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Back to the Journey, man


Lenzar

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Having started a game as Arsenal in the Beta, I've quickly grown very bored of that save as it's just so incredibly easy. In FM13, and FM15, I had great fun with Journeyman saves, so I've decided to put my Arsenal game on the back-burner and focus on something that is hopefully both more fun for me to play, and for you guys to follow.

 

To keep the realism level up a bit more, I've decided to go with a couple of simple rules this time around.

  1. I will stay at a club for at least 2 years before applying for any other jobs. If I am offered a job before that, I may take it.
  2. I will take any job that represents an improvement to my financial situation.

The only exception to rule 2 is that I will not manage a club I cannot stand. This rules out Milton Keynes FC and Manchester United.

Starting Skills

6C9AACABE191CDA74FDA124799DFCCFB49CFCF48

 

Initial Setup

D3F572F6B25F8459A7C79CA0B90048FA1E0D6270

The Vanarama leagues will be loaded a season in; this was an oversight when I created the game.

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Career Progress

18/8/16 - 24/6/18
Stirling Albion (Scotland)
2016/17 Scottish League Two Champions
2017/18 Scottish League One Champions

24/6/18 - 10/6/19
Dumbarton (Scotland)
2018/19 Scottish Championship Champions

10/6/19 - 7/6/2021
Oldham Athletic (England)
2019/20 League Two Champions
2021/21 League One Champions

7/6/2021 - 
West Ham (England)
2021/22 Championship Champions

Personal Honours

Championship Manager of the Year
League Two Manager of the Year
League One Manager of the Month
7x Championship Manager of the Month
3x League Two Manager of the Month
2x Scottish Championship Manager of the Month
5x Scottish League One Manager of the Month
2x Scottish League Two Manager of the Month
-----------------------------
Hall of Fame points: 235

 

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Club #1 - Stirling Albion (Scottish League Two)

After being rejected for even an interview by several clubs, I got through to the final stage at Grimsby Town, in League Two, and at Stirling Albion, in the Scottish League Two. Stirling offered me the job, but I held on, hoping that Grimsby, who represented a better option, would get back to me with a positive offer as well.

Alas, they appointed another candidate instead. I will be starting my career in Scotland as STIRLING ALBION.  I did manage to get an extra £50 a week out of the board, so I will be on a not too bad £300 a week for this first season.

IpswichtoStirling.png

Quite the trek from my current home in Ipswich! I hope my 3 year old has plenty of Peppa Pig episodes available!

 

Stirling_Albion_logo_200.png

 

The club have already been knocked out of the Scottish League Cup and the League Challenge Cup. Just the league to focus on for now...

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Looks ok on paper.

The board expect me to be able to get to the playoffs with this squad.

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StirlingNov16.png

An abysmal performance against Elgin gave us our first league defeat, but the other two wins were more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Brechin were always going to be a hard game in the cup.

StirlingNov16LT.png

We're still easily top, but our luck may be running out.

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22 minutes ago, Lenzar said:

StirlingDec16.png

We got back to good form in December, but the last two matches were two of the worst I've ever watched on FM.

StirlingDec16LT.png

We enter 2017 13 points clear, but the chasing pack have a game in hand.

Sometimes you just take the win and move on to the next game. Looking good for promotion mate :)

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I'm absolutely sure that if the UK pursues a 'hard Brexit' then Scotland will vote for independence. Once the UK leaves it will be able to remove any laws it likes, although that would mean no access to the single market. Removal of Bosman would likely make it much harder to sign foreign players and would make the English league a very unattractive one for them to work in as they could end up stuck at a club that refuses to release them. I do not see that happening so from that point of view it's the hardest possible Brexit.

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On 11/30/2016 at 00:00, DizzyPenguin said:

Quick question... how do you post screenshots that are of reasonable size with a "Click to enlarge" option? Thanks

Since nobody has answered you I will ;) To the bottom right of where you write there's a buttom saying "Insert other media", click on that then "Insert image from URL". Then you'll get the fancy expandable images!

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StirlingFeb17.png

A quiet February, spoiled by the abysmal second half against Edinburgh City. There was supposed to be a fourth match, against Arbroath, but it's been postponed twice!

StirlingFeb17LT.png

Luckily the teams below didn't do enough to catch up. 

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StirlingApr17.png

The win against Forfar confirmed us as league winners - the last few games were all played with the 'Instant Result' button.

 

StirlingApr17LT.png

In the end our lead over the chasing pack looks a lot bigger than it perhaps should have been.

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Stirling_Albion_logo_200.png

Stirling Albion - 2016/17 Season Review - Scottish League Two

 

League (Takeover after 2 games)

Our form in the first three quarters of the season gave us a large lead, but we took our foot off the accelerator way too soon and lost quite a few supposedly easy games.

Scottish Cup

After Stirling Uni gave us a much closer game than I'd have liked, League One Brechin put any hopes of a cup run firmly out of reach.

Key Players

Blair Henderson

Scott Davidson
Ross McMillan

Jamie Doris

 

Transfers | Best Eleven

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

StirlingJulAug17.png

The Scottish season starts early, but the League Cup is little more than a few extra warmup games for a team like ours. It was nice to get 2nd in the group stage, though. The league started off great, too, but we looked very poor against Montrose.

StirlingAug17LT.png

Good going early on.

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We were pretty busy during the off-season, signing new players right up to the closing of the transfer window:

378FB5B3B5FEF971A25C9D858032325D8608C40955A76AD1256E00086645490E013E3E41B4B387F9A0DA69E1A2035134585536B2F6F01D467E90415FCD2ABAA0AF810D17A373E24E1A6C79B39F640958948D749935909317D4A6D59BA97BAAAC3D9FF17A140111F4AD5C5A4A021192CE953E412EDED26E5BEEA4C481CB7D847800106EE913C22F9065CC8839A62EFA824BDE630A3B5CBF5AB33AB0AC1CAC710F25174C8823BF434D9951A5BE9479968C1C50A747562E0149F830148704F4CD2580FAEA3BBFE3D6BA

 

The link with Hearts has proven useful - Rory Currie is excellent at this level!

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StirlingSep17.png

Good results at the start and the end of the month frame poor performances. The loss against Ayr was helped by an early red card.

StirlingSep17LT.png

The dropped points cost us some momentum, but we're still well clear of the danger zone.

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StirlingOct17.thumb.png.cea3bd24c09befe04df202ecc4fe3da1.png

Two strong performances in two league games after the disappointment of a cup exit. I think the manager of the team we beat 4-0 will have given them the H-Airdrie-r treatment; the game itself wasn't even that one-sided!

StirlingOct17LT.thumb.png.198e3f5eefd82f0e7994f2d3f2a81b0a.png

Starting to look like we've got a chance at promotion again.

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6 hours ago, Lenzar said:

StirlingDec17.thumb.png.f831eb2f137695116eace48d5768141b.png

Just two wins in December, and a poor performance against promotion rivals Ayr in our only home game.

StirlingDec17LT.thumb.png.cfe3689515c044e0d838671dec531381.png

It's tight at the top, but we're well clear of relegation.

Shame, a victory over Ayr would've as good as knocked them out of the race. I'm sticking with my prediction that you'll win the league though :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎23‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 11:35, noikeee said:

This is proving pretty easy. Higher standard league after promotion? No problem. Let's just run into an unchallenged title bid.

There's probably not much difference between the two lower Scottish tiers, to be fair!

On ‎23‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 12:53, withnail316 said:

Flying. You should find the Championship much tougher if you go up and stick around though, simply because most of the clubs are fully pro.

Great work though.

We shall see!

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Stirling_Albion_logo_200.png

Stirling Albion - 2017/18 Season Review - Scottish League One

 

League - From what I know of the Scottish league system I wasn't expecting the standard of football to be much higher, but I certainly didn't expect to win the title so easily! I don't expect the next level will be as easy, though.

Scottish Cup - The amateurs gave us a hard time, but we brushed them aside. I expected nothing from the Hearts game, but it helped our bank balance.

Other cups - We didn't do anything special in either of these fairly pointless cups, nor were we expected to.

 

Key Players

Rory Currie - forgot to screenshot him before he went back to his parent club! 19 goals and 13 assists in 28 league games, giving him an average 7.56

Steven Ross

James Severn

 

Transfers | Season Best XI | Overall Best XI

 

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Reaching the end of the second season allows me to start looking for another club. I decided to do so immediately as Stirling weren't offering enough funds to improve the playing squad enough.

It didn't take me long...

Club #2 - Dumbarton (Scottish Championship)

StirlingtoDumbarton.thumb.png.41f6ad8f699b011d8e3f445defc67023.png

Dumbarton came in with an offer of £600/week. This was the same as what Stirling were paying me, but I managed to squeeze an extra £100/week. Dumbarton are also a bigger club with a more successful history - they were once the most successful team in Scottish league history :D

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1 hour ago, Lenzar said:

Reaching the end of the second season allows me to start looking for another club. I decided to do so immediately as Stirling weren't offering enough funds to improve the playing squad enough.

It didn't take me long...

Club #2 - Dumbarton (Scottish Championship)

 

Dumbarton came in with an offer of £600/week. This was the same as what Stirling were paying me, but I managed to squeeze an extra £100/week. Dumbarton are also a bigger club with a more successful history - they were once the most successful team in Scottish league history :D

E90E1710EEA9C93A7D506D54D8873312D0103E3B

That's got to be right up there with Queens Park having more Scottish Cups than everyone apart from the Old Firm. #history

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DumbartonJulAug18.thumb.png.b5062b9c68ae9a23685eb013a51c311b.png

3 wins and a penalty loss wasn't enough to get us through in the League Cup (what a bizarre and timewasting format that cup has!), but we started well in the league. It was particularly headline grabbing that we played Stirling in the first game. ;)

DumbartonAug18LT.thumb.png.7b1fd09d62f00303df4bef191a4e46ef.png

Not much to say at this stage. I'd happily take this league table, though.

Transfers

Dumbarton's starting squad looked decent enough, but I found a distinct lack of backup players. I also felt that the core of the squad was a little too old.

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DumbartonSep18.thumb.png.76fa2676b2637da2f1e21f05bdd179db.png

These results definitely flatter us. Dundee Utd are a completely different class to the rest of the league, but we could have done better against Dunfermline.

DumbartonSep18LT.thumb.png.a235082cd7e3c0da3e3893c836036131.png

I can't see anyone stopping Dundee Utd. Best hope is to hang on for the playoffs.

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DumbartonOct18.thumb.png.8fa834d2f2b309454a08c558e268182d.png

An undefeated month, but once again we look better on paper than we did on the field.

DumbartonOct18LT.thumb.png.2f0314df87036c76644449ebf3a2037a.png

Dundee Utd have proven that they're not invincible, but I still think it's a tall order for a semi-pro team to keep up the pace.

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