JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Tale of the Swans Opening statement: Another football manager, another attempt to achieve what I've always wanted: win the European Cup with a Northern Irish club. I've made three attempts so far and I'm not going to blame anything else other than boredom for the reason I stopped short of completing the challenge. That challenge of course is in line with Gundo's European Adventure Challenge, running again this year. These are my efforts (albeit, poor) so far: Attempt One [FM10] Attempt Two [FM10] Attempt Three [FM11] And so with FM12, I've seen another opportunity for delight, frustration, misery and a general build of apathy towards the beautiful game. I can't wait. So anyway.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 It begins.. Hmm, I seem to remember this lot and incredibly, I haven't continually been reloading the FM in an attempt to get a club I like the sound of. Newington are literally the first club that popped up as the promoted side to the 2nd division after holidaying. Awesome. I feel at home already. For those of you who can't be bothered (I certainly wouldn't be) to check my first attempt with Newington in FM10, here's a run-down of the club: Newington Youth Club Football Club (also known as Newington Youth Club, Newington Y.C. or simply Newington) is a Northern Irish football club originating in the Newington area of Belfast, although playing its home matches in recent years at Muckamore, Antrim, and playing in the Premier Division of the Northern Amateur Football League. In 2008, the club became involved in a partnership with IFA Premiership club Crusaders, with a view to securing funding for a new, shared ground in north Belfast. As part of the arrangement, Newington used Crusaders’ current ground Seaview for home matches in 2008/09, marking a return to home matches in the club’s native north Belfast. The club will use Brantwood's Skegoneill Avenue ground for 2009/10. History The club was formed in north Belfast as Jubilee Olympic Football Club in 1979 and joined the Dunmurry League in 1980. The club changed its name to Newington Youth Club in 1986, won its first trophy – the Breen Cup – in 1987, became the dominant team in the Dunmurry League for the next few seasons, and in 1990/91 became the first Dunmurry League team to win the County Antrim Junior Shield. The club joined the Northern Amateur League in 1994, entering in Division 2C, and winning five trophies, including the 2C championship in their first season. Next season saw them win Division 2B to gain promotion to the top junior division of the Amateur League. The greatest achievement to date came on 1 May 1997 when the club won the Irish Junior Cup – the biggest prize in junior football – defeating Fermanagh team Lisbellaw United in the final. A Division 2A title followed and soon the club was elevated to intermediate status, gaining a place in Division 1B in 2000, which it won in its first season, followed by the Division 1A title in 2001/02. Newington’s facilities at its Antrim ground, Muckamore Park, however, did not meet the required standards to gain promotion to the Amateur League Premier Division. In 2004/05, Newington reached the quarter-finals of the Steel & Sons Cup, which qualified them for their first senior competition: the County Antrim Shield; and their first match against senior opposition: a 0-2 defeat at Lisburn Distillery. At the end of the season, the club finished runners-up in Division 1A, but recent improvements to Muckamore Park meant that this time promotion to the Premier Division was achieved. In 2005/06, only eleven years after joining the League in its lowest division, Newington won the Amateur League title and the Border Cup at the first time of asking. This season also saw the club reach the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup, where they lost out to Larne. In 2007/08, the club reached the semi-finals of the Irish Intermediate Cup, and in 2008/09 won the Amateur League title for the second time. Their website, www.newingtonfc.com, isn't usable at this stage. What I like to see! No or little history, no expectations, all for me to do. The expectation for the 2012/13 season is that we avoid relegation. I think that's pretty do-able. I'll most likely just to stick to seasonal updates in here and maybe the odd extra bit. Just to confirm, the game is loaded with N.Ireland the only playable nation, a large database and all players from N.Ireland are loaded. Good luck to anyone else who is taking part in the Gundo challenge! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Played six competitive games now in my initial season and I've loving the new FM I have to say. Here's some brief updates: Club Info Facilities History Staff Transfers Finances My first team squad after the window had closed is pretty much what I expected it to look like: a few reasonably good players (for this division) surrounded by a majority of terrible but hard-working lads. Eventually I decided, given what we're trying to achieve this season, we should make ourselves hard to beat overall. So for our formation, I settled on a rigid 4-1-4-1: So far we haven't tasted defeat that often, nor are we shipping goals regularly and I feel confident about staying clear of relegation. The table after 3 games looks pretty satisfactory for now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Good luck man, I'll be following Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Good luck man, I'll be following Thanks SnakeXe. I'll be keeping an eye on yours too. Witnessed the first hat-trick of the season. [video=youtube_share;Hh4JPMv67IA]http://youtu.be/Hh4JPMv67IA Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 New team meeting feature definitely isn't easy to judge with my limited experience of it. We've been doing well since the season began and sit 4th in the table. So considering we're relegation candidates, I called a team meeting and 'calmly' told the squad, I was happy with the performances and we will stay clear of relegation if we continue this way. 3 players liked it, 5 players didn't. Not sure why this would be... Apparently they think they can do better, which is fine but with them all sitting with very good/superb morale, I thought they'd be less difficult to deal with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted October 22, 2011 Share Posted October 22, 2011 Good luck in Northern Ireland,hope this attempt will see you win the big one With regards to the team meeting,did you have an option for the captain to say something? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 22, 2011 Author Share Posted October 22, 2011 Appreciate it B.W.G, I hope so too. Team meeting: There was but he wasn't motivated or anything from my initial statement so I assumed he wasn't up for addressing the squad himself. Maybe that isn't a factor in whether it's worth asking him to, but I'm still experimenting with these new features. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Started well so far. Loving the cautious tactical approach too, crowding the midfield makes you hard to beat Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 Started well so far. Loving the cautious tactical approach too, crowding the midfield makes you hard to beat Coincidently I'm shifting us to a 4-4-2 at present as I've realised we really don't have a natural defensive midfielder to sit in there. Of course the first match I tried the 4-4-2, we dominated the match and only lost by a fluke effort in the 90th minutes. Cue the media screaming, "TACTICAL BLUNDER!" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 I hate that, on the demo I'd been switching between 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-1-1 pretty consistently throughout games and had a little unbeaten run. Then I started a game with 4-4-1-1 and lost, and suddenly it was a tactical blunder! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 Little mid-season update (31st January): Fixtures/Results since my last update - As you can see we've been picking up enough points to pretty much banish the prospect of relegation and in fact, are now looking forward to a run at possible promotion. Current League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Tale of the Swans - Season 2012/13 recap The first season at the helm. Anything beyond relegation avoidance is a bonus. League Prediction: 13th I set out to make the team hard to beat. The primary goal was to avoid relegation and after a good pre-season, I felt we could definitely do this. We had some very promising results to begin with, although we began with a 1-0 home defeat. The performances, aside from one or two, all season impressed me. These lads are pretty limited (to say the least) and I was amazed at times at how effective they could be. We kept plugging on, picking up points and eventually found ourselves not only safe from relegation but challenging for a promotion spot by the mid-way point. Around March (I think?) I had my first experience with the youth selection and quite a few of them look like they could be useful in the future but one in particular was already a star for this league, at the brave age of 15. Introducing, Stephen Wells, who would have a solid part to play in our run-in, which not only saw us promoted but promoted as champions. Final position: 1st League Table League Positions Graph Other competitions Irish Cup - Disappointing to go out to a non-league side and in such a bad manner. Steel and Sons Cup - Went out of the competition when we were expected to. Intermediate Cup - A good run which saw us put out at the quarter final stage by higher opposition. Key players Stephen Wells - An outstanding impression for a 15 year old in a short amount of games. Tadej Simeunovic - A young left wing back picked up early in pre-season. Should be solid for another couple of seasons yet. Michael Fitzpatrick - I like my centre backs to pick up a few goals as well as keeping them out at our end and Michael was a big factor in our unbeaten runs throughout the season. The club First Team Squad Transfers Staff Club Info Facilities Finances History The manager My profile My personal screen Next season Not really sure what to expect. I figure I will be doing more recruiting pre-season but at this stage, as always, I feel the need to make survival the primary objective. Career history Season League Club Final position Achievements 2012/13 Second Division Newington 1st Promotion Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SnakeXe Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Following in dafuge's footsteps..? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 Congrats on promotion Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 Following in dafuge's footsteps..? Wouldn't mind. He seems to be doing pretty well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Surprisingly, we've found this season pretty straightforward so far. Scoring lots of goals, conceding very few and haven't been knocked out of any competitions so far: Current League Table Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.W.G Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Wow!!You've made a brilliant start,hope your able to keep it up Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Wow!!You've made a brilliant start,hope your able to keep it up Same. I'm half expecting things to pear-shaped all of a sudden but thankfully so far, we seem pretty solid. The young lad (turned 16) Stephen Wells has 16 for pace, so he's pretty lethal against these sorts of defenders. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Saw this guy a few weeks back and eventually he's got a work permit to allow him to join the side. He's old as hell but I'm looking to match young Well's pace with a bit of experience and better finishing. 10k fee to bring him in. Hopefully it pays off and secures promotion given our good start already. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 His debut: [video=youtube;7gAB3ydoS_E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gAB3ydoS_E He set up one for Wells later in the match and picked up the MOM award. Well that tends to calm the nerves over a new signing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 This Northern Ireland malarkey is a bit easy, isn't it?! Seriously, good job so far. You'll do well to keep hold of Wells though, he surely destined to go on to bigger and better things. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toon Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Good luck mate, I've started a journeyman career and have been playing with Annagh United for half a season, also had Scott McCordick and he was incredible for me scoring atleast a goal a game until someone signed him on a free because he was only on a non-contract which was really annoying as I couldnt offer him another contract because I was well over the tight £300 p/w budget lol. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 This Northern Ireland malarkey is a bit easy, isn't it?! At this stage, apparently so. Seriously, good job so far. You'll do well to keep hold of Wells though, he surely destined to go on to bigger and better things. Cheers. Yeah I think he may do. Still a bit shocked he came through in the first place though. Random isn't even a strong enough term for it. Good luck mate, I've started a journeyman career and have been playing with Annagh United for half a season, also had Scott McCordick and he was incredible for me scoring atleast a goal a game until someone signed him on a free because he was only on a non-contract which was really annoying as I couldnt offer him another contract because I was well over the tight £300 p/w budget lol. Yeah for some reason Portadown (top repped club in NI at the minute) are interested in McCordick. It's fine that they're interested in him, don't get me wrong but why they're after him and not my 16 year old Wells is a bit strange. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Football, football, football. Getting put out of two competitions in two matches consecutively (against teams we should be beating) is bad enough.. Steel and Sons Cup Semi-Final exit Intermediate Cup 2nd Round exit But for those to come after we beat the biggest club in Northern Ireland in the Country Antrim Shield Final?! Yes, football you brilliant, yet wonderfully sour-tasting sport. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted November 2, 2011 Author Share Posted November 2, 2011 Tale of the Swans - Season 2013/14 recap Took me a while to finish this season off but it's worth reporting on regardless.. League Prediction: 13th I'll be honest, it took such a long time to finish this off I forget all the ins and outs of it but I'll make a go of it. I think we never really left top spot in the league once we got there and pretty much dominated for the majority of the season. It was accompanied by pretty solid efforts in the other competitions and now with promotion to the Premier Division, we can start building that statue outside the stadium of yours truly. Final position: 1st League Table League Positions Graph Other competitions Irish Cup - Got put out by our parent club. Think that's part of the agreement isn't it? Steel and Sons Cup - A nice run until we met Carrick in the semi-final. A bad day in terms of goals conceded and out we went. Intermediate Cup - Never really paid attention to this. For some reason in my fixtures list, I can't filter in the Co.Antrim Shield, nor the League Cup. But whatever, we won the Shield with a win good win over NI giants Linfield and beat another Premier Division side in the League Cup final. Key players Stephen Wells - Our out and out goalscorer. Bagged this. Dario - Pretty solid purchase in the January window. I wanted someone to act as the creative forward alongside Wells and he did the job superbly. Matjaz Cander - Either played in the 'hole' as an attacking midfielder or in a three man midfield. He was a creative force and scored a few goals too. The club First Team Squad Transfers Staff Club Info Facilities Finances Affiliates History The manager My profile My personal screen My biography My history Next season Premier Division? Should be **** easy, right? Career history Season League Club Final position Achievements 2012/13 Second Division Newington 1st Promotion 2013/14 First Division Newington 1st Promotion, Shield Winners, League Cup Winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyCurrie Posted November 4, 2011 Author Share Posted November 4, 2011 Premier League isn't a doddle. I'll say that much. Got our first couple of wins there but lost our first two league matches pretty convincingly. Didn't get much out of the transfer window I have to say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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