fmafrican

This looks so cool - going to have a play!

Evening - a quick update from up here in the Faroes. We've reached the "split" point in the season - 14 games played and we top the table by two points from NSI IV team who, impressively, are above NSI III team in the table. My only sign players who want to be the star player approach was great in theory and has got me a team that I am fairly happy with right now - until three lads not getting game time all moaned in the same week and opted to take me up on the "if you don't like it you can leave" option. That meant we went into four games with one outfield sub. The tactic seems to be working well enough - I'd say it's sitting at about 80% tactical familiarity right now. Ten more games to secure promotion - I'd hope we can close this out from this position!

Quick update from the Faroes. We are alive and well. Pre-season has just come to an end and it's been decent. First up, of course, was recruiting a squad - which you can see below. Obviously, I expect you to know each player I have signed intimately already. We are recruiting to fit a 4-5-1 shape that plays on the break - not that really helped too much when bringing the players in as I am very much a one-man amateur band. As you can see below, I looked to get a bit of versatility through the door so I can keep the squad fairly small and tight. Seven out of 16 can play in a couple of positions which does help. In terms of how I selected the players, I went via position and then only tried to bring in players who wanted to be 'star' players or 'first-choice' players. The back-of-a-fag-packet philosophy there was that if they wanted to be big fish in this small pond then hopefully they'll have skills to prove themselves. This won't be fool-proof and of course means I will have missed some other talent who are probably more modest - but hey. Seven pre-season friendlies were played - five against teams in the division above and two against 3. Deild rivals. And did well - six wins, one draw. The aim was to try and get some familiarity as fast as possible, minutes in the legs and, ideally, boost a bit of confidence - all three boxes can be ticked off. Training is as basic as you can have it, really. Given the few slots we get to work with the side, I have just tried to cover all bases and see what happens. I love keeping an eye on the finances and there isn't much money sloshing around at GÍ - those seven home friendlies have led to €593 in gate receipts and €1,180 in match-day revenues! Season tickets have come to an eye-watering €247 revenues so far. Loaded. The mysterious 'other' is our biggest cost - €5,000 and counting to date. All that means we are €2.5k in the red right now. That said, the projection is to end the season with €7.5k in the bank, so we will see. I have learned that the Faroese Cup is a bit **** - we don't get a place this season and it looks like you need to be in 2. Deild to enter. There's a prelim round of a single match, a Round of 16 etc. Finally, the bookies don't think we stand a chance. I love it when they say that. Back soon!

How do - first time writing about a save on this forum. Hopefully, you'll enjoy my FM-inept ramblings! I read something interesting about football in the Faroe Islands a few days ago and I had never realised how much football is played in such a small place. Naturally, that inspired me to research further and I was very pleased to find a database on Steam that went down to Div 4. Then, when digging around to learn more about football on the islands I discovered what is always my favourite part on Wikipedia - the defunct football clubs list. And that led me to Gøtu Ítróttarfelag - the now defunct multiple winners of the Faroe Islands Premier League - or the Betri deildin menn. In 2008, GÍ merged with LÍF Leirvík who had barely played in the top division to create Víkingur Gøta. The new club has won the top flight twice since, making you wonder whether it was worth it, really - GÍ won it on their own six times (though not since their four-season dominance of the early to mid 90s). Anyway, I am in danger of digressing already. Keeping it simple, I love a defunct football club and I love bringing them back to life at the bottom and seeing how far they can be taken. I did this once with Haarlem of the Netherlands years ago and had great fun. It's time to do it again in a nation I have never managed in before - and it ticks another one of my favourite FM boxes being a country I don't see many people having a stab at. I have rebooted GÍ in the 3. Deild - a 15-team 4th Division of Faroese football. Because I love a challenge, I have made them always-Amateur, meaning they will never turn semi-pro or pro - just purely out of interest to see whether I could one day get a proper Amateur side playing in European football. The lower reaches of Faroese football is mainly made up of B, C and D teams of the top-flight clubs. In fact, outside of the top flight there are only X independent teams in the other three divisions - 4 in 1. Deild, 3 in 2. Deild and 0 in 3. Deild (other than the now-reformed GÍ). But one of the cool things about this database is that all teams seem to be fully populated and there's a crazy-healthy amount of free agents available too. Considering I have a completely blank piece of paper to start with, that means squad building should be fun. Other than seeing how far I can take an Amateur football club, I'd like to get something interesting happening tactically. I was reading "Tackle Soccer" by Dave Sexton (former English football coach who led Chelsea to their first-ever European trophy many moons ago) and in an early chapter he spoke about "The Spirit of the Counter Attack". If you say counter-attack to many 'football fans' in this day and age and they'd probably tell you that's a boring, negative way of playing football. I guess if you are watching Crystal Palace when Roy is in a particularly defensive mood then it can feel a bit negative. But the way Sexton described it made perfect sense to me. Given that no team in history has ever had 100% of possession, every football team plays counter-attack - it just depends on where and when that counter-attack starts. And to do it, you have to have players who are willing to get into the shape from which you want to start again and win the ball back. Whilst musing this today, I saw a post from View from the Touchline's Twitter feed which was basically a 4-5-1 shape defensively which I liked the look of immediately and will be the base from which I start (see attachment). We will recruit to that and see where it takes us. I am tempted to go it alone initially with no staff and base every decision on what I see myself (I can find myself too easily led by scouts, assistant managers and the like - plus I've never, ever noticed more injuries at a club when I don't have a physio in place). To do that, I will either be signing players blind initially (they are amateur, I can release them again if I hate them) or bringing many in on trial and picking the best. Wish me luck - I'll try and post regular updates in here and would welcome any questions, suggestions or general FM chit chat.