The Stories Forum Community/Discussion thread

[Raptor]

Agreed. I'll see if I can get ma biatch tae sort it out.

[cms186]

Where could I post an Idea for a new challenge, and how does it get decided etc?

[Terk]

soon enough (end of this month iirc) raptor will ask for all challenge ideas to be sent in and then when all are collected, there's a FMS wide vote to select the best one which becomes 'official challenge'

[Educated Hick]

I'm thinking of sending in my "Empire" challenge, with a few modifications so that the CM 4 folks can play it as well.

Also, I don't think that I'll ever get used to calling this place "FMS"...it sounds too different.

[Raptor]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by cms186:

Where could I post an Idea for a new challenge, and how does it get decided etc?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The process of selecting a new official challenge gets underway mid April.

[Terk]

bah, i was only half a month out

[BobBev]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Dark_Soccer:

I was just wondering is there somewhere where there is a list and details of all the challenges created???<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well I've had a look around and I have gathered the following from various sources. If anyone else would like to add this then feel free (as long as the Mods approve this type of post in this thread)

OFFICIAL CHALLENGES

The Lisbon lions Challenge by BobBev

Background

In 1967 Glasgow Celtic became the first British Club to win the European Cup, beating Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon. This was a magnificent achievement for Manager Jock Stein and his players and it was achieved with an all-out attacking style which at the time changed the face of European football (in stark contrast to the Italian's beloved and ultra-defensive "catenaccio-system"). What was all the more impressive was that all of the players in the team were Scottish; in fact they were all born within a 25-mile radius of Glasgow. Of course that was 1967 - an all-Scottish team could never win a European trophy in today's era of multi-national squads. Or could they?

The Challenge

1. Take charge of Rangers, Celtic or indeed any other Scottish Club.

2. Build a 100% Scottish playing squad

3. Win either the UEFA Cup or the Champions League

4. After that (or at the same time if you wish) take charge of the Scottish National Team and achieve history by taking them to the knockout stages of the European Championship Finals and the World Cup Finals.

Bonus Challenge

In season 1966/67, Celtic won every competition that they entered - for the ultimate challenge, see if you can emulate that feat in a single season.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Russian Revolution Challenge by Joe Finnigan

The arrival of Roman Abramovich to Chelsea has changed the face of football over the summer. Your overall task, though, is to put Russia and its club sides on the map in the footballing world, in the same way teams in England, Spain and Italy have.

Now that Roman Abramovich has ploughed lots of money into Chelsea, there are high expectations that they will challenge for the league. However, now the club has the money to try and find success, your first task is to make use of the money you have available* and win the Premiership, the first time they would win the championship since 1955, and Champions League for the first time in Chelsea's history.

Once you have completed that task, you must wait for a managerial job for a Russian club side to become available for the second stage, and when there is one you can apply for it and hopefully take up the reins of one of the clubs in Roman Abramovich's home country. You may do whatever you wish while waiting for any jobs to become vacant, whether it be remaining at Chelsea and winning more trophies with them, resigning and becoming manager of a different team or resign as Chelsea boss and just stay unemployed until the job comes along.

When you are finally in charge of a Russian club, you have to again win either the UEFA Cup or Champions League - obviously this would probably be a much tougher task than the first stage if you had to win the Champions League with the Russian side you're managing to progress to the next stage, so you are allowed to win either the UEFA Cup or Champions League - so you only have to win one of the two, not both of them. Once you have finally won one of the European competitions with your Russian club, the second stage of this challenge will be completed.

Once you're on to the final stage of the challenge, you have another wait until the Russian national job becomes available which is who you would be managing for this final part of the challenge. Again, what you do while you wait for the national job to become available is up to you. When it is available though, apply for it. Once you eventually become manager of the Russia national team, your final job is to win both the European Championships and the World Cup. There is no particular order in which you have to win the tournaments i.e. you can win the World Cup before the European Championships, and vice versa. Once you have done that, you have completed the challenge.

Notes: As you may have gathered, you need to run the English and Russian leagues for this challenge. If you are using Championship Manager 4, you can just run the top divisions of both countries if you want, but that way it will take you a lot longer to get a job in stage 2. Also, note that it doesn't matter whether you are using the boost.edt file provided by SI for the latest Enhancement Pack of CM4 where Chelsea are given extra money, and it doesn't matter either if you use CM01/02 to try this challenge.it's just that you'll obviously have an advantage with £80m-odd extra to spend on transfers with Chelsea in the first stage. Finally, in both CM4 and CM01/02, you only have to manage the English and Russian leagues and not any extras as all the jobs you need are available with just those two leagues.

*will not apply to CM01/02/CM4 games without the boost.edt file

Shortened guide to stages

Stage 1: Take control of Chelsea, win Premiership and Champions League in no particular order.

Stage 2: Apply for jobs at Russian club sides, and once you are appointed at one of the clubs, win either the UEFA Cup or Champions League.

Stage 3: Wait for Russian national job to become available; once you are appointed, win both the World Cup and European Championships, again in no particular order.

Quick guide to selecting leagues

If you are using CM01/02, you should run the English and Russian leagues. Since you can't select what divisions you want to run in this version of CM, you just have to run these two leagues and you'll be running all divisions in both England and Russia, which will give you a good chance of getting a job quickly in stage 2. You can edit Chelsea's transfer budget before you start the game if you wish, as there is nothing really stopping you, but in the interest of fairness it'd be best if you limit yourself to only adding around £80-90m to their finances.

If you are using CM4 but with the boost.edt file (you can find this file in the CM4 data folder if you want to delete it), you will be given around £80m with Chelsea to reflect the amount of money Chelsea now have in real life. You are allowed to use this file for the challenge if you wish. If you are using CM4 but without the boost.edt file, this is also fine - the first stage might just be a bit more difficult without the extra money.

Whether you are using the boost.edt file or not if you're going to use CM4 for this challenge, again you have to run the English and Russian leagues, but it's up to you on deciding how many divisions you use. As mentioned above, you can simply use the top division of England and Russia to possibly make the game go quicker if you have a slow computer, but this could be a problem when you start stage 2, as it could take you longer to find a job at a Russian club. As I said though, it's entirely up to you how many divisions you choose.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE ITALIAN JOB, by flipsix3

"Hold on lads, Ive got an idea"

Who can forget all those magical moments as Michael Caine leads a bunch of England's finest into Turin and escapes with rather a lot of gold ?

Well it's time to recreate them with you favourite management sim.

CASING THE JOINT: Create a manager of English nationality (you could choose another non-Italian one, but English fits the theme best so I'll use it throughout the outline). Take control of any Italian Serie C club and set about building your reputation.

MOVING IN: At the earliest opportunity take control of either Turin based team (Juventus or Torino)

ASSEMBLING THE TEAM: Set about building a player roster of entirely English nationality (any youth prospects promoted must be immediately released - no waiting for buyers)

THE HEIST: Win the Serie A title (Scudeto) with that squad. The challenge can only be considered complete when you win it in a season that you had an all English squad at the START of

THE GETAWAY: Immediately resign from the club and head for home.

===============================================

ONES THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE BEEN OFFICIAL

The Fergie Challenge - originator unknown

You are Alex Ferguson, an ex-Rangers footballer that has just came to the end of his career. You've been working in your bar in a seedy end of Glasgow when the call comes to manage East Stirling.

The stadium is in a dreadul condition and the club is all but forgotten but you take the job anyways.

While at the club you have to maintain a winning percentage of above 50%, but the idea is not to stay long. You are waiting for the St Mirren job to become available which you grasp with both hands like the mercenary b@stard that you are. (If you don't have a 50% winning percentage, you can't join St Mirren)

While at St Mirren you must take them, regardless of where they are on your joining, into Europe. That is all, nothing fancy.

Once done, and once available you can move to Aberdeen and this is where it becomes a bit more challenging now that you have cut your teeth on the more provincial clubs in Scotland.

Aberdeen have to break the Old Firm dominance in Scotland, and to show this you must win 2 SPL trophies in a row. Further to this, at some point you need to win the Scottish Cup, and to make it even harder, a European trophy. The Cup Winners Cup don't exist anymore but the UEFA Cup will do, or even the Champions Cup if you can.

As an option, while at Aberdeen you can take up the Scotland job. Ferguson did this for a while at the '86 World Cup but he was never fully committed to the job, hence the reason why you don't need to do it to maintain the challenge.

Finally, you move to Manchester United and have to win the treble - EPL, FA Cup and Champions Cup all in one season to complete the challenge.

All very substantial, and could prove impossible if the jobs don't come your way, but the challenge is to see how you fair following the route to the top taken by arguably the best manager in British football at this time.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Freedom Fighter: Republic of Ireland - originator unknown

All it took was one trip to Northern Ireland for your life to change forever. A useful young footballer who was being considered for National Team honours at one point, your career was ended in the July Parades in Belfast when some drunken slob broke a bottle over your kneecap. the glass shards wound up severing a ligament, and effectively ending your career. Fortunately, your club was kind enough to keep you on in a coaching role, and in the past five years you have shown that you have considerable potential in the managerial field. So much so, that your agent has solicited three offers from Division One clubs asking for your services as manager next season. The three clubs that had come calling on you were Finn Harps, Kilkenny City, and Dublin City. You know you will accept on offer, you just haven't decided which yet.

Step 1: Conquer the league boy

With you lowly First Division club, you must win the Irish Premier Division with a club consisting solely of Republic of Ireland players.

Step 2: Victory Parades not Orange Order Parades

After proving your dominance in your homeland, you decide to show those Northern Irish players just who the better nation is. You accept a job in Northern Ireland with any team. Your goal there is simple. Win two straight Northern Irish Premier Division titles with a starting eleven that features at least five Republic of Ireland players.

Step 3: Scottish Successes

Your next step is to head to Scotland. You can start with any team who offers you a job provided they aren't in the Premier or First Division. The goal again is stock your starting eleven with at least 5 Republic of Ireland players and lead your team to Europe.

Step 4: London Calling

Start with any club in England, provided they aren't in the Premier League. With at least 3 first team players from the Republic of Ireland win the Premier Division and go onto win the ultimate prize- The Champions League. In the Champions League Final you must have at least four players from the Republic of Ireland in the squad; one must be the captain.

Along the way at any point in the scenario you must also take the Ireland job and qualify for either the European Championships or a World Cup...

Catches:

Changing jobs in Scotland and England is acceptable. It isn't in the first two stages.

Your assistant manager must always be the same nationality as you. If there is a Scottish assistant at the team you join in Scotland, you must sack him and find a replacement. If there is no willing replacement you go without an assistant- tough luck.

If you are fired, you move back a step. If you're fired trying to win in Scotland, you need to head back to your stage two, or if you are fired in England yo need to recomplete your goals in Scotland.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Kevin Keegan Challenge - originator unknown

Your mission is to revive as many fallen giants ("massive clubs") as possible. Which leagues you decide to run are completely up to you, but the more the better for your chances to succeed, as the rest of this post will explain.

At the start of the game, you are to take over a fallen giant. In this challenge, a fallen giant is any club who has won either a minimum of three domestic titles (3 titles or FA Cups in England), or at least one domestic title and a continental trophy, and is currently outside the top flight.

The following list is probably as complete as it gets, but of course if you have found any club which is eligible under the above description of a fallen giant.

England: Nottingham Forest (Division 1), Wolverhampton Wanderers (Division 1), Preston North End (Division 1), Sheffield United (Division 1), Sheffield Wednesday (Division 1), West Bromwich Albion (Division 1), Manchester City (Division 1), Huddersfield Town (Division 2)

Italy: Napoli (Serie B), Sampdoria (Serie B), Genoa (Serie B), Pro Vercelli (Serie C2A)

Spain: Atletico Madrid (Segunda Division)

France: St.Etienne (Division 2), Nice (Division 2), Stade Reims (National)

Germany: Eintracht Frankfurt (2.Bundesliga), Dresdner SC (Regionalliga Nord), 1.FC Magdeburg (Regionalliga Nord)

Belgium: KV Mechelen (Tweede Klasse), Cercle Brugge (Tweede Klasse), Royale Union St.Gilloise (Derde Klasse)

Netherlands: Go Ahead Eagles (Eerste Divisie)

Brazil & Argentina: I wanted to make South America available to this challenge as well, but despite thorough checking, there doesn't appear to be a club in either country which meets the criteria for a fallen giant.

Please note German side Dresdner SC have only won two domestic titles, but they were in wartime Germany, and therefore count double as not only a German but also an Austrian title

After you have selected your new club, you are to make sure they gain promotion back to the top flight. It is at the end of your successful promotion season that you leave them. You are not ready for top flight management, and like bringing back former greats too much. So you have to apply at another one of those clubs. Please note that as your game progresses, it is possible other clubs become eligible for your management, as they may drop out of the highest division. As long as they've won enough before that, you may take them over.

At your new club, you must repeat the trick of getting them back up where they belong. Still, that isn't an excuse for you to guide them at the highest level, for you have found your calling and enjoy lower league management. So you move on to yet another fallen giant.

So, how do you complete the challenge then?

Provided you have taken at least three clubs from a lower division back to the top flight, in at least two different countries, you are ready for the next stage of this challenge...

You now feel you are ready for a crack at top-level management. You do not want to enter the stressful world of Premier League (or whatever it's called where you are) football in completely alien surroundings though. Therefore, you want to return to one of your former clubs. As soon as one of those jobs becomes available again, you may apply and re-take control. It does not matter if they are still in the top flight at the time. In fact, chances are that without your brilliant guidance, they have dropped out again.

As long as it is your second crack at this club, you are allowed to stay on even if you have to take them up again first to get back at the highest level.

From here on, your focus is completion of the glory cyclus. You will not rest before your club has won the World Club Championship or the Intercontinental Cup. You have waiting so long, that a mere European Cup or Copa Libertadores won't do, no, you have to be on top of the world.

Should you, after returning to a club you took back up, feel you can't take them any further, or worse, be sacked by that ungrateful board of b@stards, you must first take another fallen giant back to the top flight, then resign there, before being allowed to return to another former club for a renewed crack at stage two of this challenge.

Once you have finally completed stage two, you have nothing to prove at club level anymore. But, being the patriottic man you are, you want to guide your country to glory as well. And so the final stage of this challenge and your career takes starts when you are, with the blessing of most of the nation, appointed manager of your home country. You are not interested in any other nation, you want to guide your own boys to glory.

For the challenge itself, your international results are irrelevant. All you need to do to complete it, is to stay at the helm for one entire international cyclus. This can be either a European Championship, from the first qualifier to whatever stage you are knocked out, or the opening World Cup qualifier till the moment you meet a side eliminate you. All that matters to you is that you gave it your best shot for the country you love. This is the one stage where there will be no reprieve in case of a failure though. Being sacked (or resigning) prematurely means you will forever be remembered as an international lightweight, no matter how good a club coach you was.

Completion of the entire challenge will not only get you enternal legendary status, but also a place on the challenge's log.

To recap: You must take a minimum of three different fallen giants in at least two different countries back to their league's top division, resigning at the end of the season on each occasion.

After that, you are allowed to go back to any of your previous clubs to complete the challenge by winning the World Club Cup or the Intercontinental Cup.

Needless to say you can only use one manager, at the start of the game. If you are sacked and find your reputation so badly damaged that you can't find another club, then you have failed and must re-start the challenge. You are allowed to take up a job at another club outside the top flight if no fallen giants are available if you need it to boost your reputation or to stay in the game. However, even at these clubs, you are not allowed to play at the highest level. So should you go up to the top flight, you must resign. And these promotions Do not count towards the three promotions you must achieve before you can return to one of your former clubs.

Finally, you must see out an entire international cyclus, regardless of where it ends for your country.

===========================================================

CHALLENGE ENTRIES THAT NEVER MADE IT BUT THAT I LIKE ANYWAY

"Out of his shadow, and into his footsteps" - A CMS Challenge (flipsix3)

As a youngster you grew up in the shadow of your father, knowing that he was a man loved by the footballing world. His achievements were numerous, and impressive, and when you became a player - signing on for his team - there were those that said you were living off your surname.

Despite those nay-sayers you enjoyed a reasonable career, not that of a superstar but you did play in some big matches. Having realised that you were not destined for greatness on the pitch you decided to try your hand at management, still a relative youngster you learned your trade in the non-league world before getting your chance. Now it's time to step out of his shadow, and follow in his footsteps.

Brief:

OK, so no prizes for guessing the inspiration for this challenge!

You start your tale as the manager of a side in the lowest league of any multi-division nation (England, Scotland, Italy etc) - for the challenge to work there must be at least three levels of competition, preferably more. At the outset you must also nominate a team to be that which your father achieved greatness with and they must be at least one division below the top flight in your country, you could choose a side that has fallen on even harder times (but they cannot be the team you start with) that choice is yours.

There are not many 'steps' to this challenge but you can claim success by achieving the overall goals in more ways than one. To consider the challenge complete you must secure:

One domestic league championship (top flight), and three Cup competitions (at least one of these must be 'continental' - so UEFA Cup, Champions League, or their equivalents).

The only restriction is this; you may only tick off each title when achieved with either your starting club, or the club at which your father achieved success.

You can move clubs as many times as you wish, there is no time restriction on the challenge, but to finish it you must achieve all 4 honours with either of the two clubs detailed at the start of your tale.

======================================================

A Tribute to <Englands> (possibly) Greatest Footballer - Sir Stanley Matthews (mmaattyy)

Matthews was a first in so many ways, according to Pelé, he revolutionised the way football is played in 30's, 40's, 50's and even 60's. Matthews was the first player to make a move his trademark, and even developed it to trick defenders even more. He was also the first ever European Player of the Year, and in 1965 he was the first active footballer to be Knighted. But enough of the history of "The Wizard of Dribble" and onto the challenge.

Stage One - Stoke City

As you should know, Matthews started his career at Stoke City, who are now in the English First Division, stage one is getting Stoke City into the Premiership, but like Matthews, you must be quick, if you don't get Stoke promoted within 4 seasons you must restart the challenge.

Stage Two - Blackpool

After successfully promoting Stoke into the Premiership, you must take control of the "Seasiders" as soon as the opportunity arrives. Whilst at Blackpool you must win the FA Cup, as Matthews did finally in 1953, it doesn't matter which Division you are in.

Stage Three - Stoke City The Return

After your winnings of the FA Cup with Blackpool, you must return to where you came from, back inland to Stoke City. If Stoke are not in the Premiership, your main objective is to return them to the Premiership, where you must keep them for atleast two seasons. If Stoke are already in the Premiership when you get the job at the Britannia Stadium, you must finish in the top-half, then the Challenge will be complete.

[pooscalery]

Hi, I used to come here loads, haven't looked in much over the last few months. I started quite a few stories, but finished only one (and whoever nominated/voted for that as story of the year, thanks!).

Meanwhile, I read plenty of classics and I'm off to look through the index to have a nostalgic glance at them.

Glad this thread is back, its good.

[displaced_seagull]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pooscalery:

Hi, I used to come here loads, haven't looked in much over the last few months. I started quite a few stories, but finished only one (and whoever nominated/voted for that as story of the year, thanks!).

Meanwhile, I read plenty of classics and I'm off to look through the index to have a nostalgic glance at them.

Glad this thread is back, its good.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

There's a blast from the past! - Welcome back

[Raptor]

Welcome back pooscalery

Almost complete there Bob Official list of challenges is available thorugh the Events -> Challenges tab on cmstories.net

Direct link (but without menu structure) www.cmstories.net/challenges.html

[BobBev]

Nice one Raptor - I should have looked at CM Stories a little more closely

[Guest]

I'd just like to thank those in authority who have considered my story 'Minstermen Marching Up' to be the FMS 'Story of the Week'. Prior to my application for the forums being accepted, I had made it my aim to become synonomous with reliability, and this has beena big step on the ladder to achieving that goal.

On the subject of challenges, any new ones on the horizon? Official ones have been based in Europe, but the leagues in S. America and Asia are fun to play in the game, and I'm sure they would therefore make fun challenges.

[BobBev]

I've been thinking about an idea for the next challenge and I'd like to get some thoughts on the feasibility. Without giving too much away I'm considering a scenario where you would simultaneously manage several teams, perhaps up to three. I think that this could work OK in CM0102 but I'm not so sure about CM0304. Does anyone have any views on the viability of something like this?

[glamdring]

So long as there aren't too many leagues required to run it should be ok from my point of view - I have games running where I manage multiple teams and the speed is ok on one of them (4 teams I think), but I only have Scotland running. As for the issue of managing multiple teams in itself I'm always up for it - mebee less so if there's no choice in any of the teams though!

[Educated Hick]

It should be fine Bob as long as there's no conflict of interest. Personally though, the idea of managing multiple teams never appealed to me; there is such a thing as "cm braion overload."

[Faramir]

I have to agree with Educated on that Bob- managing multiple clubs is not something I would be interested in- especially because I tend to focus so much effort on the club I am managing. You are right, CM 01-02 would likely make that approach more viable though.

Poo- welcome back Wondered where you had been lately...

[Doctor Who]

Speaking of challenges, I'm getting a bit hooked by PM7's baby raising idea. I think it could be a cool challenge to take control of a lower division side and bring them to European glory, without signing or loaning ANY players at ANY time.

To add to the challenge you could select a lower ranking league, i.e. NOT England, Germany, Italy, Spain or Holland.

I'll try to firm up the idea in time for the next challenge vote.

[glamdring]

I'd say it's easier in a lower ranking league - if you aren't signing anyone anyway the reputation of the league doesn't matter and it's a lot easier throwing kids in in the Scottish league than it is in say England! It is something I always like the idea of though

[Philip Rolfe]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

THE ITALIAN JOB, by flipsix3

"Hold on lads, Ive got an idea"

Who can forget all those magical moments as Michael Caine leads a bunch of England's finest into Turin and escapes with rather a lot of gold ?

Well it's time to recreate them with you favourite management sim.

CASING THE JOINT: Create a manager of English nationality (you could choose another non-Italian one, but English fits the theme best so I'll use it throughout the outline). Take control of any Italian Serie C club and set about building your reputation.

MOVING IN: At the earliest opportunity take control of either Turin based team (Juventus or Torino)

ASSEMBLING THE TEAM: Set about building a player roster of entirely English nationality (any youth prospects promoted must be immediately released - no waiting for buyers)

THE HEIST: Win the Serie A title (Scudeto) with that squad. The challenge can only be considered complete when you win it in a season that you had an all English squad at the START of

THE GETAWAY: Immediately resign from the club and head for home.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

*shudders*

[Peacemaker7]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doctor Who:

Speaking of challenges, I'm getting a bit hooked by PM7's baby raising idea. I think it could be a cool challenge to take control of a lower division side and bring them to European glory, without signing or loaning ANY players at ANY time.

To add to the challenge you could select a lower ranking league, i.e. NOT England, Germany, Italy, Spain or Holland.

I'll try to firm up the idea in time for the next challenge vote.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I would think starting in serie C or the Spanish/English lower leagues it would be very difficult indeed rather than a small country where it would probably be easier!

[Dark_Soccer]

Thanks Bobbev, Raptor who looked for the challenge page for me

much appreciated

[pooscalery]

Thanks for the welcomes!

I looked through the index last night and I came up with loads of great stuff!

The days of Pickles and Jacko

benny! BooRadley (was that mao?)! Charnley (Fukien Hell ) who created the Sir Alex Ferguson challenge, with was superb.

Dittohead and his long running Dagenham and Redbridge story: http://www.cmstories.net/archives/stories/1268.html

Two of the greatest unfinished stories ever:

Alone in a Crowd...

www.mertonsport.com

Mao's Gorgie boy stories, Kazeemas Juve Stabia tale. I liked this too.

Dynamo D'Albenga il Calcio was around when I first started here. I'd love to be able to write a story like this but it would end up being too similar to this and all the other great efforts! I reckon this is one of the best though!

This and Jeff's version were two superb fantasy stories too, one of the few that were really worth being part of

Another excellent story. Pity it never finished.

I liked Tricky Winger's stuff too and the 'No Milk, No Marks' story.

And finally, for perhaps my two favourites. The first one is Raptor's Groningen tales, which I had saved on my computer. I really envy the style in which they were written and the match reports and flowing of the summaries. I always tried to use them for inspiration!

All of Faramir's stories were/are superb (great style) but this one by sfi is a rarety- A great story and finished too:

Estienne at St Ettiene

Obviously I missed out a lot too! I think I might stick around again, theres so many good stories, past and present

(And sorry for the long post!)

[displaced_seagull]

Mertonsport. Possibly the most ambitious, yet greatest original story idea ever. An honour to write in it.

[Guest]

I've running a non-story challenge for my website www.cmdanmark.dk - perhaps you can use it for a CMS Challenge:

The Arsene Wenger Challenge:

1: Take control of Monaco and win the French Cup, the Championship and reach a European Final.

2: Move (with the same manager of course) to any Japanese club, win two titles with the team an win the Manager of the Year award.

3: Move to an English team, win The Double twice and reach a European final. At your English club, you are just allowed to buy/sign/loan one non-frech player every year.

[Lionel_Perez]

Heh, just been re-reading mertonsport. That ruled, particularly my bits

Hello everyone by the way. I'm Lionel Perez, and I frequent this place (less so than I would like these days ) to regail you with my stories about Cambridge United. As a scrounging student, I'm now on holidays so expect more frequent story updates over the next couple of weeks. I'm also very excited due to the appointment of a world reknowned coach at my beloved U's last week. ALLEZ LES AMBRES.

[Peacemaker7]

Please dont post challenges in here, save them for the official thread.

[James M]

Pfft. My challenge >>>>> *

[displaced_seagull]

Posting Screenshots

The CMS MSN Group appears to have died - which is a shame, as it's the only place you could, without your own webspace, host screenshots.

I appreciate there could be a bandwith issue, but is there any chance we could make some space for this on the CMS Community site?

[Peacemaker7]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by displaced_seagull:

_ Posting Screenshots _

The CMS MSN Group appears to have died - which is a shame, as it's the only place you could, without your own webspace, host screenshots.

I appreciate there could be a bandwith issue, but is there any chance we could make some space for this on the CMS Community site?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I seriously doubt it. There is simply too many people on CMS to allow everyone to upload their stuff there and it would end up costing Raptor more money. There is plenty of free webservers around still, so it doesnt take that much to find one really.

[displaced_seagull]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by displaced_seagull:

_ Posting Screenshots _

The CMS MSN Group appears to have died - which is a shame, as it's the only place you could, without your own webspace, host screenshots.

I appreciate there could be a bandwith issue, but is there any chance we could make some space for this on the CMS Community site?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I seriously doubt it. There is simply too many people on CMS to allow everyone to upload their stuff there and it would end up costing Raptor more money. There is plenty of free webservers around still, so it doesnt take that much to find one really.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, thought so. Was going to suggest just people who registered in December 2000 be allowed to use it, but I doubt that would cut much ice either

[Brian of Nazareth]

doesn't take long to get a geocite up. Not great but it is free and you can create as many pages as you want.

[Peacemaker7]

Also webmania only costs £23 a year and really that isn't a lot on a Postman's salary

[Guest]

I really don't know what you people think about it, but the more I see the FMS header the less I like it...

It really makes me think I was writing in a radio forum or whatever other place... The fact is that I don't find the name appealing...

Would there be a chance of changing the name of the forum, PM7 or Raptor? Or do we have to stick with this one and get used to the FMS thingy?

[Guest]

RE: hosting pics:

I have found that gratisweb is a quite useful place to host pics, but you'll have to understand quite a lot of spanish to do it as all commands in there are in Spanish.

5 megs of space are quite handy...

[Peacemaker7]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jordivf:

I really don't know what you people think about it, but the more I see the FMS header the less I like it...

It really makes me think I was writing in a radio forum or whatever other place... The fact is that I don't find the name appealing...

Would there be a chance of changing the name of the forum, PM7 or Raptor? Or do we have to stick with this one and get used to the FMS thingy?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well tbh, what else can it be? It is part of the Football Manager forums now.

[Educated Hick]

yeah, it looks like we'll just have to get used to FMS...I just avoid looking at the header and task bar.

[BobBev]

And what exactly is wrong with the new name? I rather like Feckin' Marvellous Stories

[glamdring]

CMS always sounded to me like an old train company, but that was good cos I'm nostalgic like that

[Raptor]

The name FMS is here to stay, and I guess we'll get used to it some day

I'll look into hosting screenshots on the community site. Wouldn't mind trialling it, but whether or not it could become a permanent host for them would depend on security issues, bandwidth usage etc... Webmania did double their monthly bandwidth allocation a while ago, so that may just make it possible.

[Peacemaker7]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Raptor:

The name FMS is here to stay, and I guess we'll get used to it some day

I'll look into hosting screenshots on the community site. Wouldn't mind trialling it, but whether or not it could become a permanent host for them would depend on security issues, bandwidth usage etc... Webmania did double their monthly bandwidth allocation a while ago, so that may just make it possible.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You would have to limit people to a maximum amount of screen shots. Personally, I dont see why you should go to all the bother.

Perhaps you could change the forum name to Football Manager Stories, in full, that might look better. And change the intro ffs. There was a bloke called FM just sounds totally stupid now.

[cms186]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by glamdring:

CMS always sounded to me like an old train company, but that was good cos I'm nostalgic like that <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I liked CMS too, but it's because they are my initials!

[Terk]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Peacemaker7:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Raptor:

The name FMS is here to stay, and I guess we'll get used to it some day

I'll look into hosting screenshots on the community site. Wouldn't mind trialling it, but whether or not it could become a permanent host for them would depend on security issues, bandwidth usage etc... Webmania did double their monthly bandwidth allocation a while ago, so that may just make it possible.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You would have to limit people to a maximum amount of screen shots. Personally, I dont see why you should go to all the bother.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

i agree with you there pm. i don't see why raptor should have to go to all that bother for other people to post screenshots. there's plenty of webspace about and it should be down to the writer to find some of their own (free or otherwise)

[Terk]

just had a search around and Photobucket.com would appear to be a good shot for free image webspace. Not checked to see if there is a limit as to how much you can post (i assume there is) but i will report back when i find out more

[Terk]

it gives you 100 meg of space. let's see if the links work

nasty kiddie

[Terk]

buy a vowel

let me know if these links work or not. if they do, then photobucket.com would seem to be suitable

[displaced_seagull]

Second one does, first one probably would if it wasn't for the swear filter. Hotlinking and free webspace though? - It's ideal

[HD]

Forum should be renamed "Stories Forum" if you're not allowed "CMS". Having the name of a game that DOESN'T EXIST YET in the forum title makes a mockery of all who post here.

[Dark_Soccer]

In my opinion its not really a big deal....we all know its the same forum and mostly the same people....lets just get on with what we do best here.....writing stories and letting other people enjoy reading them!

[Peacemaker7]

It IS a big deal, Iain says so

[Dark_Soccer]

lol well unfortunately for Ian its not always his opinion that counts is it?