Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Rise of the Lions Welcome to my first Football Manager Story / Career Update. I'm using the England to Level 22 Database and used Create-A-Club function where I replaced Keymer & Hassocks in Division 9 with the Hassocks Lions. The roster is kept as is. We'll be starting in Mid Sussex Divison 9 at Level 22 of the Pyramid, and I am trying to get as far up as I can. Will the Hassocks Lions ever win the Champions League? We'll find out... If you have any questions feel free to ask. Got any advice? That's great too, as long as it's not a game spoiler (aka don't recommend any "Wonderkids"). Table of Contents Season 2016/2017 Season 2016/2017 Preview Pre-Season 2016/2017 September 2016 October 2016 November 2016 December 2016 January 2017 February 2017 March 2017 April 2017 Season 2016 / 2017 Recap Season 2017/2018 Season 2017/2018 Preview Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 The Hassocks Lions The who?! The Hassocks Lions. After the Keymer & Hassocks team had to fold because of financial issues back in 2010 there was just one team left in Hassocks, Hassocks FC. In 2014 pub talks in "The Hassocks" started again amongst past Keymer & Hassocks players and fans. People really wanted to give it another go. After all, what's an English town that has just one Football Club, right? It all started as a dream, an idea. But one thing lead to another. Word got out and people started to pull together. Talks were made, players were found and the club was "officially" founded in March 2015. The Team didn't have a license yet, but they started to play the other clubs in Mid Sussex. Training was mainly self-organized and the team struggled at first. In 2016 they got the green light to get a spot in the Mid Sussex Football League Divison 9 - Level 21 of the English football pyramid. You really can't get any lower than that in English football. Still. The lads were excited and former Keymer & Hassocks fans were happy that they finally would get another local club to root for, well, sort of. Like maybe ten or twenty people, really. The Team is "coached" by Areolys Masterson. A no-name local with no real coaching experience. Just another lad that had to hang up his football shoes because on an injury. Here's where our story begins... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 Team Presentation This is our current squad right now: We're looking pretty good for this level. Still, we'll be looking to get in some more talent and hopefully constantly upgrading our squad. As we're in the amateur leagues we don't have a transfer window, and players basically play fro free, so we can go crazy. Team Philosophy We're looking to get mainly young people into the team, combined with some more veteran players as well. In terms of stats we will keep it simple right now. We're looking for a quick, fit and hard working team. Our core attributes we will be looking for will be: Work Rate, Pace, Acceleration, Strenght. Defenders should also have: Positioning, Anticipation Midfielders: Passing, First Touch and Descisions Strikers: Concentration, Anticipation, First Touch, Finishing and Passing The Formation For now we will be playing in a 433 narrow formation. We might mix it up later, depending on the strenghts of our players, but currently it's best to keep the team structure tight. In terms of team instructions we will keep it as simple as possible. Shape and mentality will vary on our opponent and we'll have to see how things work out in our first few matches. We will most likely keep the tempo high and tire the opponents out. The Backroom As a new team we started out with no staff whatsoever. However, we managed to arrange to get some support and brought the following crew on board: Chariman: Fraser Hall A founding member of the club. He feels like he will never leave the club of his own volition. Head Coach: Areolys Masterson A former sunday league player who had to quit his dream of becoming a professional player quite early. He used to work at the pub. Will he make it as a coach, or will he be back at handing out pints after the game before the season is over? We'll see... Assistant Coach & Head of Youth Development: Chief Scout: Scout & Coach: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 Hassocks "Hassocks is a flourishing village sitting at the foot of the South Downs seven miles north of Brighton and is an excellent gateway from which to explore the beautiful South Downs area, whether on foot, by bike or by car..." Hassocks Looking eastwards towards the centre of the village Hassocks Hassocks shown within West Sussex Area 10.88 km2 (4.20 sq mi) [1] Population 7,667 [1] 2011 Census – density 627/km2 (1,620/sq mi) OS grid reference TQ299154 – London 40 miles (64 km) N Civil parish Hassocks District Mid Sussex Shire county West Sussex Region South East Country England Sovereign state United Kingdom Post town HASSOCKS Postcode district BN6 Dialling code 01273 This is where the lads hang out after the game. The Club The Home Turf Aah, ye olde Adastra Park... Not much of a pitch, but then again, it's a start... Hey, it ain't that bad. We even got a club house! Admittedly, we could do better. But the current financial situation just won't allow for it. Let's hope we can turn things around. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 In February the board decided to send Masterson to get his C License in order to be better versed at training the team. Since the season will only start in a few months there will be plenty of time for that right now. Well, I didn't really think I was going to get the green light. Otherwise I would have waited a season before applying for it. Ah well... Pre-Season starting soon. I did go on holidays to make it go faster. Little did I know at the time that my players were still going to talk with other teams and leave the club, leaving us with just 22 players in our squad. Oh well, looks like we'll have to do some transfers then. :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 Season 2016/2017 Preview The first season in the club's history! Season Goals The Media predicts us to win our very first season and placed us 1st. However, the board thinks the media overvalued our team by a long shot. The board takes a more cautious approach and just hope that we don't finish last. I think we should manage that. Areolys Masterson's Goals: We should finish at the top half of the table. Depending on the players we will manage to sign for us promotion is a possibility. We'll have to see how it goes. Schedule We will see if we can fit in one or two more friendlies at the back before heading into the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 24, 2016 Author Share Posted November 24, 2016 Pre Season 2016 Transfers Due to the lack of a scouting team after the summer break the team was unable to find any new players during the pre season. The team also suffered from heavy bidding wars on many of their players as well as staff. Season Tickets 5 Season tickets were sold this season so far. Staff Changes After a dispute with the Chairman Fraser Hall over the direction of the Club the backroom staff decided to leave one after another. Head Coach Areolys Masterson, who agreed with Hall, stayed on and the hunt for new Staff began. The search didn’t last long for Assistant Coach and Head of Youth Development, as contact was made with Terry McPhillips and he quickly agreed to join the coaching team. A fantastic signing, and the club couldn’t have hoped for a better person in his position. (Seriously, WTF?! All my staff just left one day after another. -.-) In the Scouting area the team was not as lucky. For now they only assigned a post as a Scout, while they will keep looking for a new Chief Scout. Meanwhile the search for the Physio team ended for now filling all available positions: Match Reports The team managed to get two more friendlies before the beginning of the season. And although they only managed to win the last match preparations were going okay. The goals for the first round of matches was to find a team for the start of the season and to get some match practise and fitness in before the serious games will begin. Stonewall (Middlesex County Football League Division One (Central & East)) Whitchurch United (Wessex League Premier Division) Pulborough (West Sussex Football League Division One North) Bordon Village (Kent County Football League Premier Division) Ilfield Galaxy III (Algeria) Crescent Rovers Reserves (Surrey South Eastern Combination Junior Division Three) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 25, 2016 Author Share Posted November 25, 2016 September 2016 News The start of the season could have been better. The team struggled to keep up with the other teams and conceded 4 penalties this month. 3 of them in the first two games. Meanwhile, the team was lucky enough to get Ben Sampayo on trial. The 23-year-old made sure that his talent wasn’t unnoted and he was signed within his first week at the club. Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Struggling so far. Can’t find any decent scout or player, so I have to make due with what we have, a pretty ****** team with just 2 decent players. Still, we’ll get there.Decided to switch things up and play with a 442 diamond narrow until we get better strikers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 25, 2016 Author Share Posted November 25, 2016 October 2016 News How quickly things can change in Division 9. After a very rough start of the season, the team seems to have settled in and are starting to play very well together. Looks like they just needed some more match practice after all. Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Yeah… Changing to structured and counter seems to have made the difference. Let’s hope we can keep up the momentum. Unlucky in the last game to receive a goal in the last minute. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 25, 2016 Author Share Posted November 25, 2016 November 2016 News A quiet month with just 2 games and lots of training. Transfers: Kelvin Benson joined the squad as a replacement for Shane Pinnock who will be out for at least 4 to 6 weeks due to a back strain . Ben Bowra will be will be supporting the defense and should be able to keep up with even the quickest attackers. At the end of the month a new member of staff joined in as well. Tyler Bradley will be in charge as new Chief Scout as well as u18 coach. Results & Tables Match Reports Comments It's crazy how close this whole league is. Anyone can win this, really. No easy games at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 26, 2016 Author Share Posted November 26, 2016 December 2016 News The team had a lot of downtime, since the first match of the month had to be postponed to the end of the match. The miss of game time didn’t seem to have had any negative influence on the team tough... Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Since we lost all our cup games we’re currently only playing 2 games a month and with games being postponed quite regularly on this level I will possibly be adding more friendlies against ourselves to the schedule, just to keep the guys sharp for the games. Also, If anyone’s reading this feel free to comment and let me know how much detail you want my save to have? Should I add even more like individual match reports/comments or should I cut the monthly reports and only give a midseason and end of season update to advance the save further? You want me to share anything else stats wise or other infos? Open for suggestions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 January 2017 News With his team surprisingly at the top of the table Areolys Masterson’s got flooded with job offers from up and down the country from various other clubs which he thankfully declined. His place is at Hassocks and will be, at least for the near future. Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Yeah, literally got over 100 job offers (stopped counting after 50...)! But since I want to stay with “my club” and see how far I can go I won’t be taking on another job. Not if I don’t have to. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 February 2017 News The team kept their good run going and managed to climb up to #1 once again. With just 4 games left in the season they are in a prime position for promotion, and they might even win the league! Joe Abrahams joined the club as another striker. Will he be able to support Shane Pinnock? And at the end of the month another two players completed their transfer to the club… In the back room the scouting team changed and Nick Woodman took over as new Chief Scout. And he brought Scout Paul Stabana with him. Results & Tables Match Reports Comments We are looking good for a promotion in the first season! Just don’t screw up now... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 March 2017 News The teams good form continues and their promotion is as good as settled. With another win the team could settle their first place and win the league in the next match. Will they be able to keep it together under pressure? Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Doing okay so far. I get early leads but it’s always uncertain if we can keep that lead until the end. Got unlucky a few times where they scored and we didn’t manage to score again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 April 2017 News On game 19 the pressure was on. The team had the chance to seal the deal and win the tile. Even though many players looked very nervous going in they managed to keep their composure and came out victorious with a win that was never really threatened and managed to win the title in their first ever season! An impressive start! Results & Tables Match Reports Comments Yes! After a terrible start in the season I managed to turn things around and win the title. All teams were pretty much equal in strength, so there were not really any easy matches. Job accomplished. :-) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Season 2016/2017 Recap Team Results (Particularly proud of the attendance. ) Recap All in all not a bad season. We started out pretty bad but managed to turn things around rather quickly and end up at the top of the table. We'll see how next season in District 8 will go. Let's hope we continue our streak and keep winning ;-) Around The World Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Areolys Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 Season 2017/2018 Preview Team With many new arrivals over the past season, our new basic formation has changed a bit. Last season we ended up playing a 4-4-2 diamond narrow. This season we will be playing a 4-3-1-2 narrow. Let’s see if the team can adopt to the new system. We will be staying narrow and overload the center, looking for the deadly pass behind the defense. With a target man and a poacher our attack should be well covered and with four players staying back and two ball winning midfielders our defense should be fine. We will be trying to possess the ball as much as we can, without being too aggressive. At least that’s the plan. Season Goals Ambitious much? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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