[FM14] A former sunday league superstar wandering around Europe - meet Pacey Moore

[Äktsjon Männ]

(Picture shamelessly stolen from the skinning forum)

Introduction

Pacey Moore used to be a star for his pub team. Known for his aggressive demeanor and no-nonsense attitude he was feared and respected by everyone who had the misfortune of having to face him and his clumsy two-footed lunges, or suffer from his frequent bursts of vocal aggression. His 7 red and 14 yellow cards in a single season still stands top in the record books of the county league and cost his team a fortune in fines. All absolutely worth it they say.

Leagues loaded:

England (Skrill N/S and above)

Scotland (Scottish League 2 and above)

Wales (Premier)

Ireland (First Division and above)

France (CFA and above)

Germany (Third division and above)

Italy (Serie C and above)

Holland (Jupiler League and above)

Spain (Second division B and above)

...which adds up to around 59,000 players.

So off we go! This is my first proper attempt at documenting a career, so hoping it'll become a memorable one

[Äktsjon Männ]

Spain you say? Hola muchachos como estas!

[Äktsjon Männ]

Squad

Key Players

Roberto Peragón

Iván Amaya

Yuma

Álvaro Cano

Couple of players coming to the end of their careers but still a very good looking bunch.

Season expectations

Midtable. "Easily doable!" says Pacey with a smug grin on his beautifully tanned face despite not having the slightest of ideas about the quality of any of the opponents.

Pre-season

Not bad, but not a lot to be taken from beating a bunch of inferior teams at home. A fair amount of goals scored though and I'm looking for a decent goal return from old Roberto here.

[SRL88]

Good luck with this fella.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Good luck with this fella.

Thanks

Has been a toughish start to the league season so far for old Pacey. Also not really thought about the update structure for this thread. Thinking of doing two or three updates during a season plus an end of season review. Maybe an autumn, winter and spring review. Let's see.

[Äktsjon Männ]

A little update...

Will be great going to the Bernabeu, but it's going to be ugly. Be genuinely surprised if they don't get double figures.

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Autumn 2013 update

League

Roller coaster form. Can't buy a win to start off, win three straight, then lose three again etc. Peragon getting injured for a month and a half at the very start didn't help, although his deputy Ruben Ramos filled in pretty well. 10 goals in all competitions for him including these two:

[video=youtube;Yu876IPSFXw]

[video=youtube;sP_wIyGtpys]

Spanish Cup

Win against Tudelano the highlight obviously. The squad is small so extra games are really not that welcome, but can't argue with a tie at the Santiago Bernabeu. I wonder how the income part works in Spain, is it likely to improve our finances or do Real take all the money? I guess we'll see soon.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Winter 2013-2014 update

League

Streakiness morphing into pure inconsistency. Improvement towards the end but a couple of infuriating results, specifically the loss against Amorebieta which prompted mr. Moore to demonstrate to his new Spanish pals why former football players in an unknown little village in Northern England still nervously check over their shoulder whenever someone dares to mention his name.

I'm sorry mr Inaki, but conceding 4 goals and losing against an injury ravaged off form team playing with 10 men for the entire second half isn't quite good enough.

The Spanish Cup

Pah. Trying to shut up shop against Real sounds like a reasonable plan, but what's the use if they're going to score seven (!) goals from corner kicks. At least it helped our finances which are now just about in the black.

[SRL88]

Was always going to happen really .

[Äktsjon Männ]

Yeah

It's just one of those things though, specifically set up to be compact and not get destroyed at home then this. Went with my regular tactics for the away leg and 'only' let in 4...

[SRL88]

Ah well, think of the money .

[deltablue]

That was never going to go well

[Äktsjon Männ]

I guess so Was actually more surprised they never scored more at the Bernabeu.

Anyways, Youth Intake Day!

Rubén - better already than my back up centre halves so will have a chance for some playing time. The rest are utter cack.

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End of season 2013-2014

Final league table

Spring league fixtures

Not many positives besides the two big wins that both came out of nothing. Looking at the final table our erratic form starts to make sense though. Our total against the top 7 teams in the league is a whopping 2 points! Taking that into account we did a pretty good job of beating the bottom half to keep ourselves clear of the relegation battle. Expected to be mid-table, predicted 12th, finished 12th - couldn't be more mediocre if I tried...

Key performers

Rubén Ramos - top scorer. Some magnificient efforts and a couple of vital ones. Took the main striker spot from Roberto Peragon who struggled with injuries and form. Leaving on a free.

Alex García - a player all my staff members keep telling me to transfer list and sell (despite him being on a non-contract). 13 goals and 5 assists in 16 starts kind of make me want to disagree.

Plans for next season

Signed a new one year contract with the club. A few key players will be leaving so the future depends on what sort of money there will be to play with and who will be willing to sign. Expecting progress, if it doesn't end up looking likely then moving on must seriously be considered.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Pre-season 2014

Transfers

Half the squad left on free transfers having refused to negotiate contracts, hence the big activity.

Squad

The first team is stronger than last season but there's zero depth. Rival clubs poached most of the non-contract back-ups and we're over budget so can't offer any sort of wages or even appearance fees. This has left us with a 16 year old back-up GK and very little cover in attacking positions. Any sort of injury crises and all bets are off.

Key signings

Eduardo Font

Marcos Cerrudo

Pitu Rial

Pituli

Pituli is obviously the guy that has to take over the goal scoring burden in order for us to have a successful season. Feeling much more confident in my defense this time around and it's the only area where we have some depth in the team.

Pre-season fixtures

Expectations

Top half. No increases in budgets though. Tough, but with some luck on the injury front can be doable. Mr. Moore feels confident enough.

[Äktsjon Männ]

A good start to the season (w4/d1/l1) brings along this

A step up or going sideways? Can see the situation in Spain deteriorate unless we actually push for a promotion or manage another cup run with a big opponent at the end of it.

Would appreciate any thoughts.

[iHeadHunta x]

Might aswell go for the interview, see what happens!

[Äktsjon Männ]

I did and they snubbed me. Oh well, at least someone's showing interest. Maybe time isn't right to move on yet anyway.

[Äktsjon Männ]

And another

They've just been relegated and they'd expect me to cut down on wages, but on the flipside they do have excellent youth facilities for the level. Intriguing.

Edit: well that's quite a cool new feature

Can at least get a back-up GK. The Irish first division will have to wait for now!

Edit2 - been wondering for a while when the cup games start up so just checked and for some reason (probably a bug) we haven't even been entered into the competition this season. Annoying stuff.

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Mid-season update 2014/2015

Great start, not that great after that. Not a bad position to be in though. As said above, we're not even in the cup for some (likely bugged) reason so that's a bit of a bummer financially. Pituli has turned out to be an incredible goal scorer and the whole team have been on fire on that front really - only two regulars in the squad who haven't scored this season. Oh, and we now have a backup keeper! Hooray.

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Youth intake day 2015

This guy and his wild ass mullet the most likely to get a game in some unprecedented emergency. Staff rate this lad the highest, not sure why.

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End of season 2014-2015

Final league table

League fixtures

Dare I say this almost looks a bit like... consistency

Seven clean sheets and no high scoring thrillers the most pleasing aspect. Progress? Perhaps, but half the team is leaving on a free again. Missed out on playoffs by a point but not really that bothered because this team is not ready for promotion.

Key performers

Pituli - 24 goals in 32 appearances. Probably leaving on a free though.

Alvaro Cano - versatile attacker who performed well across several positions which was vital given the lack of depth in the squad.

Arfang Boubacar - main wide outlet in the team. Performed his role well and productively.

Plans for next season

Again, depends on what the board have in mind. The contract runs until 2016 but may look to move on if the budgets are cut, which they might be given our financial position. Being able to participate in the cup again would help, still not sure what happened to that this season.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Resigning becoming more and more likely, especially as the initial wage budget is 20% lower than last season and has made it near impossible to sign enough players.

EDIT

[Äktsjon Männ]

Took a while but here we are. Anyway, here's the squad and current league position. Expected to reach playoffs, probably not that unreasonable. Board takeover in process should have been a red flag though, had I noticed it at any point before posting a screenshot here Hopefully I won't be sacked before a week in charge here.

[endtime]

Youth intake day 2015

This guy and his wild ass mullet the most likely to get a game in some unprecedented emergency. Staff rate this lad the highest, not sure why.

I nearly choked with laughter when I saw that haircut.

Good luck with your new club, might be tough with the high expectations.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Thanks Could be tough but then again it's an opportunity. A professional club in a reasonably good financial position - a chance to establish a reputation. Was starting to look like a complete dead end in Spain because apart from vastly overachieving on the pitch there wasn't a way to progress with the club.

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Mid-season update 2015-2016

Skrill Premier

Not bad. Five clean sheets out of six games particularly pleasing but Gateshead beat us very convincingly. Also, a large chunk of the squad including most of the best players have buggered off because they were only here on short term loan (which seems to be the norm in this league looking at other squads). Have decided not to bring in any further short term loans but wait for the transfer window instead. Which means we have to survive the whole month of December with a very thin squad.

FA Cup

My first game in charge and it did not go too well.

FA Trophy

A bit better here against lower league opposition.

BTW, how's that for a team goal

[video=youtube;swbdVo5AEnk]

[elbilly]

Did a decent job with Bonita, not doing too badly with Aldershot to start. good luck! btw that youth guy's haircut is a beaut, possibly the best on FM I've seen, must have been inspired by Chris Waddle circa 1986

[Fond Foat]

Flying through the save. Good work with Bonita and good luck with the Shots!

[Äktsjon Männ]

Did a decent job with Bonita, not doing too badly with Aldershot to start. good luck! btw that youth guy's haircut is a beaut, possibly the best on FM I've seen, must have been inspired by Chris Waddle circa 1986

Or this guy

Flying through the save. Good work with Bonita and good luck with the Shots!

Thanks

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Good news - MONEY!

Bad news - might get the boot... really need to start paying more attention when choosing which jobs to accept

The Mighty John Beck being the guy they want to replace me with... looks real glamorous.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Yeah, that was fun.

Gave me exactly one game the utter dickwads. Was enjoying it there too, playing the best football I can remember for a while, team goals and smart movement all over the place. Ah well

[am_walters]

Jesus, there's been a lot of harsh sackings around here, lately.

That one wins, though.

[Äktsjon Männ]

My own fault I suppose for not noticing the warning signs. Being replaced by some random dick without much of a background still hurts though. But onwards and (temporarily donwards, then hopefully) upwards!

Squad

Table

Insecure finances and conditions not that great, but I don't plan on staying there for long. Didn't fancy being out of a job any longer though, might as well finish the season somewhere.

[KDR]

The club's worth a whole quid, eh?

Unlucky with the sacking from Aldershot. Chairmen are idiots, what's left to say?

[Äktsjon Männ]

That one quid nets you a cool little dept of nearly half a billion pounds. Call now and a whole squad of useless arthritic alcoholics (possibly) can be yours as a part of that amazing bargain!

[KDR]

Half a billion?! How the hell can that happen? Should have gone under long ago.

I do like a financial challenge, though.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Sorry got my letters mixed up. It's million, not billion. Still a good bargain I say.

Anyway, youth intake day is here and disappointingly there are no amazing mullets on display this time. The best guy here

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End of season 2015-2016

League

Fixtures

Ok I suppose. Were expected midtable and achieved that, rose four places from 17th since joining and turned the form around, relatively.

Key players

None to speak of.

Plans for next season

Looking for any sort of good opportunity to move on. The financial position of this club is unsustainable.

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Pre-season 2016

Transfers

Pretty much everyone left after refusing to extend contracts. Players willing to sign were all of lower standard than what I had previously so there's lots of youth at least with some potential for the future (which thinking about it is useless of course seeing none of them will accept a new contract in a year).

Squad

As said, lots of youngsters. It's clearly a weaker squad compared to last season.

Key signings

Adam Nowakowski - signed by my director of football. A decent centre half and his versatility can be useful.

Ricky Ravenhill - the mobility of a 1920's ocean liner but these mental attributes are good to have in a team that young.

Olu Akinsanya - a striker with decent strength.

The signings were all completed late. I had about five players when preseason started so it was all a bit of a rush job. Tried to sign a DoF early to suggest some signings but the r*tarded board kept cancelling it due to us being over budget - a budget they had just cut - all the while they were blocking every attempt of early contract termination on players who were leaving anyway. It's going to cost a considerable sum of money... no sh|t Sherlock, you're going to have to pay the guy his 200 quid no matter what! Are you maybe a bit dim?

Pre-season fixtures

The first three games were handled by the assistant simply because I didn't even have a team to field yet. He did alright considering.

Expectations

Top half. You're having a laugh. Decrease my wage budget then expect us to improve our position with an entirely new team?

[Äktsjon Männ]

Where's the option of telling them to get off the kool aid and lower their expectations to something more realistic? Anyway, not going to 'beg' nor am I accepting any ultimatums.

That final quote is one hell of a monster, btw. We're glad to see the back of you, oh but were really sorry to see you go Eh?

[Äktsjon Männ]

Squad

Table

This is close to being a last chance saloon to reel off a tired old cliche. They expect mid-table, I suppose anything above the relegation zone could keep me around. They're filthy rich compared to most others at that level, even given me a £190k transfer budget. Not sure what's happened on the pitch though for them to be where they are, but the fact that I beat them 6-0 on their own ground with my Worcester side is a sure sign that this is going to be yet another struggle. Fail here and I can't see anyone offering me another job so I guess the career is truly on the line. Succeed though and it's a good position to be in at a club with plenty of room to grow.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Mid-season update 2016-2017

Skrill North

The only team to comprehensively outclass us were Halifax. Hednesford was a shocking performance but then made up for at Worcester with a sweet one. Felt sorry for their players though, they're not the ones at fault for being put in that position. Still above us in the table, but sinking fast.

Oh and I can claim to have achieved an aggregate score of 10-0 in that fixture, which I think is awesome

FA Trophy

Bit of a struggle at home against lowly Frome, but confident enough away. Morecambe were a bit too much to handle, though we did have our chances and even held a 1-0 lead for 15 minutes.

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End of season 2016-2017

League

Fixtures

Considering where we started, can't really complain about that. Didn't really have a consistent goalscorer though which is something that has to be addressed.

I also wonder if Worcester's board will finally have a bit of a rethink about their ambitions. I mean apparently they couldn't wait to see the back of me when we were still mid-table, then ended plummeting down into relegation while going through a three month stretch of not winning a single game. Their new manager stripped an influential 35 year old veteran of captaincy, gave it to a 17 year old on loan winger and then refused to play any of the established players opting for a bunch of very young loanees instead. Yet he's still in a job.

Key players

Johnny Herd - His ratings don't really show it but his attacking play down the left flank was vital to our success.

Dominic Reid - the main playmaking influence in the team.

Aaron Williams - a right winger who chipped in with vital goals when the rest of the team were struggling to get on the score sheet.

Aaron Williams - this is not a typing error. There really are two of them! This one is a 19 year old centre half who was really solid and one of the first names on the team sheet.

Plans for next season

I like it here. Finally feeling like settling somewhere. Signed a contract extension till the end of next season, the board will no doubt be expecting a promotion push, but to be fair, so will I. It's going to be old Pacey's fifth season as a manager and it's time to actually start making some progress! AFC Telford are a very good club to build one's career with, very stable financially and enough room to grow. Can't wait for next season!

[deltablue]

Hopefully you can give the Bucks some Fizz.

[Äktsjon Männ]

Hopefully you can give the Bucks some Fizz.

You mean like this lot?

[video=youtube;pACePi441ds]

[Äktsjon Männ]

Pre-season 2017

Transfers

A few changes, clearing a bit of deadwood and trying to upgrade in some areas. Still lack an influential goalkeeper and it's absolutely impossible to find one at this level who can distribute with any sort of consistency which is a bit frustrating.

The most notable transfer out is Aaron Williams, the younger one. Left on a free before I could react and offer better terms. Really hurts to lose a prospect like him, especially after the solid season he just had. What I'm trying to do is blood another academy product in his place - Adam Sharpe. The problem is that he for some totally incomprehensible reason came through as a midfielder and still needs retraining along with quite a bit of improvement in his physicality, but I do have high hopes for him to turn out as a good no nonsense defender.

Squad

Plenty of depth, which does mean fitness issues at this level. Lots of non-contracts though so will probably weed out the weaker performers over the season to form a more coherent unit.

Key signings

Thabang Khomane - the jaw literally dropped when I saw this guy was willing to sign. Probably overpaid in wages just to be certain that any competition would back off. He's no speed demon, but aside from that has absolutely everything you'd want from a striker at this level, and he's still young (only one year contract though). Plus an awesome name. Tha Big Bang!

Viv Solomon-Otabor - an all rounder. I really prefer them to specialists.

Hakeem Adelakun - a loanee. Liking the look of him as an impact sub.

Phil Starkey - some much needed experience and mental stability. Also insurance in case my young CB prospect will struggle in his new more prominent role.

Pre-season fixtures

Bit of this and bit of that. Beat the weaker teams, lost to the stronger ones.

Expectations

Playoffs. Entirely reasonable with the financial backing the board have given me. Hopefully it's the start of bigger things for Pacey Moore the manager!

[iHeadHunta x]

You aint having much luck in your career, bloody chairman was your downful! Hopefully you can prove em all wrong!

[Äktsjon Männ]

You aint having much luck in your career, bloody chairman was your downful! Hopefully you can prove em all wrong!

No issues with the current lot Backed me financially and granted every (reasonable) request made to them. And didn't even demand promotion after the good form in the second half of last season.

Really enjoying it with Telford. Bound to go on a huge winless streak now I've said it of course

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Mid-season update 2017-2018

Skrill North

Pretty good viewing this. no real wobbles thus far and the 10 game unbeaten streak to start the season set us off nicely. Tha BANG has certainly started with a bang (ok, ok I'll get my coat.)

FA Cup

Disappointing loss against fellow Skrill North title contenders Harrogate. First round was the expectation so fell a bit short here.

FA Trophy

Again short of expectations which were 2nd round, but Tamworth are a Skrill Premier side. Worth noting that I played weakened sides in both cups. The club isn't desperate for the money and the young players need the experience.

Overall I can definitely see us going in the right direction. We're making healthy profit, attendances are going up and hopefully we can hold on to our top spot or if not then at least earn the chance to make a go of it in the playoffs.