very poor in the first half and even they couldn't capitalize on the fact they were walking all over us but they came out in the second half and buried us, so I thought. At 3-0 down we seemed to rally and got at them well, yes Jonny Evans scored again but we did create some better chances and could have easily pulled it back to 3-3. I can't have any complaints about the scoreline or the second half performance.

[HotChocolate]

Cyprus vs Northern Ireland (European Championship Warm-Up Friendly)

Looking at the positives, we won and Jonny Evans didn't score meaning others scored. Looking at the negatives we only won 1-0 and did create enough chances to score more and really should have against a team like Cyprus. So yes I am happy with the win but not too pleased with the scoreline but as said before that could be because it is a friendly, we never seem to play our best in friendlies.

Slovenia vs Northern Ireland (European Championship Warm-Up Friendly)

I'm not sure what to say. We really seem to have lost all quality from the team but I'm not sure why, you can see it is there but they do it once a game. The defending was horrible and not what I am used to seeing from us but the attack was the same only breaking through once. I really don't know why we are becoming the '6 pointer' team but something isn't working and I still haven't found what it is.

Northern Ireland vs Norway (European Championship Warm-Up Friendly)

Well, it's becoming crystal clear that we are not the team we were in the World Cup. We are getting beaten in every department by most teams, at home you'd expect the opposition to have to take their chances when they go them. Norway came and had 20 shots. It's not good enough although it was a little bit unfair as before the game I went to my back up tactic but for some reason it switched it back to my starting tactic and then changed all my players and their positions and I hadn't realized till half time.

Finland vs Northern Ireland (European Championship Warm-Up Friendly)

I have never managed a more inconsistent team. We were brilliant, yes they had their chances but we defended well and kept them out and then when we got our chances we went and took them. I'm amazed, some of the football we were playing was really nice stuff and we created some really good chances. These friendlies have done nothing for me, all they have done is confused me and shown me we can get battered or do the battering. This will be an interesting tournament.

Final Squad

[HotChocolate]

I have never seen anything like THIS before, in any Football Manager before. The Ukrainians have decided to bring a flare into the stadium. It is the Ukrainians because you can clearly identify both sets of fans.

[HotChocolate]

Northern Ireland vs Ukraine (European Championship 2016)

We were not good enough. 12 shots, none on target. Okay we defended well but when you can't even get a shot on target you will never win anything and we didn't win today, not surprisingly. It is a shame to see us performing so poorly and not beating even the smaller teams.

Switzerland vs Northern Ireland (European Championship 2016)

A very boring game, like the Ukraine one which you have to win if you are going to get anywhere and thats exactly what Switzerland did. In a game where no one wanted to perform or play they took the chance and won the game. Our goal was a free-kick, which dissapoints me seen as all we can score from at the minute is set-pieces. Ukraine beat Bulgaria to knock us out, very dissapointed.

Northern Ireland vs Bulgaria (European Championship 2016)

I honestly have nothing to say about this game. 0-0 says it all and it was one of the worst 0-0's I've seen. A very, very, very poor performance which really doesn't surprise me at all. I'm no longer enjoying my time here and it's not looking great, I'd be surprised if we beat Moldova and Armenia.

Final Group Table - I forgot that some 3rd place teams go through but I was never going to be in with a shout with 1 point and rightly so. I did not deserve to go through at all.

[HotChocolate]

..............................European Championship 2016..............................

.....................Group A - Group B - Group C - Group D - Group E - Group F.....................

................................Second Round - Quarter Final - Semi Final................................

..........................................................Final..........................................................

Overall Comment: Hugely dissapointed but nothing less than expected. I have seen it coming in the past year and we only qualified due to the fact we beat Italy in the qualifiers when we were playing at our best. Now our best is only just beating Cyprus and picking up 1 point in a relatively easy group. I am now going to start considering offers from other nations. I rejected the Australia job just before the tournament and that is one nation I would love to manage. So although I wont resign and wont apply for a job unless I really do want it then I will stay with Northern Ireland but I can't see us getting anywhere in the World Cup Qualifications.

Manager History

[/size]Competition				Round Achieved				Defeat				Country
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
European Championships 2012		N/A					N/A				Northern Ireland
World Cup 2014				2nd Round				3-1 Chile			Northern Ireland
Four Associations Tournament 2015	4th (league table)			N/A				Northern Ireland
European Championships 2016		3rd, group stage			N/A				Northern Ireland

[HotChocolate]

I'm not sure what is going on in the post above because I can't quite seem to get rid of the code that is not being used. It is appearing from nowhere.

Anybody got any ideas? Thanks.

[HotChocolate]

World Rankings - July (2016)

[Adelaidean]

Shame to go out so poorly at the Euros, but a great effort with Northern Ireland nonetheless.

KUTGW, I always love a good international management career.

[HotChocolate]

I thought it was a fitting song to play at this time!

Anyway, after the dissapointment of the European Championships 2016 I decided to crack on and drop some of the older players replacing them with younger ones who haven't had a chance yet but deserve one. So out went players like Chris Baird and in came players like Peter Donnelly?

Moldova vs Northern Ireland (World Cup Qualifier)

I've now accepted that we weren't the team we were so every game has to be fairly reflected and hat off to Moldova, they deserved all 3 points. The stats don't tell a true story. Our defence was awful in the first half and a well taken finish put them 1-0 up, then in the second half we came out and battered them with one man, Jonny Evans. When I say 'The stats don't tell a true story' I mean, it says Northern Ireland had 17 shots, well, Jonny Evans had about 10 of those. Every set-piece we got he'd be there and it would get cleared off the line or saved. They defended brilliantly. Jonny Evans won 16 headers out of 16, half of them would have been attacking headers. Fair play to Moldova they defended brilliantly and took their chance when they got it, we did neither and therefore did not deserve anything.

Northern Ireland vs Italy (World Cup Qualifier)

Surprisingly it was an even game, both teams had chances just Italy were far more clinical than me, as to be expected. We did have some very good chances but they were put wide or hit straight at the keeper which is disappointing. Their penalty was a very dubious decision but really it had no effect in the game, we were never going to get anything because we just don't have anything upfront to win games.

[HotChocolate]

Shame to go out so poorly at the Euros, but a great effort with Northern Ireland nonetheless.

KUTGW, I always love a good international management career.

Thanks a lot mate! I will carry on being an international manager all the way through this save! Never tried something like this before so it's really interesting.

[deltablue]

Gives you something to aim for next time.

[HotChocolate]

Ahead of my friendly and Qualifier I realized that Chris Baird was on 99 caps and thought it would be harsh to not let him get to the 100 mark. So he comes back in, for 2 games.

Hong Kong (China PR) vs Northern Ireland (Friendly)

A very pleasing result, it was expected but sometimes these games are harder than than the harder games. If you make sense of what I just said, give your self a pat on the back. However if I am allowed to complain, which being a manager I should be, we had 20 shots and got 6 on target? It's not great reading. But that aside we scored when we had the ball on target and kept them out with ease.

Armenia vs Northern Ireland (World Cup Qualifier)

A very average performance and a very average match. Glad we took the 3 points but it would have been dissapointing to have lost the game especially after the past few results. I can't seen us getting near the play-off spots, the Moldova result was a massive blow to that and I don't think we have the quality to get past Montenegro but I'm glad the new tactic (hoof ball with a 5-3-2 formation) seems to be getting me a few more goals/chances.

World Rankings (before the Armenia game) - a massive fall from grace, I've taken them as high as 14th and now this is the lowest we have gone down to (I think they were 84th when I took over)

[HotChocolate]

Kuwait vs Northern Ireland (Friendly)

A game we should be winning but a game we have failed to win. It was another disappointing performance but then again, if they are always disappointing me then maybe I am expecting too much from them? Spain up next.

Spain vs Northern Ireland (Friendly)

We got ripped apart and rightly so, they are the current European Champions and they showed it, especially in Fernando Llorente. We defended well at times but when you are under constant pressure they are bound to score goals and that's what happened. We never had a single attack and although we had 5 shots I didn't see one of them, which is disappointing to say we didn't go and show them what we have been capable of in the past.

[HotChocolate]

It's a sad day

I really enjoyed my time at Northern Ireland but I was desperate for a new challenge and a new team and I found that in Nigeria. They haven't qualified for the World Cup on the game and only came 3rd place in the African Cup of Nations twice on the game so there is still a bit to do and I'd love to have a good few years at them like I did with Northern Ireland.

More to follow...

[HotChocolate]

Northern Ireland

5th July 2011 - 19th February 2017

Manager History.

Competition Round Achieved Defeat Country
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
European Championships 2012 N/A N/A Northern Ireland
World Cup 2014 2nd Round 3-1 Chile Northern Ireland
Four Associations Tournament 2015 4th (league table) N/A Northern Ireland
European Championships 2016 3rd, group stage N/A Northern Ireland

Career History.

Days in Charge Games Played Won Drew Lost Win %
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2056 65 27 15 23 41%

Highest FIFA World Ranking (Under my tenure) - 14th (November 2012)

Lowest FIFA World Ranking (Under my tenure) - 84th (July 2011) or 80th (October 2016)

Reason for Leaving: But all good things come to an end and I'd taken them as far as I could, they need new blood (maybe Iain Dowie?) to take them forward and to try and rescue a play-off spot for the forthcoming World Cup so once I got an offer from an African side that, could have had better results recently, I had to take it. I love the continent, the football and the fact it is so competitive. Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali, Cameroon, Nigeria all come to my head immediately as the good teams in Africa and I'm sure there is plenty more but the best thing is we are all equal so anybody can win the African Cup of Nations or qualify for the World Cup! At the minute, I have no expectations but to go out, have more fun and get to learn my new team!

Overall Comment: I absolutely loved every minute of my time in charge of Northern Ireland, we exceeded all of my expectations when I first took charge and maybe that was the reason for not doing as well as what I thought towards the end? Maybe we over exceeded our best and therefore the expectations were too high. That aside, I couldn't have asked for more, a World Cup 2nd Round, a draw with Brazil, wins against Italy and Portugal. Lets not forget the humiliation I got against England. I have loved every game I've played with these and although I've got stressed at times it's been worthwhile.

Africa, here I come!

[deltablue]

Should get a chance at the ACN for a trophy or 2.

[Liverbird93]

good luck in Africa. Hope Nigeria have some better strikers

[HotChocolate]

Should get a chance at the ACN for a trophy or 2.

I'm hoping I can pick up at least one ACN, I'd be dissapointed if I didn't. Especially seen as I plan on being there 5/6 years again.

good luck in Africa. Hope Nigeria have some better strikers

Thanks mate!

[Nobby_McDonald]

The Euros were disappointing, I thought you had a good chance from that group.

Good luck with Nigeria.

[Jolanthustrel]

I'm rather disappointed to come in at the end of of your Northern Ireland Story, it was a cracking read and I hope you have as much fun in Africa.

With all the goals he scored did you ever think about sticking Johnny Evans up front while at Northern Ireland?

[Adelaidean]

Good luck in Nigeria, any chance of a few screenshots of their best players and regens?

[HotChocolate]

The Euros were disappointing, I thought you had a good chance from that group.

Good luck with Nigeria.

It was very annoying because we had a great chance to go through but we'd over performed in the early stages of the qualifiers and only just sneaked through in second place, only just. We started playing how we should have been all the time which was disappointing for me to watch.

I'm rather disappointed to come in at the end of of your Northern Ireland Story, it was a cracking read and I hope you have as much fun in Africa.

With all the goals he scored did you ever think about sticking Johnny Evans up front while at Northern Ireland?

I have come to regret it a little bit recently but that is simply because I loved it so much. It was probably the most enjoyable team I've ever managed on Football Manager and I was gutted that it got frustrating to manage them, which is why I jumped ship. Would love to manage a real underdog again, like them and yes I would definitely consider going back.

No I didn't think about Jonny Evans going upfront, 95% of his goals were from headers and 100% of them were from set-pieces. He performed brilliantly in defence and then attacking set pieces. He was by the far the player of the nation every game.

[HotChocolate]

Good luck in Nigeria, any chance of a few screenshots of their best players and regens?

I've done a screen shot of all the 'top players' and then looked through regens and picked my favrorite. They all look good and look promising. The Under 23's won the Olympics in 2016 which is clearly great news!

John Obi Mikel

Lukman Haruna

Adigun Salami

Odion Ighalo

Brown Ideye

Chinedu Obasi

Regens

Henry Babatunde

Osita Okafor

Chibuzar Okafor

Seyi Keshi

[Paolo Willenté]

Nice career so far. Impressive stuff with NI! All the best in Nigeria. Those regens look immense! I know where I'll be looking for youngsters in the future

[Adelaidean]

Very good players there! Your assistant seems to have a fairly liberal rating system though, everyone is "one of Nigeria's best players"!

[HotChocolate]

Nice career so far. Impressive stuff with NI! All the best in Nigeria. Those regens look immense! I know where I'll be looking for youngsters in the future

The more and more I look at my squad I find better players, I'm really looking forward to this.

Very good players there! Your assistant seems to have a fairly liberal rating system though, everyone is "one of Nigeria's best players"!

Yeah, he's just soft. Maybe he should go? To be fair, there is some great players at my disposal so it should be a good challenge!

[HotChocolate]

Nigeria

19th February 2017

Nation Overview

World Rankings - 42nd.

Squad - This is before any changes made.

African Cup of Nations - I edited them all together to make it easy on the eyes and to see how poor we've done over all the tournaments. To have not appeared in a final surprises me.

World Cup - They didn't appear in the 2014 tournament, they got beat by Senegal in the final round, kind of acceptable.

Team Report - At first glance, our team looks full of talent and ready to go to a World Cup.

Expectations - I'd love to qualify for the World Cup and will be dissapointed if I don't but if I don't make it then I'll look to take the knowledge I've gained about my team and take them to an ACN final. I do planning on staying here for a few years but I never have a set time in mind.

Thank you for all your comments, it's nice to know people are enjoying what I am writing, and playing of course!

[AK22]

They're looking a very handy nation. Should be aiming for the knockout rounds in the WC, just need to get that World Ranking up a bit too

[HotChocolate]

Now, I didn't expect to see this especially seen as I didn't even apply for the job.

Maybe I should take it? I have come to regret it recently and I loved playing with Northern Ireland that maybe I should have carried on whether we qualified or not.

What do you lot think? Take the job back or stay with Nigeria and leave them in the past?

[deltablue]

Maybe a lot later, but not now.

[Adelaidean]

I agree with deltablue, you should go back to the NI job a lot later once you've got some new nations under your belt; by then they'll have some interesting regens to change the challenge with them a bit.

[AK22]

Think you need to give Nigeria a chance at a major tournament first

[Nobby_McDonald]

Wait until Northern Ireland find another George Best... if it ever happens.

[HotChocolate]

Maybe a lot later, but not now.

I agree with deltablue, you should go back to the NI job a lot later once you've got some new nations under your belt; by then they'll have some interesting regens to change the challenge with them a bit.

Think you need to give Nigeria a chance at a major tournament first

I will defininitely look at going back there again at some point but as you said, just not now.

Wait until Northern Ireland find another George Best... if it ever happens.

The chances? With this being FM, are very little

[Nobby_McDonald]

The chances? With this being FM, are very little

Accurate to real life then. There hasn't been another Northern Irishman as good as George Best.