An American With No Badges Starts Journey Ends Up In A Distillery

[keeper#1]

I'm taking a break from my Leonesa save and have started a journeyman save (no badges and Sunday League Footballer).  Thanks to a laptop that kicks some serious ass for FM, I have the following nations and leagues loaded.

It took me less than a month to find a job.  I had a few job offers to choose from after a series of interviews.  Limerick (Ireland), Guilsfield (Wales), Knockbreda (No. Ireland), Caerau Ely (Wales) and Distillery (No. Ireland) all offered me jobs.  As you can tell from the title, I ended up at Distillery.

The nice thing about Northern Ireland is there are plenty of cups for me to try to win and boost my reputation.

A 22-game league AND six cups to try to win.

The club does not have a lot of depth nor anyone on a part-time senior contract just non-contracts which means clubs can come in and try to poach my players at any time.  The goal is to win a cup or two and hopefully earn a promotion.  Use that reputation boost and move on to a bigger club.

I primarily used my high-pressure 4-3-3 formation in the friendly season and worked out very well.  Only hiccup was a 4-3 loss to Premier League side Institute.  Got down to them 2-0.  Scored three unanswered goals to take a 3-2 lead only to give that lead away and lost 4-3.

On to the league and cup season.

[keeper#1]

2019-2020 Distillery Midseason Update

The Bluefin Sport Premier Intermediate League is an interesting league.  There are only 20 league games.  But there are so many cups that a team can be eligible to play, I've played as many cup matches as league matches as the calendar turns to 2020.

Our league form was choppy early as I was figuring out who the best XI were and once I figured that out, we have been flying.  The defense is bit shaky but we are averaging over two goals per game.  We can get away with averaging over one goal per game allowed.

We had a rough showing the Bet McLean Cup going out after one game as well as the NIFL Charity Shield where we were knocked out by Premier League side, Cliftonville.

We are still alive in the Steels and Sons Cup and the Tennett's Irish Cup after we upset Portadown in the 4th round.

The final of the Steels and Sons Cup is on Christmas Day and I got a my first cup as a Christmas gift.

My reward: no reputation boost and zero Hall of Fame points.

The youth intake looks good.  Hopefully, there's a few players who can help the club right away to help me further my career.

[keeper#1]

2019-2020 End of Season Update

It was a very short second half of the season for Distillery.  All of the cups were basically done.  The only thing that was left was the Bluefin Premier Intermediate League.

Our youth intake was very strong.  We have a few players who will help the team right away IF they don't get snapped up by the larger club in the summer.  Only being able to hand out "non-contract" is something that is really hurting the club since I don't believe the club gets anything in return if they sign with a new club.

Limavady Utd pushed us the entire season and we only won the league due to our superior goal difference.  If we had not drawn against Newington on the last day of the season, we would have been two points clear but thankfully we had the goal difference in our back pocket.

Right-back/midfielder Gary Workman was the player of the season with a league high 22 assists in addition to his great job of playing defense in his right-back position.  The goals were well distributed between center forward Matthew Swann (12), right forward Johnny McCaw (11) and center midfielder Andrew Long (11).  The left forward combined to score 15 goals: Michael O'Hanlon (8) and Paul Young (7).

I'm probably going to let my contract run out at the end of the season and see where I end up.  I'll have my National A license at the end of January and I've received a slight reputation bump from winning the league and the Steels and Sons Cup.  Not looking for a big bump but anything is an improvement over this team and it's non-contract policy at present. 

[deez0r]

Distillery is where I started my journeyman save which ended up with me winning the Champions League with Lowestoft! Good luck!

[keeper#1]

1 hour ago, deez0r said:

Distillery is where I started my journeyman save which ended up with me winning the Champions League with Lowestoft! Good luck!

Thanks!

[keeper#1]

Summer 2020 Update

The early part of the summer saw me apply for a couple of jobs in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland which were unsuccessful as I was still under the employ of Lisburn Distillery.  On July 1, 2020, I resigned from the Lisburn Distillery post.  At this point, the job search really accelerated.  I applied for 11 jobs throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, England, and Denmark.  The first clubs to offer me job interviews were Portadown and Port Talbot.  A couple of days later Gateshead and Velgaard offered interviews as well while Linfield said "thanks but no thanks."  Dungannon was next to offer an interview.

On July 8, Port Talbot approached me with a job offer but were willing to delay a week while I thought things over.  Portadown went in a different direction.  Vejgaard offered me their managerial position on July 10 while a pair of Welsh clubs Caernafon and Penybont offered interviews.  My phone kept ringing as Gateshead let me know they really weren't interested as did Dungannon.  On July 13, Portugal popped on the radar with Valpacos receiving a job application.  Cork City were quick to decline my application.  Penybont offered their job and were willing to agree to a week delay as did Port Talbot for a second time.

The middle of July had a pair of really interesting job applications: University College of Dublin, Operario Lagoa - both clubs have great youth setups for their size.  UCD offered an interview the next day.  On July 22, 2020, I turned down Port Talbot and Penybont.  The next day both Portuguese clubs offered interviews.  UCD turned me down on July 28 but Valpacos offered me their job.  I asked for a week delay because I wanted to see if Operario Lagoa came to me with an offer.  At the end of the month, they turned me down.  On August 4, I finally accepted as job offer.

Where do they start among the 71 teams battling in four groups for the third tier championship in Portugal.

NOT GREAT, BOB!

We had to bring in a lot of players on very short notice to fill out the roster.  Hopefully, I can get a decent youth intake to help bolster the side.