*OFFICIAL* FMS Introductions Thread

[sherm]

Hi Folks

Having discussed this with Terk, this is the FMS Introductions thread. The idea came about with having a lot of new members on the forum - I felt if everybody introduced themselves, what they did for a living etc and how/why they joined the forum, we could have a good little discussion. I'll start it off, and please, feel free to post - also, ant questions you would like answering about one another (obviously nothing too personal ) then here is the place

P.S ; If a Mod could sticky this it would be appreciated fully

Username ; Sherm

Real Name ; Nicholas Simpson

Age ; 21 - almost 22 though

About Me ; At the moment I work for Asda, but I am looking to move as soon as humanly possible. I've not long finished my last exams at University in a Business and Finance course, and graduate (fingers crossed) in October. Born on 15th June, I live and work in Manchester, although I attended University in Sheffield so have a soft spot for both Sheffield United and Wednesday. I am passionate about where I live, and although many people will agree that Manchester isn't exactly Hawaii, I will defend my home town

I joined the forum 3 and a half years ago, (That's made me realise just how quickly the time has gone) - although I came across it by accident when I was browsing through the internet. At the time, I wanted to find a forum to discuss FM with other users and gather their thoughts and opinions, and I also felt it was a good way to meet new people. I've owned every version of CM/FM since 200/01, although my first was Championship Manager 2 (I think it was 96/97) and fell in love with it from there. As many of the regular forum visitors will no doubt have gathered, I am an avid Manchester City fan, and have been since 1995 when I attended a 5-2 win over Tottenham at Maine Road. I had a season ticket for six years (96-02) but then funds meant I couldn't afford one any longer

I play for a 5-a-side football team, I used to play cricket for Middleton, and I used to box - However, my sports enthusiasm (at least the playing side of it) wained when I discovered women and booze I'm quite an open guy, don't mind answering questions - anything you'd like to know, just ask me

Oh and an interesting fact for you - the Manchester City Centre bomb exploded on my birthday - I think I was 10 at the time, and camping with the scouts in Ashworth Valley. We heard the bomb from there

Hope that's answered any queries you may have had

[Terk]

Username; No, not sure about that, can't quite remember, think it begins with a T

Real Name; Mind your own business, you nosy parker. Oh, most of you know already. OK then, Simon

Age; 25 (26 in July)

About me; I think a fair chunk of you already know that I was born in Leeds (**** hole), lived for a wee while in Liverpool (**** hole), then for about eight years in a backward, racist, West Yorkshire (**** hole) town. My family then saw the light and moved to Edinburgh (great city), which is where my mum hails from (my dad's a Scouser )

I've bounced around doing various things half-heartedly over the past few years, the only one that I actually enjoyed was working for the Citizens Advice Bureau. I have grand designs of making a career as a writer (trust me, I write better away from FMS than I do here), and I'm returning to university in September as a 'mature' student to study Politics and Social Policy, at Edinburgh Uni, of course.

I used to play rugby until I tore my knee apart for the second time and I figured it was better to stop than cripple myself, now I just watch and shout at the players. I was pretty decent at football when I played at school as a goalkeeper, but I was better at tennis, and now I'm thinking about taking up cricket.

An interesting fact, you say? My surname is French and I can trace my ancestry to French aristocrats who fled the country during the revolution in the 18th Century, stowing away on a ship and ending up in Liverpool.

[salkster2102]

Good idea this mate. I'll go second.

Real Name - Martin Salkeld

Age - 17

About Me - Well currently I live in a little town called Stocksbridge in Sheffield. I am a die hard supporter of their football team Stocksbridge Park Steels who have recently just got promoted to the Unibond Premier League which is actually the Northern Premier League (one league below the blue square north). I used to play for the Stocksbridge junior teams when I was younger but personal reasons eventually got in the way of it. I also follow Liverpool after being a big Micheal Owen fan. Now I am studying a National Diploma in Manufacturing Engineering at Castle College in Sheffield. My part time work is in a local stationary shop stacking the shelves for 3 hours a week whilst getting the latest football news off my mate.

I joined the forum last summer after swimming round for tactics since I a very lazy and I am rather hopeless at creating tactics. My first football managing game was championship manager 4. I got this after helping my mate out with a reading save and I instantly fell in love with it. Since then I have got all the football manager games since then winning the league with Liverpool on each game . I usually keep myself to myself really but I do enjoy a good laugh.

That about sums me up really. Ask any questions you like and I'll answer them the best that I can.

[Tubey84]

Username ; Tubey

Real Name ; Lee Kidd

Age ; 24

About Me ; I'm a Scouser! And, as such, I support Everton because not many people actually FROM Liverpool support Liverpool. See any Sky Sports interview outside Anfield for details.

I've been playing Sports Interactive games since Championship Manager 97/98, and my favourite CM/FM is by far the 01/02 edition which was, quite frankly, a masterpiece. With the exception of To Madeira being ridiculous on it of course!

I've been writing stories online since 2002, my biggest being one that took Logrones C.F. from the lower regions of Spanish football to three time Champions League winners. I've also did stories featuring Foggia, Everton and Leyton Orient.

Before doing stories online I actually handwrote (? dunno if thats a word but you get what I mean) my own stories on absolute masses of paper - one of which I found in an old storage box last month!

So, yes, I'm a big fan of this management series which is far and away the best on the planet.

My first management sim was Premier Manager 97 on the Sega Megadrive. That's what gave me the "bug" because it was a decent game. CM/FM has blew me away consistently.

Right now, I am writing a "mammoth" story based on my journey with Ternana in Italy, whilst planning to complete a shorter story based on D.C. United in MLS.

A fun fact - I'm selectively psychic. As in, I occasionally have premonitions where I know something is going to happen. I predicted the bomb scare at the Aintree Grand National two days before and told my Mum in a taxi drive home. I even explained it was a hoax and where the package was "meant to be".

My mum has been scared of me ever since!

Tubey

[Terk]

Oh, forgot that bit. I joined the forum a rather depressing NINE YEARS ago. It was the first ever interweb forum I signed up for, and I was only sixteen at the time so I hope you can excuse the terrible username (taken from the disney Tarzan movie). I wasn't actually around here much until early 2002 when I caught the bug in a big way on what was then CMS and made a reputation for myself as a story whore.

[Offspring8]

Good idea :-)

Username; Offspring8

Real Name; Aaron Nash

Age; Turned 18 in March (and as my parents own a pub, boy was it a good party )

About Me; I was born on the 6th of March 1991 in Oxford. My dad is in the Army (just got back from 6 months in the East) and has been since he was 16. Mum works full time in our pub. I have three younger siblings, all of which are at school. My younger brother is just doing his GCSE's and then going away to join the Army. I currently work as a Landscaper for a company called MJ Abbotts and joined them almost a month ago. I don't really have a set working place as we go wherever the job is/ Before that, I was also looking at joining the army and was only a few weeks from taking my fitness test.

Like Sherm, I stumbled across FMS while looking around the website. Once I had read a couple of stories, I was hooked. Really, I joined just to have a look around the forums and have a nosey at which players were the latest bargain signings etc. My first ever C/FM game was CM 01-02 which I used to play constantly, even though I was no good at it .

I'm a Chelsea fan and have been since...well, Chelsea have always been my number one team. When I was younger, I actually never even liked football. It was only when I watched my dad play in an Army tournament that I got into football and eventually chose Chelsea as my team, purely because I liked the colour they played in .

In my earlier teens, I had trials for Oxford United and played for Salisbury City as well for a few seasons. I made a few appearances for the Shrewton United first team as well in the last few seasons. I don't play for them anymore as my job only gives me 3 and a half days off out of 14 but I will be entering the famous Shrewton Sixes Tournament in the summer

My little interesting fact is that I saved my brothers' life when I was about....I don't remember, must have been around 9 years old . We were on a holiday in Spain and I was floating around on a blow-up crocodile in the deep end of a pool. My brother, being the cheeky ***** that he is, decided to try and jump from the side, onto the float and scare the crap out of me. This all went wrong though, as he landed on the tail of the crocodile and slipped off into the water.

I looked around to see what had happened (I was lazing around with my eyes closed) and saw nobody there at first. Then I looked over the edge of my float and there, floating to the bottom of the pool like a rock, was my younger brother who wasn't exactly a strong swimmer at all. Reluctantly, I climbed off the float and swam down to pull him up. As I then pulled him to the surface and dragged him to the side, He clambered all over me to get out of the pool, almost drowning me by standing on my shoulders to get out. Then some random bloke came and helped him out of the pool and asked him if he was ok. Me? I was left choking on water and the random bloke never even gave me a thought. The glory of saving a life eh?

But yea, that's me done, sorry if it's a bit tooooo much XD

[Terk]

I support Everton because not many people actually FROM Liverpool support Liverpool. See any Sky Sports interview outside Anfield for details.

It seems always to be folk with Irish accents that they interview outside Anfield

[tenthreeleader]

Username; tenthreeleader

Real Name; those who know it, know it. I'm very careful about such things on the internet.

Age; 43

About me; My first experience with the beautiful game came as a boy watching the Public Broadcasting Service show "Soccer Made In Germany", hosted by the great Toby Charles. As a result, my first exposure was to the Bundesliga so I saw Kevin Keegan play for Hamburg, and grew up watching the Bayern Munich teams of Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and some guy named Beckenbauer.

I played football as a youth (central defender and goalkeeper, which was actually my favorite position), with the dream of becoming a striker. I also played American football (end) and baseball (firstbaseman) as a child. Today I am an avid golfer and board wargamer, from which my handle originates.

I came to the forum in January 2008 after lurking it for awhile. I have played numerous simulation games in a number of different subjects and if any game attracts my attention, I write about it. So there is a voluminous quantity of writing from me on a number of different subjects. It is my primary method of relaxation.

I started playing with the CM 01-02 series after a friend of mine in a computer baseball league suggested I find a copy. I have ceased playing most other sports simulations since taking up the CM/FM series.

Like many Americans, I follow more than one European team. I have enjoyed watching Bayern Munich play through the years but my favorite clubs, as is well known on the forum, are ManUtd, Rushden and Diamonds and most especially Rangers.

As I've mentioned before, I am a professional writer (though I am NOT a professional author). My area of expertise is not in novel writing, though finding this forum has allowed me to indulge my secret wish to write longer work.

[Blanco]

Username: Blanco

Real Name: Chris

Age: 19

About me:

My footballing education started young - I still have my Ladybird book of the World Cup 1994 with all the results filled in! My choice of team is odd - I am a Barnet fan with Liverpool as my 'big' team. I am in the unlucky situation of living in the best footballing nation in the world, but managing to be in one of the few places without a league team within 40 miles! (Gillingham, Brighton and Charlton would be the closest) My dad grew up in Barnet, so we go and watch them pretty regularly - it's cheap, you can always get a ticket (except the cup games) and the football is entertaining (if not magnificent). I've seen just the one 0-0 draw at Underhill in 40 odd games of supporting, and plenty of wondergoals. The Liverpool connection comes from just being awkward - most of my contemporaries supported Man Utd at a young age (they were winning everything and had Cantona!), and although Liverpool were finishing around seventh, they were cool. Robbie Fowler, Jason McAteer, David James and Steve McManaman!

Playingwise, I've always been let down by lack of speed (yes, a fat b******d). My feet are pretty good though, so I've tended to play anywhere across the midfield, and occasionally up top.

I've played CM on and off since 00/01; the first save worth mentioning was with Blackburn, getting them promoted felt so good, and it took me so long to play one season... I'm a confirmed neophile, so the only version that I play now is FM09 (especially as I missed out 06 and 07, considered by many to be the best version due to not thinking that I could have both FM and a social life. 16 is such a tender age!)

I've been reading many of the stories here pretty much since I joined, back in September, and have had a couple of false starts (cut up by work). My latest effort is 'The Sultan of Spin', which I'm happy to be getting somewhere with (have written more than 30,000 words now!)...

At the moment, I'm on a gap year; have done a bit of work experience up in London, but it's impossible to find a job round where I live, even 4 As at A Level (and yes, I am bragging ) doesn't seem to get you a job at Tesco at the moment... So, I did a bit of training, am now a qualified EFL (English as a foreign language) teacher, and am looking to get some summer school work in that before heading off on my month long exploration of the States in August / September. Then it's uni up at Durham in October, and then real life awaits...

Oh, and the username. Anyone remember WC98, and a certain Mexican striker called Cuahtemoc Blanco (He's still playing at Chicago in the MLS, I think)? He had this great trick of getting the ball stuck between his legs, and jumping, which I copied at school, and the name stuck, I guess.

That enough?

[Wegason]

Username: Wegason

Real Name: Greg

Age: 23, married at 22

About Me: I wasn't born in this country, not even this continent because my parents were working abroad and I was born where they were working, as such I have a fair affinity for that country and its culture, even though its vastly different to Britain's.

My grandfather worked on the railways before the second world war, the Manchester to Liverpool line I believe and supported Manchester United. After the war he moved down to the east of London with his Austrian bride (my grandmother) and settled in Romford. As such, my Dad is a Man United supporter, and I am as well. My brother is a traitor and supports Arsenal.

I played for the local boys team from the age of 10, playing mainly right back, but also centre back and centre midfield. I took all the corners, most of the free kicks, and all goal kicks. When I hit senior school I played for the school as well and we had a fairly talented year and so won most of the district trophies and reached the final of the Essex cup. This involved beating a school in a fairly rough area of London in a match that started before school ended there with noone around the pitch, and finished with most of the school around the pitch hurling abuse at us and booing our every move. My first experience of playing in front of a hostile crowd!

I settled playing as centre half, even though I favoured midfield as I was a great passer of the ball, especially over long range, but my ability to man mark (bragging I know) was pretty good and I was often tasked by both club and school to mark their best striker out the game, which I did fairly effectively and meant that one particularly mentally deficient striker got so frustrated that when I took the ball away from him for the umpteenth time in the match, he decided to take out his frustration by kicking me, square in the chest with full force.

Unfortunately, his dad was the referee so he didn't get sent off, not even yellow carded, which caused a fair bit of trouble and I was left with a nice red boot print on my chest for the next week or so. Joy of joys.

Being a lazy bastard I quit football at 15 to concentrate on my studies once I knew I wouldn't make it for a) not being quite good enough, b) not fit enough to play full out for 90 minutes as I refused to go running as I hate running.

I now play lots of golf and tennis, as I prefer solo sports where its me winning or its my fault, rather than get frustrated with teammates. I played rugby for the school as well and thoroughly enjoyed it, playing fly half despite my size (I was six foot at the age of 15, unfortunately I haven't grown much since then).

I lurked for a bit before joining this forum, wasn't sure if i wanted to join as I was already signed up to dozens of forums through NationStates, Particracy, and other online games. I'm a bit of a political junkie and thus was sad enough to play games with elements of politics in them.

I've been playing FM since Championship Manager 2, my first experience being playing CM2 italian leagues round a cousins. Since then I've had 99/00 (awesome), 01/02 (awesome), CM4 (not so great), FM2006 (good), and FM2008 (only great since patch 8.02 but still has crap regens).

My first story here was called "Seeking Salvation" but it fizzled out on the 2nd or 3rd page on the old forums, after two seasons in. Since then I've been working on an epic/long story involving my challenge database (I'm also involved in CSE) and a story set in Germany with one of my other teams I follow. I did however recently finish a short story, woo!

The teams I follow are Manchester United, the Essex teams of Southend, Colchester, and Braintree (though not Chelmsford!) in England. I support Fortuna Dusseldorf in Germany, and Austria Wien (Vienna) in Austria.

If anyone has "Steam", which is awesome btw, my ID is Wegason, and I play a lot of Left 4 Dead and some Team Fortress 2.

[sherm]

Married at 22 Weg? I'm 22 next month and that is a thought that scares me - I'm nowhere near ready for marriage

[Manxie_Ash]

Username: Manxie_Ash

Real Name: Ashley...and I hate it ¬_¬

Age:21 (but sometimes I feel double that!)

About Me:

I am Air Force Child, born in Bridgend in Wales whilst my dad was stationed in Lantwit Major. I have gone on to live in Doncaster, Forres, Wildenrath (Germany), Manston, Maidstone, Carterton (the town RAF Brize Norton sits on), Ballasalla, Castletown, Douglas (those last three being in the Isle of Man) and I know reside in Horley in Surrey. I am in love with the Isle of Man and adivce anyone who has no idea where it is to find it and visit it.

I am currently unemployed and am lookng to go back to college to do a fast track course in IT so I can fook off to University next year. I am probably the most unlucky man on the planet when it comes to employment. I gave up an incredibly good job as a member of the ground staff team at Ronldsway Airport in the Isle of Man to work for a Security Company, Three months down the line and I found myself self on the bad end of a redundancy with no redundancy pay. I picked myself up and found another job doing some admin work for a well known job agency, and at the end of October last year found myself getting made redundant again. I couldn't manage to find another job (living on an island 30 miles long doesn't really give you much option) and ended up reluctantly moving back to England at the end of February where my parents had been living since summer '08.

My first team is Man Utd, I have been supporting them since I was probably around four when my Dad took me to Old Trafford to watch them play. I can only remember being hoisted above my Dad's head when United scored, he tells me it was Giggs who scored. Also a little bit of history about my family, my Uncle's best friend in school was David Sadler who went on to play for Man Utd and started agains Benfica in the 1968 European Cup Final. My Uncle was his best man and David was at my Uncles Funeral in 2005.

I actually started following Cardiff City when I got my first CM/FM game, CM 01/02 in 2001, and started a save with them once I got bored with my United save. I picked up interest in how they were doing and my dad managed to get tickets to the playoff final in 2003 where we beat QPR to get promotion to, the then, Division 1. It remains one of the best times of my life and I still have the Cardiff City shirt I was bought with Marks and the number 14 on the back, since then with every fifa/PES game I have always created myself as Marks "14".

I have limited experience in football, I played for an Under 11's team in Maidstone named South Celtic, we were crap . I played on the left wing and in the one season I played before moving scored one goal and set up a fair few, the goal sticks out in my mind because I said before the match if I score I will do a "Jurgen Klinsmann" by which I mean slide across the floor on my stomach (which I had seen him do on some football review program the day before), every week there after I said it . My family are a Cricket family, my Mum more so. and we have ties with Kent County Cricket Club, my Grandfather went every week and became friends with a lot of the benifactors. Because of that he managed to be able to see The Ashes and a lot of Test Matches, my mum still has a Boomerang signed by the Australian team in 1972. She still clearly remembers seeing players like Darren Gough as children.

I am a geek rock child by that I mean I tend to sit around and listening to a lot of Rock/Metal/Emo/Punk/Ska and play WoW .

I joined this forum looking for youngsters for my Cardiff team, stumbled across this forum and loved it. I started writing my "Crouching Tiger" story when I realised I had to do something to pass the tedium of unemployment.

Ermmm....interesting fact....I once met Johnny Depp on the Isle of Man when he was filming and I was an extra, and called him a short arse...he laughed and stuck the middle finger to me I smiled and returned the favour. He signed an autograph "To Ashley, All the Best, "Short Arse" Johnny Depp"

So yeahh..thats me

[BenArsenal]

Username: BenArsenal

Real name: Ben (like, duh )

Age: 22 (and not married )

About me:

Hmm, where do I start...

I joined the forum in March 2007 (as it says on the side). Basically I was doing my final term project in school back then and was bored, so decided to make good use of my school's powerful computers to play FM. That then led me to the forums and been posting ever since. After that, I was sent on an internship to a telecomms company (something like Vodafone), and even more boredom followed, and so I ventured to the story writing section. I remembered starting my 'hit' story while constantly looking across my shoulder, hoping no one notices me slacking off and writing stories instead of doing the work I was supposed to do...

But I had a hiatus of almost a year in 2008. Mainly because I got enlisted into Singapore's compulsory National Service. I entered the Navy, but then got injured two weeks in, and months of nightmare followed. I ended up having major surgery for a hip injury in June, and that left me on crutches for four months (June to October). Investigations are still ongoing, and I am awaiting the results and probably subsequent compensation.

During my recovery, I could only stay at home, and boredom again led me back here, and I started posting again on a semi-regular basis, slowly increasing my input as days went by.

In terms of football and following Arsenal, it all started with the World Cup in France 98. A certain player caught my eye, and that was Davor Suker (being kids back then, the similarity to the word 'Sucker' certainly grabbed my attention), who ended up being top scorer. Shortly after that, I found a Premier League sticker book and flipped to the first team, which was Arsenal. I supported them henceforth (What a way to get fans. Start your name with 'A'), and when Suker joined Arsenal a year later, I knew that this was definitely the team for me.

Professionally, I have my hands in many pies. I studied IT in school (not by choice, sadly), and while I have some rudimentery knowledge of computers, I can't say that I really paid attention, simply because I can't be bothered, as I hated all things technical and mechanical.

While recovering last year, I took a course to become a housing agent, with a view to making some money out of it, as I figured that it will be hard for me to get a regular job with my injury. But after receiving my qualification, I tried it out and, well, basically, it sucked. The people I have to deal with simply left me frustrated and made me want to scream.

So now, I am studying for a Bachelor's degree in Journalism, hoping that I can therefore finally be able to do what I like, which is writing. I also love cars a lot (since I was a kid), so my ultimate dream is to be a motoring journalist.

Finally, as you can figure from my profile, I am from Singapore, and my house is literally a stone's throw away from Woodlands Stadium, home of Woodlands Wellington FC, which you can find in the game in the Singapore League. I can't say I am the guru of Singapore football (certainly not), but I would definitely be willing to share whatever I know with the FM Community and researchers, as can be seen with my various contributions throughout the forums about Singaporean football.

There, that's some of my life story for you. :o

[BobBev]

Username - BobBev

Real Name - Bob Beveridge (as you can see there was no imagination used when creating my username)

Age - early 50's (FMS's official old bloke)

About Me

Originally from Scotland I moved "down south" in 1977 when I was 20, having obtained a new job in Peterborough. I work in IT and I am a consultant for a small to middling software company. I have been assigned at the same customer for close to five years although it looks like that will be coming to an end before too much longer. I am married, have no kids but several animals. Over the years my various jobs have taken me from Peterborough to Bristol, Bedford, Thames Ditton and on to Hook in Hampshire where I have lived for the last 15 years. I have also had some stints overseas and have sampled life in San Francisco, New York, North Carolina, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Madrid. However I am now at a stage in my life where the lure of business travel has paled and I am more than happy out walking my dog or hacking my way around a golf course.

My football career was patchy, mainly due to fairly frequent moves, and I rarely played for one team for more than a couple of seasons. I was a Sunday League standard goalkeeper and gradually moved on from 11-a-side to five-a-side. When I was in North Carolina I turned out in a six-a-side league where each team had to field one girl and one over-50 at all times – that was a lot of fun! I finally hung up my boots a couple of seasons ago after a fun couple of years playing semi-regularly for a veterans team although I still feel the occasional urge to slip on the gloves and get back between the posts.

I have played CM/FM for ever but I confess that FM08 and 09 have passed me by and I am stuck in a bit of a time warp with 07. I discovered this forum during some general surfing and from the moment that I started reading the terrific stories here I was hooked. My contributions have tailed off in recent times – partly due to running short of ideas and partly to pressure of work – but I remain an avid reader and it is great to see the talented new writers who have come along in the time that I have been around.

[Balthazars]

Username - Balthazars

Real Name - Alistair (if you want my surname, I used it in my first story here!)

Age - 23, soon to be 24 in July

About Me

I joined the forum a number of years back (2006?) when I finally started to look around on the internet to see what the rest of the world playing my beloved CM/FM was like. Nutters, the lot of them! (or whiney emo kids, but that's another story!)

I first got into football when I was in secondary school when I finally realised that I was a) not suitable (being your rather typical short, skinny Asian guy) and b) not interested in playing the so-called 'Australian' sports of Aussie Rules Football (dumb game), Cricket (yawn...although now I'm older I am starting to at least be able to appreciate it) and Tennis (badminton was more my thing...Asian-ness again!). I started as a midfielder but was never much good. I played 1 season as a striker and got 6 goals in the season (around 10-12 games). The rest, I played as a defender, and if I may say so, was pretty good as I had some great coaches give me excellent advice about defending. I managed to even play in the centre of defence despite my slight build and lack of height. I got to captain the team for a season too!

My dad was into football having studied and lived in England for several years, and he was a staunch Arsenal fan ever since he saw them play in KL, Malaysia (where I'm born) on tour during one pre-season all those years ago. Being a good son, I too picked up my dad's support for the team.

I got into CM when a friend in school who was also into football (one of the few) told me he found a great management game (I also remember having Premier Manager, which was fun but somewhat spaz given every goal was scored from about 40-yards!). I tried it out on my school laptop and was soon hooked.

When I went to England on a family trip, I was just in time for the yearly release for CM, with the 00/01 version of the game brand-new in stores. Having not seen a manual for the game, I picked it up for 25 pounds and snagged the offical strategy guide to go with it. The manual was actually half-decent back then and I learnt a lot about the game, also going off the strategy guide (which was really useful for LLM).

I loved CM 00/01; great game. I had a now-traditional game with Arsenal to start off (Martin Palermo is THE MAN on that version of the game!), and was so excited when I won the Champions League for the first time that I literally jumped out of my seat and shouted for joy (corny, yes). I then had a long career game as Reading, taking them from Div.2 (the Madjeski is brand new in that version of the game) to Premier League and Champions League success (I admit, this game I edited to include me and my friend!) but it was great chopping and changing players, and a few of the Div.2 side actually served remakably well for me in the EPL.

Why Reading? Well, my dad studied his masters degree there, and I had visited the town (along with my parents to visit an old family friend of theirs) while I had been in England on that holiday; and while i wasn't born yet, my family lived there for a couple of years, so I felt there was some connection. I love the club from that game and followed them closely, and was delighted to see them up in the EPL.

Since then I've usually bought every second edition of FM (05, 07, 09, but I broke it last year to also get 08). I love the series, but I feel that at times it is drifting in the wrong direction (tactics...grr, while they still leave those media/manager/player relations aspects really undeveloped!)

As for right now: I graduated from a Bachelor of Commerce/Laws (Hons) just at the end of last year. I've been working as an economist with the Victorian State Government in treasury since Feb of this year (hence no writing just recently, too busy!) I'm enjoying the job so far, although I'm off to different departments on rotation as part of my grad year for the next few months which will be different.

That's long enough I think, over to someone else!

[SCIAG]

a few of the Div.2 side actually served remakably well for me in the EPL.

Take a bow, Murty.

Username: SCIAG

Real name: I'd rather not have strange people showing up at my house, thanks. As with 10-3, those who know it, know it.

Age: 23, and in the same boat as Wegason

Born and raised in Reading, by a father who also was and a mother who grew up on a farm in SW Wales. No plans to change that.

Doing a Masters degree at the moment (again, I'm careful not to give away what course, as I'm sure that would narrow down the list of people I could be dramatically...)

Due to a strange decision my grandfather made about forty-five years ago, I'm forced to support Reading. I think I've had my reward for loyalty, and now I have to sit around, not complaining much.

I'm and FM07 addict, but I'm desperately trying to get into 09 atm.

I like cricket and rugby, but I struggle to watch either.

I wholeheartedly agree with Mark's comments below. Do not let marriage get in the way of football. I refused to get married on the 26th because it would have clashed with a Reading match. I'm not sure who I loved more the next day, her or Adam Federici

[mark wilson27]

Username: markwilson27

Real name: funnily enough Mark Wilson

Age: 30 coming on 12

About Me: I work at Marks and Spencers in the food department as a coach been there for nearly two years. I basically run the produce side of things after working for eight years previously at a Fruit and Veg wholesaler. Been engaged for around six years and finally tieing the knot next April on a Friday so it doesn't interfere with football. Got a physco Cat called Samson but I wanted to call it Eric but the missus wouldn't let me

As most of you know I support Manchester United and have been supporting them since 1990 when my mate got me into football. I had trails at Matlock Town but was deemed not good enough, so I went and played for the mighty Willows Wanderers in the Chesterfield Sunday League, but was sacked by the manager for calling him a ****** for not playing me. Was known at the club as the Predator

Went to college where I was captain of the five a side team that came second in the league to the staff.

I started writing in this forum after lurking around for awhile and like to experiment with sign ups... But my main stories are Manchester United Stories and Matlock Town stories..

Played the games since CM00/01 but FM07 is my favorutie game and really hate FM09 with a passion

Thats all I can think of now

[Faramir]

Username: Faramir

Real name: Mike

Age: Can't quite beat BobBev for oldman, but 48- married for 16 years

Despite the date in profile, I go back the same as Terk- 9 years (lost my Forum name in screw-up on changed email- then got it back). I was a member of LLM before that- until I got tired of trying to write stories without names

When younger, was an ice hockey goalie (played for about 20 years). Also played indoor and beach volleyball for quite a long time, but never really played much football (either kind).

I bought CM2 on advice from a friend who knew I liked strategic and sports management games and have never looked back (or stopped playing the series) since then. Like tenthreeleader I saw some football on highlights (all that was available way back when in the States), so I remember M'Gladbach the best of all those I watched- never have played them in CM/FM though. I started out with Leyton Orient back in CM2 because I wanted to learn from the bottom up and they remain my favorite squad to this day.

I really enjoy the challenge of starting out with the lowest level clubs and managing them up the ladder- the satisfaction of promotion is hard to beat. I have really enjoyed my edited Harrow Hill (and also Holyhead Hotspur) adventures- because starting out with nothing (no staff, players, money) is really a pleasing challenge for me.

I don't count myself among the most talented writers here in FMS, since I usually don't tackle an underlying storyline outside of telling the story of the club, but I have enjoyed the Lord of the Rings Challenge and French Voodoo- where I did more on the story telling side. Though I have several stories going, I am only playing 1 or 2 stories at a time- the rest have been played long into the future and written up as I go. Once one of my current stories ends- I will begin posting another trek up Scotland with East Stirling (first 09 story).

The quality of the newer writers leaves me very pleased and hopeful for the future of FMS and I am glad we were able to add tenthreeleader as a mod.

[M0nk3yFac3]

Username ; M0nk3yFac3

Real Name ; M0nk3y... yes... M0nk3y?

Age ; 19 (going on 30, aches and pains everywhere.) married for 4 years...

Joking, joking! I'm not really married. Especially at the age of 15.

About Me ; At Uni, Quite the interesting I must say, hopefully I will make some form of career out of going to uni. Don't worry, the course isn't very interesting, the nightlife is though.

As a child, I was born in Norwich, thus being a Norwich City Fan. Obviously, this year, disappointment has been high, as with the last few years. But lets not talk about that please.

I played football locally as a striker. I was renowned for my pace and power, but never got anyway, was just good fun Sunday league football. Stopped playing a long time back, but its a nice memory.

I signed up back at the start of 2007, never posted all that much, made two failed attempts of writing a story when I ended up forgetting about them or having no passion to complete them as I enjoyed reading everyone elses more. But, I have got a new one, shh, but this time its going well and isn't going to end any time soon. Hopefully this new Histon escapade of mine will actually do well as I do really enjoy the management of a lower team, having to build them up. Especially when there is a 'good' story behind it helping me set things out and push myself.

Anyway, I love the friendliness of this part of the board and the members that 'infest' it, the stories are of a high quality standard and just keeps getting better. So, last comment...

I <3 Football.

[Balthazars]

Take a bow, Murty.

Actually, I can't remember exactly but I don't think Murty was at Reading in 00/01? What I do remember is Martin Butler still scoring 20 goals in an EPL season for me (despite being 30+ by that stage); Jamie Cureton still doing a midfield job in my 4-1-3-2 formation (the only thing I found that could defeat that stupid, stupid, stupid invincible christmas-tree formation that Barca and Madrid used); and Phil Parkinson still being club captain and holding the DM position when we won the EPL for the first time; coming from 2-1 down to defeat Man Utd at Old Trafford 4-2 on the last day on the season to overtake them (behind by 2 points) and win the league.

I have never been more excited about a computer game in my whole life!

markwilson[/b]]Got a physco Cat called Samson but I wanted to call it Eric but the missus wouldn't let me

Sorry Mark, but I'm with your missues; Samson is a much better name than Eric!

[Kryston]

Username; Kryston

Real name; The Chinese dialect part would most probably be unpronounceable to everyone except those who spoke the native language

Age; 30, married to 2 and a half years

About Me;

It was 1994 when me and some mates of mine would cuddle in front of a personal computer most probably still running at 80486 processor back in those heydays.

Some genius had loaded a football management simulation game by the name of "Championship Manager Italia".

The lack of graphical representation of football players hadn't really perked the interest at first but 15 minutes on every single one of us was hooked.

Everyone was at each other throat on who to coach that fantastic AC Milan squad with Van Basten, Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni, Savicevic, Boban, Desailly etc.

Years later, the price of PC was still exorbitantly high but I convinced my folks to buy me a Pentium 1 processor machine. My sole purpose was to play CM.

From then on I didn't look back at the love of this game, playing almost each and every edition (except FM08) and even got cheat by the Eidos moniker CM5 or something.

Even though my favorite team since I started watching football on the tube was Manchester United, I never fancy taking the team, I wonder why.

When the options to manage the myriad of clubs from around the globe exist, I chose to not play the English league at all, as I always felt the Spanish La Liga is a more entertaining prospect to manage.

Sure like it better to shout at the top of your lung with those flair Spanish names...

[SCIAG]

Actually, I can't remember exactly but I don't think Murty was at Reading in 00/01?

He's been at the club 10 years, so he joined in 1999. He had some serious injury troubles in 00/01 though, so was probably released early on.

I seem to remember you mentioning that you won the league with Parky in the side, now I think about it. Blimey, that's an achievement

[AlexBarton]

Username: AlexBarton

Real Name: Alex Barton (coincidence?)

Age: 18

About Me: I am 18, currently a salesperson at comet, 'Britain's Most Trusted Electrical Specialist' , and have been for about 3 weeks . Prior to that i was in college, but left after completing my AS Levels as i hated it. I was born in Liverpool, and lived there for the first 11 years of my life before moving to Southport. Since birth, i have been a full blooded Everton fan and have supported them through thick and thin, and am lucky enough to be going to wembley this year!

I haven't really posted that much on these forums, but i am interested in doing my own story, after reading the ones here, and also due to my mate doing a Pro Evo one on the NeoSeeker forums. I'm trying to pick a good team to start with, so any suggestions would be good! But bear in mind, if you do read it, it's my first story so go easy! (and feel free to give constructive criticism ). I would also like to ask, is it better playing the game first, and making notes as i go along, or writing the story whilst i play?

Nice to meet you all and i hope i can do justice to the already great stories here!

[stoehrst]

Username: Stoehrst

Real Name: Steve Stoehr

Age: 22

About Me: I was born in Southern New England and I've lived here my entire life. I recently graduated from Emmanuel College in Boston with a history degree, and I plan to continue my education through Law School in the near future. I guess you could say my primary occupation now that I've graduated is a bouncer/security guard, since that's what I do, but for the most part its just a summer job as I'm moving back to the city in the fall, and God only knows what I'll be doing then.

I actually hated soccer growing up, I always felt it took some of the better skill athletes away from American football, my favorite sport. I played that until I graduated high school, but passed on the opportunity to continue playing in college (one of my greatest regrets). I played college baseball, however, and I suppose you could say I'm a pretty avid sports fan overall. I got into soccer around my sophomore year of college by playing my dorm-mates in tournaments of Winning Eleven 9, and later Pro Evolution Soccer. Seeing the game in virtual form taught me the nuances and rules of the game while making it interesting, and I can honestly say that I'm now a total soccer fanatic.

Like other Americans, I have a few favorite overseas teams. My hometown team is the New England Revolution, and since I support MLS, I obviously support them. However, my favorite team above all is Newcastle United, though I'm a known supporter of AC Milan, Villarreal, Hoffenheim (I'm a sucker for a cinderella story), and Wrexham. The only teams I truly despise are Arsenal, Chelsea, Middlesbrough, and Inter Milan, though I obviously have no love for Sunderland either.

I discovered FM through a friend in 2007. After wrestling with the game for a while to figure out what everything meant, I ended up hooked and have since quickly purchased 2008 and 2009 after their releases. I came to the forum around the same time I got into the game, but didn't start writing immediately. Since then I've only broken ground on two efforts, and admittedly I've been lagging along considerably in recent times. However, writing has always been one of my favorite hobbies and something I'm very good at, so this is a welcome creative outlet for me even if I sometimes lack the attention span to get everything out in a timely manner . Nice to meet everybody!

[CAFCIan75]

Username: CAFCIan75

Real Name: Ian

Age: 34 (not yet married, but just moved in with the girlfriend so I guess marriage is next on the list! aaaaargh!

About me: My earliest memories of Football Manager /Championship Manager are back in the days of the Amiga. I bought the version in the green box (can’t remember the year), played it for ten minutes and was hooked. I remember taking Preston North End from the then 4th Division to Division One using the infamous diamond formation.

I also enjoyed the Italian Championship Manager version as well and I had a few great seasons as Foggia (I don’t know why I picked them I don’t think “Frank” was around in those days!) I have bought every version of Football Manager to date though like quite a few people I am finding this year’s version a little on the sh*t side. I am not a huge fan of creating my own formations, training etc and this version seems to emphasise on those and if you can’t create a decent formation you don’t get anywhere.

As for my football loves I am a season ticket holder at Charlton Athletic and have been since 1997, I have not missed a home game in the league since October 1998 so that’s getting on for 300 now. I do my fair share of away games but tickets and travel seem a bit on the expensive side these days (maybe now we are down in division one we might get cheaper tickets etc). I am also a massive fan of A.C. Milan and go and watch them 4-5 times a season when my footballing schedule allows. I have followed Milan since 1988 the days of Gullit, Van Basten, Baresi and Rijkaard.

As for my day job I am a Oncology Technician which for those of you who don’t know in a nutshell I make Chemotherapy for administration on the wards. I have been in Pharmacy since I left school, and I think I may be going through a mini mid-life crisis as I recently decided that I may want a change in career!

I first stumbled across this forum about two seasons ago and I used to browse at the stories on there but never quite had the courage to write one myself. I signed up properly this season and after reading some of the stories decided to have a go at one myself. I am currently writing one about Saint-Etienne in France but something has happened in the game that has left me a little disheartened and not sure if I want to continue that save. I think my writing has improved a lot on here and I look forward to writing some new stories over future versions of Football Manager.

Ciao

[JamboJen]

Username: JamboJen

Real Name: Elspeth... er nah, it's Jenny or Jen

Age: 23 - not married, although civil partnership would be the closest I'd ever get anyway.

About me: Been a member since November when I was searching the internet for info about FM09. Stumbled my way across the forums, laughed my way through the bugs forum and then found this place. Within a couple of days I'd started writing my Macclesfield story. In the last couple of months I've also come across the CSE forum which has been entertaining while my Macclesfield stry has been on hold (my laptop died and I couldn't afford a replacement until I got paid on Friday).

I think the first manager game I ever played was FA Manager on the PS1. I actually bought it off my best mate's big brother for a tenner and took Chester City to the Premiership. They had this stupid function where wyou could ask your youth coach to recommend a youngster (and tell you his value) and just keep asking him until he came up with something good. I'll always remember Peter Inglethorpe, valued at £7.8million at just 17 and pretty much single handedly shot us up the leagues.

Then came LMA Manager which was a lot better although had a habit of scoring goals from kick-off.

Then I somehow found CM. I think the boys at school must have mentioned it. I've definately got CM 01/02 but think I may have ad one before that. Since then I've had CM 03/04 FM 06 and FM 08 and will buy FM 10 when it comes out. I originally went as Hearts or Sunderland as they are my teams but it's just too easy, so in 06 and 08 I've started as Macclesfield as they're my 2nd English team and are always woeful in FM! Next time I think I'll attempt a proper LLM approach to it.

Aside from FM, I graduated as a physio last summer and am currenty looking for a job while still working party time at Tesco. I'm one of those strange people who has bever had to move house. I've lived in the same house in Edinburgh all my life and apart from three Uni flats I've never lived anywhere else. Hope to be moving in with my girlfriend in September assuming I've got a job by then - my first interview is on May 5th

I played loads of sport as a kid but as I've got older the politics involved has seriously turned me away from team sports. At school I played for and captained the girls' football team, 1st XI hockey team and tennis team and achieved my final year goal of winning "the Governors prize for all-round sportswoman of the year". :D

I now only play indoor hockey as that happens midweek and my weekends currently involve watching Hearts and working at Tesco on a Sunday. Maybe once I get a job and hav Sundays free I may go back to playing football or hockey properly.

I've recently taken up golf which is quite fun. Been to the driving range about 5 times and pitch and putt twice. Next for a 9-hole course in Portobello!

Think that's it really. Now that I've got my new laptop my Macc Town story can start up again which is good news for me! If I think of an interesting fact I'll edit it in later!!

[Goofus]

Username: Goofus

Real Name: Isaac James Neo

Age: Classified.

About Me:

I've been a member of this forums since last year, but recently joined FMS at the end of the year. Took a semi-hiatus from March and is back!

I play football(obviously), indoor hockey and bowling. Besides that, I love playing Left For Dead on the computer.

I live in Singapore, a nice little country. Come visit sometimes.

I play in a band, called the Innuendoes(do not comment), quite recently formed. I play the bass guitar, but I am not like Flea. I use exclusively fingerstyle playing.

That's about much for me.

I am currently writing a new story.

[markyt]

Username - markyt

Real Name - Mark - Too many logins to remember so I kept it simple!

Age - 43

About Me

I was born in the year England won the World Cup and with parents that were nomadic in terms of career I moved all across the British Isles until they returned to their roots in the South West in the late 70's. I got to see most of the UK and picked up some fantastic accents along the route. Welsh, Berkshire - trust me there is a distinct accent there, Scottish and finally a Torquay burr. I'm the only English accented person in the UK 'probably' known as 'Jock' by all of his mates.... - my brother was called Jimmy!

Work wise left home at 18 and found a career in retail to my liking and progressed up the ladder year on year until I reached the heady heights of Area and then Regional manager. Pretty much a new home every 12 months as promotion came knocking until settling into Manchester and living there for almost 10 years. Fantastic city despite the football team!!!!

Got tired of sitting in front of a computer staring at sales figures at both ends of the day and 300 daily mile round trips so 'retired' to the South West and moved back to the sea!

Married for 21 years and have one little boy who is an absolute star!!!

I am a senior manager in the NHS - Gordon Brown loves me......

Sport wise I love anything and everything. Football and Rugby (both codes as I lived in Wigan for three years) are my main passions and team wise it has always been Chelsea.

I signed up in 1970 and have supported them through thick and thin - mostly thin and have seen them win the League Cup, FA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. I can say I was there although the nightmare experience of the trip to Gothenburg will long remain.

American Football has even hooked me once again following the late night feeds!

I smile with amusement at the wearing of Chelsea shirts where ever I go nowadays knowing that they have only just joined the party. Where were they when I was sporting blue with Amiga emblazoned across the chest or the frightful away strip grey and orange. (yuck) However I did....

Now Amiga - what a machine. I only bought it to play one 'game'. That of course was Championship manager and have duly purchased every version or derivative since 1992. (Even the Italian version which is devotion beyond the call of duty)

Still pretty much the only 'game' for me. A nice and easy Christmas present sees me updated each year although I hanker for FM06 & 07. I think the 3D screens and all are much too fussy. Oh to have a slick and quick version included in FM09!!!!!

Tend to play lower league football now although like cream in milk like to see my teams rise to the top!

That's about it from me because you will be bored already.

I now have no discernible accent. The odd word or phrase gives away clues of my time in Manchester / Liverpool and of course living in the south west. I therefore try to avoid the words sorted, calm down, butter and garbage.

[Wegason]

Pretty much a new home every 12 months as promotion came knocking until settling into Manchester and living there for almost 10 years. Fantastic city despite the football team!!!!

I agree, City are terrible.

American Football has even hooked me once again following the late night feeds!

I love American Football and support the Raiders

[markyt]

Username: CAFCIan75

Real Name: Ian

Age: 34 (not yet married, but just moved in with the girlfriend so I guess marriage is next on the list! aaaaargh!

About me: My earliest memories of Football Manager /Championship Manager are back in the days of the Amiga. I bought the version in the green box (can’t remember the year), played it for ten minutes and was hooked. I remember taking Preston North End from the then 4th Division to Division One using the infamous diamond formation.

I also enjoyed the Italian Championship Manager version as well and I had a few great seasons as Foggia (I don’t know why I picked them I don’t think “Frank” was around in those days!) I have bought every version of Football Manager to date though like quite a few people I am finding this year’s version a little on the sh*t side. I am not a huge fan of creating my own formations, training etc and this version seems to emphasise on those and if you can’t create a decent formation you don’t get anywhere.

Ciao

92/93 With a picture of the manager wearing John Motson's coat! Awww I remember it well!

Italian version saw me coming - although I kept buying English players.. which defeated the point of the game I think!

[markyt]

I agree, City are terrible.

I love American Football and support the Raiders

I loved the Chicago Bears mid 80's.

Of course living in South Manchester, Salford was close by.

Have to admit their football team is not much better!

You might have heard of them? Salford United i think

[Elrithral]

Username: Elrithral

Age: 26, married and proud parent.

Been playing CM/FM for 12 years now, which is probably quite depressing. My father has supported Manchester United all his life, and i've been indoctrinated since early childhood. I enjoy reading, films, some computer games, relaxing and Spongebob Squarepants. I have a degree in Economics and as such my job is based on economics, although I begin a secondment in a senior position at the end of next week.

Not sure what else people would want to know, let alone what I want people to know. I'm relatively new to this FMSing, so be patient and hopefully i'll improve with time.

[Elrithral]

Edit: Double post, sorry.

[Balthazars]

Incidently, is JamboJen the only female member of FMS?

I know "there are no girls on da intrawebs" but I honestly find it rather hard to pick gender from creative writing and I tend to get the impression that everyone in FMS is male!

[BobBev]

As far as I know Jen is our only female writer. To the best of my recollection there has only been one other member of the fairer sex posting here since I have been around - anyone else remember Spurzgrrl?

[Panpardus]

Real Name: Matt

Age: 34 (Almost 35 in June)

About me: Been here since around 2005, although I did have an earlier login which I forget or it got deleted. I sort of come and go depending on work commitments at the time, I was a boat builder but changed career paths not so long ago and Im now a manager in a big department chain in Australia which isn't to bad.

As i said, I live in Australia, but to be more precise I live in Perth, Western Australia, weather over here is pretty awesome, our Football team is crap though although hopefully that changes if we can get some of the people in that the club is talking too.

I use to play Aussie Rules football when I was younger and played Statewide league in Tassie for a few years before a couple ankle injuries left me unable to train as much as needed, so I then moved on to amateur football, where I actually got payed more to play there which is funny. Played up until around 28-30 for various clubs until the ankles finally gave up the ghost, during that time I also played football/soccer for various clubs but it was more a social league with friends. I played mainly on the ball in the statewide league and early years, but went to centre half/forward during my later years. I played left wing or centre midfield when I played soccer.

I follow Man United have done since around 86-87 where a mate got me into Football/Soccer he was a Forest supporter, now I'd say I actually follow Droylsden more, whom I started following because of FM, I have a few dvd's of Droylsden as well as a replica shirt of their FA cup run this year, which I got back in the pre qualifying rounds this year, before we was dumped out in contraversial circumstances, actually the whole run this year was pretty contraversial.

[Wegason]

I've definately got CM 01/02 but think I may have ad one before that. Since then I've had CM 03/04 FM 06 and FM 08 and will buy FM 10 when it comes out.

Okay, that's quite scary, with the exception of my CM2 game which was I think season 96/97, I've owned the same version of the game as you and skipped the same versions. I was also planning on buying FM10 if it was any good.

Also, Golf is great, nothing beats taking on the golf course, and losing.

[JamboJen]

Incidently, is JamboJen the only female member of FMS?

I know "there are no girls on da intrawebs" but I honestly find it rather hard to pick gender from creative writing and I tend to get the impression that everyone in FMS is male!

As far as I know Jen is our only female writer. To the best of my recollection there has only been one other member of the fairer sex posting here since I have been around - anyone else remember Spurzgrrl?

I propose a "Best Female Writer" category for the upcoming FMS awards

[BobBev]

I second that Jen. Everybody knows that I do all of my writing whilst wearing a frock so I reckon that makes me eligible as well

[EvilDave]

Username: EvilDave

Real Name: Rob (Despite the username)

Age: 19

About me: I'm a first-year student at the University of Sheffield, studying History and Russian, which is challenging but leaves me with a lot of time on my hands for other pursuits. As such, my FM career has been given a second lease of life after re-acquiring CM01/02 - 09 crawls on my laptop and I'm not too fussed by the lack of 3D graphics, as in my opinion the game has never really been about the action, but everything that builds up to it. The first management game that hooked me was actually USM98 (CM97/8 never grabbed me for some reason), but I've had every incarnation from the 02/03 season onwards, and hope to continue to do so.

Football-wise, I'm an Arsenal fan despite hailing from Grimsby: When I was 6 or 7 years old my dad took me to a garage sale and we picked up a Subbuteo game. That thing got me hooked on football, and the two teams in my set were Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund - the rest is history. That said, I have a strong interest in the Mariners and was mighty relieved to see them dodge the relegation bullet this season! In terms of playing I was never anything special, playing along the back line for my school side and finishing with a goalscoring record of -1: A brilliant half-volleyed chip from the edge of the 'D' that left my keeper with no chance. I blame the sun.

Outside of football, I am a sports nut - if it's on the TV the chances are I'll be watching it, and failing that it'll be Sky Sports News. Since coming to uni I've taken up the sport of Ultimate Frisbee, and despite often getting stick for it I'd recommend it to anyone - it's harder work than it looks! I'm also getting involved in student radio and the Rock music society: I'm a sucker for bands like Rush (my all-time favourites), Porcupine Tree and Pearl Jam, although I also love a lot of what I guess is classed as 'indie,' the likes of Modest Mouse, Cake and Camera Obscura.

Generally on these forums I'm a reader rather than a writer - I've written a couple of short stories (including one ill-advised 5000 word writeup of a World Cup final!) but despite many an effort have never really go into a long-term writing project. One of these days I'm determined to write up more than a couple of months, but until then I'm quite happy enjoying the quality on offer here.

As a final note relating back to my strange username/real name combo, I used to have an account (which I subsequently lost the password/email for) by the name of justjeff - Jeff being my rather bizarre nickname throughout secondary school. EvilDave has no logic behind it, and was probably created whilst a little tipsy. Ah well, life goes on!

[JamboJen]

I second that Jen. Everybody knows that I do all of my writing whilst wearing a frock so I reckon that makes me eligible as well

I think I read about you today...

Just here.

[BobBev]

I think I read about you today...

Just here.

Now that is scary

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

I am the Perfect FM'er

[tenthreeleader]

Golf is great, nothing beats taking on the golf course, and losing.

I found that out yesterday, playing in crosswinds of up to 40 MPH. Never attempted to play in such conditions and I considered myself darned lucky to shoot nine holes in ten over par.

Ever notice what golf spells backwards?

Admittedly far OT. Sorry about that.

[Donners]

Username: Donners, a label I'm somewhat sick of, since it's from a different phase of my life, but I'm stuck with it on about 15 sites.

Real Name: Nicholas

Age: 25 a few weeks ago

About Me: Born and raised in Victoria, Australia by a single mother. I'm an only child. I got an academic scholarship to secondary school, an experience which I hated. I come from a quite poor area, and the school was in one of the richest parts of the state, making me quite out of place. It doesn't help that I was not diagnosed with asperger's syndrome (form of autism) until my late teens, meaning my social ineptness was ingrained by that point. In any event, I did really badly in subjects like science and maths because I never studied, but was able to bluff my way through the rest thanks to decent writing ability.

I went straight into a law degree, which I loved. The only problem was that I actually had to study in my fourth year to get honours, and the stress from that contributed to my becoming quite unwell. I managed to get seven interviews for articled clerkships yet didn't make it past the first round for any. Oddly enough, employers are reluctant to hire a 186cm, 46kg male.

After nine months I managed to get a job at a court, albeit on a temp basis. I managed to shift my illness to a different phase where I am actually no better but weigh more, so that I could work full time, and soon got a permanent job at the court. I now work in an area where I deal with pretty much every sexual offence committed in the state - around a thousand over the last couple of years. Suffice to say, I have a dim view of relationships and humanity in general. I am looking to start a course later this year which will qualify me to practice as a barrister and solicitor, with a view to becoming a prosecutor in the sex offences area.

Wow, what a depressing 25 years.

Interests: I have two kittens (my 16-year-old cat sadly died in January), and write for the Star Trek fan club magazine. I love AFL and cricket, and follow soccer/football without any significant interest. I really enjoy RPG and turn-based strategy games. My favourites as a child were MacCricket (still the best cricket game ever), Castles: Siege & Conquest and Interplay's Star Trek series. Overall, the best games IMO are Wing Commander: Prophecy, Fallout 1 & 2, FM07, Baldur's Gate, No One Lives Forever 2 and Disgaea. My favourite TV shows are anything Star Trek (particularly DS9), Early Edition, NCIS, Chicago Hope, The Sopranos and Lost.

FMS History:

Rushden & Diamonds - The Legend Begins - CM00/01. 187,762 words, 16 seasons My first story, which was inducted into the Hall of Fame shortly after its completion. The side did not have any really significant success, failing to win the EPL or any major cup competition, but it seemed to attract a strong following. I ended it after winning the League Cup and achieving promotion back to the EPL shortly after relegation, and ended the story on a high point. http://www.zelenazvezda.com/fms/archives/2056.html

Rushden & Diamonds - The Legend Continues(?) CM00/01. 85,140 words, 4 seasons Not quite sure of the title. I went into this after the disappointment of CM4, deciding to revive my save game from the previous story. We did finally win the EPL, but the story was cut short when the save game became corrupted. Incidentally, either it's a remarkable coincidence, or almost every second writer here has stolen my format of outlining players (though perhaps I unknowingly borrowed from someone else).

silver_blue just bit me! CM03/04. 209,087 words, 21 seasons The title is a bit of a joke regarding one of the mods at the time. This story is actually bigger than I remembered. It covered Italian club Ancona, then an unlikely member of Serie A. This is the first story to end with my sacking, though it came after three Serie A and four Champions League wins. It was named Story of the Year.

Reviving the Legend FM07. 372,101 words, 30+ seasons Look at the word count, and read if you dare. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=36273

[tenthreeleader]

Username: Donners

You left out "legend".

Personally, I'll say this: your R&DFC story was what made me decide to post on this forum. Fully deserved HoF writing.

And, for the record, at present what is written in 'Rat Pack' trails you by 16,605 words.

[Donners]

If I contributed at all to your decision to write here, I think I'll be appreciated more for that than for my own writing...

[Ezequiel_Lavezzi]

Guess I should add myself on here too.

Username: Ezequiel Lavezzi (but used to be Sydney666 - had 6000 + posts.)

Real Name: Tony

Age: 29, Married and have 2 kids. (10 yr old boy and 10 month old baby girl! )

Occupation: I have not had any form of employment for 4 years now due to a severe medical condition. Currently going to rehabilitating to get life back on track. (this is not drug rehab btw!)

About me: I am an easy going person, used to be a tester for SI for both CM and FM.

I have been playing this game since 1996, so a good 12-13 years playing for me!

I was recently diagnosed with a medical condition that I had been suffering from for a number of years that had torn my life apart.

Finally know why I was struggling with life and I am now trying to recover from my problems and so far so good. I am using my FM writing as a way to get my mind working again as my memory was destroyed and I basically lost confidence in myself and my skills.

I used to be a very good writer, but it was taken from me and I hope to get that skill back.

Never give up people!

[BenArsenal]

I wish you all the best Tony. Be strong.

[Greasy Chip Butty]

Username: Greasy_Chip_Butty

Real Name: Andy Morton

Age: 27 nearly 28

About me: Well, I am a primary school teacher from Barnsley who uses FM mainly as something to do during the ridiculously long holidays I have! I teach in a school in Rotherham in the Year 5 class (9/10 year olds) and, though I do say so myself, I am one of those teachers that all the lads connect with. I'm currently trying to figure out a way to use FM in a lesson: I'm thinking that a player attribute profile could be useful in a Maths lesson! I'm engaged to a wonderful lady who has one fault - she supports Sheffield Wednesday. Other than that, I have the perfect woman and we are married in 8 weeks time; the time is flying by quicker than I like!

As my handle suggests, I am a Blades fan (Sheffield United for the uneducated amongst you) and am currently preparing for a visit to Wembley. I have been a Bramall Lane regular for 22 years since the age of 6 when I started my love affair with the Red and White Wizaaaaards! In that season, we slumped from mid-table in the 2nd division (Championship) to the bottom three at Christmas but it was all going to be OK as I was to be lucky mascot for a game against Oldham. We lost 5-0 at the Lane, the manager was sacked and we stumbled on to 22nd and a play off with three teams from the next division down to retain our place in the division. We lost to Bristol City. All in all, a dreadful first season but I was hooked - I learnt quickly that supporting United was not going to be fun!

I've not played football much since I was a kid. I did once score the winning goal in the Barlow-Salmons Trophy Semi Final (U11) which I'm sure you all saw on TV as a promising left winger despite being all right foot. I lost interest in playing at the age of about 14 when the Rotherham United scout who watched our school team didn't invite me to join the Millers.

An interesting fact? After the 1993 Sheffield derby at Wembley in the FA Cup Semi Final, SKY TV showed me defiantly flying my Blades flag at the end of the defeat with tears in my eyes. I'll never be mastered ... By no Wednesday ... err fan!