Tales of a Journeyman, Promotions and P45s

[DaneBramage]

INTRODUCTION

My favourite ever Football Manager save was a journeyman career in FM07. Travelling around Europe winning trophies with Salyut Energia Belgorod, Heerenveen, Stuttgart, Grasshopper Zurich, CSKA Moscow, Liverpool, and Atalanta. Not Internazionale though. We don't talk about my time there.

I've had trouble getting into any save recently, so going back to a journeyman career seems like a good idea. If I'm not enjoying my time somewhere it doesn't matter, I can just move on. 

With the Add/Remove Leagues feature now in place even more variety is possible for an everchanging game world. So for this new game I'll have eight countries active, but will frequently be changing them, to keep options fresh, and to try and check out countries I've not managed in before.

I numbered up all 51 out of the box countries, then used a random number generator to select which eight would be loaded up first. This is what I ended up with.

Spoiler

I've been given a very Euro-centric first batch of countries, with two members of the British Isles, three Nordic Nations, both current day versions of the former Czechoslovakia, plus Brazil for a bit of flair.

 

[DaneBramage]

RULES

Because how can you have fun without rules? Not part of any challenge, just for my own amusement. 

1. Any interview or job I'm offered, I have to accept. About to win promotion and I'm offered a job by a team ten places lower? Off I go. A cup final tomorrow but a relegation candidate is interested? Bad luck, I'm packing my bags.

1b. An exception to this rule is if I'm offered a job by a team already relegated to a non-playable division. I'm not entirely stupid.

2. I can't resign, or apply for another job while under contract. But I can reject new contracts.

3. Each December I'll use RNG to remove and replace between 1 and 3 nations. 

3b. If one of the nations being removed is the one I'm currently managing in, I can finish the season but then have to resign straight away, and take away the country immediately after.

4. No experience, no badges.

5. I'll go on holiday for six months first to fill the jobs open at the start of the game, and for new ones to open up.

[Punch]

Looks like fun! Good luck

[DaneBramage]

TEAM 1

Six months of holidaying took me to December 2019. I then went on holiday again, but with apply for all jobs ticked.

I didn't want a job in England, I've managed there plenty of times before. I've also done the Czech Republic recently, and I must have done Sweden at some point. So that left five countries I haven't yet managed in, so I was hoping for one of them. But definitely not England.

Damnit! England! Of course it is!

The only club dopey enough to take a punt on me at this time were Leamington. And they were in quite the sticky situation.

Two points clear of the National League North relegation area, and just one point from the last nine league games. Only 16 players in the squad, with no reserves or youth sides. And a quarter of this squad was left-backs! Anyone know a formation that needs four left-backs?

  

Initial Thoughts: I'm starting in the country I didn't want to be in, with a terrible side and a horribly unbalanced squad. What could go wrong?

Edited January 27, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - MARCH 2020

My first task was to send the AssMan out to look for some defenders. Adding a right-back to the squad seemed like a priority, and having more than one centre-back would also be quite useful.

My second task was to manage a game of football, and I immediately got the fans on my side.

This management lark? Easy.

Until game three anyway. The new manager bounce was pretty short lived, as the honeymoon period ended after just two weeks. And the losses quickly racked up as one loss turned into four, with just a ding-dong battle with Guiseley offering any joy in between.

  

The one objective I was given by the board was to avoid relegation. With four games left I've pulled away from the bottom two, but by the slimmest of margins. We're just one point better of than before I arrived, and could still very easily be dragged down.

That being said, we have by far the best run-in of the relegation-threatened clubs. We still have all three of the teams immediately around us to play, so survival is very much in our hands.

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - APRIL 2020

Four games left. Could we stay in the National League North?

We were on track for a draw with bottom-of-the-table Bradford PA, then conceded an 88th minute loser. We were leading 21st placed Alfreton Town at the end of 90 minutes, then gave away a stoppage time equaliser. Four points thrown away just like that.

Back on our home patch we hosted Blyth Spartans, but a 20th minute red card gave us a disadvantage we couldn't recover from. Our final game of the season was the toughest of this batch of games, but we had a prime opportunity to win with a late penalty. We missed it.

Four games. Four calamitous moments. Two points. Awful.

And yet somehow, it was enough. Alfreton gave it a good go, drawing all four of their games this month, but ultimately they finished in 21st place, one point behind us. We were safe.

Annoyingly, it seems like I did not take a screenshot of this. And (spoiler) the league is no longer active in-game, so I can't pick it up now. So just take my word for it.

Leamington - Season 1 thoughts: Well, we survived. Just. That was the only objective so it's a tentative success, but we really shouldn't have made such hard of it. The board aren't terribly impressed and my job security is listed as Insecure, but it looks like I'll be back for another crack next season.

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - SEPTEMBER 2020

Over the summer the backroom staff was filled out, and my AssMan added several defenders to our ranks. We went into the new season with a much more balanced squad, and a better chance of meeting the board's expectations.

After just scraping survival last year, the same objective was in place this time: avoid relegation.

Whether that's possible or not, I don't know. But we made a good start to the season with an away victory on the opening day and then a big win over Guiseley. We slipped up against Chester, but then went on a run of six games unbeaten. 

September saw us hit a bit of a roadblock with three losses, but a win over King's Lynn in between, along with FA Cup progression, stopped this turning into a total disaster.

  

Edited January 28, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - NOVEMBER 2020

Our league form was a bit mixed over the next couple of months, with three wins, two losses and a draw, but this was enough to keep us skirting around the lower reaches of the play-off places. The loss to Altrincham though, coupled with being a game behind everyone else due to a cup run, saw us slip down to 12th.

The FA Cup was where the real excitement was happening. We knocked out a couple of National League sides before being drawn away at League Two Colchester. I already had a bit of beef with their manager - we have a loanee goalkeeper from them, and he'd been complaining that I wasn't playing him enough. So coming back from 2-0 down to beat them was very pleasant, and the £100k we earned for these successes was also a big boost for the club.

  

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - JANUARY 2021

In December I did the RNG to decide which leagues would be removed and replaced. My chances of managing in Scandinavia were reduced, but the Indonesian league was added, which would definitely be a new place to manage.

Spoiler

 

We had a great moth in December, going unbeaten in the league and propelling us up the table into the top six. We were looking a bit tired though with games coming thick and fast, so a rotated side was put out to play Wrexham in the FA Trophy. We lost as expected, but this wasn't a priority right now.

2021 started with the 3rd round of the FA Cup. I hoped to be drawn against one of the big boys, but instead we got League Two Rochdale. There was no cupset this time, instead we were handily beaten. No shame in that though, it was a great achievement getting that far.

Although we won next time out, a bit of a struggle followed as we lost two consecutive league games, and our squad was struggling with midweek games and suspensions. The club had recently announced a link with Tranmere, so we took two midfielders on loan from them to help us get through. The added quality spurred us on to winning the next two ties, and suddenly we were looking in a very good position.

  

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - MARCH 2021

With the good run we'd been on the board had allowed me to go on a coaching course, and after four months I'd earned the first licence needed.

This good news was equalled, and surpassed, by our good performances on the pitch. During February and March we picked up 21 points from a possible 30, and we were firing on all cylinders. A 4-0 win was the joint biggest win of my time here so far, with a hat-trick from my main striker as he reached 20 goals for the season.

The one blip was a defeat to a Braintree side that look odds on to be relegated, but we quickly put that behind us and got back on winning form.

  

With four games left to play we sit just one point behind York City in top spot. A play-off place is already confirmed so whatever happens this has been a great season, well beyond expectations, but to go one further and actually win the whole thing would be a minor miracle.

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - APRIL 2021

We bloody well did it!

Spennymoor won their game in hand to put the pressure on, but then lost next time out to fall back behind. We weren't perfect, a high-scoring draw with Merthyr providing some worrying moments, but we managed to win each of the other three games this month. York couldn't match us, dropping too many points in draws, and we were the champions!

  

Leamington - Season 2 Thoughts: What an unexpected turn of events! We went into the season expecting to be down the other end of the table, and I firmly expected to be battling for my job. But somehow, we completely overachieved and not only got promoted, but did so as champions. A lot of credit has to go to the AssMan for his recruitment work, but also to the two strikers who were much improved from last year. Striker 1 was top scorer in the division with 26 goals (plus 6 in cups), while his partner backed him up with another 15. Add to that a money spinning FA Cup run, and it all made for a very cheery campaign.

[Punch]

Good jump form 20th to 1st. 

[DaneBramage]

7 hours ago, Punch said:

Good jump form 20th to 1st. 

Thanks, no one was more surprised than I was. 

I think I must have inherited a decent squad of players, but one that had had their confidence battered under the previous manager. Sorting that out was key to getting early good performances, then carrying on with the momentum from there.

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - SEPTEMBER 2021

With a promotion in the books it was on to the next season, and a visit to the National League. The board want us to avoid immediately going straight back down, and that's my aim too. In the pre-season team meeting I told the boys I wanted them to avoid relegation, this upset them and I had to back down and just ask to go down fighting instead.

There wasn't a huge amount of transfer business over the summer. The AssMan was out looking for targets, but mostly he just brought in a few youngsters, as well as a couple of loanees from Tranmere again.

We made a solid, if boring, start to the season with four consecutive draws. That gave me a bit of confidence about our chances, and when we ended August with a couple of wins under our belt we were riding high in the table. Three losses in a row brought us back down to earth though, and knocked away any short-lived hopes that we might make it two back-to-back promotions.

A trip to fellow promoted side York City was what we needed to snap the losing streak, and we hammered them 5-0 for my biggest win to date.

  

 

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - JANUARY 2022

I was loving life during October, as we looked unbeatable and set a club record of seven consecutive victories. There was a temporary blip against Newport, but we bounced back to win our next game.

We couldn't repeat last year's FA Cup heroics as Morecambe knocked us out with ease, and from there things got tricky. We beat Solihull, but that was our last win for more than a month. Just three points from five games was a bad haul, but that was nothing compared to what was to come. A victory over York was just a one-off, as we completely forgot how to play football after this, losing six games in a row and scoring just twice in this time.

We've slipped to midtable, which I'm still happy with and would have taken at the start of the season, but I'm very glad we got the early points on the board as this recent form is real relegation material, and we need to start improving quickly to avoid being dragged into a fight.

  

Meanwhile, I ran the December RNG to refresh the game world. And the big news coming out of this is that England was drawn as one of the nations to be de-activated.

As I'm currently managing there I don't have to do it immediately, but come the end of the season, regardless of how it's gone, I'll have to step down from the Leamington job. Just this month they were offering me a contract extension for another two years, which of course I've had to reject.

Spoiler

 

[DaneBramage]

LEAMINGTON - APRIL 2022

A loss to Torquay made it seven in a row (a club record) and it seemed like we were spiralling out of control. We smashed our way out of this run in style though, absolutely battering Hartlepool 7-0. It was truly a freak result, they weren't even in bad form themselves, but everything went right for us on the day.

It didn't last. Next time out our main striker got injured in the loss to Newport and was ruled out for the rest of the season. He was leading the scoring charts at the time, and likely would have ended up as the division top scorer for a second year in a row.

Three more losses followed, and we plummeted down the table to 18th place. I called in a team meeting and the boys agreed they needed to get their act together, and I also tweaked the formation to be a bit more attacking. This had the desired effect as we went on to win four of our final nine games (though we still found time to lose to the already relegated Ebbsfleet), and we arrested our slump down the table to finish the season in 14th place.

 

Leamington - Season 3 Thoughts: A year of three halves. The first was excellent, the second was abysmal, the third was solid enough to comfortably avoid relegation. The middle portion with all the red was definitely alarming, but I'm happy with how the year went.

And with that, my time at Leamington was done. With the English leagues being de-activated I put in my resignation as soon as the season was finished.

Leamington - Overall Thoughts: I think we can call my time here a big success. I was brought in just to avoid relegation, and in that first part-season I just about muddled my way through. But from there we were onwards and upwards, clinching promotion from the National League North, giving the club a healthy bank balance from the 2020/21 FA Cup run, and then staying in the National League with relegation never really looking too likely. I'm giving myself an A for this performance.

[DaneBramage]

TEAM 2

I went on holiday again, with the apply for all jobs box ticked, and 44 days later I was back in employment. 

I'm not going far, just through Wales to catch a ferry across the Irish Sea, then travelling north.

Warrenpoint Town were the first (and only) side to show an interest, so I'm off to Northern Ireland.

They'd spent the last five years hanging around the bottom of the Premiership, and this was the year their luck ran out and they finished in last place, suffering relegation back to the Championship. The clear problem here is a lack of goals, with everyone else in the division (bar Glenavon) scoring at least double their tally. Worst defence too.

Worst attack and worst defence, never a good combination.

Initial Thoughts: It's not the much exciting career opportunity is it? I've never managed in Northern Ireland before, so I suppose it's got that going for it. But at the same time it's probably been near the bottom of my list for a reason. That being said, taking charge of a newly relegated team should give me an advantage for next season, as (in theory) the players left at the club should be of a pretty good standard for the Championship.

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - SEPTEMBER 2021

The board's expectations for the new season were pretty low, just wanting a top-half finish. I don't think that's enough, as the club that just got relegated I think we should be competing to go straight back up. I told the side the same thing in the pre-season meeting and they agreed, so that must be a good sign.

The AssMan was put on recruitment duty again, and brought in a lot of players from 18-20, but only a few who'd be ready for the first team. I made a rare intervention, figuring in we'd need at least one senior player added to our ranks, so picked up a 28 year old left-back.

We made the perfect start to my time here with a 3-0 away win, then two more big home victories. After a fourth league win I was starting to think this was easy and we'd run away with it, but three draws in a row slowed our momentum and allowed Dundela to remain just behind us. 

The League Cup defeat was my mistake. I thought we were playing a Premiership side and played the second string, thinking I didn't want to risk the momentum of the first-team by suffering a loss this early. Turns out I didn't read it properly, and Bangor were actually in the league below us. We got to full-time at 4-4, but then collapsed in extra-time.

  

 

 

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - NOVEMBER 2021

We stretched our unbeaten start to the season to ten league games, but suffered the ignominy of our first loss against our local rivals Newry City. 

An immediate response was needed and we got that with a victory over our nearest challengers, Dundela, kickstarting another good run of form.

  

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - JANUARY 2023

RNG swapped out three European countries for three others. I can already guess that I'll end up in Wales next, going to be annoyed if that happens.

Spoiler

 

We got revenge on Newry City by knocking them out of the cup, and then beating them in the league as well.

There were plenty of goals in this period, but the most spectacular result was a 7-4 win over Lisburn. One of my strikers scored four times, but even he was outshone by his strike partner, who scored once but set up all six of the others.

Three wins took us into the league split, and with a nine point lead we're in a very good position going into the champions group stage. 

  

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - MAY 2023

  

We cruised through January and February, making it 24 games unbeaten. When we played Dundela we had a nine point lead over them, so this was probably their last chance to try and stop us marching to the title. We won 2-0 and while mathematically the title was still up grabs, the bookies could start safely paying out. 

We were going great in the cups too, smashing Premiership Glenavon to reach the Mid-Ulster Cup final.  Unfortunately, that's when our unbeaten run ended. I was incredibly annoyed by a 30th minute red card, and we never recovered from it. We held on until 90 minutes, but in extra-time we ran out of legs and our rivals Newry City grabbed the only goal of the game. We were then back in action in the league just two days later, and lost again.

Heads could have dropped, but instead we put together a perfect end to the season. We knocked another top tier side out of the cup, and this was especially impressive. Larne went on to win the Premiership, but we were equal to them over 120 minutes, then kept our nerve in the shootout. After the victory over Limavady we claimed the Championship title with two games left to play, and then we started preparations for the Challenge Cup final. Glentoran finished 8th in the Premiership, but we utterly destroyed them to clinch the double. Both of my strikers scored in this game to finish the season with 46 goals and 34 assists between them.

  

No surprises here, obviously the board want to keep me for another year. With how well this season has gone it was a no-brainer to accept this.

Warrenpoint Town - Season 1 Thoughts: Incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed this season. I thought we had a good chance of winning the title, but to do so with such ease was a joy. And making it a double was fantastic. I was annoyed that we lost the Mid-Ulster Cup, losing to another team from our division in the final (and our local rivals at that). But we more than compensated for that by going on to win the Challenge Cup instead, beating several top tier sides along the way. 

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - MAY 2023

Excellent, hadn't even thought of this. Our prize money for winning the Challenge Cup was about £50k, which took our bank balance up to £20k. It's looks like just appearing in the Europa Conference League will see us receiving £69k, so this would be quite the boost for the club.

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - AUGUST 2023

We really had no right even being in this competition, but even so, this is an annoying way to go out.

We bossed Honved in the first leg with 61% possession and 20+ shots, but couldn't put the ball in the net and they could.

On the bright side, Gent would have been waiting in the next round and we would have taken an absolute pounding there. And can't complain about the £140k we earned for just four games.

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - OCTOBER 2023

The board's expectation for the season was that we should avoid automatic relegation by finishing in 12th place, but ending up in 11th, and thus going into a play-off, would be acceptable. Given how easily we romped away in the Championship last year I don't think we should even in the conversation for relegation. We won the national cup, beaten several top flight sides along the way, so I'd hope we shouldn't be in any trouble.

And with 10 games gone that seems to be the case. We've picked up six wins already, never going more than two matches without victory. And we've scored in every game, with our main striker already on 11 goals and his partner on nine. Admittedly we could be doing better at the other end of the pitch though, achieving just one clean sheet so far.

The one disappointment was going out of the League Cup so early. Against third tier opposition we played our second string. A poor performance allowed Annagh to take us to penalties, where they knocked us out after a mammoth 18-17 shootout.

  

[Punch]

3 hours ago, DaneBramage said:

18-17 shootout

Ouch!

Good start to the season otherwise.

[DaneBramage]

13 hours ago, Punch said:

Ouch!

Good start to the season otherwise.

I'm glad I play using instant result, otherwise I'd have been punching things watching that.

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - DECEMBER 2023

It was time for the annual league changes, and RNG decided there'd be just one adjustment this time. It's a gamechanger though, as for the second time the nation I've been managing in has been selected for de-activation. I'll finish out the season, then step down. The Netherlands replaces Northern Ireland.

Spoiler

 

We could have been heading towards this with a new job as Ards made an approach. They're in the same division as us, but at this stage were down in 10th place with half our points tally. I didn't fancy it, but per the rules of the save I had to apply. Luckily they didn't hire me anyway. Enjoy your relegation lads.

  

 

Which moron arranged this fixture list? Three league games in November, then seven in December? Morons.

It actually worked to our advantage though, as we were pretty poor during November, and I arranged a couple of friendlies during the three weeks off to pick up some easy wins. We then took that momentum into December and found some form, even flying as high as second in the table. I had half an eye on Larne, but that flame was quickly snuffed out when they beat us 3-0 to pull away at the top.

We gained some measure of revenge of Annagh after August's League Cup elimination by knocking them out of the Mid-Ulster Cup.

  

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - MARCH 2024

I'll just ignore this, thanks. I'm gone at the end of the season.

 

Cups are stupid. Waste of everyone's time. For a second occasion this year we got knocked out on penalties by a team two divisions below us. Then we got knocked out of a third cup competition on penalties, though at least this time it was against Premiership opposition.

January was stupidly busy, as again the fixture schedulers made a mess of it. We put together a run of four wins, but eventually tiredness and rotation caught up with us and we started dropping points, including a loss to Ballymena United, who at the time were in the relegation area. When February and March came along and we re-introduced a few first-team players who'd needed a rest we got back into winning ways, and found ourselves in the top three at the league split.

We were included in the media message about being involved in the title fight, but that feels generous. I can't see that happening. Larne are in a poor run of form, but Linfield are in a much better place to capitalise on that then we are.

  

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - APRIL 2024

Ugh. I hate this team. Why are you suddenly so crap?

I'm glad about the upcoming enforced resignation, I think I'd be wanting to leave anyway now.

We go into some silly European places play-off, but really, what's the point? 

  

[DaneBramage]

WARRENPOINT TOWN - MAY 2024

Excellent, we've remembered how to play football! My striker is scoring again!

Oh. Never mind then. European football is stupid anyway.

 

 

Warrenpoint Town - Season 2 Thoughts: 75% of this was ace. We took to the Premiership like a duck to water, staying in the top-half all season, even flirting with an outside chance of a title push. But the end of the season was tragic, with just one win from my final eight games and missing out on European football entirely. And the less said about the cups the better.

But at least it's someone else's problem now. I'm done here, and not a moment too soon.

 

Warrenpoint Town - Overall Thoughts: Kind of hard to rate this as I'm so annoyed about how it ended, but obviously it has to be a very positive rating. An instant promotion with an unexpected cup victory in year one, which earned a (short-lived) European adventure with trips to the Faroe Islands and Hungary. In year two we then avoided relegation with ease and clinched a top-half finish. But those final two months really took the shine off of it for me.

 

[DaneBramage]

TEAM 3

For the third time in this career I went on holiday with apply for all jobs ticked. Given that both of my previous jobs had been within the British Isles I didn't want to end up in Wales, but suspected that it would probably be the case.

But after six months of unemployment I was ready to take a job anywhere, it was just a case of waiting for someone to offer one to me. I was invited to plenty of interviews across Wales (Llandudno even enquiring twice) and Finland, and even one in Colombia, but nothing that led to a job offer. I was clearly missing the gift of the gab when it came to sealing the deal.

                

I was starting to think my reputation wasn't good enough to get any active jobs and I'd need to wait for new countries to be activated and hope for one with several lower leagues, but eventually someone took a punt on me.

  

And of course it was in Wales.

Back to the mainland we go.

Ton Pentre have had a stinker of a season so far, managing just two league wins. They've also been eliminated from both cups. Goalscoring has been a problem, only twice have they hit the net more than once in match. But at least the other end of the pitch isn't a disaster, never conceding more than twice.

  

 

Ton Pentre - Initial Thoughts: I haven't managed in Wales since back in FM07, so this isn't somewhere I've spent much time. My task for the year is to avoid relegation. We're currently outside the relegation area and most of the sides around us are in even worse form, so I'd think that's an achievable target. Getting some points on the board early and building momentum will be key.

[DaneBramage]

TON PENTRE - FEBRUARY 2025

After winning the first three games I thought this was going to be easy and that we'd start marching our way up to the table.

It was little more than a dead cat bounce though, and we've been terrible since. A run of defeats has been interrupted only by a shock victory over promotion-chasing Haverfordwest.

Luckily other teams have been worse below us, and we've clawed out a small gap over the bottom three. Our nearest challengers do have a game in hand though.

 

The game world is updated with changes in Europe and South America.

Spoiler

 

[DaneBramage]

TON PENTRE - APRIL 2025

A couple of players signed in January were now fit enough to start matches, and this prompted an upturn in results. We beat top-of-the-table Penybont in a tie they never recovered from (eventually finishing 5th), then we smashed Pontypridd out of the park. My striker scored five times in this match and went on to finish as the league's top scorer with 19.

We're still not very good so a couple of defeats against midtable sides weren't a surprise, but at least we ended the season with a win.

  

 

Ton Pentre - Season 1 Thoughts: We managed to hit our target of avoiding relegation, and definitely brought about a small level of improvement, rising a couple of places up the table and having a much better points-per-game tally than my predecessor. I can't say that being here has piqued my interest yet though, any offer to go elsewhere would be appreciated.

[DaneBramage]

TON PENTRE - SEPTEMBER 2025

Cups are stupid.

Losing to the same team twice in a row, by the same scoreline, is stupid. 

Amateur clubs, where as soon as you sign someone a different player is immediately stolen away, are stupid.

The board, who won't let me go on a coaching course but will approve it for every other coach so they have higher licences than me, are stupid.

If you can't tell, I'm hating everything about this club at the moment. The board want a top-half finish but I don't see any chance at all of that happening, would take a minor miracle.

Back in the second post, Rule 2 was that I couldn't resign while under contract. I'm not quite there yet, but I think I'm saved by a loophole. We're an amateur club, so just like the players, I'm not actually under contract. So I think resigning is allowed if/when I get fed up enough.

  

[DaneBramage]

TON PENTRE - NOVEMBER 2025

I hate this team.

  

 

Pretty expected given how poorly things were going. I was given the option to appeal and say I could get a certain amount of points over the next few games, but with how rubbish we are that would have just been delaying the inevitable. A miserable end to a miserable time.

  

 

 

Ton Pentre - Overall Thoughts: Just terrible in every way. We fumbled our way to survival last year, but this year we never got going. Getting fired in less than a year will surely tank my reputation.

[DaneBramage]

TEAM 4

Back to the Job Centre then. It didn't last long until I got a couple of interviews, both to remain in Wales.

Cefn Druids were 10th in the Premier League while Haverfordwest were 7th in the Cymru South, so both would have been a step up from where I was. And if I managed to get the Premier League job that would have been a grand case of failing upwards.

  

And for some reason, both clubs came back with an offer on the same day. Just picking the higher job didn't seem fair, so I flipped a coin to decide for me.

  

Heads for Haverfordwest County. I'm staying in the Cymru South.

 

Haverfordwest County - Initial Thoughts: My only victory with Ton Pentre this season was over this bunch. That can't be a good sign. But I have managed Haverfordwest before, back in FM07, where I finished in the top three of the Premier League several times, and also won a few cups. So let's hope for a repeat.

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - FEBRUARY 2026

This game's much more fun when you have a half-decent team.

The first few weeks were a little rocky, but after the turn of the year we went into a good run of five straight wins. This included a satisfying victory over Ton Pentre, who still sit in the relegation area.

I raised a team meeting to praise the squad for their recent performances, but of course the FM Gods were watching and waiting, and next time out we could only manage a draw against bottom of the table West End.

The board want a top four finish this season. We're not quite there yet, but we're moving in the right direction.

  

 

One South American nation replaces another. Not that it matters, at this rate I've seemingly never getting away Wales.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - APRIL 2026

UNBELIEVABLE JEFF!!!

We just kept winning games, and while we did so, nearly everyone else fell away. And we kept on rising up the table, until we ended up in top spot with two games left.

On the final day any of the top four could have won the title, but we held our nerve to extend out unbeaten run to 14 games and take home the trophy.

Ton Pentre avoided relegation with a win on the final day.

  

 

Haverfordwest County - Season 1 Thoughts: Fan-bloody-tastic! I would 100% be lying if I said I saw this coming when I took the job, but we just smashed our way to the title. We were massively helped by the other clubs collapsing and bottling it, but we still had to our part and we did that brilliantly. The only way it could have been any sweeter would be if Ton Pentre had been relegated...

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - APRIL 2026

And I've celebrated that success by signing up for another year.

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - SEPTEMBER 2026

Neither the board nor the players think we have must chance of avoiding relegation, but I'm quietly confident that we shouldn't be in trouble. That is assuming we can replace the goals of last season's deadly striker though, as he refused to sign a new contract and left the club.

And his former strike partner got straight to work in showing why he should be the new top man, with 11 goals in the first 10 games of the season. This included four in the big win over Llanelli, which was the second time already this campaign that we put six past the opposition.

We sit in the top half at the moment, though 3rd-7th are split by just one point. And some teams have a lot of games in hand already due to European qualifying rounds.

  

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - NOVEMBER 2026

We started October with two big wins, but a trip to TNS didn't go as well and we suffered only our second league loss of the season. The third, fourth, and fifth very quickly followed afterwards, as our good form seemingly evaporated overnight. The one silver lining was that we made it through to the next round of the League Cup.

November was very mixed with a draw against a midtable side, a win over a team in the relegation area, and a loss to table-toppers Bangor City.

  

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - JANUARY 2027

There were plenty of goals in December, but I went into Christmas in a very bad mood. How do you score five times, and still not win the match?

Boxing Day saw an improvement, but my New Year was ruined very quickly. How do you lose 3-0 to a team you beat 3-2 less than a week earlier?

Then we got knocked out of the League Cup, and continued our defensive incompetency by conceding three times to the side bottom of the table. Ugh.

The league has split now and we've ended up in the bottom half. We're basically in a battle for 7th place, which apparently would put us in some dopey European play-off.

  

 

Northern Ireland added back in to the mix.

Spoiler

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - APRIL 2027

A very frustrating end to the season. 7th place was there for the taking, but we put ourselves on the back foot immediately by not winning any of our first three games of this stage. We got back on track when we won the next three league matches, and beating Cefn Druids narrowed the gap again. But next time out we lost to Carmarthen, and even though our form after that was perfect, we'd given ourselves too much to do and could only finish 8th.

We also reached a second cup semi-final this season, but somehow lost a game we dominated. In probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, as an unstoppable TNS beat Cardiff Met in the final to complete a treble.

  

 

Haverfordwest County - Season 2 Thoughts: A very good season as we avoided relegation with ease, made two strong cup runs, and were unlucky to miss out on a top half finish. My main striker set a league record with 28 goals, part of the 40 he scored overall. We were top scorers in the league with only TNS coming close. But there were also frustrations. The really good runs we went on made the poor spells all the more annoying and stopped us from reaching our full potential. And our defensive performance was just ugly, with only the two relegated sides and Barry Town (the whipping boys of the top half after the league split) doing worse than us.

 

After the season ended I completed a coaching course to gain my next licence, and then signed a contract extension for another year.

 

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - SEPTEMBER 2027

Embarrassing. They're not even trying. More fines than goals so far.

  

[DaneBramage]

HAVERFORDWEST COUNTY - DECEMBER 2027

Truly abysmal. I think we all know what's coming next...

  

 

Yep, there it is. After the win against Caernarfon we were challenged with getting 8 points from the next 5 games, and it never looked likely. The victory against Airbus gave us the slightest glimpse of hope, but a week later that was ruined and I was packing my bags.

 

Haverfordwest County - Overall Thoughts: I don't know how that spiralled out of control so quickly. We just never got going this season and were terrible from the start, and nothing could turn it around. There were no big changes over the summer, no one of any note left and we made a few additions, but we never played like we could. Our first-choice left-back did break his leg against Penybont in August, but that alone is no excuse for how rotten we were.

[DaneBramage]

TEAM 5

Before I got on the hunt for a new job it was time for a bit of admin, with Uruguay being dropped and replaced with India.

Spoiler

 

Then it was time to go on holiday and start applying for jobs. As Northern Ireland had recently been re-activated I was expecting to get offers from there, and maybe Wales (assuming my recent failure hadn't put anyone off).

And that's what happened, as I was called to two interviews with Premiership sides in Northern Ireland, a second tier Welsh side, and also a second tier Finnish side.

      

 

I wouldn't have minded either of the Premiership jobs, and the Finnish job would have been fine, but I definitely didn't want to go straight back to Wales and drop down a division. The first rejection came from Linfield, but soon afterwards Finland came calling.

 

Myllykosken Pallo-47 - Initial Thoughts: This was the job I wanted as it's a new country for this career, and also the first time I've managed in Finland in any FM version. The club have just been relegated to the Ykkonen after a few years in the top flight, so hopefully they'll be in good shape to push on and go straight back up. A very small squad and not much money, but that's pretty much a given.

Edit - I read the history wrong, we're not a recently relegated side. We're a recently promoted side. So might be a little bit tougher.

Edited February 8, 2022 by DaneBramage

[DaneBramage]

MYPA-47 - MAY 2028

In the Finnish Cup we went on an unbeaten run to finish top of the group stage. We were then drawn against a top flight side in the knockout stages and couldn't spring an upset.

In the league we've made a good start to sit comfortably midtable after ten games. There were a lot of draws in the opening few weeks, but since then we've added more wins than losses.

  

[DaneBramage]

MYPA-47 - JULY 2028

Two stoppage-time goals against JaPS sent us on a good run which pushed us up the table, even hitting 2nd at one point.

This was ended by a disappointing loss to GBK Kokkola, where we somehow managed to get nothing out of the game despite 26 efforts on goal.

  

[DaneBramage]

MYPA-47 - AUGUST 2028

A very good August leaves us in 2nd place at the league split, so we're involved in the promotion group with the rest of the top six.

  

[DaneBramage]

MYPA-47 - SEPTEMBER 2028

We were the only team to go unbeaten in the promotion group stage, but when we could only draw with FC Haka we missed our big chance to catch them. Had we won that game we would have been champions.

Instead we'll go into a promotion play-off series at the semi-final stage.