[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

January 2038. After an amazing December we have a very, very frustrating January. We are the highest scoring team in the league, but this month we scored more than one goal in the league just once (but then we put five past Bedsworth). We weren't as good as we were at the end of last year, but we still should've gotten more points. Draw against Telford and win against Hereford and the results would've been much more in line with our performances.

Table. We were not the only top side struggling this month. Our almost-a-rival Stalybridge had a terrible month, gaining just 1 point! I'm still aiming for top three but I feel the top 2 places are already decided.

Transfer out. This is a big blow for us, softened with the loan back. Green 35b has been ready to leave for quite a while. Over a year ago I promised that he can leave if someone offers 12k€. After that there were about 25-30 offers, most of them below 1k€ from Irish top division sides. But this January three different teams offered over 12k€ and I just tried to negotiate sell-on clause, friendly and loan back to the deals. I did manage to do that and I'm happy Green 35b chose Shrewsbury as I got 50 % sell-on clause to that deal!

 

After a week or two, his valuation jumped up quite nicely! If Shrewsbury sell him some day we will be rich!  This is not the only sell-on clause we have, the Fagan 29a deal being another where we could actually gain some significant amount of money. He's been with Bury for 8 seasons, but is still just 24. They're fighting against relegation from League 1 and I would guess that if they get relegated, they would sell Fagan 29a.

50 % of Fagan 29a's value would boost our finances massively! Give me 2,4-4,1 m€, thanks!

Upcoming fixtures. January was a real low point of the season, let's hope it is the only low point! Not an easy month as we face teams in positions 1st, 3rd, 6th and 19th.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

December 2037. This must be the best month we've had at this level!  28 goals in 7 league games is impressive! After the penalty win against Hereford we demolished everyone else but Avro, they've could've won us by a bigger margin. But I have already forgotten that game, I just remember the attacking power of FC Isle of Man!

Table. After the free-scoring month we've now scored 10 goals more than any other side in the division!  Our form is very strong, but it's the same story for sides above us. My goal is top 3, but as long as we finish in playoff positions, we have had a successful season.

Team of the Week. I put this here to show how well our team has played. Every position has at least one player shining in the spotlight!

700 games. The milestone was celebrated with style as the team scored 5 goals in the game against Rugby Town

Transfer out. Scott 27c had been playing as a non-contract player for years with us. There had been contract offers for him but he had rejected all of them in the past. This time I hadn't even noticed that Spennymoor Town offered him a transfer, so I was very surprised to see him move. This is the second time he left the team and I think there won't be a third. He is a solid player, but he was playing for the 2nd XI which meant that if there was a player for his DLF position with high potential, that player would push Scott 27c out of the team.

In a way I feel sad losing him as he played over 300 games in all competitions for us. He didn't even get a better contract from his new team. 

 

Finances. After a relatively short spell in the red we're back in black! 

Upcoming fixtures. What a quiet month after the busy Christmas time. All the games should be winnable. It is quite common for us to lose our form somewhere between December and February, I hope we can skip past that trend this season  

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

 

Youth intake preview. Where are all the As and Bs?! Another excellent intake with no excellent individuals  Actually I feel happy with the intake, even if the most promising player might be a winger. We have loads of players for wingbacks and cm/cam roles, that's a real positive. I don't know what to think about the letter grades.

One reason for my slight optimism is this message, which came just days before the intake preview:

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

12 hours ago, shd34_216_42 said:

I think an away draw against Bolton would have technically been better, but at least you got money (especially some TV money, which is always nice). Also you didn't lose against Stalybridge Celtic, which is important against the unofficial rivals.

Your real goal is probably top five to guarantee at least one home playoff game.

Yeah, I agree, the financial benefit would've been better with the away draw, Bolton's stadium capacity being almost 29,000. I don't think they've would've sold out, their average attendance is about 18,000, but the money would still have been very good. 

And the draw against Stalybridge was really nice! I dream of getting past them in the league table, but they're such a strong side that it might be very difficult.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

FA Cup. This time my monthly post looks a bit different. I just needed to have these games showcased before going back to my usual business.

In the replay game against Port Vale it was our 2nd XI who got the chance to take us to the 2nd round. The game was really tight and in the end it was substitute, Lord 33k, from the 1st XI who did the unthinkable and scored a hat-trick between minutes 71 and 84!!!! 

The game broke some stadium records as well as it was the record high attendance and gate receipts for us.

We didn't get the best or the worst draw for the second round. Home draw =  against a side who are 2nd in League 1 =  

We fought brilliantly, but we did concede couple of good chances and Bolton didn't waste those. We on the other hand couldn't find the net until the game was practically over. There's no shame losing to them, I made it absolutely clear to my players that I was proud of their fighting spirit against a much bigger side!

November 2037. Back to the usual stuff. FA Cup this year was a great success, but it still left more hunger for us for the seasons to come. I'd really love to make it to the 3rd round against PL sides while we are so low on the English footballing pyramid.

In the league we were unbeaten this month. Great draws against Stalybridge and Morecambe and two closely fought wins. As a bonus, we also made it through in the FA Trophy!

Table. 2 wins and 2 draws keeps us in the promotion battle. We have 1 game in hand compared to other top sides. I really want us to make it to the playoffs. I feel that if we want to be serious about getting promoted, we need to be 2nd or 3rd so we skip the first round of playoffs (and get a home advantage).

Finances. Cup games = cup money = stabilising our finances  We've made almost +600k€ from the beginning of the season!

Upcoming fixtures. A tricky and busy month, just what we want!  I estimate Winterton, Blyth, and Avro games to be the toughest. The rest of the league games should be easier, but you never know. And cup games are always a mystery to me, so I have no expectations against Hereford.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

October 2037. We are still in the FA Cup!!!! We did it at very last minute as Dugdale 31c found the net on 95th minute  But we really did deserve it, the xG of the game was 0,55 for Port Vale, 2,04 for us. The league performance wasn't that exciting. Of course we lost to the bottom of the table, but then we just demolished Southport.

Table. Still in the promotion places. Boston United isn't unbeaten anymore, but they still look like the strongest contender for the title.

Finances. Two cup games means a lot of extra money for a club this size. We've already halved the negative deficit, in just 4 months!

Upcoming fixtures. The biggest game so far in this save is happening soon! In the list it says it's on Wednesday but as it will get televised the FA moved it to Tuesday - and that means 60,000 € for us!  I will continue the rhythm where 1st XI plays during weekends and 2nd XI in the midweek games, so they will be the ones to host Port Vale. We also start our FA Trophy run when we face Winterton away from home. I would like to say something about the league games as well, but my focus is too way too much in the FA Cup right now.  

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

September 2037. Cup win x 2, both in away games!  We absolutely smashed Darlington and Worksop Town! Yes, both play in divisions below us, but there's no way I'm going to underestimate them when they get to play at home in the cup.

In the league we managed to get nice results, somehow the highlight being the 0-0 draw  Boston United are unbeaten in the league, so our 2nd XI drawing against them was an amazing job! The only loss was against Scunthorpe, and they kind of deserved it... when I saw who's managing them, I became just a little bit less sad:

 

Table. A good set of results sees us strengthen our position in the table, we are now where I think we deserve to be. Compared to xPts, we've been a bit lucky, but the rest of the teams at the top have been even more lucky. 

Transfer offer. I think this is the biggest starting offer we've had for a player. Gould 33i has been quite solid LB, but now he's been dropped from 1st to 2nd XI. So it kind of would make sense to sell him, but as we don't have too many "old" (he's 20) defensive players, I want to keep him. My reasoning is that older player tend to be more consistent performers (just my hunch) and Gould 33i has a relatively positive personality, so he can soon start to mentor younger players. He's also our vice captain.

Finances. After two cup games and three home league games, we get a nice boost to our finances. We should be about even at the end of the season. If we get further in the FA Cup, this might happen sooner.

Upcoming fixtures. Another team from the divisions below us, another away draw. I think we still have to be favourites. If we win the game against Chatham Town, we will make it to the proper 1st round of FA Cup for the first time! In the league it is very much a "basic" month.

[[FM24] Tulach Bòide [Scotland Tier 13]]

On 02/05/2024 at 11:21, Jimbokav1971 said:

The suggestion here is that Rangers are playing a very direct style, (eventually), and are completely embracing direct, route 1 hoofball. This is further supported by the fact that they have won the 3rd most headers in the league, but also have the highest Headers won % at 54%. This gives me an idea for a save whereby I'm only able to sign players over a certain height, play a really direct game with a TM and concentrate enormously on set-pieces. I mean proper EXTREME TM stylee!  You know, the more I think about that, the more I might really like it and it could be a really fun save. It also might allow me to really get to grips with the set-piece situation in FM25. 

I had this save in FM23 - and I really recommend the concept! 

I've always tried to play with very technical or very fast players, so it was a new experience to play with tall, strong players.

My rule was to have only players 190 cm < (a bit over 6'2), but in most of the teams I actually allowed myself to sign players who were 185cm <, if there were no real options for the position. Also, I allowed myself to sign all youth players, which brought down the average height quite a bit. My tallest average was 189 with MyPa in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. I chose to start with MyPa as the most well-known Finnish tall player Sami Hyypiä, started his pro career there.

After three promotions and winning the top division, I went to Norway and Sweden to win the domestic titles, but I just couldn't find the way to win it in Denmark. After 11 seasons in the top division with FC Fredericia, I kinda lost interest. But still love the concept!!

If I would do it again, I would give myself even stricter rules, maybe only players who are 195 cm < and not signing youth players who are not 190 cm or taller.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

August 2037. A great start to the season with three wins, but after that the performances and the results started to fluctuate. Avro and Blyth (who IRL just hired a new manager, Nolberto Solano?! What a blast from the past ) are both considered to be our rivals (just by me), so winning them in tight contests felt soooo good! The two draws we got were lucky, but then the losses we had were unlucky. In the Atherton game we were the better team, but just couldn't find the net. The Bedworth game was very even, most just results would've been 1-1, but they somehow won 3-0 - that's football! 

There were a lot of different goal scorers, which is a positive, but there are also negatives. No striker is having a good streak and we couldn't find the net in three games (where the combined xG was 4<). The defensive side of the game has been much better, conceding more than one just once.

Our 1st XI's record from the month is 3-1-1 and 2nd XI's 1-1-1. We're still missing our best player Green 35b through injury, he'll be back around the end of September.

Table. A solid, but not amazing start means we find ourselves in 7th place after 8 games. I think we have the potential to be a bit better. Boston United looks like a real deal, they've already 4 clear at the top.

Upcoming fixtures. A cup game and three games against opposition above us in the table, this month will really test us. Darlington is not the toughest cup fixture we've had, they play in the Northern Premier, but an away cup game is always an away cup game, if you know what I mean

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

On 29/04/2024 at 20:39, shd34_216_42 said:

While we're at it, is Stalybridge Celtic still owned by a tycoon?

Yes they are! When the tycoon took over, the club turned professional immediately. After 10 years and the relegation from the National League, they've turned back to semi-pro. Though, they still have the 3rd largest wage budget.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

18 minutes ago, Asana Guy said:

Great story.  Keep it up.

As a matter of interest, are that Philadelphian pub owner and Deadpool still at Wrexham?  Or did they sell out?

Thank you!

They left ~5 years ago, but the new chairperson was promoted from within (which I think means the funding stays somewhat the same?). After two years, the new chairperson decided to scale down the funding.

They've been yo-yoing between League 1 and Championship: in the last 10 seasons they've had 7 season in League 1 and three on the Championship (and been relegated straight away each time).

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

Season 2037/2038 preview. Second season in the Vanarama North and I think we have a real possibility of making it the last season at this level. We were really strong last season, especially for the last two months. If we can keep that level, we should be in the playoffs. But there's also the possiblity that we lose some of the key players and then it can be much more of an uphill to get close to the top. I'm feeling optimistic! (and it has nothing to do with the fact that Arsenal is leading 3-0 at half-time in NLD )

Board expectations. Mid-table and being competitive, I'm happy with these. They should be a bit more ambitious with the league, I say minimum is top 10 and I'm happy if we get to the playoffs.

Media predictions. Media has given us better odds than last season (17,00 vs 26,00), and I agree that we've made progress. Morecambe is the favourite and it is interesting to see promoted Avro so high in this table. Yes, they are tycoon-owned and had back-to-back promotions, but I don't see them challenging for the playoff spots. We've faced them already 12 times, so maybe there's a chance of some derby feeling against them?

Media outlets think our key player is Green 35b and the hot prospect is Mortimer 36a. I think Green 35b should be both, and even if Mortimer 36a is promising, he's just very short for his position.

Media Dream Eleven. This tells something about the progress we've made. We have two players in the dream XI. 

Top player odds. Our star goalie Parillon 30e is still without a contract, but it seems he is happy with that. He's not willing to renew, but he still staying as there hasn't been any interest in him (which is weird, as he's the best goalie in the league and he's only 23).

 

Injury. Almost exactly after my assistant told about how good Green 35b now is, he got a bad injury that will keep him out for three months. We have alternative options, but they are nowhere near to Green 35b's level.

Transfer interest. Do I have an uncut gem in my hands? I hadn't thought much about Robertson 37l, but this surely made me notice him. Swansea and Everton are good sides in the Championship, so if he's interesting enough for them, he should definitely be interesting for us! I just don't see what makes him stand out  

 

Pre-season friendlies. Oh my, we really got our groove on! The draw against Doncaster (L2) and wins against Bristol City (L1) & Wrexham (L1), whaaaat?! This is the start for the season we want, but I need to make sure that the players are not filled with overconfidence.

Upcoming fixtures. This must be the busiest August the team has had so far, eight league games??!?!?!  Some teams we've faced a lot previously, such as Avro, Blyth and Atherton and then some more "random" teams. Hopefully the good pre-season form carries on!

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

Season review. Solihull Moors were the clear winners, but in the playoffs it was a much more close fought contest. In the end, it was Barrow AFC who got promoted. They won Stalybridge Celtic in the playoff final after penalties. Stalybridge did really well to get that far as they were playing with 10 men from 33 minute onwards.

This was the first season for FC Isle of Man in the Vanarama North. I thought we played much better than I was expecting. We had really good defence and good-ish attack. We had a few bad months that made the run for better places almost impossible, but 10th place in the first season is more than respectable.

xG table. We scored and conceded just like the xNumbers suggested, but we were quite efficient and/or lucky with our points tally. But that's the thing: when you look at who are in the playoffs, they are all sides that exceeded their xPts expectations. If we want to be there, we probably need a bit of luck on our side.

Players by minutes. Our star goalie Parillon 30e was unsurprisingly once again the one who played the most minutes. But this time he didn't play every game as Rother 35a was used for the 2nd XI. Their appearances tell quite exactly the balance between 1st and 2nd XIs' playing time: 36 games for 1st XI and 12 for the 2nd.

I don't have exact data for it, but it feels like that our 1st XI is now a bit older on average than it have been previously. That's okay, but I need to make sure that the most talented players aged 17-18 also get enough playing time in competitive games.

Players by goals. Our target man Dugdale 31c was the top scorer. But he could've and should've scored more: he scored 5 of his 7 penalties and he underperformed his xG by almost 4 goals. This season we had some troubles of choosing the right player for the AF role, but in the end it was Lord 33k who made the position his own and scored 11 goals. He had the second best goals/90 rate, just behind 2nd XI target man Broe 31d. I just can't understand how he scores so efficiently, because he is not a good target man.  He's just there because there is practically no one else to do the job.

Next season I hope we find a way to get attackers in AF roles to score more consistently.

Players by assists. AF as the best assister?! Tells something about the fact that I haven't found the optimal roles for the attacking trio. Lord 33k was the only who really overperformed his xA. There are few players, with quite nice xA numbers but low assists, such as DLF Sweetser-Hawkes 34a (3 vs. 8,43), DL Gould 33i (2 vs. 7,88) and CB Coleman 33a (1 vs. 3,52). So, the chance creation is there, now we just need to find the ways to get the ball back in to the net.  

Best eleven 2036/2037. This is the same as 1st XI, with one change: Sweetser-Hawkes 34a didn't make the cut, Broe 31d taking his place.

International call-up. This came out of nowhere!  Brindle 35h had been on loan at NPL Div 1, playing on an average rating of 7,02, so for me he didn't stand out from the crowd. But Stuart Hamilton saw something in him. Brindle 35h's contract is up in a month, but I think I'll give him one more year just to see if there's some unleashed potential.

 

Competition performance tracking. First season in the Vanarama North, 13th season in total. The cup performances were - once again - a disappointment, but in the league we exceeded the board's and my expectations. 9th in the league, a nice positive goal difference, what's not to like?

 

Manager improvements. Pherick Ramsey is getting some personal rewards from the team's fine form. One year more to the contract and then the coaching course to get the best badge, nice!

 

Transfers. In came Murphy 27d, who had valuable  experience from League 2 and Vanarama, but I had some challenges of finding him the best role. Then there was the loan of Hudson 33b, who was sold to Worthing and then loaned back to us immediately. He was also the only player who we sold, rest were loans out and two free transfers (still sad about losing McMenemy 31f ). We also got a sell-on clause activated for the first time in the club's history as RB Stewart 31a was sold from Stalybridge to Dulwich Hamlet. We actually offered a better deal to Stalybridge and the player, but he preferred in Vanarama National, which I (kinda) understand.

 

Finances and improvements. This was interesting. I feel 1,2m€ is a lot of money, but so far the board has declined all the improvements, saying we are not in a strong financial position. But then out of the blue, this happens:

The board themselves decided that now we need to have youth facility improvements. I agreed and now we put almost 2m€ to the facility upgrade. 

Whooooops!

I don't know if the board are just now understanding how much of a dent the facility upgrade created to our finances, but I think this is just funny!

Next season, a good cup run is a bit more important, it would help us steady the (finance) ship earlier in the season. I'm not worried about the balance, as we make profit consistently, but the situation might tempt the board to accept lowball offers for our star players.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

April 2037. What a way to end the season! Unbeaten in last seven games, and only two losses in last 20 games. The most impressive win was against Scunthorpe, where our 2nd XI showed that they are more than capable of challenging even the best teams in the league. Broe 31d scored a hat-trick in that game, somehow he ended up having the best avg rating in the whole league. 

Table. The draw in the last game of the season meant we fell to 10th, but I'm more than happy with that final position. Teams around us were also in a good form, Winterton winning six games in a row.

Transfer offers. Green 35b is only 18, but he's already our best outfield player. I've promised him that we'll sell him if there are offers north of 10k€, so I won't be accepting these. But I think it's a good indicator of his potential as there are teams from a top division interested in him (although from the Irish top division ). This season he has found quite a good form, getting 8G+8A from the CM(a) position.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

March 2037. Another decent month! I feel we are playing... dare I say it...consistently?! The story that results tell is backed up by the xG and my feeling what we deserved from the game. Maybe we should've won against AFC Telford United, in a game where we had over 1,800 spectators, but I really have no complaints.

Table. The playoff spots are gone, but we are getting closer of achieving a very respectable top 10 final position.

Upcoming fixtures. In the last month of the league, we face a lot of teams that still have something to play for. Scunthorpe United is in the playoffs, but they still need to get wins to gain home advantage. Scarborough, Guiseley and Spennymoor are in the relegation fight, so those games are expected to be really difficult. Gateshead is the only one that is just kinda floating in the mid-table, so that will be either the easiest or toughest game for us.  

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

Youth intake 2037. Just one player with 5 star PA and three with 1,5 star CA. This tells more about the quality of our current team than the youth intake, but still it just feels a bit boring that there aren't more players with high CA and/or PA. Maybe the feeling of boredom got me while I was taking the screenshots, as I forgot to take one with the players' nationalities, personalities, key stats etc.

But what I did remember were the screenshots from my favourite players from the intake, and they are: Dyer 37a, Joyce 37f & Webb 37g.

 

Youth intake tracking. As said, the numbers on high CA or PA players aren't that good anymore, we've gone down quite a bit from the intake where we had 15 players who had at least 1,5 CA and all the players who had 5 star PA   But as CA and PA are figures that tell about the comparative ability and potential, we don't need to look at them that much, as the actual quality of youth intakes have gone up (but not as fast as the actual quality of the first team).

One thing I like to point out from this intake is the fact there were a lot of neutral or slightly positive/negative personalities. As we have a new HoYD now, maybe he has already made his impact on personalities? The previous HoYD was light-hearted, current is resolute.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

February 2037. This is a solid month. Nothing fancy and the only loss was a very even game where we just couldn't find the net for the second time. 

Table. We are anchoring ourselves to the positions around 8th-11th. It's unrealistic to get to the playoffs (but not totally impossible), but we are in an okay form so I don't think there's a real danger of slipping too many positions in the table.

Transfer. A player was bought - with actual money and add-ons!  Hudson 33b has been the starting right back this season, but he hasn't done anything amazing so I was a bit surprised by the offer. He wanted to move and Worthing was willing to offer really nice add-ons, so I accepted the deal. We will keep him for the rest of the season and then we hope that some of the right backs who are out on a loan will come back stronger and take Hudson 33b's place.

 

Upcoming fixtures. The month where the most interesting thing is not the schedule, but the youth intake. If we keep the form we've had this year, we will stay in top half, which is more than enough for me!

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

13 hours ago, INESSOU said:

It puzzles me why the Isle of Man, like Jersey and Guernsey, do not apply for FIFA and UEFA membership. Yes, they can have a team playing in the English leagues - after all, FC Andorra play in the Spanish leagues, San Marino Calcio in the Italian and teams from Liechtenstein play in the Swiss leagues - but surely it would help the island's development as a football nation to be involved playing the likes of Germany, England, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain etc. Further, if Gibraltar and the Faroes are both members of FIFA and UEFA despite not being independent states then why not the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey? Having lived on the island about twenty years ago, I can vouch that the standard of football is quite high for an amateur league and they would easily hold their own against teams from Malta, Cyprus and Andorra, as well as potentially beating San Marino and Liechtenstein.

I love it that there's a person in the thread who's actually lived on the island! 

The islands would have a good supporting system from the English football pyramid: quality games in quality leagues. But I think the islands would need to have a team higher in the league pyramid to help their future national team. Liechtenstein has one in the 2nd division of Switzerland, same with Andorra in Spain. San Marino's team is on maybe the 5th level? Faroe Island has a quite nice domestic league, KÍ Klaksvik making it to the Europe last season!

13 hours ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

No way, they would be just cannon fodder. Worse than San Marino. Way to few people living there, for them to become even remotely competitive. Plus they can play against other regions and unofficial teams which is more balanced. If they could get one of those teams like Jersey bulls, Guernsey, FC Isle of Man into the football league system.. maybe.

I think this is true when thinking about current qualification systems. But in women's football UEFA has changed the qualification to be a Nations' League style system, where teams play more games against sides who should be on a similar level. If the same change happens at men's side, I think the small nations could be more interested to invest in the game as there would be a bigger chance of winning (a) game(s).

I think smaller leagues and teams have been trending for a quite a while, at least when following at football discussions in Twitter. Accounts like Far Away Football, The Sweeper, San Marino fan account, Nordic Footy, Europe's Winless, Paul Watson, CONIFA, Forgotten Football have gained quite a bit of following. If there would be a new national team in UEFA, I think many of these kind of accounts would support and almost put the team on a pedestal.

13 hours ago, TelcontarTargaryen said:

Also I guess political reasons, maybe Catalonia would ask then to become a member too. Although UK has a specific setup since they have independet FA since the beginning of football, so you get one country, but four national football teams.

I think the most difficult region would actually be Basque Country as they've had more radical independency groups/movements in the past.

In Finland, where I'm from, Åland is an autonomous area and has their own FA. Population ~30k. They've participated some CONIFA or similar tournaments in the past. Their best men's and women's team play in the highest division in Finnish system, but they also have teams in lower divisions of Swedish leagues. I would love to see them competing on their own, but I think quality-wise they would be somewhere near San Marino. The more difficult question in the Nordics would be Sámi national team, where there would be players from Norway, Sweden, Finland and maybe even Russia. Sámi have played some friendlies in the past, Morten Gamst Pedersen being their star back then! If they would create their own FA and apply for UEFA+FIFA membership, I would think that at least the Finnish and Swedish government would have some objections.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

January 2037. I would've been so happy with this start to the new year, but the Mossley game kind of ruined it... Losing against to the bottom of the table is just so "fun". And what made it worse, based on their performance, they deserved to win!  Rest of the month was solid, the win against "rivals" Stalybridge was almost perfect as we were winning 3-0 before making it nervous by conceding two goals before 90th minute.  But that was not the craziest game of the month, that award goes to Boston game. Just look at the stats during the game:

 

Table. We continue to be 9th in the table, but the positions between 8th and 14th are really close.

Random stat of the month. I took the screenshot at the beginning of the month, but the point stands even now. We are creating A LOT of goalscoring opportunities - and we are scoring quite efficienlty as well. BUT it doesn't feel like that, as our main threats, the players in AF position, don't score consistently. Also, they are not having single amazing games. For example Adigun 32a, who was supposed to be the star striker for the team, haven't had a single game where his average rating has been above 7.7 

Upcoming fixtures. We want to stay where we are in the table, 7-10 points or more from these fixtures should do it.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

December 2036. The friendly against Greenwell Star really did wonders! Before that we were crushed by Scunthorpe (they deserved to win, but not by 4 goals). The win against Blyth Spartans was my favourite; there's always something extra when meeting fellow promoted sides.

As I complained about the goalscoring in the previous post, our strikers did do a little better this month: best was Lord 33k, who scored whopping three goals! 

Table. We are steadily staying in the top half. I doubt we are going to fight for the promotion spots, but I'm really happy if we keep this position until the end of the season.

Intake preview. Another excellent intake with no excellent players.  Grade B for CMs and rest are D or worse??! How is it even possible with our relatively excellent youth system? The positive thing is that there are lot of players to the centre: 3 CBs, 2 CMs and 2 forwards. 

Head of Youth Development departs. This was a surprise! Maybe he felt disheartened after the preview as he left the club only days after the preview news. He was on a month-to-month contract, but had been so for quite a while, so I did not expect this. Below are screenshots from Dixon's profile and from the guy, Gallacher, who is our new HoYD. He's an expensive staff member, but he had the best personality of available ones and his stats are quite good.

 

Upcoming fixtures. We face teams from both ends of the league table as we have games against 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 23rd and 24th. My gut says the most difficult games are going to be against the teams at the bottom.  

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

November 2036. Another difficult month. We are giving too many easy goals (especially penalties) as our defence can't keep it together for 90 minutes. Also, as one can see, we are not scoring. Two games without a goal and three more with just one goal. Our advanced forwards have forgotten the art of goalscoring, Adigun 32a scoring once and Lord 33k twice. When looking at xG, Rugby Town and Scarborough Athletic played better than us, but rest of the games should've been close or our wins.

Table. Six points from six games in nowhere near good enough for us. We are still in top half, which is my goal, but the results worry me.

Incoming player. What, did I just make a signing???  Murphy 27d is one of our own and I've tried to sign him twice after he left us. He has two full seasons at League 2, so he is the most experienced player in the team. I'm yet to decide where to play him, but I'm really tempted to use him as advanced forward just because other forwards can't score at the moment. His skills are maybe closer to a very attacking midfielder or maybe a DLF, but let's see what I'll do with him.

Here's one reason I wanted Murphy 27d to join us. He's immediately highly influential player + he has a good personality (resolute). Maybe he can mentor some of the younger attacking players?

Appearance record. Reddy has been with us from the beginning. While he is now only making some appearances from the bench, he has scored 20+ league goals in six different seasons. I think this might be the last season I'm keeping him in the team.

 

Upcoming fixtures. A relatively quiet December, I always think Christmas period should feel busy and exhausting.   We reach the second half of the season and I hope we can find some kind of form again. My favourite game will probably be the one against Blyth Spartans! (Just today I noticed some discussion in Twitter about Blyth Spartans. Apparently their new owner is having trouble finalising the club purchase while the team is fighting against relegation? Not the best combination. )

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

October 2036. Well, not the best of months. Stafford Rangers deserved to beat us, but we should've gotten something out of the Tamworth game. This is a bit of regression toward the mean as we were very lucky in the first games of the season. But it's not all negative, because we ended the month with a nice win. Another nice thing: home attendance. We are constantly having 1,500+ spectators in our home games!

Table. 1 win, two losses but we are still in a good position. 

Finances. We go above 1 m€ mark once again. Even with just two home games we made profit of 19k€! Maybe I should start asking for upgrades?

Upcoming fixtures. A busy month as we have six games in the league and we start our FA Trophy journey with a tricky away tie against Winterton Rangers. We also have chance to revenge our FA Cup loss against Gateshead at the end of November.

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

September 2036. Nice start and then the unfortunate cup loss did something to the team and we couldn't find the net after that. BUT the 6-1 win against Stalybridge was so mind-blowing that I just can't say this was a bad month.  And what made it even better was the fact it was our 2nd XI playing against them.

Table. After the first two games we were right at the top, but now we are closer to where I think we should be based on our performances. 20 points from 11 games is a very, very good start at a new league level.

Upcoming fixtures. We have such a relaxed schedule in October that I needed to add a friendly game to keep the fitness levels. Maybe that game will help us find our shooting boots? 

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

August 2036. New league, same great results! This start is just so, so good. Yes, we were a bit lucky in some of the games (and very unlucky in the Barrow game). The favourite game of the month was the win against Blyth Spartans who got promoted with us. Last season we drew both games agains them but this time we showed them which of the teams is ready for this level.  And to emphasise the greatness of the results: all teams, excluding Bamber Bridge, are expected to be in the promotion fight. This month showed us that I might need to re-calibrate my aim from mid-table to top half.

Table. We are scoring a lot and conceding a lot, but getting the results. Maybe we don't deserve to be as high as we are, but we are playing really well.

Barrow AFC are the highest scoring team, but I think it's more about efficiency & luck than they are really good at attacking. I took this screenshot mid-game as I thought it was funny that we had the exact same xG but they scored 4, we scored none.  

Upcoming fixtures. Our old nemesis Stalybridge waits us just two days after the last game of August. Actually, all the teams we face in the league, we've faced previously!  Only new opponent is Gateshead, who play in the same league. Home advantage should take us through that tie, but nothing is certain.  

[[FM24] CDs, BOTs, and Unkindness – FC Isle of Man]

Season 2036/2037 preview. We've made it to from the regional levels to the national! We lost one of our key players during the summer, McMenemy 31f who left for Hamilton, playing on the third level of Scottish league pyramid. In Scotland, Celtic has continued their dominance, Rangers won only 2 titles - and Dundee United won one! 

League history. This was the fourth promotion for the team and third with me as the manager. Our progress stalled at level 8, as we kept loosing all the promising players, but as soon as we were able to offer part-time contracts, we've been continuing our progress. At this level, promotions are still difficult as f*ck but at the moment we are on a positive trend and I think we could be in the mix for the promotion in a season or two.

Board expectations. My board is really fair, almost relaxed when it comes to their targets. Avoiding relegation is the absolute minimum (okay, they could ask to fight bravely against relegation, but I'm happy they have at least some ambition). I'm looking for a mid-table finish and a positive goal difference.  The cup targets are useless as we start those at the round mentioned in the target.

Media predictions. The odds and positions on the odds table change everyday but at the time of the screenshot we were predicted as 18th favourites with the odds of 34.00. Those are actually quite good odds for a promoted sides (although there are two promoted sides with much better odds). Parillon 30e is still our best player and our back-up goalie is the one with the most potential - I must have some genius GK coach at the academy!

1st XI. I surprised myself and made quite many changes to the 1st XI. My thinking here is that the promotion is kind of a reset and I need to make space for the most promising players who are now or soon ready for this level.

Hudson 33b played at the end of the last season in the 1st XI and he claimed his spot as more consistent than Lennon 32f. Hudson 33b is also huge: 200 cm tall! But as we needed defensive solidity to the right-back position, I opted for him to play there, not in the middle.

At the beginning of last season, Harris 34c was my choice for 2nd XI mezzala, but in the end I decided to loan him out. It was a good decision, as with regular playing time he's developed to be a 1st XI level. 

Green 35b is all about the potential. He's actually more of a striker than a midfielder, but that's okay for me as I look my CM to spend a lot of his time in the attacking third. Also Sweetser-Hawkes 34a has been so good in the DLF position that there was no way of pushing him out of the 1st XI.

2nd XI. The potential and vibes squad. The age of this squad has gone up quite a bit. The reason for it is that I want all the players of 17+ who have a lot of potential and don't play in the 1st XI to go on loan. For this reason, there's only three players who are under 18: Rotter 35a in goal (who's grown 4 cm since he came from the intake 183 --> 187 cm ), Wilson 36b in the centre of defence and Bremser 36c as the left wing-back.

Players by ability. These are all the players who are at least decent for this level (per my assistant). I'm surprised that there are so many, because I think we haven't had this many players listed as decent for the level they are playing ever before. Also, look a the birth city: 12 out of 14 players are born at the Isle of Man. 

Top player odds. Our goalie is not on the list, but the odds of 16.00 are still very nice. What the challenge is, is the fact that Parillon 30e is without a contract and is not willing to sign a new one.  The silver lining is that he didn't left the club after his contract was up and there's no teams at the moment interested in him. He could be a very useful keeper for us for some years, as my staff thinks his ceiling is at League 2 level!

 

Player numbers. This was the first time I needed to register numbers, I feel very professional now!  

Stadium expansion. As mentioned in the last post, the board took the initiative to extend the ground's terracing. We can now fit 3,290 fans to the ground (although only 800 will get seats ). This is much more than the league requires (Capacity of 3,000 with seats for 250).

 

Reputation. We are still a 0,5 star local reputation team. But if we perform well at this level we will definitely become a 1 star local reputation team!  The big boys of the league are at 1,5 stars, I don't think we will get there at this level of the pyramid.

Pre-season friendlies. A bit of a mixed bag when it comes to the results, but when you look at the opponents we lost to, the image starts to look more positive. Against Wigan we had a massive friendly crowd of 3,000+!

Upcoming fixtures. It's all about the new league in August! We start with the most delicious of fixtures as we face Blyth Spartans, the team that won the league and got promoted with us last season, in the first fixture. This will show us which team has had the better preparation during the summer. Solihull Moors will be the real test of our squad as they're the favourites for the title. Actually, we also face the 2nd, the 4th, the 5th and the 8th favourite for the title, oh dear.  

The game against Bamber Bridge is the only where we don't face a team that is expected to much better than us in the league. If at the end of August we are in the mid-table positions I'm confident we are more than ready for this level!