[FM 16] Grim in Grimsby

[Internomad]

So here we go with my first ever story which will be an attempt to get my favourite team, Grimsby Town Football Club promoted back into the Football League from the murky depths of the Vanarama National League. It will be a fairly slow story as I don't rush playing Football Manager, and as I am retired, I have plenty of time to play. I have been playing this game since the start of the Championship Manager series back in 1993, and have owned, and played every version since then.

Please be nice to me, I'm not a good writer so this will be more of a diary than an actual story.

My Squad

1. James McKeown (GK) The best keeper in the National League, no more to be said.

2. Richard Tait (RB) Solid fullback and utility player, competent in several positions.

3. Gregor Robertson (LB) Now 31 years old, good fullback at this level.

4. Scott Brown (MC) Determined footballer who unfortunately is injury prone.

5. Shaun Pearson (DC) The rock of our defence, and Vice-Captain.

6. Josh Gowling (DC) Bit on the slow side, but at 6'3" excellent in the air.

7. Jack Mackreth (MR) Tricky winger with some dribbling skill.

8. Craig Disley (MC) Consistent, hardworking midfielder and Captain of the team.

9. Omar Bogle (ST) Signed from Solihull Moors where he scored 62 goals in 109 games.

10. Padraig Amond (ST) Pacey striker with an eye for goal.

11. Andy Monkhouse (AMR) Skillful winger who at 34 is nearing the end of his career.

14. Marcus Marshall (MR) Right midfielder with pace, can also play as a winger.

15. Harry Clifton (MC) 17 year old 1st year professional, massive potential!

16. Craig Clay (MC) Great team player, who works hard for 90 minutes.

17. Josh Venney (MC) Another 1st year pro who has some potential, and very quick.

18. Jon-Paul Pittman (ST) Pacey striker but prone to injury.

20. Nathan Arnold (ML) Quick and consistent, can also play on the right.

21. Josh Sunter (DC) First year pro, still lacking in some areas, but good team player.

22. Aristote Nsiala (DC) Consistent, good in the air, tends to lose it now and again.

23. Danny East (RB) Top quality fullback, also accomplished left back.

Injury List

Scott Brown - Damaged foot, up to 2 months.

Marcus Marshall - Damaged cruciate ligament, up to 2 months.

Jon-Paul Pittman - groin strain, 6 weeks.

Craig Disley - bruised head, 1 week.

My biggest problem is with McKeown being out for 3-4 weeks. He could be fit for the start of the season, but not match fit, so I think I will be looking for a loan or cheap GK from the Free Agents list.

Disley is only going to be unavailable for 5-6 days, whereas the other injured players are medium to long term. With what I have got, including the new professionals, I intend to sign an AMR and AML to fit my planned Tactics. I could also do with cover at Left FB and ST.

The formation I am going to use is an Attacking 4-4-2 that looks like a 4-2-4, but hopefully it will work out as planned, we shall see.

Pre-season is over, and with 30 goals for and 1 against from 8 matches the morale of all players is good, which is what I set out to achieve. Ok, so all of the teams we played were of a lower league status than us, but that was the plan.

Signings were as follows, Filip Lazareanu a 34 year old Romanian Keeper who will be back-up for McKeown, or maybe even challenge for his position. Experienced 32 year old journeyman Rowan Vine has been signed as cover at AMR for Nathan Arnold. Although lacking in pace, he makes up for that with good movement off the ball and good vision and flair. Young striker, Ashley Harris is reported as having the potential to be better than my

star striker Padraig Amond. At only 21, he has time to improve his already good looking stats, and will get plenty of starts this season. He can also cover the AML position. Our newly promoted professionals from the Under 21's are likely to see more than a few starts this season, as I intend to bring them on by giving them matches, I have confidence in them to fit into the team as and when.

They are Josh Sunter (DC), Josh Venny (MC), Lucas Middleton (DLC) who I have let out on loan, and last, but by far the least, Harry Clifton (MC), who I'm told, has the potential to be better than Craig Disley. I decided to move Jack Mackreth on as he wouldn't fit into my tactical formation. He went to Eastleigh for no fee but that freed up his £800 wages.

Match Day 1 (Vanarama National League)

Away at Kidderminster we played well to come home with a 2-0 win. Goals from Amond 23 and Clay 52 got us the 3 points, with Clays goal being a spectacular header from 13 yards after a cross from Robertson. East sustained a shoulder injury in the 44th minute and was replaced at RB by Gowling. In the 70th minute I replaced the tiring Clay and Disley with Clifton and Venney, being confident that they could help close the game out and also gain some valuable first team experience. Robertson was the Man of the Match (MOM).

Well, what a dramatic week this turned out to be! First the good news. James McKeown is fit again after a good performance in the U21 game, and will start on Tuesday night at home against Barrow. Bad news follows good and the medical team informs me that Danny East is going to be out for up to 2 months with a dislocated shoulder.

Shaun Pearson and Gregor Robertson both made the Vanarama Team of the Week and luckily RB Richard Tait has recovered from his injury and is back in full training, although not fit enough to start on Tuesday night, so Gowling will start at RB and McKeown will take back the No 1 Jersey. The drama continued with the Tuesday night match!

Match Day 2 (Vanarama National League)

Right off the bat Barrow kicked off, surged down the pitch and within 18 seconds had scored the first goal. We hit back almost immediately when Amond headed in from close range in the 2nd minute and then Bogle made good ground down the right hand side and crossed low for Amond to score his second with a tap in from close range in the 4th minute. This crazy episode continued in the 6th minute when Robertson gave away a penalty which was duly converted by Barrow ! Thankfully the game then settled down and I could start breathing normally again, then in the 24th minute Disley linked up well with Gowling who had made a good overlapping run down the right, he whipped in a lovely cross which Amond volleyed in from the edge of the 6 yard box to complete a very quick hat-trick and put us back in the lead. We increased our lead in the 54th minute when great interplay between Monkhouse and Disley ended with Disley sliding a perfectly weighted pass inside the LB for Nathan Arnold to slide past the keeper from the corner of the 6 yard box.

I brought on Clifton for Disley in the 72nd then things went tits up! Robertson was injured in the 80th minute and had to come off. With no fullbacks on the bench I had to bring midfielder Josh Venney on and go three at the back pushing Venney into midfield. This suited Barrow and they pushed forward down the flanks, eventually the pressure told and they scored twice in the 89th and 90th minutes to get, what I considered, a lucky draw.

MOM was Podge Amond (he likes to be called Podge, don't ask me why!), and to round off this dramatic week, I was informed that Robertson would be out for up to 8 weeks with a sprained ankle.This leaves me with a bit of a dilemma! Should I cancel young professional Lucas Middletons loan, and bring him

back to play at LB or try to find a loan player to bring in? Middleton is untried, but I will have to get him back just as cover, and I will have to find a suitable loanee. Who said managing a football team was easy!

[Internomad]

Had a slight problem there with the editing, don't really know what went wrong!

[mark wilson27]

Had a slight problem there with the editing, don't really know what went wrong!

Welcome to FMS Internomad, Did you copy it from notepad because that has happened to me before when I've done that

I have tidied it up for you

[Internomad]

Yes I did, and thanks very much.

[mark wilson27]

Yes I did, and thanks very much.

If you use notepad, I find that if you put notepad full screen when you copy and paste it, that problem doesn't happen

[Internomad]

Thanks very much for that tip.

[tenthreeleader]

Welcome to FMS, Internomad!

We need more folks around our age in these parts. Glad to have you here. We're happy to help and I should say that there are a number of writers here who are in no hurry to play FM. Let us know if you need other assistance!

[Internomad]

Thank you, appreciate it.

[Internomad]

So I can't get Lucas Middleton back from his loan due to a balls up with the conditions of the loan agreement, Assistant Manager, my office 9am sharp tomorrow morning! Also I had no luck getting a LB in on loan, the only thing I can do is play Richard Tait at LB, where he is barely competent, and also not fully fit. This leaves me with only 16 available players, just enough for 11 players and 5 subs! I'm crossing fingers and toes that we get no more injuries in this next match.

[EvilDave]

Welcome to FMS Internomad, it's good to have you here and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take the mighty Mariners!

I'm particularly intrigued as you mentioned they're your favourite team - can I take it from that that you're a fellow Grimbarian?

[Internomad]

Hello mate, not a Grimbarian, I live in Barton upon Humber. My Dad was a Town supporter and first took me to Blundell Park when I was 5 years old, and I have supported Town ever since, although I am not able to get to matches any more, but I'm there in spirit, and my name on The Fishy is Black_and_White_Bear.

[EvilDave]

Ah Barton, I know it sort-of well - I wrote for the Scunthorpe Telegraph for a little while and you're in our patch! I also attempted the Viking Way a couple of years back, but that ended up rather painfully so the memory is somewhat soured. My dad was never big into football, also a rugby man, so my obsession came a little later - I always like to see how the Mariners are getting on though!

[Internomad]

Match Day 3

Home to Bromley, newly promoted Champions of last seasons Vanarama Conference South. We are firm favourites but I warned the lads that this would not be an easy game

It looked as If I was going to be made to eat my words when after only 58 seconds a Nathan Arnold cross was cleared to the edge of the area where the waiting Disley seized onto it then slipped a nicely weighted through ball in for Amond to run on to and slide past the keeper to put us in to an early lead. Seven

minutes later we were 2 up after Richard Tait knocked a long ball down the left channel for Amond to run on to, and then aim a looping cross to the far post where Omar Bogle met it nicely with his head to score his first goal for the Mariners. Eight minutes gone and 2-0 up! The rest of the first half was spent

almost exclusively in the Bromley half, and we could have had 2 or 3 more goals but for poor finishing. In the 53rd minute they pulled one back when careless marking from a throw-in led to a cross from their right wing to an equally unmarked Alex Wall on the 12 yard spot and he gleefully headed in to make it 2-1.

This was their first real attempt on goal! After 72 minutes I subbed Tait and Nsiala who were both flat out on their feet and brought on Sunter at CB and had to go 3 at the back again with Clifton slotting into the midfield. I shouted to Disley to sit in the hole and made sure both my wide midfielders got the

instructions to funnel back more and help in defence. I gave Rowan Vine his debut after 84 minutes, and took off Andy Monkhouse, switching Vine to the right and Arnold to the left. Despite some pressure from Bromley we saw the game out in front of a decent crowd of 4,413 and moved to 2nd place behind

Macclesfield.

The news that striker Ashley Harris was now able to resume full training was a welcome relief, though he is nowhere near match sharpness and will need a match or two in the reserves, unless we are still deperate for available bodies to put on the pitch! Great news on Sunday when I learnt that my Chairman, John

Fenty had approved a transfer fee of £1,600 and a wage of £1,000 per week for Michael Liddle, a 25 year old fullback from League 2 Accrington Stanley. This is fantastic news for me as first of all I rate this lad and secondly it shows that the Chairman has confidence in me to fund this transfer, especially after

all the money he has already spent at this club. Liddle is a well rounded player and a natural at LB and WBL. Determined and hard working he should be an excellent performer at this level. With Gregor Robertson out for another 6-7 weeks, Liddle has a great chance to make the position his own! Further news

confirmed that Nathan Arnold and Padraig Amond were named in the Vanarama National League Team of the Week for their performances in the last match.

[Internomad]

Match Day 4

Tuesday night soon came around again and with Richard Tait returning at RB and Michael Liddle making his début at LB, the bookies had us down as clear favourites to win this game.

The bookies were right, this was a great win for the team and for Omar Bogle in particular, as he completed his first hat-trick for the club. Padraig Amond, Nathan Arnold and an o.g completed the scoring and it was good to see Michael Liddle get off to a good start at LB with a very energetic style and an assist as well. Omar Bogle was named Man of the Match.

This win extended our unbeaten run to four, and saw us into first place in the League with 10 points, one in front of Kidderminster in second.