[FM17] If you think you're too small to make a difference you haven’t spent a night with a mosquito

[Benjoe]

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there

This story will follow the footsteps and struggles in the life of Nelson Mandela Jr.

Yikes – I mean, with great looks like these, a disgustingly straight posture and a name like that who wouldn’t take this fine gentleman serious? If nothing else his height of 1.50cm… wait did I see that correc-oh, I did. Standing tall and proud at 1.50cm and weighing in at 151kg (????)… How can his short legs carry that much? He weighs a kilogram more than he’s got centimeters… Yes, erhm, a fine man, and quite the sense of style too. White suit with red shirt and purple tie. Flamboyant, this whalelike gentleman. “You need good suit!” was his mother’s words as he went on a shopping trip to the local tailor who was put on a hard task making a suit to match his size. These colors were the only he had in stock in large enough quantity to fit it on Nelson’s corpus. His ‘Uncle JimJom’ who’d been like a father to him his entire childhood laughed so hard he had to lay down three days straight when Nelson returned home. His mother didn’t speak to him for just about the same amount of time, instead she slapped him on the chest as she made loud noises.

His mother named him Nelson Mandela Jr. as she was, and still is to this day, convinced that a roughly 70 year old –but still potent! - Nelson Mandela visited The Kingdom of Swaziland and fell in love with her. After a week of great passion, sadly Mr. Mandela had to urgently leave Swaziland. He left without leaving an email or a phone number which of course is the only way you’d ever get in touch with someone as unknown as Mr. Mandela. When Mandela Jr. once showed his mother a picture of Nelson Mandela his mother slapped him and yelled “That is not the man! I will not hear of this. Your father is beautiful and important. You have name like him, go be great man!” And thus began his journey into the world.

With a name like that, who wouldn’t want him as their coach?

Oh ****, I forgot to talk about his grey hair even though he is 25 years old…. This guy…

[Benjoe]

The Forgotten Continent

 

Often looked upon as the Forgotten Continent we have Africa and it is huge. Second only to Asia when it comes to size and population. Well over a billion lives in Africa and it is a growing continent. A continent that only gets more interesting the more you read or hear about it and when you meet people from the continent it only gets stronger. From personal experience I’ve met and worked with men and women from at least Algeria, Libya, Ghana and Egypt and I even have an uncle who is a Nigerian Prince! Jokes aside, I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting an English youth team who had almost exclusively players who had come from Africa (primarily western-central Africa) within 4-5 years of their lives. I've especially good experience with Ghanaian people. Great humor, humble and heartwarming. Also ‘Ghana’ means ‘Warrior King’ and it doesn’t get much cooler than that!

Coming back to a serious point I feel the continent is somewhat overlooked. Despite all the awareness we have and the work a lot of people do to help the continent there are still a lot of Africans caught in wars they aren’t meant to fight for dictators who shouldn’t be in power and diseases and poverty is also doing serious havoc to this beautiful continent. Recently African footballers and their nations caught my attention. In the Danish league we have had our fair share of African footballers who I remember greatly for different reasons. Nigerian Uche Okechukwu is the first I remember. He had his last season with my favorite club Brøndby IF the year before I was born (1993) and yet, he is the first player I think of when it comes to African players. A legend at Brøndby and a fierce and strong defender who really developed at Brøndby.

When I was about 8-10 I remember other African footballers standing out from the rest such as Nigerian Abdul Sule, South African Sibusiso Zuma and Egyptian Muhammed Zidan all played for Danish clubs. Zidan especially was a very flamboyant striker with exceptional flair. I remember one time he scored a goal and went close to the stands as he lifted his shirt and did some sort of belly-dance which caused quite some stir. FC Midtjylland have also had an affiliate club in FC Ebedei where they’ve brought a lot of young Africans through with various success. There are so many that I’m just going to stop after one last player. Lebogang Phiri. A very sympathetic man from what I’ve read about him and a man who joined Brøndby at the age of 18 and scored the defining goal in the dying minutes to secure that Brøndby would not get relegated in 2012/13. He isn’t the tallest or strongest player on the pitch but what he lacks in physical power he compensates with such great character. A fierce tackler and good tactician and endless in his pursuit. Sadly he will likely leave this summer but he will forever stand strong in my memory with that one goal in his 4^th game with Brøndby.

  

Africans of course haven’t only had an impact on Danish football. In a lot of other countries some very influential players have been African. From memory I can name Kanu, Jay-Jay, Drogba, Eto’o and I’m purposely not naming numerous players like Yaya and so on because the list would go on. What I found interesting with all these important players is, that even though there have been and still are many great African Footballers worldwide – but predominantly in European football - the international success haven’t been there. At Olympic level Nigeria one a gold medal with Uche Okechukwu in the squad back in 1996 and Cameroon likewise brought gold medals back to the African continent in 2000 but when it comes to the World Cup the African nations have not had the same luck in bringing home medals. As a matter of fact no African nation have ever been in the top 4 at a world cup despite getting very close a couple times. Algeria got knocked out of the group stages in the 1982 World Cup in Spain despite beating West Germany who would go on and lose the final 3-1 to Italy. Great controversy was the headline for that year as West Germany and Austria played fixed a match now known as the ‘Disgrace of Gijón’. If West Germany defeated Austria with one goal both West Germany and Austria would go through to the next round and Algeria would get knocked out and that was exactly what happened. Algeria who’d beaten both Chile and West Germany in the group stages could possibly have gotten into the top 4 but were denied the chance of proving themselves.

Ghana also had to endure great controversy as they got knocked out by Uruguay in the quarter finals of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Ghana and Uruguay had both scored in the first 90 minutes but in the very last seconds of extra time Ghana got closest as Adiyiah headed the ball towards goal beating everything but Luis Suarez’ hand that swatted the ball away at goal line. Penalty awarded and Suarez red carded but Gyan fell under pressure and banged the ball of the crossbar. In the penalty shootout Ghana sadly lost and Uruguay went through.

Now. All this text, all this babble, and what does it lead to? Well, an African FM adventure of course! I’ve once before tried to have a save going in Africa a couple of years ago in the South African Premier League iirc but this time it’s serious business. I want to have a journeyman save in Africa and I want to take at least one nation to World Cup glory! The African continent shall be proud producers of some of worlds greatest footballers but I do NOT expect this to be an easy task. I expect it to be fun and nerve-racking, intense and frustrating but all the better. This will undoubtedly be a long trip – especially seeing as I am a very slow FM-player generally.

Will it work out, will it fail? Can Nelson Mandela Jr. actually move his 151kg massive body around the African continent aaaand get success?   

Welcome to this African journey, welcome to a lot of crappy fields, crappy facilities and crappy economies. Oh, and crappy humor!  

It should be fun.

[Benjoe]

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there

He didn’t have much of a footballer’s body to put it kindly. Compared to his compatriots he was diminutive at best, as he was just three centimeters taller than the limit of dwarfism. He didn’t have muscles, he had fat – more than plenty of it. His footballing brain wasn’t that good either. Quite dumb to be fairly honest. He didn’t see the purpose of a goalie. ‘Why waste one man, if you could just use him to annoy the opponent further up the pitch?” Yeah..
A footballing career as either a player or a coach was ludicrous at best most would agree. Therefore, instead, he went into business. Don’t ask which kind or what he sold, I can’t tell. Literally, cannot even start to try to explain it all. He was a jack-of-all-trades. Nelson knew how to just about anything. His best (and probably only) ability was to lie about everything possible to be able to sell it for highly inflated prices. This with quite good success. How anyone can get him- or herself to pay money for something offered by someone looking like Jabba the hut in a white suite is beyond my understanding. This, however, did lead him into the footballing career track somehow. Not because there was a lot of money in it through wages but because he would be able to promote himself even further through his teams. Lots of chances for promoting some ****y product to a lot of people.

As a side note it is worth mentioning that despite his lack of ability to play or understand football he did have a huge love for the sport. He wanted nothing more than to lift the World Cup Trophy with any African nation. Swaziland was not very probable to accomplish said goal with so he wasn’t meticulous about circumstance, he just really wanted it to happen one day.

A fat kid can dream right?

 

[Benjoe]

Game Setup

As I wanted to play in the African continent with a journeyman save the only available league - the South African Premier League - wasn't going to be enough. I considered creating all sorts of leagues my self but luckily I found, that @lukafanzer had made a terrific pack of a lot of the African leagues. I also found a pack consisting of 4 Kenyan leagues made by Ouma. As my main character originates from Swaziland I also wanted this league. I couldn't really find a pack with this league, so I decided to make it myself. I am absolutely trash in the Editor as I haven't touched the Editor for 4 years at least so it took a lot longer than it should have to create the league but I think it works now. I created the Premier League, and the Lower Division with a Cup and a Super Cup to go with. I wanted to keep the same amount of teams in the leagues as irl (12 in each) so I had to create 3 new teams to have enough for the lower Division. These are: Hhohho Hornets, Shiselweni Vultures and Siteki Warriors. 

CAF African Leagues FM16 by @lukafanzer - http://www.fmscout.com/a-african-leagues-cups-fm16-dd.html
Kenya leagues 2016 by Ouma - http://www.fmscout.com/a-kenya-league-system-fm16.html
Swaziland Leagues and cups – Created by myself

 

As I will be starting without a job, I can't know for sure if I'll ever manage the Swazi league, but their reputation is very, very low, so who knows. 

I also have some guidelines for the save.

Save Guidelines:

·         Tactics will be my own creations, and will be adapted to the level I’m playing at – keeping it simple when club is Amateur and I have no coaching badges i.e.

·         I am NEVER allowed to use the Player Search function. I will have to use scouts, agent offers, different in-game media news and such to find players who can join us.

·         I am NEVER allowed to use the Staff Search either. Job adverts will be placed and if any in-game media news should be relevant to staff I might allow that to be used too.
 

Not using the Players Search or Staff Search function is going to be a ***** for me as I treasure it highly in normal saves but for the sake of the challenge and in the LLM spirit this is how it will be.

I don’t think there are any other things I need to say, otherwise it’ll come up along the road. Hope you’ll enjoy this project, and I hope it doesn’t end up in flames within the first year or so!

[-Ironhide-]

1 minute ago, Benjoe said:

Game Setup

As I wanted to play in the African continent with a journeyman save the only available league - the South African Premier League - wasn't going to be enough. I considered creating all sorts of leagues my self but luckily I found, that @lukafanzer had made a terrific pack of a lot of the African leagues. I also found a pack consisting of 4 Kenyan leagues made by Ouma. As my main character originates from Swaziland I also wanted this league. I couldn't really find a pack with this league, so I decided to make it myself. I am absolutely trash in the Editor as I haven't touched the Editor for 4 years at least so it took a lot longer than it should have to create the league but I think it works now. I created the Premier League, and the Lower Division with a Cup and a Super Cup to go with. I wanted to keep the same amount of teams in the leagues as irl (12 in each) so I had to create 3 new teams to have enough for the lower Division. These are: Hhohho Hornets, Shiselweni Vultures and Siteki Warriors. 

CAF African Leagues FM16 by @lukafanzer - http://www.fmscout.com/a-african-leagues-cups-fm16-dd.html
Kenya leagues 2016 by Ouma - http://www.fmscout.com/a-kenya-league-system-fm16.html
Swaziland Leagues and cups – Created by myself

 

As I will be starting without a job, I can't know for sure if I'll ever manage the Swazi league, but their reputation is very, very low, so who knows. 

I also have some guidelines for the save.

Save Guidelines:

·         Tactics will be my own creations, and will be adapted to the level I’m playing at – keeping it simple when club is Amateur and I have no coaching badges i.e.

·         I am NEVER allowed to use the Player Search function. I will have to use scouts, agent offers, different in-game media news and such to find players who can join us.

·         I am NEVER allowed to use the Staff Search either. Job adverts will be placed and if any in-game media news should be relevant to staff I might allow that to be used too.
 

Not using the Players Search or Staff Search function is going to be a ***** for me as I treasure it highly in normal saves but for the sake of the challenge and in the LLM spirit this is how it will be.

I don’t think there are any other things I need to say, otherwise it’ll come up along the road. Hope you’ll enjoy this project, and I hope it doesn’t end up in flames within the first year or so!

Good luck... Africa is a hard continent.

[ManUtd1]

Sounds like a good setup, with that personal attachment which will help when the going gets tough. I've always wanted to do something similar, but have never done it!

Poor Nelson. He's in for a journey...

[maxtothemax]

Really looking forward to seeing your updates man! I will definitely follow

[BoxToBox]

This is going to be something else altogether, I feel.

[Benjoe]

30 minutes ago, -Ironhide- said:

Good luck... Africa is a hard continent.

Thanks, and we'll see if Nelson can conquer it still! 

23 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Sounds like a good setup, with that personal attachment which will help when the going gets tough. I've always wanted to do something similar, but have never done it!

Poor Nelson. He's in for a journey...

I hope so. It certainly feels good, and a lot of work and thought have gone into it. 

Nelson already have grey hair, what else will this journey have in store for the poor fella.

18 minutes ago, maxtothemax said:

Really looking forward to seeing your updates man! I will definitely follow

Thanks man! Glad to have you aboard.

14 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

This is going to be something else altogether, I feel.

Hopefully in an entertaining way.  

Thanks for the interest shown guys! But for now, I have a date with some beers, some scrambled eggs and bacon, and a New Firm Derby on telly.  

[noikeee]

Interesting concept. I must say I had a bit of a bad experience with Africa a few FMs back trying to manage in Algeria - also with a league I edited myself - which kinda put me off from coming back to Africa, but hopefully you'll have more fun.

I don't know if you came across claassen's edited league files but for me those are some of the most complete packs going around. For FM16 he didn't do Swaziland but the list is pretty decent: http://www.fmscout.com/a-fm16-leagues-megapack-by-claassen.html

[Keano16]

Always nice to see something different, good luck!

[Benjoe]

16 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Interesting concept. I must say I had a bit of a bad experience with Africa a few FMs back trying to manage in Algeria - also with a league I edited myself - which kinda put me off from coming back to Africa, but hopefully you'll have more fun.

I don't know if you came across claassen's edited league files but for me those are some of the most complete packs going around. For FM16 he didn't do Swaziland but the list is pretty decent: http://www.fmscout.com/a-fm16-leagues-megapack-by-claassen.html

I hope so too, but it is only my second trip to Africa so anything could happen.

I don't recall looking at it so must have missed it. It looks solid though. Hopefully these three packs I have running for this save will work well enough. 

13 minutes ago, Keano16 said:

Always nice to see something different, good luck!

Thanks, Keano! Difference is key sometimes, at least I had to try something different - in this case continent - to keep the momentum going. 

[Benjoe]

I can see, I forgot some sceens of Nelson's coaching style and his in-game 'stats', so here they are!

Very talented.. or something.

[Benjoe]

He that beats the drum for the mad man to dance is no better than the mad man himself

One time, when Nelson was out promoting the newest and ****tiest product he had he met a man who caught his attention. Not due to attraction physically. But due to attraction mentally, or rather, due to the similarly slow thought process of this man. He was very much the opposite of Nelson. Despite his name being Mumbu Umbolele he was as white as ice, tall and slender. Nelson was in awe. This guy had to join him on his journey.

After some tough negotiating Mumbu agreed to become Nelson’s personal assistant and follow him wherever he went. The price? 0.5% of the income from Nelson Mandela Jr-Merchandise sold at home game because that is going to be a moneymaker. Sure.

Having gotten a personal assistant Nelson quickly started to visit and send applications to Swazi football clubs. He had no coaching experience, so in spite of the amateur status of the Swazi football clubs most were reluctant at best – some laughed when they saw him. OK, most laughed, but a few entertained the idea, however, as Nelson landed a couple ‘job interviews’.

One of those ended with a ‘job’ offer with a wage of… £0 p/ever.

[noikeee]

Must say that I believe the "Vultures" fit Nelson better than the "Eagles" or "Man Utd".

[Benjoe]

2 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Must say that I believe the "Vultures" fit Nelson better than the "Eagles" or "Man Utd".

Is this a joke about Nelson's size or appearance?!

[Benjoe]

No matter how beautiful and well crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death

 

Having agreed to the surprising offer from Mhlambanyatsi Rovers from the Lower Division of Swaziland Nelson and Mumbu went to check the facilities of the club they'd joined. Dirt and occasional grass met them. 

“Great”, he shouted as he looked at the brown puddle that was supposed to be their football pitch. “So great!” He slapped Mumbu on the shoulder with full force. Mumbu started coughing as Nelson continued, “such a great field this. The holes will create great diversity and great shall our play be.” Mumbu recovered from coffing and pointed out some of the obvious issues at hand. “Right, but what are we gonna do ‘bout players, boss? And coaches? Don’t we need balls too?” Nelson shook his head. “Mumbu, Mumbu, Mumbu.. They’ll all come here to play for us when they hear of our great pitch. Everybody will love it.”

 

[Benjoe]

Welcome to Swaziland!

Officially the Kingdom of Eswatini – in Swazi: Umbuso weSwatini

It’s a small country, a poor country, a poorly educated country as well, and if you’re standing in Swaziland odds are you’re looking at the border to South Africa somewhere.

You could of course also be looking at Mozambique, their northeastern neighbor.

Regions and region capitals off Swaziland

But if you’re standing in Swaziland, don’t bother thinking about the neighboring countries. Swaziland is more than worth your while. Yes, they are poor and all that, but the nature is stunning, and the traditions of the natives will fascinate you. Also, their coat of arms is bloody awesome!

A lion – AND an elephant? Also would you look at that awesome shield with… is that the top of a pineapple?

Also, Siyinqaba is Swati for We are a fortress. So, that's cool too.

Getting back to nature and tradition though.

      

Just look at those pictures.

The two most important traditions are Umhlanga and Incwala. Umhlanga is a national eight-day event where unmarried and childless Swazi girls and women travel to Ludzidz”ini Royal Village. Here they participate in the event that is supposed to “preserve the women's chastity, provide tribute labour for the Queen Mother, and produce solidarity among the women through working together.” To do this the women are gathered and sing and dance. So, yeah. 

The Incwala involves the male population of Swaziland, led by the King of Swaziland. They have shields, and look cool and all. It’s kind of a big deal.

Their national team haven't had too much succes, however.

All in all, Swaziland is quite the nation to start the adventure, and of course, it’s Nelson Mandela Jr’s  home country!

 

 

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, Benjoe said:

Is this a joke about Nelson's size or appearance?!

No, I didn't mean to offend his beautiful looks.

It was a joke on his incompetence inexperience as a manager. Surely a bird associated with death is more fitting, than one associated with elite hunting, or a team associated with a world class side (well, not lately).

[kidthekid]

wow, great idea for a save.

I'm currently doing a save in Africa, but it's with Nigeria, so it's a bit easier, because there are a lot of players that can get the job done. But it's still a challenge, probably more difficult than coaching in South Africa or Egypt where there's more money and better facilities.

I used Claasen's data pack, but being from the region, I made my own edits to reflect real life changes. I had to tick the "make players option" before starting the save because many teams had no players, and the ones that did have players who just steamroll the league easily.

Then there's the crappy facilities and the board being stubborn to upgrade. But the pain makes it all worth it. FM players are masochists.

[BoxToBox]

That crest may be the greatest thing ever, a lion and an elephant propping up a shield with a picture of another shield on it against a giant pineapple.

5 minutes ago, noikeee said:

or a team associated with a world class side (well, not lately).

We still have a world class marketing department. That's..... uh, something.

[Benjoe]

19 minutes ago, noikeee said:

No, I didn't mean to offend his beautiful looks.

It was a joke on his incompetence inexperience as a manager. Surely a bird associated with death is more fitting, than one associated with elite hunting, or a team associated with a world class side (well, not lately).

Ahh. In that case, well yeah, you do have a very good point. Now the Rovers signed him. 

I have no jokes on that..

16 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

wow, great idea for a save.

I'm currently doing a save in Africa, but it's with Nigeria, so it's a bit easier, because there are a lot of players that can get the job done. But it's still a challenge, probably more difficult than coaching in South Africa or Egypt where there's more money and better facilities.

I used Claasen's data pack, but being from the region, I made my own edits to reflect real life changes. I had to tick the "make players option" before starting the save because many teams had no players, and the ones that did have players who just steamroll the league easily.

Then there's the crappy facilities and the board being stubborn to upgrade. But the pain makes it all worth it. FM players are masochists.

Cheers, and thanks for following the thread! 

Nigeria sounds cool. Would love to get to coach both a club and the NT for Nigeria. Sounds cool with your save. Who are you coaching? Being from around the region, where exactly if I may ask?

It's gon' be quite the task but I'm hype!

15 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

That crest may be the greatest thing ever, a lion and an elephant propping up a shield with a picture of another shield on it against a giant pineapple.

We still have a world class marketing department. That's..... uh, something.

It's the best thing I've ever seen!

[kidthekid]

26 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Nigeria sounds cool. Would love to get to coach both a club and the NT for Nigeria. Sounds cool with your save. Who are you coaching? Being from around the region, where exactly if I may ask?

It's gon' be quite the task but I'm hype!

 

I'm from Nigeria but I have been in the States for some time now, temporarily though

I'm coaching a club called Giwa FC. Honestly, I did not even know of their existence until I started playing the save. Apparently it's named after the owner...Chris Giwa. *A quick google search, shows that he was recently banned by FIFA.*

One of the best clubs in Africa in the save in addition to the usual suspects (Zamalek, Ahly etc) is a club from the DRC called TP Mazembe. They have a lot of top African players and pay really well so they can keep their top players.

Started out unemployed and got a job to save a team from relegation, now I'm preparing for my first full season. Been an interesting save so far. You get excited about a fullback who has 12 for acceleration and 12 for stamina, or a center back, an think he's a world beater. Many players lack bravery or teamwork, and professional personalities are rare. So basically, all the qualities that used to be "must haves" on other saves, I have to wait on that.

[Rikulec]

This is certainly going to be interesting. Good luck.

[Benjoe]

1 hour ago, kidthekid said:

I'm from Nigeria but I have been in the States for some time now, temporarily though

I'm coaching a club called Giwa FC. Honestly, I did not even know of their existence until I started playing the save. Apparently it's named after the owner...Chris Giwa. *A quick google search, shows that he was recently banned by FIFA.*

One of the best clubs in Africa in the save in addition to the usual suspects (Zamalek, Ahly etc) is a club from the DRC called TP Mazembe. They have a lot of top African players and pay really well so they can keep their top players.

Started out unemployed and got a job to save a team from relegation, now I'm preparing for my first full season. Been an interesting save so far. You get excited about a fullback who has 12 for acceleration and 12 for stamina, or a center back, an think he's a world beater. Many players lack bravery or teamwork, and professional personalities are rare. So basically, all the qualities that used to be "must haves" on other saves, I have to wait on that.

Cool! How come only temporarily? 

Never heard of them but their logo is immense!

Will be interesting to see who'll become dominant in my save - hopefully at some point a team that I'm managing!

Sounds like a good save you've got going. And yeah, I already get that feeling. A striker with a lot of pace or strenght and I'm getting all worked up despite his 4 finishing.  

 

1 hour ago, Rikulec said:

This is certainly going to be interesting. Good luck.

Cheers! Have you made up your mind about the direction in your own thread yet?

[Rikulec]

3 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Cheers! Have you made up your mind about the direction in your own thread yet?

I have... almost.

[ManUtd1]

TP Mazembe has been the team I'd take on, @kidthekid! My daughter is Congolese, albeit from Kinshasa.

[Benjoe]

17 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

I have... almost.

Haha, that sounds almost sort of like you've certainly made up your mind... to some extent.

15 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

TP Mazembe has been the team I'd take on, @kidthekid! My daughter is Congolese, albeit from Kinshasa.

Congolese? Weren't you from Seattle or how does it all come together?  

[ManUtd1]

5 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Congolese? Weren't you from Seattle or how does it all come together?  

Adopted daughter 

[Benjoe]

1 minute ago, ManUtd1 said:

Adopted daughter 

Ahh. I'm a curious soul, so tell me if I'm asking too much. How old is she and when did you adopt her?

[kidthekid]

54 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Cool! How come only temporarily?

I moved there for university studies, after I graduated, I went for a Masters in the same school, then I went for a PhD in another school but same country, the intention was alway to move back after that. This is even more important as Giwa FC needs me, they have been relegated in real life.

[ManUtd1]

29 minutes ago, Benjoe said:

Ahh. I'm a curious soul, so tell me if I'm asking too much. How old is she and when did you adopt her?

She's six. We were fortunate enough to be matched with her at birth; she came home when she was six months old. 

[Benjoe]

31 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

I moved there for university studies, after I graduated, I went for a Masters in the same school, then I went for a PhD in another school but same country, the intention was alway to move back after that. This is even more important as Giwa FC needs me, they have been relegated in real life.

Woah, that's awesome. What are you mastering in? 

You should make a thread about your save with Giwa! 

25 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

She's six. We were fortunate enough to be matched with her at birth; she came home when she was six months old. 

Woah, that sounds amazing. Happy for you man! Six is a good age too! I 'teach' that age in an after school 'care'. 

 

Edit: I use 'woah' way too much. Need to use more of vocabulary in future.. 

[kidthekid]

2 hours ago, Benjoe said:

Woah, that's awesome. What are you mastering in? 

You should make a thread about your save with Giwa! 

 

Economics

I was considering doing a thread on the save but I did not really plan in advance. So I didn't document a lot of important stuff that has happened in the save. After reading a ton of saves, I would want to do one in future, but probably not right now as I got some deadlines to meet.

The save is on FM 15 by the way, my laptop is barely hanging on, even with a cooling pad.

Looking forward to this save. It may be the hardest save out there.

[Benjoe]

7 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Economics

I was considering doing a thread on the save but I did not really plan in advance. So I didn't document a lot of important stuff that has happened in the save. After reading a ton of saves, I would want to do one in future, but probably not right now as I got some deadlines to meet.

The save is on FM 15 by the way, my laptop is barely hanging on, even with a cooling pad.

Looking forward to this save. It may be the hardest save out there.

That sounds sensible then. Looking forward to a possible save in the future. 

Maybe, it's going to be a struggle that's for sure!  

[Benjoe]

If you run after two hares you will catch neither

As Mumbu and Nelson gathered the players who played for Mhlambanyatsi Rovers, at the pitch they’d inspected the previous day, they found some interesting players and a lot of players who Nelson didn’t find the least bit interesting. Nelson liked flashy things. Players who could outrun others. Players who could outmuscle others. Players who could showboat and really humiliate the opponent. He liked these types better than boring types who could pass but without any flair.

Ronnie Metsi was the first guy who he noticed. He didn’t do much off the ball but he had a good intuition and was one of the fastest guys. This led to a lot of one-on-ones with the keepers and despite not being able to joggle a ball more than 4 times in a row he found the back of the net more times than not. Trouble was teams in the Premier division had noticed him, and Nelson would be finding it hard to convince him to stay.

The oldest player, Bongani Dlamini, was surprisingly the best technician rather than the best tactician. Good dribbling spiced with decent technique saw him dribble past more than one defender, but seeing as he had little to no pace he would quickly need to pass or shoot the ball. Nelson did enjoy the potential showboating at hand relentlessly.

Another Dlamini, Patrick Dlamini, was the quickest player of the bunch. He lacked any tactical noose, but still found himself open often and would outsprint everyone – unless he had just taken a 2-second sprint before that, in which case he’d be looking for his lungs that he’d just coughed up.

Xolani Malambe, one of – if not the only – capable defenders. Solid tackling, marking, heading combined with jumping reach and an acceptable tactical understanding. Xolani’s type was clearly needed in spite of Nelson’s reluctance to be excited about most defenders.

Unconvincing goalkeeping undoubtedly also played a role in the striker’s success. Some of the keepers where afraid of the ball and closed their eyes when closing down strikers. The best keeper, Nkosingiphile Dlamini, wasn’t afraid of the ball but that was also all he could brag about.

 Team:

Adverts for volunteer work in the club were also been placed around the city of Mhlambanyatsi.

[Benjoe]

I just spotted that we have two Wonder Dlamini's who are both LB's. 

 

The younger Wonder is quicker and mentally stronger (despite being spineless, lol..) but the older Wonder is by far the best in technical terms. I wonder () who I'll end up using the most of these two. 

[Benjoe]

A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap

Preparation for the first friendly was going strong and Nelson had his players running, passing, shooting and dribbling constantly. No tactical work, however. The formation to be used against their u-21s in the first test would be a 4-4-2 with quick wingers and long balls after the strikers. Simple and easy.

Having spoken to the owner of the club he was told not to schedule any away games during pre-season as he didn’t want to pay the bus to take the team. Therefore, a couple of games against the clubs own u-21s and u-19s had been scheduled instead. He had tried getting other teams from the league to visit for a test match but their owners told the same ‘not paying for the bus’ story.
u21s                                                                                                                                            u19s  
  

The first of these matches was a game against the u-21s. Nelson had just been at the club for 2 days and had no clue who to field where. A quick round of “Where do you like to play the most?” and subsequently a “How good would you rate yourself at this position?”. What a good approach. Some guys were injured prior to the first game so he just threw them in here and there and told them to go for the throat – attack goal directly.

  

It was a bit of a dull match. At times the play was quick and aggressive but ultimately Nelson and Mumbu wasn’t satisfied. A 1-1 draw was all it would be. Although the game was a dull one Nelson did find himself impressed by some of the random guys from the u21 team and decided to offer them a contract.

Of course the two players responsible for the goal got signed up and then he decided to hire the guy who dribbled the most – even though he failed more than he succeeded. Still, Nelson Mandela Jr. liked the showboating potential.

 

 

[Benjoe]

Oh..  

[deltablue]

Don't get the Dlamini's confused

[Benjoe]

@deltablue Ha, that is by far too late. I have 10 players in total with Dlamini as surname, 4 of which are in the first team squad.. 

[Benjoe]

A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap 

Nelson and Mumbu looked worryingly at each other. Another defeat, and this time to their own u21’s, but at least not as embarrassing as the 2-1 loss their u19’s last week. Nelson was unfocused and made little bubbly noises with his mouth and Mumbu started humming a lullaby. “Soooo…” Nelson looked at Mumbu, “You think we should try something else”. Mumbu immediately stopped humming and rose to his feet in dramatic fashion as he yelled, “WE MUST!” Nelson got startled and smiled, clearly embarrassed, at the players who stared at them now.  Nelson whispered, while keeping the smile, “Meeting in 5, and stop yelling!” “Okay, boss!”

Nelson walked forth and back as he was clearly pondering. Mumbu came walking once again humming. Nelson turned around and looked at Mumbu with a determined gaze. “I know it… I know how we fix all our problems,” a strong sense of confidence oozed from Nelson’s diminutive body. “We move the keeper into the middle – it’s simple, really.” Mumbu looked confused. Eyes wide open as he carefully stated, “But, boss… isn’t the keeper already in the middle of the goal?” Nelson sighed.

After hours upon hours of tactical thinking Nelson and Mumbu had somehow created something a little more adventurous than their first 442. They wanted more power. Some more dangerous play. The 442 hadn’t given that. Now they’d come up with a much different system. Instead of their direct approach they wanted to play slowly – this way giving more time on the ball which would give more time to showboat, that was at least the idea behind from Nelson.

And also they kept the keeper in the middle of the goal. Smart choice, boys.

 

 

[kidthekid]

Already enjoying this thread. Everything is so relatable from the away friendlies restrictions to the attribute and personality distribution.

I think but I can't verify this but it seems the AI is quite bad in squad building and even worse in unplayable leagues, so you should be king of Swaziland in a few seasons

 

[Benjoe]

1 hour ago, kidthekid said:

Already enjoying this thread. Everything is so relatable from the away friendlies restrictions to the attribute and personality distribution.

I think but I can't verify this but it seems the AI is quite bad in squad building and even worse in unplayable leagues, so you should be king of Swaziland in a few seasons

 

I'm glad you like it! The friendlies restrictions really surprised me. Ruined a lot of my preseason haha.

I hope, unless I'm - I mean Nelson -have already left at that time.

[Benjoe]

A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap

Nelson was nervous but would never have admitted it. He had just bagged £10 pounds from selling some horribly smelling perfume to a lady with three cats in a bag. How did he marketize it? He told her it would make her cat’s fur softer. There’s no joke hidden here. That was how it went down. 10 ****ing pounds for that. In a poor country…

As he walked towards Mumbu waving with his new money you could tell his heart was pounding fast. Maybe it wasn’t down to nervosity, but more down to the pressure put on his heart to pump enough blood around his huge body. We may never know.

Nelson and Mumbu didn’t talk. They just walked determinedly towards their players. A short ‘tactical’ meeting with the players and they were ready to meet the Shiselweni Vultures in the FA cup.

Eight minutes into the game and the Vultures were already in the lead… One of the buttons on Nelson’s shirt burst at the same time and flew away. Mumbu fell to the ground chasing the escaping button.

In the halftime break Nelson were busy with trying to sow his button back on his shirt so he told Mumbu to take care of the team talk. Mumbu panicked and couldn’t think of anything, but suddenly he started humming the lullaby he’d been humming the other day. Some of the players new the lullaby and started humming as well. Others fell asleep.

Yawning the players came back to the pitch with sleep in their eyes. For the first 20 minutes of second half they walked the ball around but never lost the ball. Out of nowhere left back Wonder Dlamini decided to have a shot at goal despite being close by the corner flag, the keeper was caught off guard and he lost the ball into the box where Ronnie Metsi came flying like a rocket. 1-1.

In the 90^th minute once again the Rovers were on the attack. Wonder Dlamini were also this time in advanced positions as he drew attention out wide. The ball was played into midfield quickly and passed into space for Ronnie Metsi to run onto. He was cold in front of goal. 2-1!

“IT’S ALL OVER!” Nelson came flying onto the pitch screaming. Okay, he wasn’t flying, maybe more like tumbling but screaming nonetheless. Their first win, and then in the FA Cup. It couldn’t get any better.

From rags to riches in no time like this. 

 

[Benjoe]

A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap

A little over a month later and Mhlambanyatsi hadn’t lost in 4 games in a row. Seven league games had been played and they’d come out with more wins than losses. Three wins, two draws and two losses as well. Thinking back at the games Nelson couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong in the matches they lost. The game against Umbelebele ended with a 3-2 defeat but Mhlambanyatsi had been the most creative side as they held the ball well and were great going forward. This wasn’t enough to win though as they let three goals in, in under 20 minutes. That mountain proved to steep to climb. The second loss came in the following game. Shiselweni Vultures came visiting as they wanted to revenge the FA Cup defeat. A dull game ended with a win to the Vultures.

After that game the Rover’s machine started getting traction and Mumbu started singing his lullaby before the games. This resulted in four games, two wins, two draws, three goals scored and one conceded. The lullaby is here to stay.

To be honest I don’t understand what is up with the attendances at these games. Ironically, “Eleven Men” only had six people attending their game against us.

[Benjoe]

Mother Swaziland

I will be following the Swazi NT as well. It isn't really that exciting atm.

We do, however, have players in the squad. Right back S'khonde got his debut. Nelson tried to praise him. That didn't go well.

Also I just spotted, that one of the teams I created - Shiselweni Vultures - have professional status. Not even just semi-pro but professional. 

Considering that not even the best teams in our Premier League have more than amateur status this surprises me. Also their value is estimated at £40k where Mhlambanyatsi (which I can now spell without looking, woo) is estimated at 4k. They have some players on contract, and it will be interesting to see if this will be a massive help for them. I would imagine that they'd start locking down more players soon and maybe steal the best around from other teams. We'll see.

Lastly, conceding goals like this one happens way too often due to rubbish keepers and ***** crosses.

 

[Benjoe]

A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap

”Boss, you know, my mother once told me, that a spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap.” Mumbu looked pale. “I never understood it.” Nelson shrugged, “Mumbu, go bother someone else.”

On the bus trip to the second round FA Cup fixture against 12^th placed Premier League side Midas Mbabane City Nelson was thinking long and hard about how he would hold the team talk prior to the match. Then it hit him.

As he walked into the changing room that really was just a little shed right next to the pitch he started talking. “Boys. This may very well be a match against a team in a league better than ours might, but that doesn’t mean we will lose. Remember, a spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap!” He looked philosophically at his players, all of whom just stared back with empty eyes.

“What hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Yeah well, I don’t know either. Mumbu! Your mother’s wisdom is ****!”

Following that incident, the game got underway. After 2 minutes, Bongani Dlamini handed the Rovers the lead with a solid header. Mumbu flew up of his seat and started pounding his chest fiercely as he shouted. Nelson saw this as wanted to overdo him. He jumped on top of his white plastic chair and started pounding and screaming. A matter of milliseconds later he pummeled through the chair and fell to the ground. Knocked out from the fall Nelson laid there the rest of the first half and only woke up again seconds before a big chance for Mthunzi.

“WHAAAAAAAAT!? HOW DO YOU MISS THAT!?!?”

Subsequently, Nelson passed out again.

The game ended with a 0-1 to Rovers.

Also I may have made the prize money too low for winning games in the cup. Or maybe it is fine. I have no clue. 

At least our economy is good for now. I mean, we have very limited funds and I understand the boards reluctance to bus trips, and we have no players on wage and the overall balance is rising at snail tempo, but still. Could be worse I would assume. 

[Benjoe]

Interesting name for this stadium.  

 

[Benjoe]

Status Update

A few changes have been made to the system that was cleverly created by Nelson and Mumbu. 

Instead of having the playmaker deep in midfield I'd rather have that role pushed a bit further up the pitch for multiple reasons. First reason must be, that our players lack most - if not all - technical abilities to be trusted handling the ball in a playmaker role so having a DLP in DM strata just makes the risk of losing the ball in dangerous positions that much higher. I'm much more confident having the ball searching for a playmaker in the AMC strata where he can play with greater risk knowing that he got two DM's behind him to cover. Bongani Dlamini is also doing excellent distributing the ball so I'm quite happy about it this way. Mamba in DM is therefore changed to play a DM(s) as we still need support forward but also want him to reassure our defensive line. 

Metsi, or whoever gets the striker role, will a striker role that is slightly more offensive than before but only due to moving from support to attacking. Not really the biggest of differences but I feel he is a bit more willing to take deep runs and is still a part of buildup. Just nip and tuck there. The back four is the same with offensive wing backs who really helps overloading our opponents and so far it is very effective. 

We drop deeper and play at a low tempo in most games. We aren't good with the ball but want to have it and dominate possesion as we aren't good enough at defending without the ball. This way we can usually control our opponents and then strike them when our wing backs overlap and generally just slowly find the constant holes created in the opponents defence. We have used this for the last 2-3 months and have been focusing as much training and preparation on the understanding of it, and yet the familiarity is Awkward. Eh.

We also have a more defensive version.

We change a bit more here but still not anything groundbreaking. We don't want to overcomplicate things so our striker plays a poacher role with our wide midfielders getting forward more creating three dangerous players going forward. Bongani Dlamini falls back a little but nothing serious, and our wing backs won't overlap as much but still provide much needed backup and passing opportunities for our wide midfielders. 

We pass it more direct but still at low tempo. This have only been used once so far so it is not tested too hard yet. 

Our squad. We don't really rotate too much. I tried at the start but quickly found that it wasn't needed as we don't have that many fixtures and I'd rather know what to expect from our main guys and then take it from there. As you can see they've played a bit more than at my last update but that update should come out sometime this evening. 

Brian Masika is actually interesting. Having his role as striker I found him inferior to that role but saw his attributes as being somewhat close to our most well rounded CD so he is used there and retrained for that position as well.