theHDTreatment Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Been playing Football Manager in its various incarnations since CM '93. Have plenty of tales to tell but I though I'd let you in on my latest as it progresses. New career loaded with Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and Spain leagues loaded at least 2 leagues deep - more for England and Scotland. Started off With Peterhead in the Scottish League Two. As The first season is done n dusted, here's a look at our top XI and final league position. Stand out performances from McGeever (loan), Gray (loan - but signed at end of season), Morrison (bought in January), Templeman and McAllister (dynamite pairing). Formation was 442, playing a passing, attack oriented game. We brought the game to the opponents and for the majority it worked. Our performances in cups were poor but this was always the main focus. It was a ding dong battle with Berwick until the last 10 games. A 6-1 away win over them led to a crippling loss of form and we strolled to the title. EDIT: Right click and view picture to zoom the images. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 After a well earned break the players came back for SL1 pre-season training. My intention was to consolidate in the league and use less on-loan players. Djebi-Zadi looks like a solid DC, Ovenstone the same but more for cover. Perntreou looks like a GK for the future. Yoa could fit in the the midfield straight away, Gilchrist is striker cover/one for the future. Steeves n Evans give me more options down the left and the Dons loanees are purely for cover at the back and midfield. Top prospect from the academy. Long way to go but currently being chased by Hearts n Rangers so I've stuck a £100k bounty on his head! Looking to line up like this, this season. Heres hoping we can avoid the drop and get a decent cup run as the club is losing money fast. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davey247 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I had the same formation last year with the advanced LW. Seems to work well until you come up against a high class of opposition. Keep an eye on how many goals you concede on your left side. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
setzel Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 good luck sir , you must avoid the drop now and start building from there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 Halfway through my second season things are going better than expected! An absolutley amazing start, only first tasting defeat at the hands of Celtic, the runaway leaders in Scotland. From then on the form is patchy but December brought about a good sequence of results. Dominating the player charts! Leading at the halfway point but I fear we may not have the depth to survive the 2nd half of the season. Turned down as it would be a pointles sideways move but it's nice to be recognised Next up: End of season review. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 15 games left and a huge win over our rivals puts us 8 points clear. Starting to believe. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 END OF SEASON REVIEW 14/15 Tail end of the season was a little jekyll and hyde. Some real bad patches of form sandwiched by a seven game winning streak between Feb and April. Would it be enough to clinch an unprecedented back to back promotion? It would! With a solid injection of players in key positions we were able to ride the wave all the way to the end. Standouts: Rory McAllister - 31 goals in 42 games. An absolute machine. Scott Gray - The young winger provided 19 assists and has top tier football in him. Gary Thom - A rock at the back despite a nervous end to the previous season. All in all we did extremely well to clinch promotion at the first time of asking However, there is a much wider gulf going from SL1 to the Championship. I reckon we will either need to fully upgrade the squad (board permitting) or rely on the squad harmony we have already built. Up Next: Preseason 15/16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 PRE-SEASON 15/16 With the board unwilling to increase the wage budget, give me any kind of transfer kitty, improve youth facilities or even let me scout outside of Scotland, it looks like another season of 'Arry type wheeler dealing and consolidation. Ricky Little comes in to shore up the defence as there is a couple of aging players that may get caught out at this level. Stephen O'Donnell, Paul Burns and Peter Leven form a brand new midfield as previously we were a little patchwork. Devon Jacobs comes in to provide much needed competition at right back. This season sees a change in philosophy as we can't afford to go gung-ho at this level considering our squad strength. As we had plenty of tall, strong target men at the club, I've opted for one up front in a 4-5-1 counter attacking system. The idea is to sit back and let the opposition make a mistake, whereupon we pounce through various outlets. Not a tremendous set of friendlies but we were up against mighty opposition in some and still learning the new system. Up next: Mid-season review Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 Excellent start. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Excellent start. Cheers. But it didn't continue... The odd win here or there but mainly defeats. We're conceding a lot of late goals as well as goals from set pieces. The fact that most teams have double our wage budget and are full time doesn't help but I feel we have more to offer than an easy 3 points for the rest of the league. Bottom. The aim now must be 9th. Beat Dumbarton and improve our home record. I'd fancy our chances in a relegation playoff. Up Next: End of Season Review Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 28, 2014 Author Share Posted January 28, 2014 Not quite done with the season yet but thought I'd drop a quick update as things have turned around a little. 17 points from 27 is great form and should have led me up the table... ...if it weren't for everyone else around me bucking up their ideas too. Still bottom but look how tight it is right up to those playoff spots. If I can keep the form going, I have no doubts I can survive. Signed a new goalie in the window as I just couldn't rely on the 3.5 star one we've had since League 2. Gastal is a 4 star with 5 star potential and is already contributing well. Heres hoping he can help us stay up! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 END OF SEASON REVIEW 15/16 I'll make this a short(er) one Down. Extremely hard to take especially after our efforts in securing 9th in spite of a crazy amount of injuries and last minute goals. Made it to the play offs (9th from Championship and 2nd, 3rd, 4th from League 1) but after a ding dong battle we blew it on penalties. Almost all of the squad have asked for transfers. Considering my position at the moment but not sure if I can get a better club for myself after this season. Up Next: Pre-Season 16/17 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Just noticed that we are in the process of a takeover. I'm going to wait n see how it pans out before I make my decision. Just now I'm leaning towards resigning if we can't get significant change with funding, scouting etc. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Looks like it's going to be another season of toil for Peterhead. Players are also leaving left, right and centre and the wage bill has been slashed from 6.5k to 4.5k My assistant manager was also looking for double my wage so he's off too. Time to go. We almost made it but in the end we were punching above our weight. With the takeover breaking down and a new squad needing built, I feel like it's time to move on. Time to go on holiday and get my CV out there! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 After a 3 or 4 week break, I came back to an inbox full of rejections. Most clubs I applied to laughed me off (and with good reason). However, right at the end, I saw I'd been offered an interview. Intrigued, I went along, offered my opinions and left with the promise 'they'd be in touch'. And in touch they were! The following day I was offered the job and with a little research and thought I accepted... CAMACHA FC PORTUGUESE 2nd LEAGUE (newly promoted) Not a lot to work with but there's a few teams in the league with a similar budget, so I just need to be better than them. It's basically a club with no history... ...no players (all with no contract)... ...and no staff! What I have is a blank slate. A dream to some, a logistical nightmare to others. I'll be looking to build a squad of reliable, hard working journeymen, coupled with with some pacey wingers and a quality goalie! First things first, an Assistant Manager and some staff! For those interested in the geograpy, a comparison between Peterhead and Camacha. It seems we are on a small island off the coast of Morocco but part of Portugal. Time to get the sunscreen out! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kontermann Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Lovely story Good luck with Camacha! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHDTreatment Posted January 29, 2014 Author Share Posted January 29, 2014 Lovely story Good luck with Camacha! Cheers mate. Turns out however that Camacha have shafted me. As soon as I signed on I noticed the wage allowance had been dropped by £2k, almost a third. In trying to sign players, most wouldn't want to deal with me or were so bad they were unsignable. I went back to a previous save before the Camacha debacle and remain unemployed. Was looking forward to the sunshine as well Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Not a good sign when you can hold a general club meeting in a toilet stall Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Madeira? I'll be there in three weeks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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