FM19 - St. Pats Athletic - Reviving Irish Football

[Deego619]

Hi all, I've had a few attempts at Career Updates threads in the past, but since I'm really enjoying the new game I'm going to begin a new adventure in Ireland.

Goals of the save

Create a new conveyor belt of Irish talent to bolster the national team and take it away from the dreadful Martin O'Neil ball.

Attempt in some way to raise up the League of Ireland's reputation. I will probably give free money to some clubs. 

Bring the Champions League to Dublin!

 

 

 

 

Obviously a lot of room for improvement here with the facilities. Hopefully the current squad can bring success early on to help us upgrade as soon as possible.

 

 

I've ported the tactic over from my successful QPR save (Championship title in S1, 2nd in Prem in S2). Hopefully this can remain throughout the save and we don't need to make too many changes to our philosophy.

Edited April 5, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

 

Nice win to start the season against the holders. Might have been a bit too nice if you know what I mean, maybe domestically things will be smoother than I thought.

[Deego619]

St. Patrick's Athletic - Season 2019

A great season in the league. Even got the Parked the Tank achievement for the first time ever in FM!

Cups

There's. So. Many. Cups. In. Ireland. Like seriously it's annoying when my squad is still so bare and my transfer budget non existent. It may be useful when youth begin to come through however.

 

We won the mickey mouse of the mickey mouse cups in the Leinster Senior Cup in our own ground. Dundalk then got revenge in the League Cup before Cork beat us in the season curtain call (senior challenge cup is basically the FA Cup equivalent in Ireland) after extra time.

I'd post transfers, but there just wasn't any. The board agreed to one upgrade of the youth facilities before our finances got in the way of anymore upgrades (400k in the red). A European run is essential due to the pittance you get for winning the league (around 200k).

Edited December 17, 2018 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

We've been busy in the market, spending 40k that the board managed to find under the couch. Reinforcing central midfield was my priority.

 

 

 

 

 

Gallagher is a third choice GK so you've no interest in seeing him.

All Irish and were bargain 'Arry Redknapp deals on players out of contract or just about to be out of contract. I'm going to try and keep this save as Irish as possible, with a view to taking over the senior side eventually.

Also, we've retained the Mickey Mickey Mouse Cup.

 

[Deego619]

Our First European Adventure

An extremely efficient display against the Armenian champions. Honestly, they'd probably struggle in my league.

Phew. I was worried when the draw was made due to knowing about Qarabag's European notoriety against top sides in last year's Champions League in real life. A comfortable display at home was followed by the Alamo away where we somehow managed to hang on until penalties, where our Keeper (Penalty taking 14 and not even the 5th best in the team somehow ) Dean Clarke slotted home the winner.

APOEL was a fantastic draw, I was immediately optimistic. Qarabag were a much bigger test, and APOEL never looked like scoring until we went down to 10 men in Cyrpus.

We've really lucked out with this draw. We could have played Celtic, Dinamo or Basel.

Edited December 17, 2018 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

Errr...well then. 

 

[ToMexico!!]

CL already in Ireland, congrats had taken me nine seasons with UCD. 

My biggest gripe with Ireland is the amount of cups as you mentioned before, so having a large squad is paramount for rotation but on the flip side is keeping all those players happy. A trick i've found is sign a few elder statesmen, players around 34/35 who still have it physically but on one year contracts, if they don't play too much and moan they won't be around long enough, if they play and contribute then they get another year deal. 

[The Rogue Lego Piece]

Nice work 

Had a lovely start with the Pats on my Journeyman save back on FM18. Chris Fagan scored some lovely goals. Never had your success though

[kingjericho]

What a start!

[Deego619]

On 18/12/2018 at 09:33, ToMexico!! said:

CL already in Ireland, congrats had taken me nine seasons with UCD. 

My biggest gripe with Ireland is the amount of cups as you mentioned before, so having a large squad is paramount for rotation but on the flip side is keeping all those players happy. A trick i've found is sign a few elder statesmen, players around 34/35 who still have it physically but on one year contracts, if they don't play too much and moan they won't be around long enough, if they play and contribute then they get another year deal. 

It was the luckiest run imaginable. Alaskhert were poor, Qarabag should have beaten us 6-0 in Azerbaijan, APOEL's AI manager decided to persist with a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow whilst I butchered them on the flanks over two legs. Plzen were formidable at home but shattered in Dublin. I can't imagine you had many easier ties with UCD.

Yeah, something I've noticed in Ireland is the short term nature of the contracts. I feel like the entire league is available to sign on a free by July.

On 18/12/2018 at 10:21, The Rogue Lego Piece said:

Nice work 

Had a lovely start with the Pats on my Journeyman save back on FM18. Chris Fagan scored some lovely goals. Never had your success though

Fagan was really good in previous editions but blows hot and cold for me in this version. 30 goals last season but about 10 in 30 apps this term. My AF is getting no space anymore.

20 hours ago, kingjericho said:

What a start!

Cheers, domestically it's a struggle this season (as we talked about in the tactics forum) but in Europe my luck has really been incredible. 

Edited December 19, 2018 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

Our European success has been a hindrance to our league form. It's tit for tat with us and a resurgent Dundalk who have already bettered their 3rd place points total from last season.

A massive result in the defence of our league title. I've changed my tactic in domestic matches in order to combat our inability to break down buses.

This provides a lot more dynamic running off the ball in order to break teams down. I've retrained Miele, a natural winger, to play TQ and he buzzes around in pockets of space, dragging defenders with him before feeding Keegan.

[Deego619]

St. Patrick's Athletic - 2020

Irish Premier Division

Phew.

Things went right down to the wire between ourselves and Dundalk. A far cry from last season. In the end, this 4-1 result against Dundalk towards the end of the season was literally the difference between the two teams. We won 8 games in a row in the run in, before drawing away to Cork and losing the final match in Bray. 

Cups Cups Cups

As above, we retained the Mickey Mickey Mouse cup. We went out early in the League Cup to Bohemians, but with our European run it wasn't devastating to be knocked out. I couldn't help but find annoying however, to lose to Cork again in the showpiece final.

Champions Cup

An incredibly lucky run in the qualifiers followed by a brave showing in the group stage. The draw in Rome with Lazio was perhaps the highlight of the season. 

Our central midfielder Barry Maguire shot a thunderbolt from a corner rebound with 8 minutes to go to salvage a famous result.

Next Season

I want a new Keeper, so many silly goals conceded this season by Dean Clarke, especially in our final two games of the season which almost cost us the title.

Our new financial power means I can scout further afield in the UK and Europe. Hopefully I may be able to tempt some Irish talents home from England, maybe max out our facilities in the coming seasons.

 

 

[RioImmagina]

You can try to sign Bazunu form Man city, or Hazard from celtic (the northen irish one)

Edited December 20, 2018 by RioImmagina

[ToMexico!!]

2 hours ago, RioImmagina said:

You can try to sign Bazunu form Man city, or Hazard from celtic (the northen irish one)

Bazunu is City's first choice keeper in my save, developed really well. I wanted to keep a strong Irish core but i've gone the other way now to improve in Europe. But I do overspend on any decent Irishman I can sign to help the other clubs in the league develop if they can. 

And my academy is now starting to produce, we have 3 youth products in the first team, this is after 13/14 seasons. 

[lblanc]

Congrats on Champions League.

Doing a Shelbourne save myself

 

My plan is to

1. Gain Promotion to Premier Division

2. Consolidate position in Premier Division

3. Challenge for Premier Division

4. Win the Premier Division

5. Qualify for the Champions League Group Stage

 

Have gotten through the first 3 months of the season and number 1. is progressing nicely currently unbeaten.

 

[Deego619]

Champions League Qualifying 2021

A solid, expected win against the Gibraltarian champions.

For the second year running we get a tough draw in round 2. With an even tougher prospect in the third should we advance.

 

[Deego619]

A much more challenging run than last season, but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Slavia Prauge were incredibly tough. We went down to 10 men for the last half hour in the 2nd leg and were up against it until we killed the tie in the 94th minute.

Dinamo did an APOEL and played a Brazilian Box formation, which allowed us to just run down the flanks all day long. What makes it even more strange is that it took their Wonderkid Marin out of the team and onto the bench. He started the 2nd leg and caused us all kinds of problems as they switched up to a 4-5-1 but we managed to hang on.

Legia was a nice draw considering we could've played Feyenoord or Celtic. I feared the worst when at 1-0 up in the 2nd leg, our striker went in two footed and got sent off. We sat back and decided to play defensively, and they just couldn't handle us on the break as we broke away and scored three more times to progress to the group stages for the 2nd season running.

[kingjericho]

Enjoy that sweet CL money to improve all the facilities that you can  

[Deego619]

St. Patricks Athletic 2021

A clean sweep! I'm not sure why but the Leinster Senior Cup doesn't register as this season, I think it's because the first round begins in a normal winter football schedule that the amateur Irish clubs follow (September 2020 was the first round). Here's our final result against Bray 

League Table

Domination. Even more so than season 1. Dundalk were by a margin in 2nd but still ended up sacking their manager. We lost pretty early on to Shamrock Rovers at home so there was never any disapointment at the failure to go unbeaten. We drew a couple towards the end of the season to rest up for the Champions League group stage and give some youngsters a go.

European Campaign

I knew when I saw our group that we had a great chance of nabbing our first win. Zenit were no better than Slavia Prauge or Dinamo.

Finances/Facilities

More upgrades to our youth facilities should mean the end of our terrible intakes.

Healthy!

Transfers

Heavy investment into Irish or partially Irish talent. Starting to flex our financial power now.

Youth

I realise I haven't given much information on youth intakes yet, and it's good that this save isn't youth only or else I'd be a bit screwed. I'm enjoying Irish only for now but this isn't too flexible, I may go to a Shakthar-like model in the future and add 2-3 gun players in the future. But for now, I want to develop the Irish league and nation.

Perhaps my best intake so far is Conor Sullivan. He'll probably end up being capped by Northern Ireland which is a shame. I gave him some games in the CL and the tail end of the league season. He'll firmly be my "Cup Keeper" next season, which an aim to be first choice by 21. 

Best 11

Not really sure how this is calculated, but Turner hasn't been first choice here since season 1, but loves to score a free kick or two when he comes in. You can also see by the apps column how many games you play in Ireland.

Overall Best 11

A lot of the old guard here will leave this winter when their contracts expire. This team will firmly be my own. Keegan, Turner and Toner have been great servants. Birmingham will stay here until he retires and is more than good enough to be a backup left back.

Edited December 29, 2018 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

St. Patricks Athletic 2022-2024

I guess it's time to update this thread with all that has happened over the past four months (two years game time).

 

Irish Premier League

Absolutely dominant. Three more league titles, with the 100 point barrier being broken in the last two. Almost had a flawless season in 2023, but we lost dramatically to our rivals Shamrock Rovers on the final day of the season. 

We also won every single domestic cup available playing our B team.

 

Europe

We qualified for the group stage once more in 2022, with a sole victory over OM the highlight.

2023 was an odyssey. I think we ended up playing 20 or so games in Europe throughout the entire season (European). Some players actually played more European games than Domestic. We had a famous thumping of Man United on our way to finishing 3rd in a group containing OL, Ath Madrid and United. 

The Thomas Rowe show. More about him later.

This took us into the Europa League for the first time in this save the following year. It's strange playing in Europe with a team who has a summer domestic season, because there isn't really any kind of off season. You finish your last CL group game in the middle of December, and you're back into pre-season in early January for a mid-February domestic kick off/European tie. You can easily have a very different team from your last European game to your next due to contracts.

A very entertaining and enjoyable run. 22 goals in all we scored as we finally bowed out to a Napoli team who had just too much class for us.

 

Players

Firstly, let's start off with our own academy graduates that have progressed to the first team.

7

We've recently maxed out our Youth Recruitment and Coaching so I'm hoping for more guys like these soon. Woods is by far the pick of the bunch, he has pretty much maxed out his CA when he first appeared in the Youth Candidates in 2022, and has been a first team regular ever since, already approaching 100 professional games (aiming for the 1000 club with this guy!). Not to mention the 10 caps for his country (fulfilling one of the goals of the save).

Kelly is unfortunate that Woods is such a talent, because he now warms our bench perhaps for the rest of his career. He should get some meaningless cup games.

Smith is the new great hope for us. The top 6 English sides were already sniffing around him before he could even have a full season in my under 19s, which a great sign for his PA. He will now take his place in my second string for cups and league games around European games this season. 

I'll move on now to the main core of my team, those whom I've signed from other clubs in the division to develop.

77Ma

Mahon is that versatile full back that any side needs, I don't rely on crossing on my full backs so footedness doesn't mean much. Kavanagh is a proper, no nonsense center half who makes up for his lack of technical ability with a good mind and physical power. Whelan is perhaps the jewel in the crown, who's been chased by the top 6 English sides for what seems like forever. 

Walker is a quick striker who is beginning to become a key part of the national team in the left sided striker role. Duggan has been somewhat of an opportunist, taking advantage of a lack of Irish talent at RB to make that role his own with 69 appearances in his non natural position. Rowe is becoming somewhat of a club icon, with his 5 goals in the demolishing of Manchester United the highlight of his career, with 90 goals in 137 appearances.

O'Malley has never been first choice right winger at the club, but cleaned up the league's awards in 2024 as part of his appearances with the second string.  Matondo is a new signing that I'm hoping will slot into a ball winner role in the middle of the park. Guthrie, like O'Malley, has been ripping up domestically whilst our first team has been resting for Europe. 

 

Best Eleven 2024

 

Facilities

Moving into the Aviva whilst our stadium is being expanded is pretty cool. I would have expected Tallaght.

 

Finances

Healthy from our European adventures.

Edited April 4, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

Ireland 2024 - A New Hope

I took the job from Noel King just in time for the Semi Finals of the Euro Quals. Immediately I drew criticism for calling up 12 St. Pats players 

The Euro campaign itself was disappointing when you consider who was in our group. We were never really out of any of the games, and we got caught out with late goals from Poland as we were pushing for an equalizer. The Nations League has felt like this team is molding itself into my St. Pats philosophy with some very St. Pats like results, demolishing Kosovo and Cyprus, whilst scoring impressive results against Russia who'd you expect to top this group.

Some familiar faces here  

[Deego619]

Thomas Rowe on a European Night yet again  

After the first leg I thought they would cause more hassle. I've transitioned into the "Irish Shakhtar" and have allowed myself 3 foreign players in my match squad, hence you see 17 year old Daniel Jansen who I'm hoping to transition into a winger (due to a lack of any real Irish youth in the position).

A good draw.

Edited April 5, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

 

Paul Walker is just on fire this year (I'm not gonna say it if you don't... ), he's really developed a lot over the past season or so from my second string to my left side Striker role. Nice personality to use on any youngsters in the future too, so I can see him being a lifer.

 

 

Oh and YN means youth from nation for me, whereas YC means youth from club. FGN means foreign and I think I'm going to introduce a new name code YF, which means partially Irish or Irish who have come through foreign academies, of which there's a few in my squad.

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end, a bit disappointed because CSKA and Celtic were both in the draw who are very beatable for my team.

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

 

An incredible display over two legs! We dominated them but conceded some sloppy goals.

 

 

This probably should have been Celtic if not for the biggest bottle job I've ever seen from an AI game 

 

[Deego619]

 

Incredible . Farrugia is quickly growing into one of my all time FM favourites, cooly slotting the winning penalty DOWN THE MIDDLE. 

 

 

Surely this is a step too far, Liverpool have a tough, hard working side so they're pretty much a better version of us.

On a side note, we have a few games in hand to play when this campaign ends

[Deego619]

Europa League Final 2025

 

The moment that history was created. Thomas Rowe, the man, the myth, the legend. The big game guy.

Down to 10 men for the last 20 mins and we managed to hang on, with only two of our match day squad not Irish. I'm over the moon!

 

 

Our success has done wonders for the league. We're automatically into the group stage of the CL, with another team in the competition. 3rd place almost seems more beneficial to the rest, because that's an automatic Europa League group stage berth worth millions. 

Edited April 7, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

Ireland Under 20s World Cup 2025

 

 

A curious opportunity fell on me whilst the Europa League was ongoing. The Under 20s world cup was about to take place, and we had no manager. Now my Under 19s had been performing well, reaching the Semi-Finals of the Champions Cup, so I was keen to see if I could take this team far on the international stage too.

 

 

I took a squad of pretty much St. Pats academy players. My YN players Matundo and Guthrie are first team players as well as academy product Smith, so I expected them to lead the side.

 

 

An incredible team, an incredible run. The result against the Germans was freakish, but then again their AI manager had done an appalling job of rotation and the majority of their side was in 70s/80s condition. 

 

 

My left winger McDaid picked up the golden ball for the tournament.

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

Only the 10 domestic games to play this month. 

But by far the biggest challenge will be holding onto some of our Irish starlets. I've already had to plead with the chairman to stop accepting "too good to refuse" bids for all three.

 

Edited April 9, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

 

In the end I just couldn't stop the damn chairman. What a s**t deal as well. 40% of the profit is alright I guess. 

[john1]

Fantastic progression!  Shame chairman accepted a ***** offer for Whelan  

[DamirT]

Are other teams in league successful like you? btw. awesome work,keep going  

Edited April 13, 2019 by DamirT

[Blodfylla]

I see you prefer to use domestic players but does the foreign market open up to you more as you become successful? I'm having a hard time attracting foreign players early in my Irish save.

[Deego619]

St. Patricks Athletic 2025

Pretty standard domination at this stage. The highlight being undoubtedly our Europa League triumph (which isn't listed here for some reason).

League Table

Half of the league qualifies for Europe now which I find pretty amusing. There were a lot of periods this season where we were missing up to 30 players due to international breaks, which led us to some dropped points.

Shoutout to newly promoted Shelbourne qualifying for the Champions League! Their team features a lot of young, talented loanees from other clubs, including two of our young prospects who I deemed not good enough for even my second 11, such is our strength now. 

However, they got the raw end of the deal as 3rd place Cork City go straight into the groups of the Europa League, and I don't think Shelbourne are strong enough to get there themselves, especially through the best placed side of the draw.

European Campaign

An incredible year in Europe, winning the Europa League and qualifying through the groups of the CL for the first time. Roma are turning into our whipping boys somewhat, 16 goals scored on them in 4 games  

Finances/Facilities

Transfers

Starting to look abroad for talents as we begin to become the "Irish Shakthar".

Youth

We had our first "Golden Generation" message, but with more "decent" prospects than anyone world class, apart from Devlin maybe.

My under 19s this season had a fantastic year. Winning the Irish U19 league, losing in the 1/4 finals of the U19 CL (thanks to international callups) and many were involved in the Ireland team who became U20 world champs.

Best 11

This was Farrugia's year. 29 goals from the left flank is incredible. Matondo has broken through and made the midfield destroyer position his own.

Overall Best 11

O'Malley has never been first choice ever and somehow is considered our best right winger of all time.

[Deego619]

Ireland 2025 - Progress

Pretty much flawless apart from a disappointing draw away at Hungary. We probably should have topped the group, but despite beating Poland 6-1 away Croatia went and beat Estonia 13-0 to finish top on GD

Thankfully, we were comfortably one of the best runners up so we qualified for the new expanded World Cup.

This could actually be a bit of a banana skin if we're not careful. DR Congo are ranked in the top 10 in the world and have a lot of decent players. It would also be a bit foolish of us to discount any team that hails from South America.

Great campaigns for both our own Walker and Daryl Horgan.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

On 13/04/2019 at 23:29, DamirT said:

Are other teams in league successful like you? btw. awesome work,keep going  

Not really, usually Dundalk and the likes win one round in their qualifiers but end up going out. Hopefully now that I've pretty much forced third place into the Europa League, that they will begin improving.

 

On 15/04/2019 at 09:29, Blodfylla said:

I see you prefer to use domestic players but does the foreign market open up to you more as you become successful? I'm having a hard time attracting foreign players early in my Irish save.

Yeah I noticed this during my first couple of seasons. I think when my rep got to around 3* level did I manage to lure over players from the UK at first, then further abroad as I could afford better scouting packages.

[Deego619]

A lot of good business this window. with a lot of look to the future.

 

Especially happy with that last purchase from Braga. 950k for a player just a tier below world class.

I sent a lot of my 18 year old Irish youths out on loan to other teams in the division. I finally sold Harley Johnson for a great fee (5m + 50% of next sale) because I was fed up of English clubs banging on my door every window. McDaid is an average at best youth, but for some reason Arsenal wanted him for 2.5m so who was I to say no?  

[Deego619]

Wow 

We're playing a new Target Man system with Ravn the main man and it's absolutely working. We needed two goals in the last half hour to bring it to Extra Time and did so, with the big man Ravn scoring what's turning into a trademark header.

Edited May 5, 2019 by JDeeguain

[Deego619]

 

Atletico were clinical and a class above. Their 4-4-2 is better than ours putting it simply. 

I'm still quite happy with our progress this year and we picked up some fantastic results against Roma and PSG. Hopefully it's enough to keep the league's co-efficient high.

[Deego619]

Squad Update

 

Goalkeepers

 

Two homegrown players inbetween the sticks. Happy to have a reliable backup in Kelly who's more than happy to be so. Can see these two being here for years to come.

 

Right Back

 

Bessa is probably the best free signing I've made in this save. Mahon is a reliable, versatile full back who despite not being first choice is very important.

 

Left Back

 

I'm retraining Urban to play left back because it's at that stage in the save where I'm struggling to find my ideal player. Anderson is great, but still refuses to declare for Ireland which is my main incentive to keep him  

 

Center Back

 

An area of the squad I'm really happy with. It's important I have athletes here to help with our high line. Navio/Collins are a great pair and either Smith or Kavanagh can slot in easy.

 

Defensive Central Midfielder

 

Molumby is our highest paid player and key cog in our machine. Matondo is one of my favourite players in this squad, tenacious and can smack a free kick. I'll give him an Ireland debut soon.

 

Attacking Central Midfielder

 

Jose Carlos is a new signing I want to take our set pieces. Browne is homegrown and exactly what I want to see coming through for Ireland. Another in line for an Ireland debut soon.

 

Right Wing

A part of me still thinks I'm wasting Jensen out on the right, but realistically, there's not other options for the way I play. McGlade is homegrown and burst into the first team this season with 7 goals in 9 games from the wing, and also scoring on his Ireland debut.

 

Left Wing

 

The most experienced area of the squad. Farrugia is now listed as a club legend, but his declaration for France early in his career has cost him a lengthy career with Ireland. Clarke is a reliable backup who should remain here for a while until we have a better youth option. 

 

Strikers

Really happy with this area of the squad, a lot of different options. Ravn has been a revelation since he's come in and has given us a great plan b. Luta is quickly putting pressure on Walker as he has settled this season. Rowe has become a backup for club and country now, but is always a reliable big game performer.

 

 

[VSfallin]

On 19/12/2018 at 19:58, JDeeguain said:

It was the luckiest run imaginable. Alaskhert were poor, Qarabag should have beaten us 6-0 in Azerbaijan, APOEL's AI manager decided to persist with a 4-1-2-1-2 narrow whilst I butchered them on the flanks over two legs. Plzen were formidable at home but shattered in Dublin. I can't imagine you had many easier ties with UCD.

Yeah, something I've noticed in Ireland is the short term nature of the contracts. I feel like the entire league is available to sign on a free by July.

Fagan was really good in previous editions but blows hot and cold for me in this version. 30 goals last season but about 10 in 30 apps this term. My AF is getting no space anymore.

Cheers, domestically it's a struggle this season (as we talked about in the tactics forum) but in Europe my luck has really been incredible. 

If u ever do this again then Basssala Sambou is the MAN

[rodesire]

Do you have all players loaded for teams in European competitions or do you play teams with grey players sometimes?