joshpmilton Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 After 3 months without a job, the search is over. My hard work in the basement division has not gone unnoticed, and I'm pleased to announced I'm back in the hot seat at League Two Doncaster Rovers. Pressure is on however, as the chairman expects the club to win the league despite sitting in 20th place after 11 games. Happily, they've offered me a two year deal worth £1,000 p/w. I was unsure about taking it at first due to the huge demand, but decided that the money & longer deal was probably worth the punt. If they sack me in the summer I'm probably better off reputation wise but also much better off in the pocket! Doncaster Rovers Squad Staff Finances The more eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed that amongst the team is former England captain, David Beckham. Not quite sure what turn of events led to him signing for Doncaster, but he's 40 years old but seemingly still performing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Certainly unexpected - David Beckham!? How do you feel about managing him? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Certainly unexpected - David Beckham!? How do you feel about managing him? Not quite sure what to do with to be honest! He's got a knock at the moment, so not able to use him properly but at his age I've got to be clever about how/when I use him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 October/November 2015 It's been a difficult period for me in the game since the end of last season. Three months without a job after negotiations broke down with the Whitehawk board, I faced a lengthy lay off as clubs looked the other way after reading my CV. However, struggling Doncaster Rovers, much fancied in League Two, were prepared to take an unexpected punt on me. Having signed a sizable contract with the Rovers, I set about getting them back to where everyone thought they should be. That is to say, I tried to do that... As you can see, I wasn't particularly successful. It appears that I am suffering a bit from the Andre Villas-Boas syndrome, and none of the players in the dressing room listen to a word I say. I'll encourage and they switch off. If I praise them, they're not interested or if I criticize they feel it's unfair. It's been tough, however the key results at the end of November have boosted my hopes that I can turn this around yet. Up to the Bradford & Gillingham games I had anticipated that I would be back in the job centre by the end of February at the latest, but there is hope yet. Key Match: In the future I'm hoping to post a YouTube video of the best/most important/worst match of the update once the full game is release; however I can't seem to get FM13 to upload just yet. This month it was the record breaking 4-4 draw away at Bristol Rovers. Despite trailing 3-1 and coming back to 3-3, it looked as though we'd blown it with five minutes to go, conceding a fourth. However, with in the fourth minute of stoppage time Billy Paynter stepped up and slotted his penalty cooly into the bottom right hand corner, securing a much needed point. All this excitement leaves us in 18th place in the league (below). We're away to Barnet next, and I'm hoping the good run continues and really needs to as despite being in the job for just six or so weeks the board are already on my case! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted October 31, 2012 Share Posted October 31, 2012 Well, survival would be a success for this season - and you seem on course to have that happen. Still awfully close! How is Becks doing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 Well, survival would be a success for this season - and you seem on course to have that happen. Still awfully close! How is Becks doing? The board want me to win the league, which is outrageous given the players at my disposal, but they are spending a fortune on them. Becks hasn't really featured, as he's rarely fit, so I'm using him late on but the game is often lost by the time he appears. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted October 31, 2012 Author Share Posted October 31, 2012 December 2015 - January 2016 The step up is continuing to prove to be incredibly difficult to get over, and December was a very challenging month. Part of the problem, above and beyond the expectations of the board regarding league performance, is that they are insistent that we play attacking football. As those of you who have managed a struggling side probably know, the first thing I'd do in normally in this situation is try to firm up my defence, and build from there. However, with the pressure constantly building, the last thing I can afford to do is give the board more ammunition to give me the old heave-ho despite my short reign at the club. Initially when I came in I tried to play a simple, attacking 4-4-2, but this wasn't having the desired affect. After a while, the six games after my 4-1 thrashing Gillingham, I decided to mix things up and went to my historically preferred 4-5-1 (or 4-3-3). This resulted in the 4-1 demolition of rivals Scunthorpe United and post Christmas put us on a decent run of form. Despite wins over due to the poor start of the campaign, and my management of the club, each loss means that I have to wince every time I return to my inbox, as I suspect the sack is just around the corner. Up to the dramatic 2-1 over AFC Wimbledon my Job Status was Precarious, however the slightly better form has resulted in me bumping this up to just Very Insecure. David Beckham has announced that he plans to retire at the end of the season. It's a shame, as now that he's regained his fitness his performances have really start to pick up. He's even been getting involved on the score charts too. If he carries on in his current run of form, then I might not get the sack until at least the end of the season! Board Confidence is still very low, to the point I am having to field questions from the media regarding my future. I've been trying to put on a brave face in-game, but as you can probably tell I suspect it's a matter of time before I get axed. At this point, it looks like I've bitten more than I could chew during this stage of my career. If the inevitable does happen, I will need to choose my next job very wisely as I don't want to find myself leaping from club to club every 18 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 It looks like he'll be out again soon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 February 2016 - March 2016 So after five months I'm back in the job centre. Despite all attempts to turn things around, the players just didn't seem to have enough respect for me and I couldn't get them to believe in themselves. This spiraled and morale stayed low. Finally, after a run of five games without a win was capped off with a home defeat to bottom of the table Luton Town. As I have alluded to in the previous updates, this seemed on the cards a mile off. It's almost as if though going from managing regens to former England captain's in one step might have been too much. One the plus side, it's added a much needed shot in the arm of me thinking I might be able to get to the top easily. Having done alright at Whitehawk, I'd somehow walked straight into the Football League without winning a thing. Granted, I never want to fail but hopefully I'll make the most of it. Certainly Doncaster can consider themselves, one of many no doubt, teams that weren't fortunate to have me in charge. As you can see above, even in the games after the Port Vale win that we did pick up point, it was only a late equaliser that kept us going. As a result of all that this is where my ill fated reign in charge of Doncaster left the Rovers. So back on the scrap heap for now. The biggest problem for me after this spell is that my reputation has returned to Local having risen to Regional prior to taking on the Doncaster job. As a result, I'm going to probably have to drop back down into the lowest division if I am to get another job. It'll be interesting now to see where I can get into work, but I'm hoping I don't have to resort to returning to one of the previously unplayable clubs to start over again. Doncaster Rovers will hopefully be to me what Leeds United was to Brian Clough. Although, it's not quite inheriting the league champions, I'm trying to figure what to call the book. The Damned Rovers, The Donned United, or the amalgamation of the two - The Donned Rovers. Originally I booked a long weekend off work ready for the release of the game this week, which I plan on making the most of. Expect plenty of updates over the next few days as the phone is off and the kettle is in a constant state of readiness! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 Raising a glass to a fellow manager who has been sacked before FM13 has even been officially released. I'd like to consider the first one a simple expiring of contract, or left by mutual consent. Technically sacked twice before the full release is pretty much the exact opposite of Hypanimz who appears to be unstoppable! It looks like he'll be out again soon Unfortunately so! The step up with my history & the club's expectations was too much. Back to the basement for me and concentrating on restoring my shattered reputation! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Good morning all! The full game is finally upon us, and it's time for me to step up if my career save isn't going to turn into a catalogue of clubs who were better off before I walked through the door. And on that note I present to you, on the morning the game is officially released, my third club... In case you aren't familiar with every club badge in Europe, that is the badge of Spanish (Basque) side Sestao River Club. Sestao, affectionately known as River, is located just north of Bilbao and neighbours Barakaldo, who naturally are our fiercest rivals alongside San Pedro, with whom we share our ground Las Llanas. Having had a peak at the ground this morning I came across this picture, which allows me to draw the conclusion that at the very least, the place has character! My arrival the club wasn't exactly considered to be an inspired choice. So what kind of job do I have on my hands then? Well, Sestao finished the 2015/16 season in 14th place in Second Division B2. A quick glance at the table tells you the majority of what you need to know. Scoring less than a goal a game in the league is never a good sign, and conceding 50% more goals than you've scored is slightly worrying. However, I'm confident that with a full pre-season in front of me I have every chance to get the team firstly firmed at the back and then building on that base to make us much more prolific in front of goal. Manager Profile Overview Biography Sestao River Club Squad Squad - Assistant Ratings Staff Finances Information Facilities Affiliated Clubs Records History Competition Honours The key for me now is to ensure I get a solid footing in place, as I'm hoping to be able to consolidate the club next season, but use younger players that I can develop and hopefully build a team to take us into the Segunda Division in a year or two. Critically, we could really do with a decent pay day somewhere along the line, as we're currently £1.25m in the red. A generous Copa del Rey draw against a La Liga side would certainly go a long way towards that though. Hopefully, the 3,000 gates they were getting last season combined with a relatively low Wage budget of £12,000 p/w should combine to seeing things come back towards the black - that said the game forecasts we'll be £2.17m in the red this time next year. Aupa River! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Best of luck in Spain Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Thanks mate. Just down the road from your old save too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 For those who are interested, I just had a quick peak at where Whitehawk & Doncaster Rovers ended up finishing last season. Whitehawk's went massively downhill following my departure and they were relegated from the Blue Square Bet South in 20th place, some 9 points from safety. There was better news for Doncaster though, as their form picked up and they finished in 19th, a good six points above the drop zone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Pre-Season Preview 2016/17 Minimum Requirements Board Expectations: Top Half Finish Media Predictions: 11th Spanish Cup: N/A - Did not enter League Odds: Champions - 50-1 For some reason we've not been entered into the Spanish Cup this year, which is gutting as I had been hoping to make a bit of cash. Hopefully it's linked to league performance, and we might be entered next year if we have a good season. The board & the media have similar expectations for us this season, with a middle to top half finish being about par. Frustratingly, signing players has been an issue as we've been restricted by the budget. This isn't necessarily due the budget itself, it's more directly linked to the fact that some of my players are on up to £1,400 p/w each (signed before I arrived), so I'd be able to sign equal quality players for less, but can't shift the ones I've got. Having used my budget, I have gone door-to-door looking for some loan players, with limited success. We suffered a lot from injuries during pre-season, which even normally would make that many friendlies difficult so trying to get through it with my small squad was exceptionally tough. I had to rely heavily on the U19 squad, which did have the positive of getting a closer look at the kids coming through. Originally I had less friendlies planned, but the club wouldn't let me book games against my affiliates due to distance, only then to book some in themselves after I'd sorted all my own ones out. Results weren't great, but fitness was the aim of the game and getting through as best we could without key players whilst adapting to my system. Not many transfers in this season due to the aforementioned budget issues. The players that left were all out of contract and there was little I could do to prevent them leaving at the end of their deals. The best deal for me in this window has to be Roussan Janvier, who joined on a free transfer. He was released in the summer by AC Ajaccio after failing to play a single match for their first team and in his time with us in pre-season has scored four goals in six games. He'll be starting up front alongside season Sestao poacher Oskar Martin, who has played 164 league games for the club, scoring 71 goals. Despite his 0.43 goals per game ratio he is now in his mid thirties and one of our top earners. Unless he proves himself to be Spencer Walker prolific (released by Whitehawk btw), then he will be at the top of the list to leave the club at the end of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
abulezz Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Rough pre-season with the injuries and the friendlies, but hopefully the squad wouldve gelled together and positive results will be forthcoming. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Best of luck in Spain! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Rough pre-season with the injuries and the friendlies, but hopefully the squad wouldve gelled together and positive results will be forthcoming. Been challenging, and I don't think I've ever spent so much time just on pre-season. Hopefully that time will be prove well spent. Best of luck in Spain! Cheers! Hoping to have a bit more success over here! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 Hope this goes better. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 Thanks deltablue. Have to say my favourite thing about Spain so far is the obvious lack of mid-week fixtures - I think we have two or three in the entire season. Injuries aside, my team are actually in good shape, which is something that I can often struggle with so regular rest is only going to add to that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 August 2016 - September 2016 The next journey of my career got off to uneasy start in pre-season with our injury woes and some less than convincing results. However, once the competitive fixtures got underway we were a lot more confident. As I mentioned above, the lack of constant midweek fixtures during the opening weeks has allowed me to play a consistent team every week, allowing me to focus on the best way to beat the opposition not just getting through each game. Despite the start looking a bit inconsistent looking just at the fixtures, it actually translates to a pretty solid league position of sixth. Our problem so far has been the difference between our home & away form. We've won all four of our home games so far scoring twelve and conceding just two in the process. Our only point on the road was away to league favourites, which at the time seemed like a good point. Having looked at their home form we're the only team to have dropped points, which takes the positive spin out of it somewhat. All in all a positive start to the season so far and it certainly helps put the poor run at Doncaster behind me for now. In August I also took part in the new transfer deadline feature for the first time, having previously not needed to do any last minute business. Got happy with how that feature works and the constant questions. Didn't do too bad either, signing Ian McShane on a free from Aberdeen and Oscar Gil on loan from Athletic as cover for our midfield. McShane's performances are artificially low at the moment as he's been used primarily as a substitute, but I'm sure he can make an impact when called upon as a starting playmaker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 So remember when I took over I said that last season the side struggled for goals? Well... Just to put that into context in case you missed it in my previous update, last season River scored 37 goals in the league in 38 games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 October 2016 - November 2016 Sometimes I can't help but feel this game is designed entirely to wind you up. Having posted the news item above about how my side has found scoring goals easy, we've gone on a ridiculous run where we just can't score goals. We started the month in magnificent form, winning 4-0 at home to Pena Sport, before securing our first away win of the season away to S.D Logrones. We followed this up with a battling 2-2 draw away to Guijuelo. However, that was is it for us until the final game in November. That's right, my fantastic management skills returned and we lost five games in a row scoring just twice in the process! As you can see we've dropped off massively, as a result of our poor form. We are expected to achieve a top half finish this season, so we're only 2 points below our target for now. This wasn't the case for the entire period, as you can see below. As sharp as our climb up the league was, we've returned back to where we were. Hopefully we'll turn this around and a plucky draw away to then league leaders Real Union has given me hope that the next win isn't far away. Just to make things easy, the board told me after the last draw that they would be reducing the wage budget. I was already over, due to the problems I've mentioned previously, but now we're massively over budget. It's going to need some special performances in the next few months to make sure the board don't get too grumpy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 I genuinely don't know what's going on with me & FM13... I swear I've never been this terrible at an FM or CM before. I've been unspectacular before, consistently finishing in mid-table year after year, but I honestly don't think I've been sacked three times in one game, let alone in my first three jobs! Not really sure what to do next, as I appear to have the opposite of the Midas touch. Don't get me wrong, I knew it would be a challenge at Sestao, but not sure how the team goes from being second after 10 games to failing to win the next nine? Unbelievably frustrated at the moment as I can't seem to get it right. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 After 4 months out of the game, I'm back in the management hot seat once more. After careful deliberation, I knew I had to go back to basics and find a club I could grow with, but somewhere I couldn't fail to achieve their expectations, and slow move forward with them over time. So, when this club came along and I saw where they were & where they were expected to be I thought that not even I couldn't go wrong with this one. I'd always hoped to get a job in Scotland at some point in this career, as I did a save at Albion Rovers back on FM07 I think it was and loved the constant games against the same tough opposition. I also have a personal connection with Peterhead, as my brother & I had a chuckle to each other about who cared about the Scottish 3rd Division many years ago, and chose to follow a side in the next score that popped up on ITV's Goal Rush. Peterhead vs. Gretna was the fixture that came up, and our sides were picked. He had the short term glory as Gretna went all the way, whilst we played the long game and achieved very little. Now, after all this time, the time has come for me to mastermind their triumphant rise up the Scottish Football League (I know, I'll be out by the end of the year, but I can dream!). So why am I so sure that I can't go wrong? Well, with eight games left to go this is the position I find Peterhead in: That's right, Peterhead are bottom of the Scottish Third Division and 16 points adrift of 9th place with eight games left to play - it's almost impossible for them to be doing any worse. In their last game they drew with Stranraer, so my aim for the rest of the season is simply to win a game. Once I get to the summer I can begin to rebuild for the future. The media expectation for the club was only to finish eighth, so following this season I can't imagine it'll be much higher than ninth next season. I've learnt from my Whitehawk mistake, and if you're doing OK at a club and their happy to keep you even if it is on a one year deal, you stay and keep building. My fourth club of my career and it's officially the game has only been out for 37 hours. I did turn down job offers from sides struggling higher up in the league system in England (Yeovil Town in League Two & Stockport County in the Blue Square Premier came knocking), however I cannot afford to manage another club for five months and find myself on the scrapheap. Again. For those who are bothering to continue to read this catalogue of failures, thank you for sticking with me so far. Hopefully the continual failure will end soon, and dreams of silverware are on the horizon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Oh dear, as you say you can't fail there Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hypanimz Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Best of luck at Peterhead. I'm sure you will find a club which is a perfect fit for you and then you can stick two fingers up to the chairmen who have sacked you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 I've reached a really interesting point with Peterhead, as I'm going to have to get through my first full season pretty much using my youth team or players that have come through it. It's going to be a great point to pick up from when I'm ready and more familiar with it all. Got a series of exhibition matches to bring in some revenue, and then trying to haul the Blue Toon away from the bottom. Played through pre-season now having needed to go do something, anything else, for a while. Proper update to follow at some point tomorrow morning. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshpmilton Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 As mentioned in the Mod Requests thread, I've decided that this game is beyond the point of return. I know I've got myself into a cul-de-sac, so starting a fresh with the full game. Tried to turn things around at Peterhead, but I have a pool of twenty players who are interested in signing, all of them worse than my current squad... and you've seen how good they are! I'll be starting again soon enough, and hopefully I'll have learnt enough from this to avoid a repeat tale of disaster. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.