phnompenhandy

If you want 100% realism, it's best to find dedicated national files in Steam Workshop.

This. You've basically got to plan a year ahead.

Some of us turn attribute numbers off and play solely using statistics and staff reports. You just have to learn to interpret them.

We’re going for it in the British Cup. Shane was only half-joking when he requested an away draw with a top flight team. We have to travel to Newtonards in Ulster to play Ards. That’s why I rested the entire first team. There was nothing in it and 1-1 was a fair result. So we bring them back to our place, causing a bit of fixture congestion but I feel we’re better placed to cope now. We got back from Ireland the day the transfer window was closing. East Fife came in for Innes Smithy but he turned them down flat. The window closed without us losing anyone although Boylan’s in a grump. The boys rested and didn't train. I decided on the positive version of the 4-3-3 since we were at home. That did the trick – we smashed them 4-0. Campbell got a hat trick – all fed by inside forwards and attacking wingbacks, and they never had a shot on target. In the third round we’re at home to minnows Pike Rovers from Limerick, but maybe we’ll strike gold in the fourth.

If you mean in the tactical familiarity bar, no I don't bother about it.

Ayr United made a bid for Boylan. Thanks to the contract Shane made him sign, we could reject it, but I’m bracing myself for a very angry young goalkeeper. Yup, his agent couldn’t convince him his best interests are here; we’ll have to see how things pan out. Even though I was concerned about his state of mind, I sent him down to Scarborough with ten second-choice outfield starters due to the midweek cup clash. It almost cost us – we were second best, but Rostock came off the bench to score a 90th minute winner and luck balanced out with a 2-1 win this time. Avian identity crisis on the north-east coast: flamingo??????? Only one automatic promotion spot in this league, which I'd say is bagged by Ebbsfleet. Fifth is the last play-off spot. We can dream, can't we?

It’s tough at this level. I know I knew that, but I’ve gotten a little over-confident again. Goals were raining in in pre-season but it’s proving very difficult to create and convert chances against these defences. With 90 minutes up, we were heading to a 0-0 draw at Oxford City, but I’d clocked they’d player three days before and were wilting; I played the late sub card, turned up the spigot and hey presto! Rostock pops up with an injury time winner. 1-0 and we’re up and away! The positive vibes were reinforced by a handsome victory against Slough Town despite two missed penalties. Lyall Barclay turned down an offer from Thurso – he says it’s not far enough away and is waiting for a bid by Orkney. We went him gone – he’s been a faithful servant, making 116 appearances for us, but he’s cooked, and he knows it. We did well to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw against St. Albans after Schumacher earned himself a red card. I did misjudge in pre-season, despite the great equipment we have access to, these young boys can’t manage two games a week and I’m having to call on the new boys far earlier and more than I’d like. In addition, we're getting parents on the phone and marching into our office complaining we’re pushing their boys too far and that their sons come home exhausted. ‘No pain, no gain’, we tell them – it’ll be worth it in the long one for those who want it enough. We went down to Barnet, and I quickly saw that we were better than them, so we went at them. We should have won, but in fact they stole it in the 93rd minute, and we lost 1-2. I didn’t feel down; in fact, I realised that we didn’t need to feel intimidated by these big professional clubs. Apart from Ebbsfleet who are sailing away into the distance, we can beat anyone in this league on our day with fair wind.

The first cup tie against Dunstable Town was the ideal opportunity for Bell and Smith to serve suspensions due to picking up yellow cards in the final game of last season. That and the Golspie Sutherland match were the walks in the park I expected them to be, but some of the boys were a little bit less fit than I thought they’d be after our carefully calibrated pre-season, and I had to make some minor adjustments for our first league game in tier eight against Oldham Athletic The fans were expecting the monsters to devour the fallen giant, but it just goes to show, no matter how well you prepare in pre-season, you can never know how things will turn out. An early set-back – we’ll ready to go again.

Shane tells me he’s had a lot of the older lads in to convert their contracts from youth contracts to part-time. He reckons it’s costing him now, but it protects their value and ensures we get transfer fees when the inevitable happens. He also says it will keep frivolous bids at bay, allowing him to focus on important matters. The bookies have Benn at 8/1 and Cailean at 25/1 to finish top scorers division this year. I’d advise you to keep your money in your pockets – they appear to have been influenced by them filling their boots against local minnows in pre-season. I’m hoping they will both do well, though.

The three-week pre-season is over. It felt like three months given the amount of time and effort we put into fine-tuning tactics and choosing personnel. As I mentioned, we're going with three set of tactics, and we've settled on a first team squad of 23. Reid covered for Boylan extremely well, giving me confidence in sending him off to internationals during the season. Out of hats, we've been given two pretty easy first round ties in the cups. If you look at the attendances, you can see that despite us being compensated for travel expenses, we're losing more than money in being in a league with English teams - the ties with Scottish teams not too far away bring in wonderful crowds. As it says on the tin, this is to hold on to a lead, or when we see ourselves as underdogs This is what we go with when we're feeling pretty confident This is how we saw out our promotion season and will be our default for now. You can also see the full first team squad (non-starting members will also play for the U23s) Liam Macangus announced he didn't wish to be considered for the captaincy this season. I was relieved - it had affected his form. Ewan Bell is happy to take the armband, and Liam Jardine will be his deputy.

As a control, I'd use the in game editor to max out condition and see how much difference the fatigue factor makes.

Good project you've got here. I'm also doing an Academy-only challenge on this forum. As you recognise, when it comes to promotions, timing is very important. You need to build your youth infrastructure before going up - start with junior coaching so that your academy intake kids have higher CA and some can step straight into the first team.

Are you making the lowest levels amateur? And to clarify, you're not just using the teams in the FM23 database - you're creating a load of new clubs with accurate locations etc too? I can see an "Islands" Tournament.

Thanks for the update. I'm really excited about this!

Yeh, that's fair. In fact, I think one factor is MY overconfidence when things are going surprisingly well!

A common thing I'm noticing with myself and others is we get off to a good start, then hit a rough patch, and we lose hand over fist. I'm still trying to work out if it's due to oppo sussing out our tactics, bad training regimes or just a worsening morale snowball effect. But it happens time and again.

The pre-game editor? You uninstall it like any other app in Windows. The ingame editor? You tick the box in the setting up a new save window to disable the editor.

Oh, thanks for that. I wouldn't have known, and he looks to have a big future. Here's what we're doing. I can't quite decide whether to go with inside forwards or not, so we're working on two tactics - our structured 4-3-3 with attacking wingbacks and inside forwards, AND our flexible 4-3-1-2 - a previous tactic that we know well. I'm even working on polishing up our fluid possession-heavy version of the 4-3-3 to hold on to a lead or use away. Shane and the fans hate it, but needs must. That way we can switch if one starts to get sussed out - even in-game if necessary. We've scaled back on pre-season friendlies in order to concentrate on cohesion and tactical familiarity as well as getting fit, doing two sessions a week at Dingwall. Oldham have sold a player for £150,000. Three other players in this league have gone for over £50,000. This is what we ought to be doing, but not until we’re professional. £50,000 in TV money, shirts sales royalties and compensation for travel expenses all came in over June, putting the club temporarily in the black. I'd been trying to gently move on Brian Severin. Now aged 19, he was too old for the Under 18 squad, and I couldn’t ensure him much time in the first team. He eventually accepted an offer from Strathspey Thistle. On the other hand, vultures are circling around my best players – Benn Rostock, Ross Jack Nelson, Liam Macangus and Innes Smith at the moment. I have said I must ensure no players are indispensable, but I mean later, after second-string new recruits have bedded in. Pre-season is too soon! I’ve been debasing myself by resorting to the usual unctuous flattery to hang on to them. It might work in the short term – they’ve all signed new contracts with more appearance bonuses, but will surely lead to expectations I won’t be able to meet. Full-time football can’t come soon enough to this club.

WOAH! He listened! So with one more season as part-timers, we have to match the bookies' expectations in a league with ex-Tier One club Oldman Athletic (and will open our tier eight league account with them). Peterboro Sports have managed to slide over to our division. Did you notice above SIX teams get relegated! Over the summer we got our first internationals, too Boylan's been called up for the UEFA U19s competition, which might take him out for most of the pre-season.

And finally, the eight tier in England - the league we're being promoted into: Now, it needs to be noted that half the teams here are professional. Shane demands a midtable finish (while playing hoofball, but let's not go there again). That means beating every part-time team - a heck of an ask. And to gain promotion in the next two years - our target I discussed earlier, I'd say we have to turn professional. We need to fully utilise our terrific training facilities, and we need to pay wages to keep our best players, or at least get a decent transfer fee if they do leave. Shane candidly notes that I'd require a full time salary when he pays me a part-time wage for doing a full-time job - and that he has no choice. He says my task is to secure an away tie in the British FA Cup at Anfield or Old Trafford; until then, we're unlikely to have the finances in place to go professional.

At Tier 8 we have four regional leagues: Note the champions in Wales and Ireland are English sides that found themselves victims of administrative errors like ourselves: Here's Scotland (with Peterboro Sports failing to make fools of their hosts):

Tier 7 is the first regional level. In the Celtic division, it's a story of Irish up, Scots down: Here's the (truncated) Anglo-Saxon region:

Our senior affiliate, Ross County is midtable in Tier 4, and you can see Dundalk is the top Irish side. Tier 5 And coming out of Tier 6, more Republic of Ireland clubs The New saints peaked and are back down, and far more Scottish sides are continuing to get relegated rather than go the other way.

Tier 2 - the only Scottish side finishes last: But they are replaced by Hearts Our friends in Inverness are the sixth best team in Scotland!

Our U23 emulated the senior side by finishing runners-up of their league, but a point short, whilst the U18s won theirs on goal difference. King’s Lynn got promoted through the play-offs. Let’s see what else went on in Britain and Ireland: Tier 1 - Rangers and Celtic just about survive again!