Stuniverse

Interview 2: Stapenhill It was a very similar interview to the Hucknall Town one. Mr Dixon wants Stapenhill to challenge for the playoffs. Surprisingly, Stapenhill have a Director of Football. I said I'd be happy to work with him.

Interview 1: Hucknall Town I'll be honest, I didn't really know what to expect but I felt the interview went well. Mr Huxley wants Hucknall Town to finish in the top-half. The only slightly awkward question was why I appeared to be in the running for a number of jobs? I said I was exploring my options. I'm unemployed, with no coaching badges and Sunday League footballer experience. Surely, he can't expect me to only apply for one job vacancy at a time.

Sunday 3rd July 2022 I'm in demand Unbelievably, five job applications made, five offers of job interviews received. Those football clubs must be mad... or desperate.

Thanks, @Herr Müller. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks, @Makoto Nakamura. Watch this space...!

Small world, @lionel messi. You can't be that far away from me. And, spookily, Hucknall Town are one of the five job vacancies I've applied for.

Monday 27th June 2022 Job Applications I have reviewed all nine football clubs and some are better prospects than others. There's only one football club that I have any kind of connection to and that's Stapenhill. I was born and bred in Burton-on-Trent and Stapenhill is a parish of Burton-on-Trent. But, as beggars can't be choosers at this stage of my career, and in the spirit of the guidelines for this save, I've applied for the five football clubs that I can drive to within 36 minutes. Wish me luck that one of these football clubs are foolish enough to offer Stu Stuniverse a job.

Monday 27th June 2022 Narrowing the Job Search even further And cross-referencing the football clubs in those five divisions, against the list of football clubs within reasonable travelling distance, I've narrowed it down to nine possibilities. 27 mins - Staveley Miners Welfare 29 mins - Hucknall Town 33 mins - Shirebrook Town 35 mins - Stapenhill 36 mins - Rainworth Miners Welfare 40 mins - West Bridgford 49 mins - Heath Hayes 55 mins - Newark Town 1 hour, 9 mins - Rugby Borough So let's take a closer look at each of those. Which one(s) would you apply for? -- Staveley Miners Welfare (Amateur) - 27 minutes. -- Hucknall Town (Amateur) - 29 minutes -- Shirebrook Town (Amateur) - 33 minutes. -- Stapenhill (Amateur) - 35 minutes. -- Rainworth Miners Welfare (Amateur) - 36 minutes. -- West Bridgford (Amateur) - 40 minutes. -- Heath Hayes (Amateur) - 49 minutes. -- Newark Town (Amateur) - 55 minutes. -- Rugby Borough (Amateur) - 1 hour, 9 minutes.

Monday 27th June 2022 Narrowing down the job search Based on the list of football clubs I compiled earlier within reasonable travelling distance, I've narrowed the 17 Level / Tier 10 divisions down to just five divisions: Midlands League Division 1 Northern Counties East League Division 1 North West Counties League Division 1 South Spartan South Midlands League Division 1 United Counties League Division 1 That brings the vacancies down from approximately 252 to 63. But how many of them are commutable?

Well placed in the playoffs, @Punch. Nice one!

Monday 27th June 2022 Job Centre So I think these are the Level / Tier 10 Divisions in the database (all 17 of them)... And Wow! Just, wow. I think there's just over 250 manager vacancies at Level / Tier 10 (the lowest unlocked tier). These are just the first page (before scrolling).

Thanks, @Pearomaniac. You think I should go into Football Management, then? That's very gracious of you. If only I could get you into the save somehow I'd take you up on that offer... 😂⚽️🤣

The Rules of the Save... well, maybe... the Guidelines So, on the opening post of this thread, I listed what I thought would be the rules of this save... But I'm now seeing them more as guidelines because, as the save progresses, I'm going to do what feels right to me at the time "in the spirit" of the guidelines so that I enjoy the save. I reckon that if I'm enjoying the save, it'll be enjoyable for those of you who are reading and following the thread. I will endeavour to remain true to the spirit of the save (the premise). The Premise of the Save Stu Stuniverse is a Sunday League footballer, with no coaching badges, who has hung up his football boots earlier than he would've liked due to his knees and ankles no longer being up to it. He's a bit lost and not sure what to do with all this free time he's got on his hands... (but this is an FM23 save so we know that he's going to stumble into a Football Manager job if there's any football teams in the Top 10 Tiers of English football stupid enough to give him a job) Stuniverse has a full-time day-job and that's a localised job in Derbyshire so he can't up-sticks and relocate his family to far-flung parts of the country... at least not until, if, he's earning enough that he can afford to do so. Also, Stuniverse doesn't want to be commuting for hours and hours so, initially: A job within half an hours travel would be ideal, Maybe he could stretch that 45 minutes, Maybe an hour... tops! Stuniverse doesn't really want a job more than an hour away, but would take one if he becomes desperate... But if he did take a job more than an hour away, he'd almost certainly be actively job hunting to find a football club closer to home. At some point, if Stuniverse is successful and climbs the pyramid, he may rethink that... but let's worry about that when and if he gets there. For now, Stuniverse is unemployed, with no coaching badges, and only Sunday Footballer experience.

Thanks, @Pearomaniac, that’s very kind of you to say. To be honest with you, I’m kind of lost, I don’t know what to do with myself outside of work. My wife has suggested I take up refereeing but, knowing all the abuse I used to dish out to referees on the pitch, and my teammates dished out, I’m not sure I want to be on the receiving end of it. She also suggested I could take up managing a football team but I’m not sure if I’m cut out for that and I don’t have any coaching badges. Mind you, I don’t think any of the managers I played for had coaching badges. I think the missus just wants me out of the house at the weekends again during the football season. Hopefully see you around, either on muddy pitches or down the pub or something… Take care.

Monday 27th June 2022 Difficult Decision - finally made I've played football since I was able to first kick a football. Apparently, I could kick a football with umph before I could even talk. But, with my aching knees and ankles, it's become harder and harder over the last couple of seasons and taken me longer and longer to recover after a football match. So, after thoroughly enjoying my playing time with the Branston Arms, the Navigation, Bretby Miners Welfare and the Nag's Head, I can't face another pre-season and have reluctantly decided to hang up my football boots. Maybe I'll be able to find time now to watch my favourite teams Derby County, Burton Albion and Belper Town more often.

Thanks very much, @Pearomaniac. I hope so...

Here we go... Setting up the save

1. Select START A NEW GAME 2. Select CAREER 3. Click the drop-down arrow under DATABASE. 4. Select England Level 10 League & Data Updates (Note: you need to save the downloaded database in your... > Sports Interactive > Football Manager 2023 > editor data folder 5. Click Advanced Setup 6. Select England, click the dropdown arrow, and select whichever Level / Tier you want to include in your save (Note: Level 10 Divisions and above will include all teams @lionel messi has unlocked). 7. OPTIONAL - select Advanced from the dropdown menu under Approximate Player Count, and then under NATIONS select England > Players based in nation (to maximise the amount of players available in your save) 8. OPTIONAL - Select Do not Add Key Staff (see advice from lionel messi below) 9. OPTIONAL - Select Add Players to Playable Teams so that all Playable Teams have full squads at the start of your save) 10. Select your GAME START DATE 11. Click Start Game Good luck 🍀

Congratulations on your success at Rotherham United, @Punch. At the start of a new FM23 save, I’d expect Preston North End to be in better shape than Rotherham United so another two season Chapter…? No pressure 😂⚽️🤣 Good luck 🍀

Thank you, @DavidBeckham. I appreciate that very much.

Thank you. Hopefully it will also encourage me to watch my local team, Belper Town, more often as well.

@lionel messi has announced that his excellent database has now been released with England Level / Tier 10 unlocked. So, all things being well, I should be able to start my main FM23 Career Update save on Sunday 18th December 2022. Thank you for all your hard work @lionel messi, I’m really looking forward to this save using your custom database. My very best wishes to you.

No need to apologise.

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Thanks @lionel messi. Very helpful. I think I will add players, but not key staff. Many thanks.