Tikka Mezzala
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Posts posted by Tikka Mezzala
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I guess one season doesn't accrue much experience in anything. A promising start to your career, to be sure, but you can hardly argue you have a track record to disprove the concerns you've mentioned.
Maybe it is a bug. But maybe not. Think it does make sense.
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If other people are already playing FM this way, feel free to discuss your saves in this thread. I'd be interested to hear how people are getting on in a role-playing save.
I'm currently mulling over my next adventure. I've got a few saves in mind, and I'll probably go for one of these:
(1) Quique Setien - After a humiliating end to his short tenure as Barcelona head-coach (an 8-2 defeat to FC Bayern in the Champions League), Quique Setien will be keen to restore his reputation as a manager capable of producing swashbuckling football, as evidenced by his Betis and Las Palmas days. A realistic next move would be to a mid-lower table La Liga side, a promotion hopeful in La Liga SmartBank, or potentially a move across the border in Portugal.
(2) Scott Brown - Captained Celtic FC to their nine-in-a-row run, including four back-to-back domestic trebles. His Aberdeen stint came to a premature end, and he's now said to be looking for opportunities to move into management. Was interviewed for the St Mirren role in real life, but lost out to Stephen Robinson. Wherever he takes his first steps in management, there will be an intrigue to see if his leadership as a player can translate into a successful managerial career. I'd imagine the first steps are likely to be in Scotland, perhaps taking on a Championship or League 1 role. The Hibernian and Celtic jobs obviously hold great appeal, but these are probably for later down the line if he can prove himself at a smaller club first.
(3) Juan Roman Riquelme - Currently occupying the DoF role at Boca Juniors, the former enganche is an interesting choice to start a managerial career with. I'd probably begin by moving into the Boca Juniors managerial role. River Plate called upon one of their former attacking midfielders in the form of Marcelo Gallardo, and they've never looked back. Gallardo has become the most successful manager in the club's history, and I think that is incentive enough for Riquelme to look to replicate that success across the other side of Bueons Aires. If success could be found in Argentina, a return to La Liga would be an interesting career move. Villarreal CF is the obvious role in Europe.
(4) Roy Keane - After leaving Nottingham Forrest with Martin O'Neil, Keane has pretty much exclusively spent his time venting about Manchester United's demise on Sky Sports. Some might say Keane is out of place in the modern world of football management, but I like the challenge of trying to change that image. Keane is perennially linked with Celtic every time an opening emerges, and there are periodic links with interim roles at Manchester United. Most recently, there were rumours of a Sunderland return, but Alex Neil took on the role instead. The next step for Keane is likely to be in the English lower leagues. I think a League 1 job would be quite a realistic place to start, or maybe somewhere like Salford City in League 2.
(5) Marcelo Bielsa - After his Leeds reign came to an end, the Argentinian left with the good graces of the club and its support. There's no doubt El Loco left his mark on the English game, and there will be no shortage of admirers now that he's available. One of the challenges here is trying to replicate his tactics and training approach. He's very, very demanding, and his tactical system is something that many have tried to replicate to differing degrees of success. I don't think an elite club will take Bielsa, because for all his brilliance, he doesn't win much silverware. Perhaps a return to Spain with a Valencia or a Celta de Vigo would be realistic. Maybe a mid-ranking Italian club too. Or the English love affair could continue at a Wolves or a Crystal Palace.
(6) Julian Stephan - After an impressive spell at Stade Rennais, that included a Champions League-place finish and a Coupe de France triumph, Stephan finds himself with RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1. Had his Stade Rennais spell continued to go well (he resigned with the team struggling), you would think he might have taken on a more prestigious role at a Lyon or a Marseille. Strasbourg is an opportunity to help get things back on track and re-establish Stephan as one of the brightest young managers on the continent. Perhaps a career trajectory that includes the PSG job or the France National Team role is a possibility, all going well.
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In the realism thread, I outlined the steps I take when I want to start a role-playing career as a current manager/ex-player. In previous versions of Football Manager, I've played as recently retired players taking their first-steps into management (eg. Xavi, Daniele De Rossi etc), or current managers. Sometimes I like to try and challenge myself by playing as a top manager, like Guardiola or Simeone, and to play as faithfully as possible in that role, or alternatively I like to take managers who are struggling and rehabilitate their careers.
Sometimes I've had to create characters that aren't currently active in the game's database, but often I replace already existing people who are in the game when I start the save. I thought there might be other players who would enjoy this style of save for the extra layer of immersion (or who are currently doing it), so I've decided to share the steps I take when creating my desired character. My aim is always to make it as immersive as possible.
Before I start to outline the process, you will need the in-game editor to follow these steps. I will use the example of Ernesto Valverde to help with the walkthrough process.
Step 1: Gather Information
I often use Wikipedia to find out relevant information about my character. In the case of Ernesto Valverde, I will use his full name, date of birth, place of birth, and height; all of which can be learned from his personal information tab on Wikipedia.
I will input this information in the create a manager section at the very beginning of the save.
As an optional step here, you can take a photo of the relevant person from Google images and use it to create a realistic face for your character.
Step 2: Edit Personal and Staff Information
Once we have our manager created, it's time to flesh out the information. Because Ernesto Valverde already exists in the game, I will use the information present in his profile to build my own.
To do this, go to Ernesto Valverde and using the in-game editor, select 'edit personal details'. In this section we have things like international appearances, favourite people, disliked people, favourite clubs, disliked clubs, and languages. You want to copy all of this information over to your manager. It helps to have a notebook for this.
Once you have copied all of the personal information over to your manager, go into the 'edit staff details' section for the in-game Ernesto Valverde and copy that information too.
The final step in this part of the process is copying the attributes. You can easily check what the attributes are of the manager you wish to replicate. Once you know what they are, you want to copy them to your own manager. To do this, go into your manager's profile and find the attributes section. Then, using the in-game editor, click 'start editing'. You can then manually enter the relevant scores for each attribute.
Once you've sorted the attributes out, you've got yourself a replica profile.
Step 3: Relationships
You've already sorted out your character's favourite people and clubs in the 'personal information' section. But there's a chance that your character is liked by other people in the game, and maybe they enjoy a certain status at one of their previous clubs. So this step will involve getting those relationships sorted out.
For Ernesto Valverde, the only clubs to consider him a favourite person are Espanyol and Olympiakos. I found this out by going to Valverde's history and going through his previous clubs and checking their Legends/Icons/Favoured Personnel sections. To make my character the favoured personnel instead of the in-game Valverde, I want to go to the relevant club --> in-game editor --> edit club details --> favourite people. I will then see Ernesto Valverde's name and his relationship level, as well as the reason for his status:
Instead of creating a new relationship, I simply click on the tab on the right-hand side with Ernesto Valverde's name. A name search will then come up. I'll search for 'Ernesto Valverde':
Note: I haven't edited my character's name yet so that only 'Ernesto Valverde' appears. But if you do this in the personal information bit under 'common name', that'll sort itself out.
Your character will be highlighted blue. Make sure you click on your name, even if the little white dot indicates you've already selected your manager. Always click on your manager anyway. Sometimes it doesn't work if you just click 'ok', even when it appears your manager has been chosen.
You can then check to make sure your character is the one selected by going to the favoured personnel section and clicking on the relevant name. If your profile comes up when you click the name, it has worked. If not, go back in and edit it again. Do this for all relevant clubs.
After you've sorted out the relationship with past clubs, you want to sort it out with current players and staff. The process is similar. You will edit the personal information of the relevant people, and replace the relationship those people have with the in-game version of the manager you want to replicate with your character. The only part I'll need to explain here is how to find the players and staff that have your desired manager in their 'favourite people'.
To do this, go to player search and remove all the filters that might get in the way of you finding relevant people. Then add the filter 'favourite club/staff' and search for the players who have you as their favoured personnel:
As I said above, go to the player, edit their personal information, and replace their relationship with the in-game version of you with your character. This involves doing the same thing I outlined with the club 'favoured personnel' step.
Do the exact same thing in the 'staff search' section.
This will now allow you to take over all the existing relationships your character should have with clubs, players and staff.
Step 4: Editing the In-Game Manager out of Relevance
This final step involves editing the "real" manager you wish to replicate so that they don't impact your save. You don't want to have two Ernesto Valverde's, for example, managing in the game.
Because you can't simply delete them with the in-game editor, you need to edit their information until they are no longer recognisable. Delete all their relationships, change their name, international appearances etc. Then edit their staff details, giving them such a low reputation that they are unlikely to be employed in your save. Basically take all the information and alter it so that they won't be a problem. After you've done that, you can change the attributes as well if you like. But they shouldn't be getting many jobs with very poor reputations.
You might wonder why I don't delete them in the pre-game editor. This is because I want to replicate them in a save and I find it easier to get all their info from the save, including their relationships, copy it over to my character, and then just edit them into obscurity. Personal preference.
Once you have removed the likeness of the in-game version of your manager, you are free to take on the role of the person of your choosing. You can go about this any way you like.
If this sort of way of playing FM interests you, I hope this walkthrough is helpful for setting such a save up. Using these steps, you can really immerse yourself in a save playing as whoever you like.
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On 23/02/2022 at 13:23, n1mez said:
Hey Guys! For those of you, who plays as an existing manager - how are you doing it? What is the best, and most realistic way 2 do so?
Searching for tips and tricks for it. I really do hate, that SI dont have that option as well.
These are the steps I take if I'm playing as a real person within the football world:
(1) Check to see if the person already exists in the database. If they don't then you have to go purely on information from the web. If they do, you can use the info already present in the game to help flesh out the character.
(2) Create your manager using the real life personal information of the person you wish to play as. Wikipedia is helpful here. Also, I tend to grab a photo of their face from Google images for the appearance section.
(3) Once you have created the manager, it's time to add more information. As an example, I'll pretend I'm wanting to play as Xavi. Go into the in-game Xavi using the in-game editor and copy all of the personal information to your manager. This includes international appearances and goals, favoured personnel (including what the relationships are, eg. ex teammate, ex manager, backroom staff, relation etc), favoured clubs, disliked clubs, languages spoken.
(4) You then want to add the other information, such as the various reputations (home, world etc), the 'hidden attributes' scores, the favoured tactical styles and what have you. For some people, this won't be fully fleshed out, but for high profile managers, it should be. You can find all this stuff in the 'staff details' part of the in-game editor.
(5) After you've sorted the staff details and the personal details, you want to copy their coaching attributes. To do this, write down the attributes of the manager you want to emulate. Then go into your manager's profile and find the attributes section. Go into the in-game editor and click 'start editing' at the very top. Copy the attributes to your manager.
(6) At this stage, you should have pretty much created an identical replica. The next steps are to get all the relationships in order. The first thing to do is find out if your manager is a legend, icon etc at previous clubs. So for Xavi, he will probably be somewhere in Barcelona's favoured personnel, and maybe Al Sadd too. Check this using the in-game editor. For Xavi, I'd go to Barcelona, then the 'edit club details' part of the in-game editor. In there I'd go along to 'favourite people'. In this section Xavi should already be there. Instead of creating a new relationship, I'd just replace the existing one with my character. So click on the name tab next to Xavi and search for your manager. Then just replace the in-game Xavi with you. This will make your character the club legend/icon/favoured personnel. Do this for all the clubs that are relevant to your character.
(7) The next step is to do a similar thing for personal relationships. So you already have your own favoured personnel set. It's time to make sure all the people who have a good relationship with you are linked to your character and not the person you are replacing. To do this for Xavi, I'd go into player search, make sure the filters aren't filtering out anyone who might be relevant, and then I'd search for players who have favoured club/person as Xavi. I'd go through the list and replace the in-game Xavi in their favoured people sections using the in-game editor, just as I did for the clubs. For example, I'd likely find Lionel Messi having Xavi as a favoured personnel. I'd go into Messi's personal details in the in-game editor, and just swap out Xavi (in-game) for my character. One I've done this for all the relevant players, I'd go into 'staff search' and do the same thing. This is where I'd find people like Pep Guardiola. Again, make sure the filters aren't restricting your search. The only filter you want is the 'favoured club/people' one. Sort out all the staff whose favoured personnel should include your character, and you have successfully set up all the relevant in-game relationships.
(8) The final step is to edit the in-game version of the manager you wish to play as out of recognition. So I'd go into Xavi's details and edit him into obscurity. I'd change his name, remove his international appearances, delete all his relationships, and lower his reputations to minimal so that he doesn't find employment. I'd also edit his attributes to make them poor too. Once you've edited the duplicate manager beyond recognition, you have successfully taken over the role, and you can move ahead with your save knowing that you are, for all intents and purposes, the in-game version of your desired manager.
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This is fantastic, mate. Just been having a look around and I can see myself enjoying it.
One thing I did notice, though, is that there's a league without any teams. It's unplayable at the moment, but is listed as the most reputable league in the region, and given its name, I think you might have created it and forgotten about it:
It's the Eastern Super League at the top there. Listed as being in Bonaire. It seems as though it was probably meant for the teams that are in the North-East Superleague.
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Was kind of taken aback to learn that the brother of Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati is plying his trade with Biggleswade United in the United Counties League Premier Division South.
Journalist Guillem Balague is also the chairman of the club.
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No wonder there was no money in East German football. The printers probably charge by the letter. That's a transfer budget eaten up.
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Manager's thoughts:
"We started slowly, and the missed penalty really encouraged Brighton. But I thought our response after going behind was first-class, and from that point on the game was largely attack versus defence. Obviously when you create twenty-odd chances you want to be scoring enough to win a game, but that's the biggest criticism I can have of the players today: we weren't ruthless enough. I was happy with ninety percent of our play, though, so plenty to be positive about. But we have to make sure we turn our dominance into victories in the weeks ahead."
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Real Madrid Castilla CF is delighted to welcome Ian Cathro. It is hoped that the appointment of the Scottish trainer will help return the development team to its expected course of reaching the playoffs by the season's end. The club's technical director, Abian Perdomo, had these words for the new manager:
"The Real Madrid community is excited to welcome a new member today. Ian brings with him a vision that matches what the club hopes for with regards to its development teams. Real Madrid Castilla is the bridge between juvenile teams and the first team, so it is always a priority to have excellence in our Castilla backroom staff. Ian has worked in Spain before with Valencia CF and is highly regarded for his work with young players at home and abroad. We hope for a positive impact from our new Scottish recruit."
Speaking to the club website, the new Castilla trainer had this to say:
"The opportunity to join this elite institution was simply too good to turn down. I have a background in working on the development side of things in my home country, and it is something that gives me enormous satisfaction as a coach. Working with the next generation of stars at Real Madrid is a once in a career opportunity, and when I learned of the possibility to come here, I didn't hesitate for a moment. Hopefully there will be a quick transition and we will see results improve immediately. But the bigger picture will always be firmly in mind, and that is about getting as many of these players prepared for the next step as possible. I look forward to the challenge."
Cathro's first game in charge of Castilla will be against Brighton u-23s in the opening game of the Premier League International Cup.
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In a rare interview with a Portuguese radio show, former Hearts manager Ian Cathro insisted he won't be defined by his time in Gorgie, as he looks to press on with his career after leaving Tottenham Hotspur. Speaking in fluent Portuguese, the thirty-five year old remarked of his time in the Scottish capital: "It's something I get asked about a lot. And I think a lot of people on the outside of things assume it didn't work out because of the age factor. But I never felt the players didn't respect me or give me a chance. It was more about people buying into an idea; a way of playing the game. Because the team had been built to play one way, and I had another idea in mind, I think things never really got going. And once the results start to go against you, then comes everything else. But this is part of the business. You have to learn from it and move on to the next challenge. Hearts was a valuable experience for me, but it's not going to define my career."
Cathro's time at Hearts was marked by a downturn in results and performances, as well as rumours that he failed to command the respect of the dressing room due to his lack of experience. But the Dundee-born coach picked himself up from his Edinburgh disappointment and has since enjoyed spells in the English Premier League with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur as Nuno Espirito Santo's assistant. This latter spell came to an end recently when the Portuguese head-coach was relieved of his duties after a run of poor results. But Cathro told Portuguese radio that his old boss deserved more time to turn things around in North London: "Tottenham obviously have a lot of ambition. You can see that in the facilities they've invested in over the years, and in the fact that they've come close to winning a league title and a Champions League title in recent seasons. I think Nuno was a good appointment for the club, and in time I think he would have shown why Daniel Levy trusted him in the first place. We started the season brilliantly, and we had a rough patch heading into the autumn, but to be fired after only four months of the season felt a little premature to me. I know it's a results business, and I know managers can't expect all the time in the world at this level, but it did surprise me that Nuno was not given until the new year at least."
Cathro's appearance on the radio show could indicate a desire to return to management. It is common for out of work coaches to perform media work in order to get their name out there and into the minds of club owners. The host of the Portuguese programme picked up on this fact by asking Cathro about his plans for the future: "Here (in Portugal)? Maybe. I'm definitely open to the idea. I enjoyed my time with Rio Ave, and I feel I've developed a good understanding of the Portuguese game. But I'm certainly not against working somewhere totally new. I enjoy the challenge of working in unfamiliar environments, because you can't afford to get comfortable. If you know your surroundings, it can allow a bit of complacency to creep in. But being totally away from what feels familiar means you are always on edge, always trying to make sure everything is in order, and this brings out the best in me. I'm certainly not against continuing to work in the UK either. But there's a big world out there and I'm keen to see what it has to offer me."
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One of the subplots of the 2016-17 Scottish football season was the appointment of Ian Cathro at Heart of Midlothian. The young coach arrived from Newcastle United to replace MK Dons-bound Robbie Neilson on the 5th December. Cathro's youthfulness and lack of a playing-career created much debate around his appointment. But despite his inexperience, there were many figures in the game who spoke glowingly of his abilities as a coach. As Cathro worked hard to educate himself in Scotland's famed coaching programme, he caught the eye of Nuno Espirito Santo, who was also studying in the country at the time. This meeting would begin a relationship that took Cathro to Rio Ave, Valencia, Wolves, and Tottenham Hotspur as Nuno's assistant. It also marked Cathro out as one of the few Scottish coaches that seemed willing to get out of their comfort zone to work abroad. His ability to adapt to different cultures and football clubs, as well as his growing reputation in certain coaching circles helped convince Hearts to gamble on him in the winter of 2016.
Cathro had started his coaching career with Dundee United's academy in 2008 at the tender age of 22. It was during his time in United's youth setup that he helped bring along the development of Ryan Gauld and John Souttar, two of the academy's rising stars, as well as coming to the attention of the man who would appoint him at Hearts in 2016, Craig Levein. Levein was United's manager at the time, and the former Scotland boss was said to be very impressed by the young apprentice plying his trade with the youth teams. One of United's directors at the time, Stevie Campbell, had this to say of Cathro:
Quote"I was just astounded by him – and I really mean that word. This guy, in my opinion, was always destined for this sort of thing. He just did things so, so differently. He was working away with young boys like Souttar, Gauldy and Craig Wighton in his Cathro Clinic, and that pretty much transformed into Box Soccer, which is doing really well. Although he’s still behind Box Soccer, he’s obviously moved on to bigger and better things.
"I remember being in the room with Craig and Ian the day he was appointed as junior academy manager at United. I’ve never felt so inept in my life because those two just talked and talked about all aspects of football, and I couldn’t get a word in, which is not like me. Their relationship just grew from there.
“Craig was trying to restructure the academy and needed some help with it. He asked Ian to make up a curriculum for all the academy teams and, I’m not joking you, Ian came in the following day with the biggest curriculum you’ll ever see in your life. He must have worked right round the clock, and that’s the way he is. I think Craig has been quoted previously as saying he’d never seen anyone in youth football capable of doing what Ian was doing. People talk about innovators, but that is the perfect way to describe Ian."
After four years in Dundee United's academy, Cathro joined Rio Ave in Portugal as assistant to Nuno. Two successful years in Vila do Conde led to a move across the border with Valencia CF. Despite a strong first season in Spain, Cathro departed alongside Nuno, when the latter resigned from his post in November 2015. Two weeks later, Cathro was employed once more, this time as assistant to Steve McClaren at Newcastle United. When McClaren was sacked in March 2016, Rafael Benitez thought highly enough of the young Dundonian coach to keep him on his staff. But less than a year later, Cathro's first managerial opportunity would come along at one of the traditional clubs in his native Scotland: Heart of Midlothian.
Cathro took over a Hearts team in a good place; well on track to repeat their European-place finish from the season before. But the second half of the 2016-17 campaign would end disastrously for the club, with Cathro only managing five wins from twenty-two league games. They ended the season fifth, twelve points behind St Johnstone in the last Europa League spot. A Scottish Cup elimination at the hands of then-Championship rivals Hibs rubbed salt in the wounds. When Hearts started the 2017-18 season by getting eliminated from the Scottish League Cup group-stage, Cathro was relieved of his duties, less than twelve months into his post.
Then-Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers, expressed sympathy for Cathro, arguing that the Edinburgh club's transfer policy contradicted the tactical leanings of its young coach. But there were very few others in Scottish football who viewed the situation quite as sympathetically as the Northern-Irishman. Since his sacking in 2017, Cathro has been viewed as a sort of poster boy for out-of-their-depth young coaches, who are seen to be savvy with a laptop and the theoretical side of the game, but entirely inept at the man-management, people-side of things. Sky Sports Pundit and Scottish Sun columnist Kris Boyd was particularly scathing of Cathro, and recently invoked his name when discussing Shaun Maloney's appointment at Hearts' cross-town rivals Hibernian. It seems that in the space of a few months, Cathro went from being one of the most intriguing young coaches to come out of Scotland in a long time, to unhireable from a managerial point-of-view. After a year out of the game, Nuno Espirito Santo brought Cathro into the fold at Wolverhampton Wanderers, and then onto Tottenham Hotspur in 2021. The duo departed Spurs after Nuno's sacking, and Cathro has been out of work since.
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This save is going to be an attempt to continue the career of Ian Cathro within the fictional world of Football Manager 2022. At the age of only 35, Cathro still has plenty of time to fulfil his potential as a coach. Despite his relative youth, and an impressive CV as an assistant manager, I will have to rehabilitate Cathro's image as a manager in his own right. Having once been described as a "genius", there probably aren't too many clubs in Scotland's top flight that would be willing to gamble on Cathro these days. A successful spell somewhere else might open up opportunities, and Cathro could yet become one of the better Scottish managers if things go well.
I have loaded up the following nations to begin the save:
Scotland (down to League 2)
England (down to level 10)
Portugal (down to Campeonato Nacional Prio)
Spain (down to regional 4 preferente)
Japan (down to prefectural leagues)
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59 minutes ago, Wolf_pd said:
You have Frankfurt am Main and Frankfurt an der Oder.
Frankfurt am Main is where Eintracht Frankfurt plays. Frankfurt an der Oder is on the (East) German-Polish border.Ah, okay.
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2 hours ago, Reiver said:
East German team name of the day:
Betriebssportgemeinschaft Wohnungs- und Gesellschaftsbau Kombinat Frankfurt (Oder)
A Frankfurt team in East Germany?
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6 hours ago, Reiver said:
East German team name of the day:
Betriebssportgemeinschaft Bau- und Montagekombinat Kombinatsbetrieb Industriebau Gera
BSG BMK-KBI Gera for short.
That's my first save sorted. Make Betriebssportgemeinschaft Bau-und Montagekombinat Kombinatsbetrieb Industriebau Gera great again.
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Imagine Wolf defies history and makes the USSR and all its republics work in perfect harmony. It will be Nobel Peace Prize stuff!
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7 minutes ago, Wolf_pd said:
Turned out there were more issues with the West Germany when I couldn't reload the file this morning. So Czechoslovakia is now running without the new West Germany file and it does load now.
Nasty question what is wrong in West Germany though. That is going to be a tough nut to crack.
Lots. But with regards to the file...
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3 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:
Czechoslovakia now runs alone and is going much better
I've never been a fan of the whole Socialism in one country approach, but I'm glad to hear Czechoslovakia is working well on its own.
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1 hour ago, Wolf_pd said:
For the sake of realism I will consider removing them
Would it be possible to ban them temporarily? I think it would be weird playing in a database where English clubs were banned permanently.
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6 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:
Setting up the Czechoslovak competition today. Senior divisions are done, I am looking into the Cups (exact teams that qualify) and the U19s will follow after that. Should be finished tonight to run a first few test. So tomorrow Poland is started!
I look forward to leading Bohemians Praha to glory!
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This is an attempt to create, in writing, a documentary style chronicling of the 2021/22 season I will be embarking on with Sunderland A.F.C.. It's certainly going to be an experiment, stylistically speaking, but hopefully it proves both enjoyable to write and enjoyable to read. As should be obvious, the concept is very much founded on the Netflix series of the same name.
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(The episode begins with a recap of the previous season)
Narrator: The 2020-2021 season was overshadowed by the absence of supporters from football grounds up and down the country. The highs and lows of the English Football League season played out amidst a deathly silence, as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic made itself felt across the sport.
It was also the season that marked Sunderland's third campaign in the third-tier of the English football pyramid; an unthinkable situation only a few years ago. But reality set in very quickly in the silent stadia across League One, as the Black Cats stumbled to a disappointing start that would ultimately lead to the dismissal of then-manager Phil Parkinson.
On the fifth of December, the club appointed Lee Johnson, formerly of Championship side Bristol City. His appointment would mark an upturn in form, as Sunderland went on to book a place in the end of season play-offs. But it would ultimately end in tragedy in the semi-finals, where Lincoln City would consign the Black Cats to yet another campaign in League One, thanks to a 3-2 aggregate win. It was a feeling by now well familiar to Sunderland supporters: heartbreak. The play-off defeat was compounded by the departure of manager Lee Johnson, after only six months in the post. This left Sunderland searching for yet another manager ahead of the 2021-2022 season.
(Footage of Sunderland's board of directors arriving at club headquarters along with Sporting Director, Kristjaan Speakman. The camera follows club chairman, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus into the building, where he greets administrative staff and makes his way to the boardroom)
Narrator: In February of last season, Sunderland underwent a change of ownership. English businessman, Stewart Donald, whose three year tenure as Sunderland chairman was marred by constant tension with the club's support, agreed to sell his shares to Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, the twenty-three year old son of late billionaire, Robert Louis-Drefus, the former owner of Olympique de Marseille. Louis-Dreyfus Jr. became the youngest chairman in English football upon acquiring his majority shareholding.
(Interview with club chairman in his office)
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus: It's hard for a lot of people to look past the age. But I'm determined to demonstrate my suitability for this role, and my willingness to take on the responsibilities that come with it. I believe the potential Sunderland has as a football club, and a city, is enormous. If we can get the club back to the Premier League, then we can really harness that potential and build something special here.
(The camera is focused on the boardroom, where the directors are sat with the chairman, pouring over documents and reviewing slides on a projector. The discussion is inaudible. We are then introduced to Sporting Director, Kristjaan Speakman who is interviewed in his office)
Kristjaan Speakman: The new owners have come in and given the place a bit of a lift, I think. Obviously it's unusual for such a young man to be in the position of chairman, but I don't think anyone is put off by his lack of years. We've been very focused on identifying candidates to lead the team into next season so we can start the interviewing process, and Kyril has shown great leadership throughout the discussions. I think we're all excited by his vision for Sunderland.
(We're shown different images of Sunderland, from residential streets, where kids kick a ball about, to derelict land where the impact of deindustrialisation is evident. We're then introduced to a number of Sunderland fans from different lines of work)
Fan #1: The club have gotta sort it out, haven't they? We've been passed about from pillar to post, with new chairmans, new managers, and the like. But the performances haven't changed. have they? We're still ****!
Fan #2: I was a bit disappointed to see Johnson go, if I'm honest. I thought he did quite well getting us to the play-offs. It's all well and good trying to wipe the slate clean after a disappointment, but we need a bit of stability. We can't be sitting here next season talking about another new appointment.
Fan#3: This young man's come in, Dreyfus I think is name is, and he's promised to sort it all out. So I'm hoping he's the one that finally follows through on his promises, because we've been let down for a long time now. I think everyone is getting a bit fed up of listening to men in suits talking about how Sunderland should be in the Premier League when they can't get us out of bloody League One!
(A time-lapse shot of the sun rising and then setting over the Stadium of Light indicates the passage of time. We have moved forward just over a fortnight. We cut to a breaking story on SkySports News)
SkySports News Anchor: We have some breaking news to bring you from Sunderland this hour: our sources have informed us that Sunderland are set to announce John Kennedy as the club's new manager.
(We see footage of Kennedy arriving at the club's headquarters, followed by clips of him shaking hands with some of the club's directors in the lobby)
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I've always understood defensive football as reactive rather than proactive, where the emphasis is on counteracting the opponent's attacking strategy. In this sense it has always seemed quite relative to me. If I am wanting to be a defensive-minded coach, it's less about dropping everything deep and standing off, and more about understanding when each defensive approach I can take is suitable for the type of attacking strategy I expect to face.
I remember trying to play defensively with Aberdeen a few years ago, and I was in a League Cup tie against one of the lower league sides, and I had set my team up in a way that to me equalled defensive football (the low df-line, the low LOE, little pressing etc), but at one point in the game, when we were playing poorly, I thought to myself: is this the best way to counteract the opponent in this match? It seemed we were actually giving them a better chance of winning by not taking advantage of the superiority we had in certain areas. It was at that moment when I started to think differently about things, and see defensive football not as a way to purposefully handicap yourself, but as a fluid approach that can change its stripes when need be.
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I just randomly moved sliders and arrows about in the early FMs, but I had fun doing so.
My approach today is only superficially more sophisticated, because the game is more sophisticated. But I pretty much still blindly move things about and hope for the best!
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9 hours ago, Wolf_pd said:
Any suggestions I have to take on board?
Keep up the good work!
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3 minutes ago, Wolf_pd said:
Czechoslovakia is work in progress in the meantime.
The motherland!
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The Realism Thread
in Football Manager General Discussion
Posted
I like these rules, man.
I've been unable to get into a save since my time with Kilsyth. But Mozza's Scottish database hasn't been brought up to speed with the 22.3 update yet. I want to try playing a LlaMa save, while also playing as a real football personality. Someone unspectacular, of course. Maybe a former lower-league player. That helps me to feel a sense of realism.
There's the English level 10 database; the Spanish one from FMSite; Argentinian and Brazilian ones too.
Don't know where to go, but I'm going to commit to trying to play realistically again. I enjoyed it much more.