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I’d been looking forward to my retirement. After twenty years as a professional footballer, I was more than ready to ride off into the sunset and run a pub in the age-old tradition of ex-players. As it happened, my retirement lasted all of two weeks before I was approached with an opportunity that I couldn’t turn down: the chance to go home. It still felt strange referring to Gibraltar as “home.” Although I was born here and, in the latter stages of my career, had made twenty-eight appearances for the national side, I had grown up in England. As a navy brat, it was mere luck that led to my being born on the Rock. My father was stationed here and my mother – ever the loyal wife – had followed him during his posting. We moved to Portsmouth when I was three, and nobody ever thought that I would return. I wouldn’t if it hadn’t been for football. I had barely come around from the post-retirement party hangover when the news that would change my plans broke: Hemel Hempstead Town had hit financial troubles. It popped up in the crawl bar on Sky Sports News and, for whatever reason, was the only thing on the screen my eyes could focus on. It was entirely useless information, but it stuck with me longer than it should have. I threw back a couple of painkillers and go back to bed for round two with whatever her name was. A couple of days later – I think – I was rudely awoken by the sound of my phone ringing. She was gone. I couldn’t remember her name. Probably didn’t ask for it – I rarely did. Or needed to. “What?” I grunted into the phone, a mixture of confusion, anger, and feeling like I’d been hit by a car. “Matty,” after a moment of processing, I figured out that it was my agent, Rick, “I’ve got an offer for you.” “I retired, remember? We had a talk, put out a press release, threw a party… Pretty sure you were there, mate.” “I was. They’re not asking you to play. They want you to manage.” “Who?” “Inter.” “Milan?” My mind instantly filled with plans of chasing models and gorging myself into retirement shape on the local cuisine. “Not quite.” A few days later, I was sitting in a fancy restaurant waiting to be interviewed. I don’t know how they even talked me into that, under the circumstances. The news had been bigger than I expected; the demise of Hemel had led to a takeover by a group of ambitious businessmen. In the space of a week – allegedly – deals had been done and the club now known as “Franchise 2” by a large segment of football fans was joining the Vanarama South: Inter Gibraltar were the newest members of the English footballing pyramid. The tiny footballing nation – the place where I was born – now had a representative in the English game. And here I was – Matty Walker, Gibraltar’s favourite footballing son – waiting to be interviewed to lead the project.

#1 / Introducing... Click here to watch! Let me introduce you to Svante Nordberg. A successful ski-racer who regularly featured on the FIS World Cup, Svante's body gave up on him as he reached his thirties. His injuries were severe enough to force Svante to retire, however this allowed him the opportunity to focus on his other passion in life, football. Svante joined his local club, Helsingborgs IF, working with and learning from the backroom staff at the club. He quickly made an impression on the board, who could see he possessed exceptional footballing acumen, particularly for someone that has never kicked a professional ball. After Helsingborgs were relegated to the Superettan in 2016 and then failed to re-join the Allsvenskan in 2017 with a 7th place finish, the board decided to take a risk. In February 2018, Svante Nordberg was unveiled as Helsingborgs manager. His journey taking Helsingborgs back to the top of Sweden and beyond, begins now...

Hi pals, please suggest a small ****** team for me to play on Football Manager Two Thousand and Seventeen and I will play it plus upload regular updates. We'll be talking full dictator mode here chaps! Things like one complaint he's out, regular night-time beatings for players, screaming that I expect a win at every game, players leaving team meetings with spittle soaked faces, players being fired for holding the wrong political views. You get the idea. It's going to make North Korea look like a holiday camp! Looking forward to your suggestions, chums!

Hi all, I am brand new here (although I have been lurking checking through stories for the last few weeks) I have been inspired to start the impossible (Which I have seen tried and tested here before... no guesses as to which user got me interested in undertaking this crazy game)!! I am yet to decided on a club, but I shall be partaking in the San Marino league and to make it more interesting I shall be completing this as a youth only challenge also. Not setting myself any targets or goals (although I still expect to score a few) I just want to see where this takes us... hopefully to the promised land of European Football!! Please enjoy my pain as we embark on the path to crazy town in what will hopefully be a whirlwind adventure!

Good evening and welcome back to the Hopton United Journey. Todays part we will be looking at Novembers results in the league and we will take a look at the months players stats and also take a look at the overall player stats to date. We will also take a look at the current league table at the end of November. There will also be the opportunity to vote on who you think should win player of the month for November. So lets start today by taking a look at the 4 league matches this month. Not much happened this month apart from 4 league matches, but im sure as we progress through the leagues, there will be more happening especially when we enter more competitions. To see the rest of the post, please check out my blog on a steemit and whilst you there give me a follow and an Upvote to see the story progress. https://steemit.com/gaming/@ricksterblogs/football-manager-2018-the-hopton-journey-part-5

So its 2020 and my Everton team is second in Premiership with 75 points. Man U has won it already (surprise! surprise!) but I have greater prize in mind. We will be facing Barcelona in Champions League Final on May 30! And this is only our first year in Champions League. I don't know whether it was luck or my tactics but I sure don't want to mess this up so I would love tips on how to face Barca's traditional 4-3-3 . In group stage I beat them once (3-0) and tied (2-2). I've been using traditional 4-4-2 all season but I'm not sure if thats the best formation to counter 4-3-3. I'm really nervous as I never won Champions League with any team in all my 5 years (and 1000s of hours) of playing football manager games. PS: I never even expected to get this far with my pretty average Everton team. I didn't make many changes to the original roster. Only adding Kieren Tierney, Petagna (Italian targetman) and Florin Andone as Inside Forward, so no world beaters in our team.

Hello all, I recently started a new blog, and I really want it to be a regular thing. I would really appreciate if some of you great people could read some of my first story (Focusing on FC Lorient, new post coming later today) and give me some feedback. Any form of feedback, negative or positive, would be appreciated so much. The blog is https://offmblog.wordpress.com/ If you're not interested that's completely fine but it would be great if anyone could read along. I am starting a story focused on FC Lorient in Ligue 2 of France, obviously with aspirations of becoming the biggest club in Europe. After a while I will most likely branch out into other FM related content, but I just want to get the story up and running at first. Cheers, Outside Forward (or /u/WhichVA on reddit)

So ive started a journeyman unemployed with no coaching badges.. The first season was a struggle but were slowly picking up. Ive also re created some legendary managet tactics. Please take a look at my channel to follow the journey. :-D https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBOnEREpbt25BQYzn1QVKnw

Hello and welcome to the story of the ‘3 musketeers’! Abstract: This is a story about 3 friends, all eager to start their first managerial career in FM17. These managers will be playing an online save together, but will not necessarily be managing teams in the same league or nation. However it seems inevitable that the paths of these ambitious managers will cross at some point… Background: Collectively we’ve been playing FM for over 25 years and we’ve always kept each other up to date regarding the progress of our individual saves. Also we have been playing some online saves together, the longest being a 12 year Eredivisie save in FM16. Usually we would pick teams in the same league, and we had quite some thrilling encounters against each other. The most memorable being a Champions League final where Manchester City beat Manchester United at Old Trafford 6-2. However this year we decided to pick teams in different leagues and nations. Like all FM players we have different preferences when it comes to managing a club. For example LoPizzo is very fond of lower league management, Boer can’t look beyond his beloved Feyenoord and Pumba is looking to spend big money fast. Also we think that by managing in different leagues and countries we will actually enrich our total gaming experience. What’s new this year as well, is that we will be sharing our progress on this forum. We hope you will enjoy reading about our ups and downs and we sure look forward to your replies. We will now shortly introduce ourselves, our managerial styles, the teams we picked and the setup of our save. The Managers: Liborio LoPizzo: Nationality: Dutch Supports (Dutch): PSV Supports (Rest of World): Celtic, AS Roma, Boca Juniors, Colo-Colo Playing FM since: FM 2005 Memorable saves: 1. Taking Clyde from the Scottish 4th tier to a CL-victory only using Scottish players (FM 2013) 2. The ultimate journeyman save, starting unemployed with no reputation: Chavdar Etropole, Excelsior, Dinamo Zagreb, PSV, Fiorentina, AC Milan and topping it of with a CL-title in 2026 (FM 2011) 3. Taking Real Union from the Spanish 3rd tier to a CL-victory only using Spanish players (FM 2014) 4. Taking Messina from the Italian 4th to an EL-victory only using Italian players (FM 2014) 5. A south-american journeyman save through Chile and Argentina for 10 years Favourite Country to manage in: Italy (gotta love those Italian names) Favourite all-time Player: Liborio Lo Pizzo; The regen from my Messina-save who generated at my club after one year, only to become top goal scorer in the Serie D, Serie C, Serie B and Serie A and Italian all-time most capped player and all-time top goal scorer. Managing style: Experimental Favourite type of game: Lower League Management. The more obscure the better, also love to keep everything homegrown if possible Greatest achievement: Yet to be completed, but I have some ideas for a great solo adventure! Bas Boer: Nationality: Dutch Supports (Dutch): Feyenoord Supports (Rest of World): Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund Playing FM since: 2011 Memorable saves: 1. The save I started in FM15 where I started with Feyenoord and ended up with Manchester United. Winning the Dutch cup, the Super Cup and the Eredivisie once. In England winning the Premier League, 2x community shield, 2x League cup and one FA Cup, only failing to win the biggest of them all, the Champions League, against fellow manager Buchis Pumba. 2. 13 seasons as Feyenoord manager in FM16, winning the Dutch Cup 5 times, 2 dutch super cups and sadly only one Eredivisie title in the first season. Also worth mentioning, one Europa League final in 2024, losing after extra time against AC Milan. Favourite Country to manage in: Holland Favourite all-time Player: Michel Wapenaar and Danny Clement. Both in my Feyenoord save in FM16. A deadly legendary striker from my own youth setup and another youth product playing in midfield. Managing style: Attacking possession football. 4-3-3, sometimes with an defensive midfielder, sometimes an attacking one. Favourite type of game: To be honest, I usually pick Feyenoord. I like scouting the entire planet for that special gem, in combination with my own youth products. Greatest achievement: Hopefully yet to come! Buchis Pumba: Nationality: Dutch Supports (Dutch): Ajax, Ado den Haag Supports (Rest of World): Real Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur, River Plate Playing FM since: I remember playing ‘Manchester United’ as a kid, which might be an entirely different series, but I’ve always been fond of managing type games. Been playing FM on and off, more actively the last 2 years. Memorable saves: I rarely play a save for more than 5 or 6 seasons, so I don’t feel these saves justify an honourable mention. I do like a variety of challenges (youth only, lower league management, starting unemployed), and I had a great save with Radnicki Nis in Serbia, but I tend to return to managing Ajax en Ado, the 2 clubs I support in my home country, or clubs in the Premier League or Championship since I’ve been always been a huge fan of English football. Favourite Country to manage in: Holland, England Favourite all-time Player: I have to mention 2 that stand out here. Both players pretty much single handedly won me the Champions League. #1 Jahrizinho de Boer This guy was a beast for me, ever since I signed him in 2020/21 for Ado den Haag. It was my first season at the freshly promoted club, and he was vital in the league wins that would follow. In his 7 seasons after he signed for the club, only once he scored an average rating below 8.0. He became a true legend for the club however when he took the club to beat the odds an win the champions league in 2027/28. Despite all his achievements, De Boer only made the national team once. Holland manager Fred Rutten continued to favour the likes of Depay and Ould-Chikh. De Boer was disheartened when he didn’t make the Euro 2028 squad. His manager was livid and fans were outraged, media were demanding for Rutten’s resignation. Sure enough the Dutch campaign would prove to be unsuccessful and Rutten would get sacked. I picture this guy to be a man of the people, I mean look at him! This is a hard working guy who was given a second chance and ever since payed back his manager. Purely based on his attributes he was probably the weakest guy in my first 11, but he never disappointed. #2 Ali Bayrakci I signed this guy from Fenerbahce in 2018/19. My Manchester City squad was already insanely strong, with the likes of Ronaldo, Messi, De Bruyne, Alaba and Pogba. Basically, 7 out of the world best XI were playing in my team, and I had all the money in the world. I was able to tutor this striker by Aguero, Messi and Ronaldo and by the age of 20 he was probably already the best player in the world. In the 6-2 Champions League win over Manchester United (see earlier) in 2019/20 he had a massive impact by scoring four goals. Managing style: Attacking, I like to score goals. Favourite type of game: Online Greatest achievement: Champions League win with Ado den Haag (see earlier). The Game Leagues Loaded: England (Sky Bet League 2) France (Ligue 1) Germany (Bundesliga) Italy (Lega Pro) Spain (La Liga Santander) Holland (Jupiler League) Portugal (Liga NOS) Belgium (Jupiler Pro League) Aim of the save: The overall aim is to have fun, play by the rules you set yourself and create a great story in which we (and hopefully you guys as well) are emerged. Therefore, we’ve let the choice of team and type of save all up to our individual selves. If one of us wants to start with FC Barcelona, be our guest, while the other one might want to start in the Icelandic 2nd division. This way, we have three stories running at the same time in the same save, making it more fun for everyone following each other, maybe helping each other out once in a while and making it even more special when we get to play against each other. The Teams Lopizzo: Parma I’ve decided to go ahead and settle in my favourite place to be; the Italian lower ranks. This is where my knowledge lies and my heart wants me to go. We’re supposed to have fun this time, and this is where I am guaranteed fun. The obvious challenge is to make Parma great again after a huge scandal in 2003. The financial aftermath caused them being declared bankrupt in 2015 and being relegated to the Serie D. The club was re-founded as S.S.D. Parma Calcio 1913 and immediately started climbing up the ladders again, finding themselves as the main contender for promotion in the Serie C this year. Bas Boer: Feyenoord Do I need to say more, making Feyenoord great again after not winning any serious silverware for over a decade Buchis Pumba: Fulham It was either England or Holland for me, and when Bas wanted to manage Feyenoord, he made my choice easy. I didn’t want to start competing in the premier league just yet though, and I feel Fulham is a team I can take back to the premier league. I see the club as a stepping stone though, and I’m eager to prove myself at the highest level. This means that I will be pursuing better job opportunities, should they arrive. We’ve all selected badges and reputation recommended for our teams. What’s next? Since this save is is an online game with three separate stories, we intend to post individual updates of our progress. The upcoming posts will be about our team presentations.