[FM17] Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place - A Gibraltar Youth Challenge

[Nottingham Forest]

So I think I've stumbled upon a save that will keep interested until FM18 comes out or further. At this present moment in time it'll probably be past FM18. The aim of the save is to turn Gibraltar into a footballing powerhouse. Unlikely I know, but I'll give it a good crack. I've loaded the Gibraltar league through Steam along with the rest of the standard leagues like England, Germany, France, Scotland, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Wales, Northern Ireland, Holland and Italy etc etc.

I've decided to start with no badges and Sunday league rep. As I wasn't sure how long this would last, I don't have many screenshots from the two seasons that I've already completed. The club I have chose is FC Hound Dogs due to the fact they're expected to finish bottom of the second division(9 teams). I have been offered about 10-15 club interviews but rejected all of them as I want to take Hound Dogs as far as possible.

 

 

[Nottingham Forest]

Gibraltar International Records

 

Top 5 Most International Caps 

Player                                        Caps      
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liam Walker                                   37
Jack Sergeant                                 36
Jake Gosling                                  35
Scott Wiseman                                 29
George Cabrera                                27

 

Top International Goalscorers

Player                                                                       Goals
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jake Gosling                                                                 6
Liam Walker                                                                  5
George Cabrera/Jamie Coombes/Evan Green/Jayan Brennan                        2
Michael Yome/Roy Chipolina/Kyle Casciaro/Adam Priestley                      1 

Biggest Win

4-1 vs Anguilla (H), Friendly, 15th November 2016

Biggest Loss

0-7 vs Poland, European Championship Qualifying, 7th September 2014

Youngest Player

Jodi Owen - 16 years 341 days

Oldest Player

Lee Casciaro - 35 years 180 days

Youngest Goalscorer

Jamie Coombes - 20 years 172 days

Oldest Goalscorer

Liam Walker - 30 years 182 days

[Nottingham Forest]

FC Hound Dogs Club Records

Highest League Position: 4th(Second Division) - 2012/13

Lowest League Position: 11th(Second Division) - 2014/15

Most Points in a Season: 31(2013/14)

Lowest Points in a Season: 18(2015/16)

Most League Goals for Club: William Bell YP1k - 7

Most League Appearances for Club: Morgan Brown - 41

Youngest Player: Kenny Russell YP1a - 15 years 260 days

Oldest Player: Ercan Mehmet - 36 years 18 days

Youngest Goalscorer: Joe Lowe YP2b - 15 years 308 days

Oldest Goalscorer: John Luke Olivera - 21 years 151 days

 

 

[Nottingham Forest]

2016-2017 Season/2017-2018 Season

FC Hound Dogs

In the league we have so far finished 8th and 9th. Which I'm pleased with considering we're always expected to finish bottom. In the cups we've not really made much progress but it's a long term project.

2016-17 Season Table

2017-18 Season Table

Gibraltar

We started off being ranked 208th in the world and in just two seasons we have managed to climb up to 178th. Our highest position so far has been 175th. We're currently going through a bit of a tricky period due to the lack of quality coming through. But over time I'm hopeful we can kick on again. We managed to pick up two points during qualifying against Cyrpus and Bosnia which I'm extremely pleased with.

[Nottingham Forest]

The Squad

2018-19 Season

As with all youth challenges, youth intake day is the most important. Here I'm going to give you a current run down of my squad until the next intake day which will be early March 2019. All players are listed in order of choices and positions I expect them to play in my formation. Whilst I have a large squad of 38 players, only 25 of them make up my first team squad. Which for a 16 game league season is a lot. However, we're only an amateur side and my concern is we could lose any of these players at any given time so I'd prefer to be over stacked than under.

Goalkeepers: Liam Spillane-Davis YP1b, Chris Matthews YP2h, James Simpson & Juan Antonio Carcano Blanco

Right Backs: Colin Sheppard YP2g, Jake Cameron YP0b & Matt Johnson YP1g

Left Backs: Alan Taylor YP1e, Shaun Gonzalez & Jordan Sargant YP2m

Centre Backs: Alan Wszeborowski, Luke McKenna YP2e, Adam Martin YP2d, Jensen Perera, Sean Harrison, Billy Dean YP1l, Alan Holmes YP1m & Chris Dean YP2n

Central Midfield(D): Tom Perry YP1c & Ismael Ballesteros YP0a

Central Midfield(DLP-D): Morgan Brown & Etien Victory

Advanced Playmaker(CAM): James Brown YP2f, Ben Knight YP1h & Andy Baker YP1f

Attacking Midfielder(CAM): Kenny Russell YP1a, John Luke Olivera, Shane Townrow YP2c & Alejandro Herrera Lopez

Shadow Striker(CAM): Marouane Chawki YP1d, Stuart Lee YP2j & Craig Owens YP2k

Striker(Advanced Forward): Joe Lowe YP2b, Alex Hart YP2a, William Bell YP1k, Shaun De'Ath, Zac Davis YP1j & Jansen Ramagge YP2l

 

[sivso]

Nice enough start, good point against Bosnia!

[Nottingham Forest]

9 minutes ago, sivso said:

Nice enough start, good point against Bosnia!

Yeah, initially I had a 3-5 year plan to get out of the 2nd division with Hound Dogs. I'm revising that to a 5-10 year plan. With Gibraltar the 2 points were unexpected. We even took the lead in one of the games. It's going to be tough in the near future as the quality isn't there.

[Nottingham Forest]

FC Hound Dogs

2018-19 Season

Pre-Season

Board, Media Expectations & Other Bits

Second Division: Finish Bottom

Media Prediction: 9th

Title Odds: 250-1

Rock Cup: 1st Round

Division 2 League Cup: Be Competitive

Finances: £5,714 

Season Ticket Sales: 25(+0)

Wage Budget: N/A

Pre-Season Results

The league campaign is just 16 games long and with last season's disappointment of finishing 9th, I felt it was important that we had a strong pre-season. I got the lads back for 7 weeks of pre-season training and decided to arrange 25 games. I tweaked our tactics a little and whilst we were slow in the 4 games against the reserves, we soon got into our stride. Despite being the better side in most of our pre-season games we never got the rewards of the big wins. But towards the end of the pre-season campaign we were passing sides off the park and creating numerous good chances. Our biggest issue this season will be our inability to put chances away based upon what I've seen over pre-season.

Player & Staff News

Over the course of pre-season we allowed 6 players to leave. The four I wasn't overly fussed about were Jonathan Mccarthy, Gabriel Liccudi, Devon Ballester and Kieron Francis Gonzalez. I also allowed Shaun De Soto to leave when he kicked up a fuss about being demoted to the reserves. Shaun De'Ath also departed as I made a big decision on his future. He's failed to live upto expectations and I felt it was best for him to leave after he failed to impress in reserve games. I've also managed to get the board to allow us to have more staff which now leaves our backroom looking like this;

Other News

I've managed to pass my Continental C Licence badge. The board have also formed a partnership with First Division side Lynx. I requested another parent club for financial purposes but was rejected. I've also been offered interviews with Albion Rovers, Europa Point, Gibraltar Phoenix, Leo, Limerick, Lions Gibraltar, Macclesfield Town, Manchester 62, Morecambe, St Joseph's, St Mirren and St Patrick's Athletic. The board were extremely delighted I rejected the St Pat's job as the media asked me about it before I was offered it. Didn't attend any of the interviews as I had no interest.

 

 

 

 

[Nottingham Forest]

Gibraltar

2018-19 Season

September

We were drawn in what the media described as a tough group for the European International League D Group 1. As were scheduled to face FYR Macedonia, Faroe Islands and Liechtenstein. Based on where we are as a side I'd be confident of getting results against Liechtenstein(home & away) and a win at home to the Faroe Islands. Ethan Jolley and Max Cottrell were named the new captain and vice captain respectively. Cottrell is an 18 year old who I gave a debut to 2 seasons ago.

Between July and August we rose to a record high 170th in the world. Our first two games in the competition would be against FYR Macedonia and Liechtenstein. I decided to announce the following squad for the games.

  

The surprise inclusion was 16 year old Jodi Owen who had made a cracking start to the season for his club in the European competition. Unfortunately Ethan Jolley missed out through injury. The two games were a shambles and we played dreadfully in both.

Shortly afterwards I got informed that Cottrell would be out for 4 months and we'd dropped to 191st in the world rankings due to our poor performances.

 

[Nottingham Forest]

Also had this as well

[Nottingham Forest]

FC Hound Dogs

2018-19 Season

October

Results

We started off the month of October with a trip to Leo FC. Despite bossing the game from start to finish we failed to score a goal despite having the better chances. William Bell YP1k missing quite a few good chances. Due to the nature of the Second Division, you can go 2 to 3 weeks without a game. I was determined to keep morale and fitness up so arranged two friendlies. The first was against Gibraltar Regiment at home. Despite being the better side the only goal of the game came from a failed corner as Kenny Russell YP1 a rifled home on 19 minutes. Against Gibraltar Phoenix I went with the same mentality and Morgan Brown rewarded us with an early goal in the 13th minute from James Brown YP2f's corner. Unfortunately just before the hour mark Christian Hewitt equalised for them as Wszeborowski was dragged out of position which gave Hewitt enough space for a composed finish. Our final game of the month saw another friendly against College '75. A goalless first half despite us being the better side and I made my usual 12 changes for a friendly. William Bell YP1k put us infront with a clam finish just 45 seconds after the restart. Ben Knight YP1h replicated Bell's finish in the 85th minute as we won comfortably. 

Leo FC Stats

Gibraltar Regiment Stats

Gibraltar Phoenix Stats

College '75 Stats

League Table

In the league we sit in a very respectable 6th place. We still have a few games in hand so we've made a steady start.

Other News

Unfortunately after the Leo FC game we were informed that we had now gone 12 games without a win dating back to the 12th January 2018. I was also offered an interview at Burton Albion who were 23rd in League One. Of course as always I rejected it.

 

 

[Sheriff7]

Ecellent results in qualifiers.. Ibrahim could help you in national team and Lee Casciaro is old but still a killer.. Good luck!! 

[Draakon]

Tough challenge. It's not the first Gibraltar youth only save here in this forum, but always interesting to see how it plays out. It's a massively long journey and I personally couldn't stand all the losses on the way.

[Nottingham Forest]

1 hour ago, Sheriff7 said:

Ecellent results in qualifiers.. Ibrahim could help you in national team and Lee Casciaro is old but still a killer.. Good luck!! 

Ibrahim has retired and Casciaro has been dreadful and now retired I think

9 minutes ago, Draakon said:

Tough challenge. It's not the first Gibraltar youth only save here in this forum, but always interesting to see how it plays out. It's a massively long journey and I personally couldn't stand all the losses on the way.

I'm enjoying it now. I don't mind losing. Makes me look less rubbish.

[Nottingham Forest]

FC Hound Dogs

2018-19 Season

Youth Intake

I'm extremely happy with this years intake as we seemed to have improved on the quality that has come through. Just before intake I got an increase to the junior coaching budget as well. But here are the class of 2018-19.

Based on what we have, Pepper, Marsden, Taylor and Rickwood will most probably be released as they don't fit in with the tactic I play I don't think they'll be good enough to retrain in any position I do use. Williams, Cousins, Garner, Ellison, Thompson, Dove, Boyce, Allen and Beesley-Tunnicliffe are all players who I'll be promoting to the first team straight away. All of them are basically rated better or equal to what I have.

 

[Nottingham Forest]

FC Hound Dogs

2018-19 Season

We finished the season in 5th which signals a major improvement on last season's last place finish. We were never really in any danger of finishing bottom or gatecrashing the top due to our inability to put away our chances. However, two of our defeats came in the last 3 games. If we can convert more of the draws to wins then I feel we'll be improving again next season. 

We had a very good season results wise, even if there are a lot of draws. We struggled at times during the season if our strikers weren't on form and apart from the odd game, our defence performed well. We've been playing some good football but just need to score more goals. Which I'm sure will come.

Financially we're still in a good position for an amateur side.

I allowed a lot of reserve players to leave as they were never really going to make the grade or get the game time they deserved.

John Luke Olivera was also ruled out for 6 months with a broken ankle. Whilst he's only back up, he's a good back up to have. Kenny Russell YP1a and Tom Beesley-Tunnicliffe YP3c finished as our top league goalscorers with 3 a piece.

 

[Nottingham Forest]

Gibraltar

2018-19 Season

It's been a mixed bag at international level this season as we've won games people didn't expect to and lost to sides people expected us to beat. October saw us beat the Faroe Islands before narrowly losing to FYR Macedonia. We then played dreadfully against Liechtenstein before getting another good point against the Faroe Islands. This saw us finish bottom of the European League.

In the European Championship Qualifiers we've had a very good start. We lost heavily to Belgium but picked up a good point against Israel despite being the better side. We're not bottom and that's aim to finish above the Faroe Islands.

We're upto a very respectable 167th in the world rankings and long may our rise continue.

Liam Walker retired having not had a club for over 2 seasons. I was disappointed to see him retire as he was by far my best player. He follows Perez, Ibrahim and a few of the Chipolina/Casciaro into retirement.