kevhamster

OK thanks!

Which other forum? I lost track of it all as I largely lost interest in FM until 19 came out.

August 2020 Ouch. Well, I knew it wasn't going to be easy. The first 3 matches were utterly miserable. We should have done better against Bristol City, but too many players had an off day. Man City absolutely tore us a new one. They were just on another level altogether. Palace ripped us to shreds in the first half, and I was fearing a cricket scoreline as it was 5-0 at half-time. We were a lot more solid in the second half, but even if we had been a little bit more effective up front, we had obviously left ourselves with too much to do. It was at this point that I made some alterations to the tactics, as it was clear the system which had served us well in the second tier was not going to work against opposition which were technically more adept than us, which is clearly going to be most of the other teams at this level at this point. We looked far better against Liverpool, and even took the lead. However, they had won all of their games at this point and a good result was always going to be a big ask. And so it proved as their better quality ultimately triumphed, although the improved performance gave me some hope that my alterations were on the right track. We managed a win against Millwall, back in the Championship after one season. Hey, I'll take that. And finally, the holy grail to close off the month. A win. With a clean sheet no less. We had to rely on a top quality performance from keeper Darren Randolph and some pretty desperate defending at times, but a win is a win. And a clean sheet is a clean sheet. The table doesn't look very pretty at the moment, but we were rock bottom before the West Ham game, so it could always be worse,

A tricky start to the season, but we're through to the next round of the cup and we have at least managed to beat the team that is tipped to be our main rival at the foot of the table.

And the next coaching badge is underway.

2020/21 - Lakotau FC - Vanuatuan Port Vila Premier Division Following a pre-season where many signings have been made (largely thanks to us now being able to attract a Director of Football), the odds have shifted somewhat. We're still 200-1 for the title and expected to go down, but Siwi have replaced us in the media's predicted bottom slot. The board want us to bravely fight against relegation. Pre-season was pretty decent. The draw against Blacksands Eagles was fairly poor, and the 3-1 loss against Tafea was to be expected, as they are the current champions of Vanuatu, and finished in 2nd the season before so they are clearly one of the best teams this little island nation has to offer! We didn't disgrace ourself in defeat, and the DoF has made a number of good quality signings for us since that game took place so I'm hopeful we can do a little bit better next time we encounter them.

Good read! Well done on the promotion.

I don't remember Pete. But I do remember Iajafer, and Brody's. Although, I'm not sure Brody's would be allowed in these more PC times!!

2020/21 - Middlesbrough - English Premier League Board expectations: Avoid relegation. So, Boro are back in the big time. As you can see, we've been a bit busy in the transfer market: Essentially, the players brought in with a fee have been brought in to increase the overall quality of the first team. Woodman looks like a decent backup keeper, although he sadly broke his leg shortly into the pre-season, so we won't be seeing him until the new year at the earliest. Diaz increases our striker options in a surprisingly cheap deal. Barja should increase our potency from the wings, and Maehle & Barisic are in to increase competition at the fullback slots. Da Le Fuente and Insigne are fantastic looking freebies, and will provide further backup on the wings, and Mortimer is a useful backup player who can play as a striker, or again out wide in the unlikely event we're short in this area! Coyle is basically a youngster with excellent potential. Although he's unlikely to feature too heavily in the first team this season, £600k looks like a snip for a talented youngster who can provide backup in the pivotal DM position and who is likely to improve significantly. The rest of the inbound players are youngsters with good potential who've been released over the summer by other clubs. Duncan Watmore, who had been very important in the run-in last season sadly took exception to the increased competition, and has been loaned back to Sunderland as apparently the best way to stake your claim for the team after saying you're worried about being replaced is to perform like a complete turd in training and friendlies! Another unhappy player is Jayden Bogle, who had been competing with Ryan Shotton for the right-sided full-back spot last season, as he feels Maehle was brought in to replace him. In reality, it was Shotton who I've had one eye on getting rid of as he's in his 30's and likely to decline soon. Bogle is still only 20 and features heavily in my plans! The other loanees out are youngsters who I feel have good potential, but would benefit from some first team football. The board want me to steer us clear of the bottom 3. The media predict us to finish 18th, above the other two teams promoted. The expectations are that we reach the 4th round of the FA Cup and the third round of the Carabao. Pre-season results were pretty good. We looked sharp for the most part and really should have won against Fulham as well. We kick off with a home game against fellow newbies Bristol City, and then a trip to the Etihad where we'll see if we can do a repeat of that first season result against Man City.

And we're being predicted to finish rock bottom of the division!

As the Pre-Season starts, Vanuatu are ranked 162nd, two places better than last year.

The 2020 European Championship sees quite a surprising winner.

I also bagged my National C licence in May. I'll apply for the National C as soon as the next batch of sponsor money comes in, as the club is again in the red at the end of the season.

Indeed! I'm hoping to get enough so the entire country is covered at the end of next season. Currently, less than half is within range. Of course, it could be like Vanuatu where most teams play at one stadium. I also noticed looking at the Port Vila map, that one of the other stadia in use in the Vanuatu league is actually within walking distance of the Municipal Stadium used by the vast majority of the teams.

Air Miles calculation As previously mentioned, Vanuatu was ranked 164th at the start of the pre-season. That gave us a ranking modifier of 1.36. We won 9 games. Short season modifier was again 1.875. The trophy win (division championship) doubles the earned miles. So we win 229.5 miles this season, so we now have 309.94 in total. This now means New Caledonia is in range. I've added the league for that country, however it won't actually load in until February 2021 and given we're only just touching the very edge of the country, I suspect that any jobs which come up may not actually be within range.