[FM21] Dominating Northern Ireland: Kilmore Rec

[Motlhen]

This will hopefully be the thread for my long-term FM21 save: starting in the least-reputable, playable league in the out-of-the-box version of the game & working my way through various self-imposed challenges towards some sort of managerial mediocrity all in the name of fun! So here goes...

 

Northern Ireland

Welcome to the Northern Irish 3rd tier!

 

 

Belfast Celtic

Founded in 1978, originally under the name Sports & Leisure F.C., the club renamed themselves in 2019 after one of NI's most successful clubs.
The original Belfast Celtic endured a time where turmoil off the pitch ignited turmoil on the pitch as political violence overshadowed the sport: one of their final matches ended with opposition supporters breaking the leg of one of the Celts forwards and kicking him unconscious during a pitch invasion to celebrate a late equaliser. Hopefully we can avoid such injuries nowadays!
The original Belfast Celtic was one of the big four clubs in the country from 1891-1949 & had a large trophy cabinet to boot:

FKA Sports & Leisure F.C. have finished as high as 3rd in the 3rd tier & are expected to struggle to stay in the division this season.

 

 

The Youth Only Challenge

The challenge is to only use the players currently at the club & those that come through the youth intakes each year with no transfers in allowed.
More details around the rules of the FM21 Youth Challenge can be found in the thread here.

 

 

Unqualified & inexperienced but with a firm view for the future, Leeroy Jenkins has taken the helm.

  

Edited December 8, 2020 by Motlhen

[Motlhen]

The Squad

All 17 of them:

 

- Three goalkeepers & only 14 outfield players.
- Four defenders & 5 players over 30.                 

 

Finances

I would like to hire some other staff members to help me assess the squad, but first I need to figure out my budget for these additions.

 

We are committed to spend only £210pw.
 

But this figure comes with a few assumptions:

- We play a maximum of 26 games (22 in the league & get knocked out in the first game of each of four cup comps).
- We play our least expensive team (our most expensive would be ~58% more expensive).                                                
- We don't score, assist or keep a clean sheet (as these bonuses are not taken into account for the total).                    

 

I'd like to do better than that!

 

Assuming we get to 35 games & play our most expensive XI + 3 subs each game:
£625 app fees * 35 games / 52 weeks = £420pw

 

This leaves £150pw for our staff additions.

Let's just hope we aren't too reliant on Patterson scoring goals!

 

 

Staff Additions

I put ads out for each of the following core roles & managed to spend only £115pw.
This leaves ~£35pw for additional bonuses & the staff + player wages should remain less than the player wage total of £574pw, which is how I'd like to keep it.
 

[Motlhen]

Pre-Season

We started okay & got progressively worse!

 

The Players

17 became 16 with the departure of Hassan to Glebe.
His quality will be sorely missed, especially on the days I am forced into using one of our two sub GK's as an outfield player.

 

The Goalies

First choice & star player; Coney.

 

Reilly's aerial presence let's him down, but is our best shot-stopper.

 

& I imagine Buchanan will only get called upon if we need someone who is almost 2m tall to cover for injuries in our defence.

 

 

The Defenders

Hanna is our only natural centre-back & at 33 his physicals are rapidly declining.

 

Kerr is a decent RB.

 

Farrell is a poor RB & an even worse centre-back which is where he may be forced to play.

 

Farrell & Slane will be LB & CB respectively dependent on their form in each position.

 

 

Midfield / Attackers

We have a lot of attack-minded midfielders, a few of which will be playing further back than they are currently comfortable with.
There will be at least some competition for places between these players with Grierson, Brady, Campbell & Patterson standing out so far.

 

Patterson has played 5 times for Northern Ireland, grabbing a goal along the way during an immense club career too.

[Motlhen]

Dec 2022

Halfway through the league and we are 3 points off the relegation spot.
We've picked up the odd win here & there, but we've not had any consistency.

 

Our defence isn't providing much protection for our GK as he's faced a barrage in comparison to other 'keepers in the league.

 

Hopefully the youth intake will provide some decent defenders, though the preview doesn't mention anything about them!

[Motlhen]

Steel & Sons Cup

We played poorly against a side who were bottom of our league at the time, but we would have had very little chance against some of the premier league reserve teams.

[Motlhen]

We survived the January transfer window with our squad in tact but did have a surprise staff departure.

 

..at least we made back the £400 we forked out for his most recent qualification!

[Motlhen]

Cups

We crashed out of all 3 other cups, most disappointingly to Shankill United in the Intermediate Cup.
 

Northern Irish Cup

 

Bet McLean Cup

 

Intermediate Cup

 

 

League

We were flirting with relegation in the first half of the season & hit a horrendous run of form to chuck us into a relegation scrap.
With two games to go we were 5 points adrift & we needed two wins with no return from Dollingstown to send them down instead of us!

 

Things hugely changed on the last day when our new star striker from the youth intake bagged a hattrick.
He did also got sent off 2 minutes after his 3rd goal on a day to remember!

 

But he'll be the one with great memories of the day as Dollingstown won their last game, sending us down & the board fired me.

 

[Motlhen]

What next?

I still want to prove myself in this league & nation.
It'll be harder to convince a team to employ me with relegation on my record, but the job search is on!

[welshgrad]

Good luck! 

[Motlhen]

Kilmore Recreation F.C.

 

Founded in 1967 on the back of England's World Cup win, Kilmore Rec have agreed to give me a chance to beat steep odds at staying in the NI 3rd tier.
They've won the Steel & Sons Cup once, but the founding member of the NI Premier League has not experienced any prolonged period of success.

 

After a promotion-winning season last campaign, there are no other staff still at the club & only 12 players in the squad.
I am not going to rely on youth only as immediate development is needed to remain at this level, let alone progress!

The job adverts are out for an assistant, coach, physio & scout.

I don't know many players in Northern Ireland so I will be relying on our scouting team massively to find players to improve the squad.
...although I do know a few players.

[Motlhen]

The Squad

We have half decent full backs & strikers, but the bar is not high.

 

Without any scouts, the only players I knew of that I wanted to bring to the team were 3 that came through the first youth intake at Belfast Celtic.
The Celts fans won't be happy, but sitting alongside my new signings, I am!

 

I've employed an assistant, physio & scout.
We're still on the lookout for a coach but will be focusing on continuing to improve the squad for the first matchday.

[Motlhen]

Pre-Season 2023

We've been playing well, with Farrell absolutely smashing it.

 

I'm excited to see if this youngster can live up to the expectations I have for him after this record so far:

For Belfast Celtic

 

For Kilmore Rec so far

 

..unfortunately he still has the one-match-ban to serve that he picked up on his debut so he'll miss our first competitive fixture of the season against Knockbreda in the cup.