A Highlands & Islands Journey

[phnompenhandy]

A whimsical journey around the isles of Britain and Ireland allowing a maximum of two promotions at any club, only refreshing squads with whatever my loyal Head of Youth Development throws at me annually, and managing with all attributes hidden, using a slightly modified Mustermann Iconic 1.1 skin.

There will no doubt be similarities to my last narrative – I will be continuing to post photos of attractive locations and grounds, and maybe thrown in the occasional potted local history, but there will be stylistic differences, too. The plan is to take it slowly, week-by-week, building up every match, showing screenshots of key moments in matches and analysing players and tactics.

With the rule that on achieving a second promotion, I have to resign in order to further my career, I will be creative with certain elements of the game, namely ‘DNA’ and building up of facilities. Firstly, a cosmetic detail is that I will grant myself a salary, being double that of my assistant.

 

 

Our ‘team’ – me as manager, the Director of Football, Head of Youth Development and Assistant Manager come with me to every job.

 

I'll introduce you to the new skin later; here we can see Dougal and Astrid are great with Youngsters and, er, nothing else! But she's sensible and loyal, and that's important. Him I'm stuck with.

 

 It is known that we have a ‘DNA’ that chairmen must accept when employing us. Astrid and Karen have strong connections to a UNHRC programme that resettles asylum-seekers.  In narrative terms, that means any upgrades to junior coaching and youth recruitment apply to their relations with refugee camps as well as locally. Communities in Scotland (especially the Highlands), Ireland and to some extent Wales tend to be very positive about this; fans of an English club are more likely to accept it only if the incoming players really benefit the club, like any foreign player. In game terms, on intake day, I retain some local academy kids and switch the rest for asylum-seekers, using the IGE to give them the same CA and PA as the local kids being swapped [plus 2^nd nationality and limited language skills].

 

 

I thought I'd reveal the contents of my editor data folder

 

I show these as I included an element of chaos here – I don’t actually know what a lot of these files do, if anything!

 

I spent hundreds of frustrated hours in the editor to set this up right.

 

These are my abandoned attempts to create this save!

 

I eventually settled on using these files:

SCOTLAND      adapted from williamnicol’s 13-tier Scottish Pyramid Fantasy 2024 from sortitoutsi. I fixed a few minor errors, rationalised finances and reputations to make them compatible with the other files, and changed the names of competitions to replace tacky brands with names of historical significance.

IRELAND          adapted from hesht’s League of Ireland 9 Tier System from Steam Workshop. This league maintains the winter start (i.e. the Irish season starts in January). I made major changes as the creator had upped the finances and reputations to be equal to England. I restored the reputations to the same or similar to SI’s ratings, and made the finances similar to Scotland and Wales.

WALES             I used Evoo's Builds - Full Welsh League Structure from Steam Workshop. I didn’t change anything, just added finances.

More on the finances – England remains filthy rich and out of the league of the Celtic nations, but in this alternative universe new deals have been struck with media companies, including factoring in the boom in streaming football matches and highlights packages at all levels. The authorities cut through the potential mayhem by effectively taking a socialist approach and gave every team in a particular tier an equal sum, dished out at the beginning of every season. In addition, some leagues give out end of season prize money depending on final league placings, and extra TV money (but I couldn’t work out how to find that or change it in the editor, so it’ll be a surprise to me too).

Finally, possibly the most revolutionary change to my previous story is the use of a new skin. I'd better make a new post for this...

 

Edited December 27, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/580505-fm24skin-mustermann-iconic-v11-updated-231223/

This one (with a few minor alterations, as I always faff around to get things just right for me).

 

No attributes. Our staff are capable of classifying players into 4 level – excellent, good, poor and abysmal. Otherwise, the only way to judge players is by observing and analysing their performances. We do things old-fashioned here – play every game, pour over every stat. I don’t have the genius chops of _Ben_, but I’ll try in my own small way.

A random tier 13 player profile

A good ol' amateur club warhorse - you can see he's brave, determined, fit and strong - just devoid of any actual footballing talent. I don't think you need numbers to see that! As a defensive midfield destroyer, he can muscle his way to win a header, but only make short sideways passes.

Match analyses

My performance analyst and I will be scrutinising data like this to get the team playing as well as they can. Better meet him, actually

We'll be moving around new locations in Ireland and Wales along with Northern Ireland and England if we ever get that far, but we have to start off at the lowest possibly point, and that's back in the 13th tier amateur world of the Scottish Highlands. This time I'm choosing the remotest populated outpost in the British Isles - a place that hardly considers itself part of Britain at all.

The locals are friendly, though

Hope to see you tomorrow for the start of this new adventure!

 

[phnompenhandy]

Oh, the renaming of Scottish and Irish tournaments:

        

[Makoto Nakamura]

Looking forward to seeing you start with Shetland!  Did Clwb Cymric make it into your database?

[phnompenhandy]

2 hours ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

Looking forward to seeing you start with Shetland!  Did Clwb Cymric make it into your database?

Yeah. I've not heard of them but in my holiday test, they're doing very well indeed!

[Makoto Nakamura]

2 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Yeah. I've not heard of them but in my holiday test, they're doing very well indeed!

Keep an eye on them, they're on my 'go to' list of clubs to manage since they are hard-coded (and they follow this rule in real-life) to only be able to sign Welsh speakers!  

[phnompenhandy]

Just waiting on daveincid now. I want to include his latest 'realistic player development' file as it makes a heck of a difference to longterm saves.

I've completed five years of holiday testing. I've discovered that even without loading "all players of nationality" or leagues from small nations, I can find enough regen 'asylum-seekers' every year - I have a list of 40 'at risk' nations that produce a regen often enough.

I think the finances are a bit too healthy in Scotland and Rep. Ireland. Now I've got time to go back into the dreaded editor and tweak.

A lot of amateur clubs go semi-pro way too early. Shetland went amateur > semi-pro > professional > amateur (after relegation back to tier 12) all in the space of 5 years.

Promotions, relegations, play-offs all work as they ought. Shetland permanently bumbles around the bottom of the lowest tier, as it always did in my last save, so I'll need to be a tactical genius to rinse anything out of them!

Come on Dave - one day? A few hours ....

 

EDIT by an impatient teller of yarns

Come to think of it, I left the lowest levels, tier 13 in Scotland, tier 9 in Ireland as amateur leagues with NO income, but 5 years in and they've got four-figure balances anyway. Higher up and it's 5-figures. No rhyme nor reason. AI doesn't appear to use the cash for upgrades - presumably they spend on wages when semi-pro. Human managers should have the edge there.

I've just coughed up cash money to get Dave's latest. I'm going in ...

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

HERE WE GO!

It's humble but it's home

The eyes have it

Hometown - another angle

 

In lieu of a salary, the chairman is putting me and my assistant manager up in his house

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Me - I'm inexperienced and raw at this lark

The whole staff and board are new due to the investors trialling an exciting new project - more on that later.

The board is giving us time to settle in

[phnompenhandy]

Shetland

Shetland is a windswept, treeless subarctic archipelago north of Scotland.

 

It was colonised by Norsemen in the 9^th century. The Scottish victory over the Norwegian king Hakon’s navy at the Battle of Largs in 1263 broke Norse dominance, and soon after the territory was handed over to Scotland as a dowry settlement. Nevertheless, the population has always maintained a distinctive culture, as much Norse as it is Scots.

We all know about the annual festival of Up Helly Aa, right?

Daytime

Night time

You can keep your Morris Dancers and Guy Fawkes, Southrons.

[Stuniverse]

👍 Looking forward to this, @phnompenhandy

Nobody does whimsical FM journeys better 😂⚽️🤣

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

[phnompenhandy]

SHETLAND FC

Our logo tells you that ‘Shetland Football’ was ‘Founded in 1919’. That’s not Shetland FC, which has been established this year for this new Scottish Pyramid. “Shetland” as a football team comes together sporadically, mainly to participate in the ‘Island Games’, a biennial tournament of non-FIFA territories such as Greenland and the Falkland Isles.

Shetland beating Greenland 5-1

Shetland hosted and won the tournament in 2005. Occasional entities named ‘Shetland FC’ have until now assembled to participate in local cup competitions. The players are gathered from the ten established clubs in Shetland. This new team, created in 2023 and named “Shetland FC” will be a permanent club. The initial playing squad is the cream of the local clubs. Our scouts are ex-players and staff of those clubs and will monitor games to spot talent for future academy intakes.

Our official main rival is Orkney FC

We play annual friendlies, helping them to warm up ahead of their North Caledonian campaigns. New rivals will be Lewis & Harris, a similar new superclub in the Western Isles.

Other venues in Shetland

Seafield Park in Lerwick

Scalloway

Unst

Whalsay

 

Yell

There are ten local clubs. they are:

Premier League

• Lerwick Celtic
• Ness United
• Scalloway
• Lerwick Spurs
• Lerwick Thistle
• Whalsay
• Whitedale

plus Delting, Bressay and Banks

Our home ground is Gilbertson Park in Lerwick.

"Gibbie" is our home; however, the other teams in the Highland Amateur leagues are unwilling to meet the travelling costs of getting to Shetland, so we have agreed to play many of our 'home' games at Thurso. We will therefore travel to both home and away games on the mainland and other Highland islands either by ferry or plane.  The UN (on which more soon) have agreed to sponsor flights from Sumburgh airport

Sometimes the planes will be unavailable and we'll have to take the ferry

Half the league is over in the Western Isles (or Outer Hebrides), a Gaelic-speaking lot, and then there’s Orkney. FM might factor in the considerable travelling expenses, but it can’t recreate the reality of travel in this scenario.  The seas around the north of Scotland are extremely rough, and in recent years the knackered fleet of ferries has been feeling it – island residents are extremely inconvenienced by the frequency of voyages cancelled, if not due to the weather, because the ferries are out of service. In practice, that means an awful lot of our matches would be postponed because either we can’t get to the mainland (or Western Isles), or our opponents can’t get to us, hence our compromise to play at Thurso. I might add that despite the fascist signalling “stop the boats” mantra the previous government spouted, few of our refugees arrived by small boat, and most have no experience of such choppy waters. I wonder how many would be ready to play a game of football in real life. It’s worth adding that even on solid land, the families are struggling with the cold, very wet and windy climate, and less-than celebrated Scottish cuisine. I get that the UN reckoned Shetland is remote enough to deter hostile governments tracking down dissident ex-citizens, but I’m not sure how long some of them will hack it.

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 

As our board were endeavouring to 'think outside the box', a unique opportunity was presented.  The incoming UK Labour government was seeking a location to establish a well-funded community for successfully-processed asylum-seekers, and Lerwick was deemed a very suitable town. The UN, UK and Scottish governments and SFA together with the former board picked an international (mainly Irish and Scandinavian) team of asylum-seeker settling experts to run the club. The staff has no experience in running a football club and work as volunteers.

 

 

Working closely with the UNHRC and Refugee Council, scouts have been dispatched to refugee camps around the world to seek out interested youths. Any youth players our network brings to the club’s “academy” will get visas for their families and be granted second nationality as Scottish. Only one youth and family per country-of-origin or ethnic group is permitted to be in the squad at one time. Being an amateur club, we can’t hang on to any players who wish to leave for another club, and we can’t improve them at our club.

 

Our goal

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Restrictions on my role

The football club is an exciting new venture, but the hope embedded in the club's vision doesn't extend to the manager, who was brought in owing to his commitment to the vision rather than for his talents. So hopeless does the board regard me, that I'm only permitted to pick the team and tactics. Further responsibilities will be gradually accorded, based on qualifications and success. Catriona, the Director of Football, communicated the board's standards as follows:

When I get my first badge, SFA Adult Coaching Certificate, I’m assured I can take general team training (i.e. use the General schedules and Match Prep only). After the second badge (Adult Coaching Award), I’ll be let loose on team training however I like, assuming our coaching staff have the appropriate skills. With the third badge (Adult Coaching Licence), I’m in charge of the youth/reserves general team training. With the fourth badge (UEFA B Licence), I can set individual training. Once I've been at a club at least a full year AND have 3+ badges AND a promotion, I get a say in staff appointments, including junior coaching and youth recruitment. We'll almost certainly still be an amateur club, unable to offer contracts to players or improve facilities at the club.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

You are slowly becoming my favourite career thread creator.

Lovely photos. I appreciate the effort you put in. Also I am a big Father Ted fan.

 

 

 

[Stuniverse]

1 hour ago, phnompenhandy said:

Restrictions on my role

The football club is an exciting new venture, but the hope embedded in the club's vision doesn't extend to the manager, who was brought in owing to his commitment to the vision rather than for his talents. So hopeless does the board regard me, that I'm only permitted to pick the team and tactics. Further responsibilities will be gradually accorded, based on qualifications and success. Catriona, the Director of Football, communicated the board's standards as follows:

 

When I get my first badge, SFA Adult Coaching Certificate, I’m assured I can take general team training (i.e. use the General schedules and Match Prep only). After the second badge (Adult Coaching Award), I’ll be let loose on team training however I like, assuming our coaching staff have the appropriate skills. With the third badge (Adult Coaching Licence), I’m in charge of the youth/reserves general team training. With the fourth badge (UEFA B Licence), I can set individual training. Once I've been at a club at least a full year AND have 3+ badges AND a promotion, I get a say in staff appointments, including junior coaching and youth recruitment. We'll almost certainly still be an amateur club, unable to offer contracts to players or improve facilities at the club.

 

Now that does make things interesting for you, Father Ted Crilly.

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

Edited December 28, 2023 by Stuniverse

[phnompenhandy]

Let's meet the UNHRC-appointed staff. None of us have any experience of working at a football club, but we're a friendly bunch.

The chairman's away at the moment, so I've just got his photo. He's also my landlord, remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first couple I think you've briefly met:

 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[Rick87]

Very interesting premise to your story mate. Best of luck with it. I shall be following.

[phnompenhandy]

Daniel, Isla and Mollie are the only staff local to Lerwick, the main town on the 'mainland' of Shetland; the rest of us are strangers to each other. The players, on the other hand, are a tight-knit group.

A squad of 24 has been assembled, and they're all grumpy with me as I've called them in for a pre-season get-together over a week before other clubs start their preseason. As I've explained, Dougal and the coaching staff will run training sessions, while I observe closely with Magnus and his magic laptop in order to assess them, the pair of us using our Football Manager experience in lieu of anything relevant.  In the meantime, here's a picture of a Lower League Manager and his staff at work -

[phnompenhandy]

Yeah, nah, I can't be doing with this, smiling through dumb questions. Have you seen that report on my people skills? I'll be leaving this part of the job up to Caitriona and Amy when she's available. They are so personable and have charming smiles.

After hours of observation and pouring over Magnus' recording of the intrasquad friendly, I've come up with the outline of a preferred starting XI and a tactic. Awkwardly, no clubs outwith Shetland are free to play us in friendlies, and with a full league programme underway on Shetland, the local teams aren't free either, so I can only arrange intrasquad friendlies for the next two months.

To be honest, they've got more about them than I expected. Good attitude, and if not skill, they do have pace, which gets you a long way at this level. I think we'll score plenty of goals, and the two first-choice centre backs look fine. I wanted a defensive midfield, but no one can play there, and I fear the midfield two may be a little flaky. Williamson is The Man for the right flank, and he wants to be where the action is, but we have no functioning right back, so I might end up pulling Williamson back if Balfour is a liability. The backups in general are not too bad. We know these are the best players in Shetland, but we have no way of assessing how they compare with our upcoming league rivals. A hunch tells me we'll be fine and surpass the board's expectations.

Karen was approached by two coaches with Lerwicks Celtic and Thistle, volunteering to help us with scouting. While a committee in Lerwick is preparing housing and aid for refugees, Amy is hard at work firming up the refugee plan. The idea is she'll have some detailed reports of promising youngsters by December, and the first family with youth prospects getting official asylum will arrive in March or April of next year.

I'll pick out some key players to show you soon - I just need to observe them for a bit longer first.

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Whole preseason is like this when I make the calls.

 

Bah! Same with Kirkwalls Thorfinn and Rovers

 

 

My goodness, Caitriona is a diamond. I need to appreciate her administrative skills. She had the smart idea of sweet-talking the youth teams of the clubs that turned us down. Here is our preseason fixture-list now

You might say there's nae challenge there, but it's okay as the purpose is to test out and tweak my ideas, and to get the lads match fit and familiar with my requirements.

Edited December 28, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

 I've immediately run into my first problem:

Ouch! I can kind of understand, though - for now. Father Jack knows my commitment to the Project; the reasons are a bit more awkward than can be publicly admitted. Despite all the big talk by the politicos, the board did baulk at my preseason schedule. As you can appreciate, none of those U18 and U21s teams had the time or funds to travel to Lerwick, so it is costing us a fortune to host all these matches in Thurso. Secondly, any study I do will be in Aberdeen. I'll ask again when the season starts - they should have finances sorted by then.

Here's the club info board at the start of our campaign. From small beginnings ....

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Our scouting team is now assembled, completing our staff recruitment. I'd say Caitriona has done a damn fined job - the quality appears to be high for our level

When I say "high", these things are relative, of course

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Right, it's the players you want to see. Let's start off with our best player, leader and man I've appointed club captain, John Allan. He's played his whole career as a striker, but in figuring out a system to manage square pegs in round holes in the squad, I'm starting him as an inside right, and he seems to be doing fine.

On the bottom right is the 'DNA hub'. This is where I home in on what I consider to be six key attributes for my squad. Here we can see John is fast and he's smart. Focusing on his abilities, the yellow circles show where he's above average for his level - as you can see, for a forward, he's pretty much got it all.

He recently had a go at playing at league standard, although it didn't work out for him, and he came back to Lerwick to join us.

Next, our vice-captain and senior citizen, Connel Gresham:

What we can see here is our poacher can finish a chance, and direct a header if the ball's put on a plate for him, and he's generally above average for a striker. The red circles show where he's below average, and the blanks indicate where he's effectively hopeless. The DNA hub shows that in terms of what I'm looking for, he's fine, but no Allan.

[phnompenhandy]

Our second-best player is Rory Williamson. He's a right-winger, but you already know Allan has been moved to that position, so Williamson is after all lining up at Right Back. However, given his role is as an attacking wingback, he is a winger really, and I'm expecting him to overlap and click with Allan coming inside.

He's very fast and he's skilful on the ball. He doesn't possess too much football intelligence, but at 19, that will come, particularly if he listens to Allan guiding him in making his runs. My main concern is that he needs to bomb up and down the flank, and I'm not sure he has the stamina to last. I can see fatigue causing him to lack tracking back later on in games.

The quality drops off a bit after those three. Paul Gordon is our midfield warhorse, our Scottish Terrier, if you will.

For a ball-winning midfielder, he's a bit weak, a bit chicken, a bit slow and can't tackle. He's got a good attitude, though. I'm hoping his intelligence and positioning puts him in the right places, and maybe his lack of bravery will help him avoid red cards. Will the opposition rip through our midfield like a knife through butter? Remains to be seen. I will experiment with the backup midfielders - one who is extremely aggressive and can't tackle, and another who is even more scared.

 

At the back, our best defender is Willie Urquhart

A bit short for a central defender, but an all-round solid player.

 

Goalkeeper

We have three 'keepers - one too many for a small squad like ours. I can't separate them, like Lewis here, they're all mediocre at best. We won't be playing opposition with the ability to really test our keepers in preseason, so it will be tricky deciding which one to make first choice. Lewis is keen to make a go of it though, as he's spent wasted years as backup youth keeper at big mainland clubs who never played a competitive game.

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

This is the kind of data I like to pour over with Magnus on the ferry home after a match.  Our front two and attacking inside right are responsible for most of our goals. Our supporting inside left is less involved - is that due to his role or his relative lack of quality? The passing map is important to me - here, we note that the front two don't pass to each other - that's because of their roles - an attacking forward and a poacher. I'd prefer one to be a pressing forward or deep-lying forward on support duty, but no one has the right abilities for those roles. The two midfielders, a deep-lying playmaker on support duty and the dodgy ball-winner are at the centre of things and doing well. With the right back playing as an attacking wingback, I'm in two minds about the left side. Currently playing as a wingback on support duty, he's very involved and scoring well, but if we need defensive reinforcement, he can drop to inside fullback or inside wingback on defensive duty. I'm going with the initial third-choice goalkeeper. He's a bit bonkers, loving to rush out and loiter around the half-way line as an attacking sweeper-keeper, but if you can't try high-risk strategies in early preseason, when can you?

 

There is this golden  rule that follows me around ...

In the first week of preseason, you can guarantee a striker will pick up an injury that keeps him out for the whole preseason. Guaranteed.

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

Ehh, great times on the pitch; frustration off it.

One in one out. We're still swatting away these patsy kids teams, but losing important players affects our team cohesion and tactical familiarity.

I thought Amy getting the green light might be positive for me, but no. And when i asked for improvements to the club structure ...

Way to put me in my place. I get it - I'm not trusted and the board have a plan in place. I just hope they're open-minded enough to credit me when we find success.

Sigh. Let's cheer up with a long walk and meeting the friendly locals

[phnompenhandy]

After six friendlies played here at St. George's in Thurso

we finally enticed a team to come to our place

It was our traditional rivals, Orkney FC. Once the locals found out it was their Under 18s side, they lost all interest, but it was still important for our Shetlander lads.

3-0 was still a good result, but it's performances that matter. Liam Balfour, the stand-in right wingback for Williamson, was outstanding so high up the pitch and deservedly got Player of the Match after previous anonymous games. Unluckily for him, Williamson is back soon, but it's great to know we're secure all down the right flank. On the right, Bruce was now a defensive-minded inverted wingback and did his job very well. The movement up top was till not quite right, but I think that was partly due to Calderwood being not quite match fit after his injury. That doesn't explain why Gow and Gresham were holding hands over on the left, though. We're still a work in progress.

In this next match, our seconds versus Kirkwall Hotspurs' Under 18s, the passing patterns are better. Even without Williamson, our right flank is the dynamic one, with an attacking wingback and attacking inside forward. On the left, despite the fullback playing as a defensive inverted wingback, he still lingers very high up when the opposition lack an attacking threat, but the three players on the left are still stepping on each other's toes. The inside left isn't coming inside, the striker keeps chasing balls out wide he should be leaving for others and as I say, the wingback should be there. An issue I have is that I have five strikers, and they all claim to be poachers. In trying to get the left-sided ones to think like an attacking forward, I'm just confusing them. I daren't imaging asking them to play as pressing or deep-lying forwards, which is what i actually want. Still, so long as they keep scoring, what the heck? And maybe some variety will arrive in eight months with the first batch of refugees.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

I was dismayed at the levels of apathy that greeted our next friendly. The away side were playing at home, yet no one turned up to watch. Yes, we were playing Thurso FCs Under 21s. Ahead of the match, we had a week to prepare.

You'd think this was very disappointing - these are our senior players, not leading by example

Thinking about it, however, we have zero training facilities, and I can be frank with you since I'm not involved in the training sessions - all the boys do is run around the perimeter of the pitch. There's a good modern leisure centre down by the harbour, the Clickimin Centre, which these boys use in their own time, paying fees out of their pocket. So I'll give them a pass - a friendly arm around the shoulder and conspiratorial chuckle. On the other hand, they're buying into my tactical adjustments; in the light of my previous observations, we're going with this versus Thurso

 

This is good news - I need them getting familiar with the adjustments

C'mon ye horny-hats, let's do battle ...

 

Now this was sweet, very sweet. Bruce on a defend duty in line with the midfield, Gresham more involved in link-up play as a deep-lying forward, but still nabbing a brace on attack duty. Williamson announcing his return with four assists. With a positive mentality, I could add an extra defensive duty yet still have us attacking in force. Conceding three was a heavy price to pay - the first time we'd conceded more than one. I don't know - Thurso's senior team play in the North Caledonian, tier six. Is their Under 21 side on a par with our tier 13 league rivals? I can't say; with no fans watching, they weren't exactly motivated. Striking the right balance between attacking and defending is something I'm going to have to learn on the job when the season goes live. At least I know we can do both.

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

By mid-August, preseason was duly completed. The results look truly silly

not being able to play opposition that could help us gauge how prepared we were vis-s-vis our league rivals was frustrating, but as I've always maintained, the chief objectives were to get the players physically and match fit, and familiar with the tactics. Mission achieved

The bookies have been observant and analytical - they have to in order to stay in business and thrive; here's how they rate us now

Unlike the board and fans, they can't afford to be sentimental or biased, so I take them quite seriously before the season starts. Looking again at the fixtures, you'll notice our opening match is away to the league favourites. We then play the side immediately below us in the ratings, followed by the rank outsiders. By the end of the month, after three matches, we should have a very good idea how our season is likely to pan out.

Are you ready?

Are we ready?

[Stuniverse]

2 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Are you ready?

Yes!

2 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Are we ready?

I don’t know. Are you? 

3 minutes ago, phnompenhandy said:

Looking again at the fixtures, you'll notice our opening match is away to the league favourites. We then play the side immediately below us in the ratings, followed by the rank outsiders. By the end of the month, after three matches, we should have a very good idea how our season is likely to pan out.

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

[phnompenhandy]

5 minutes ago, Stuniverse said:

Yes!

I don’t know. Are you? 

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

YES WE ARE!

[oche balboa]

Cant wait for the Romance in this. Also are you sure Father Jack is the right man for being Chairman lol.. 

 

KUTGW 

[phnompenhandy]

To put you clearly in the picture here, Pentland United is one of the nearest clubs to us. This is how we get there:

We take two ferries (each way). Lerwick (which is 140 miles from Norway) is 100 miles from John O'Groats. We take a ferry from Lerwick to Kirkwall (8 hours) and then a ferry from Kirkwall to the terminal west of John O'Groats (one hour).

First (sea)leg

Pentland United, playing in Dunnet, is just 11 miles along the coast

 

You can understand how Shetland people have pretty high stamina and are inured to the elements. It remains to be seen how people from warmer climes will cope. I don't know when this promised deal to go by Loganair will be finalised, but it can't come soon enough for me.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

14 minutes ago, oche balboa said:

Cant wait for the Romance in this. Also are you sure Father Jack is the right man for being Chairman lol.. 

 

KUTGW 

Not that sort of romance, you naughty boy!

 

 

Oh goo on, since you insist

[phnompenhandy]

On the Kirkwall stopover as we waited for the Pentland ferry, we received news updates

Opinions are fast evolving - are we deemed favourites for the title? We haven't started yet.

Hacks have noticed the same goes for me

Every journey begins with the first step ...

 

[phnompenhandy]

Domination!

United were clearly dismayed by the way we dismantled their Under 21s exactly one month previously. They seemed defeated and as you can see, they never got out of their own half. Our passing map is superb - it shows everything going through our deep-lying playmaker Ryan Walker, if deep-lying forward Connel Gresham seems too deep, remember the #6 Jamie McConnell is our midfield destroyer who retrieves the ball and passes backward whereas Gresham takes it forward. You can also see Williamson and Allan combining like a dream on the right. Lovely, lovely, lovely stuff.

[phnompenhandy]

That opening fixture was rapidly followed by our first match at home, to Stornoway Athletic.  The media had it as a walkover

Athletic had opened their league account on Monday night, just 48 hours before this match, and it would take most of a day to get to Thurso to face us. So, realising they'd be tired, I decided we needed a high-energy approach, and that wouldn't be achieved over 90 minutes by the players who's just beaten Pentland. Besides, we had another match the following Saturday, so given the backup players had done well enough in preseason, I elected to start ten fresh outfield players. Needless to say, the first-choice lads were not exactly supportive

Given that I only have two jobs - pick the team and the tactics, and the latter is proving very successful, I'd appreciate being given a pass on the former. So, was my decision vindicated?

 

You bet!

The performance was a bit messy, but we ran out 4-0 winners again. The attacking forward, Mackenzie (#10) was isolated and ineffective, largely due to the inside left (#7 Gillon, the moaner who didn't like his role, useless wassock) doing nothing. Four functioning players was enough to control the game - #3 leftback Cian Martin, right wingback Liam Balfour, Inside Right Kieran Syrajanen and hat-trick hero poacher Johnie Beattie. I think it's worth taking a closer look at what a player that is comfortable playing at this level comprises:

Johnie's quick and he finishes his chances. That is all - but it's enough.

 

Cian considers himself a winger. I'm playing him at left back. I've settled on supporting wingback for that position for now, so he doesn't have to do too much defending - which is just as well because other than putting in a tackle, he's not up to it.

Balfour is another I'm playing out of position. He's a centre back, but I need someone to cover Williamson at right wingback and - well, I do like his mentals; he can follow instructions!

Finally, Kieran here is also fulfilling a role he thinks he can't play

Poacher, he claims. But I've got too many and no one else to cover Allan as inside right. He can dribble and shoot like the best of 'em at this level. Alas, I've got four right-sided forwards, and I'd love to play them all every game. There's Gresham, Allan, Williamson and Syrajanen here. It's a crime I can't play all of them, especially when there's a dearth of talent on the left.

[phnompenhandy]

Unfancied Tongue United had also won both their opening fixtures, and travelled for half an hour for their away game, while we took over eleven hours. It fazed us not - we're getting stronger and playing more attractive football in each game.

Early days I know, but I see us staying the course we've set by the end of August.

 

For all that, grumpy git Jack's on the sauce again. Father Dougal had requested to go on a coaching course, following Amy's request being accepted

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

With no midweek game, and no involvement in the training sessions, I thought I'd take time out to explore Shetland. I started with a pilgrimage to DI Jimmy Perez's house

I trsut you're familiar with the TV series

Amy says she won't be recommending it to potential asylum-seekers as they don't need to see bodies piling up on Shetland. Better not recommend the wonderful books they're based on either, then. I've read them all.

Other frequent visitors to Shetland

I'll be back in September!

[phnompenhandy]

Whew! I'm all beached out - back to work.

While I'd been away, Magnus had been busy preparing pretty graphs for me. He has data for our league matches in August. We only played three, so I wouldn't get too into it yet, but for what it's worth:

Evidence of the way we've been dominating games.

 

 

A first for me in FM23 - a solid defence! Admittedly, we've not met a team with the courage to cross the halfway line, but you can only beat what's put in from of you. Which reminds me, the draws for the first rounds of the two cup competitions we're in pitches us against higher-level opposition.

 

I hadn't noticed this until Magnus pointed it out. We're not good at sending in or getting on the end of crosses, so why are we doing it so much? We'll practice low and whipped crosses and focus on working the ball into the box.

With no real way to separate the goalkeepers, I actually started the youngest one and have kept him for all three matches.

He does have the best reflexes.

As the only player who's played in all three matches, he'll do for an example of the 'pizzas' we'll be analysing regularly.

I mean, of course his pass completion rate is high - he merely rolls the ball out to a centre back with no opposition player within 20 yards. This chart says he's made one save so far - I make it five, but only one 'good' one.  The rest you'd expect any goalkeeper to make. His average rating is high for someone who has nothing to do. Anyway, the buttons on the right are for different positions; we'll have a look at another when the fixtures for September have been completed.

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

It looks like Jack's whiskey/whisky habit is bleeding us dry

How are we ever going to invest in the club and its staff, huh?

With Amy and Caitriona both unavailable, I had to do the inane questions thing both before we left and when we got back

 

Two ferries, a coach and another ferry followed by the last nine miles by bus is how we got to Liurbost on Lewis to play Lochs. Eighteen hours. And eighteen hours back (with a midweek game looming).

But we did it.

Lochs was another side sitting in second spot when we rocked up.

 

We knocked them down to fifth. Having instructed inside left Andy Gow not to waste his time crossing, he decided to use the ball instead and bagged a brace and Player of the Match in another four-goal haul. He still crosses 11 times, but more importantly, he made 7 key passes, 5 dribbles and took 7 shots. Keep it up, lad!

Edited December 29, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The Wednesday night game was at John O'Groats, so scheduled as we had a cup tie at the weekend. The seas were calm, so we slept on the long leg to Kirkwall. It was the 'second string' that travelled, not having played for a fortnight. Whilst the Groaties had been highly fancied, they'd made a poor start to the season, so I didn't feel I was taking a risk. That's what I was told by those who know.

 

The lack of match fitness throughout the side was evident as we laboured. We didn't keep possession well, and we created few chances, but we had enough about us to come away with a 2-0 win. The irrepressible Andy Gow came on as a first half sub and dragged the lads forward, getting on the scoresheet again himself. He came on because our poorest player Gillon took a nasty kick to the knee which will keep him out for at least two months. I would say he won't be missed, but Gow needs his rests when we play twice in a week.

 

[Maw74]

On 28/12/2023 at 12:48, phnompenhandy said:

 

 

Nice 

 

Nice skin as well and I have been tempted to do a Shetland save of some kind, so will follow with interest.

 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Maw74

[phnompenhandy]

Five comfortable wins in the opening five league fixtures is enough to indicate, to me, that we will win this league at a canter. The domination will probably not last more than this season - as I get to know the players and the Shetland football community, I'm gaining more insight. Anyone who holds serious aspiration to make it as a footballer has to leave Shetland. We've already met a few of our players who've tried to make it on the mainland; the senior ones have returned home to semi-retire with us, and some of the younger members have had their ambitions crushed. But others are here because, with Shetland FC being a new entity and joining a league at the bottom of the national pyramid, they see the club as a shop window. They hope to be spotted and get offers to move on to higher things. If we do well, and they achieve their dreams, the squad will get depleted if not next summer, the summer after. Given it is the new board's policy to only recruit 15 or 16-year-old local kids or refugees, and given the looming possibility that our frankly non-existent infrastructure will not be upgraded, it seems clear that the squad will be gradually weakened. This season, then, is the proverbial false dawn.

If the league is not going to be a challenge this season, how about the cups? I suspect that The William Turner Challenge Cup and the Alba Amateur Cup will provide our only difficult opposition. We can therefore afford to put out weakened teams in the league and save our best for the cup ties. The first one is up now. We host Lairg Rovers, currently bottom of Division Two (the tier above us).

I stayed outside Lairg the last time I was in the highlands, while my wife was on a business trip to Seoul. I messaged her that I'd found our retirement home - here it is, 'The Wee Hoose'

Ah, fond memories.

We predictably coasted through the game

The passing patterns are improving with each game; Bruce really understands his new role as left wingback on defence duty. This is borne out by the developing player paartnerships, binding very early in such a new team

although with us unable to spend much time training moves, cohesion is far off

One note of disappointment - an attendance of 10. The rain wasn't bad during this match, not like the gale force winds that hampered the Tongue game - to which 10 also turned up. The locals prefer to go to their traditional clubs; we're seen as a newfangled phony bureaucratic creation, which is not entirely inaccurate, I suppose. It will take time to win them over.

With four league matches upcoming before our next cup tie, I'm going to mix things up so that the fringe players get playing time.

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The locals appreciate a game against Orkney opponents, and a huge 22 turned up to see us beat Rendall.  We went down to Kirkwall Grammar School to face Hotspurs next.

In beating Randall 2-0 I noted we were playing within ourselves, a sense of complacency have crept in. Despite the healthy 4-1 result in the next game, the drop-off was very pronounced:

35% possession and 5 shots on target is not who we are. We were letting them control the bulk of the game after two early goals - albeit in midfield where they couldn't hurt us. The result might have been in question had it not been for late bloomer Andy Gow playing his third match in 8 days. This game also saw the return of Dean Calderwood after along lay-off. He's our first-choice poacher, and here he is doing poachery things superbly well. He stays central, which is where I want him, but what's going on behind him? The poacher and second striker are fed by Gow on the left, the inside right and midfield playmaker, so what the heck is MacKenzie doing tucked in behind him?  Let's take a closer look:

He fancies himself as a shadow striker. He's supposed to be a deep-lying forward on attack duty, playing to the left of his striking partner. He is not following my instructions. Given I have five forwards to choose from, he's good, but not indispensable. Silly boy.

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

The following week saw two matches against Western Isles opposition. On the Saturday, we hosted Stornoway United. After a pep talk warning against complacency, we went out and swatted them 6-3. The media homed in on a particular individual -

You see, Connel is our other poacher-turned deep-lying forward. He DOES follow instructions. MacKenzie would be well to take note. He and Allan are our inspiring old warhorses whose examples led the way; unfortunately, with a big cup game looming the following Saturday, the midweek game at Ness FC would have to be played by those seconds who were not inspiring at Kirkwall Hotspurs.

and .. this happened

Our winning streak smashed

There's a bit to unpack here. Note our best player was our goalkeeper. Before the game, the central defenders were bemoaning the physicality of the Ness forwards, and the fear manifested. I hadn't taken their concerns seriously - Ness were the third 'current second-placed side'  to face us and we'd seen off the others easily. But this side are undefeated and have more about them. Our forwards were really off the ball. Mackenzie was trying so hard to position himself correctly that he barely touched the ball.

This second-string side will, I think, be okay against mediocre opposition, and so long as the first-team win cup ties, they'll be needed in the league. We can only hope rearranged midweek games are not against the strongest opposition like we met today.

By the time the game ended, night had fallen. We came out from the changing rooms to this

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

If we sacrificed the last game, it was because we were due to travel to Nairn in the first round of the Alba Amateur Cup. This required a voyage from Lerwick to Aberdeen and a long coach journey after that. We knew nothing about Nairn Wanderers - they play in the tier nine Aberdeenshire First Division - beyond the scope of our scouts. Not only that - they don't even exist on Google! Fortunately, we hired a local coach from Aberdeen, so the driver knew the way.

The competition itself is not one we stand a chance of either winning or making any money from, but as a relatively high-reputation tournament it puts the club and its players on the map, in the (amateur-level) public eye nationally. In short, it matters.

 

It turns out the unknown is nothing to fear. "Tier 9" is a meaningless concept in the regional amateur world; "Aberdeenshire First Division" is basically the worst teams in the Grampian region. We dominated them for 90 minutes and never let them have a single shot on target.

The next round gets serious, though. Annbank United. Away. Next weekend.

So September closes; where are we?

Just the one blemish, but the sort that's all you see when you look in the mirror.

Teams behind us and Ness have a game in hand, but I feel quite secure. Kieran Syrjanen is my backup to John Allan. I was persuaded to start Kieran in that last match, but dropping the club captain and best player in the league is not a habit I can get into. However, it might be worth trying Gresham and Allan as the front two combo. That would involve dropping Johnie Beattie. Oh, headaches!

 

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy

[phnompenhandy]

There are consequences  .....

Also ...

Travel costs, not "other". He's cut down on his drinking. Is this the moment?

YES!!!!  

More surprises to come ....

[phnompenhandy]

We were due to face Annbank United in south Ayrshire. They sat top of the 8th tier Caledonian First Division, a proper team in the amateur circuit, not like the last lot. With there being no ferry ports, I braced myself for a very long and exhausting drive - but no! Jack rocked up with - air tickets! To Glasgow! How? We were still losing money. Actually, I barely took in the tickets he was waving due to his apparel - I'd never seen the old git in a football shirt before. But not just a regular shirt:

"Wow! Sponsorship money?"

"No money, subsidised travel. And that's not all"

At that moment, another figure appeared, sporting a football shirt far more appealingly - Amy.

 

So our travelling costs will be far more manageable - leaving cash for infrastructure upgrades? Jack seemed coy when I put it to him, but still, positive developments.

And

Edited December 30, 2023 by phnompenhandy