TheMadMonk Posted November 22, 2018 Share Posted November 22, 2018 Ever since his manager-ship of Sheffield United I've been an admirer of Neil Warnock - (or "Colin ******" as he's known by those that don't hold him in high regard). Like the marmite of football managers you either love him or hate him, but you cant fail to (even grudgingly) appreciate how he can turn under performing lesser lights of the footballing pyramid into overachievers. So I've devised a challenge to attempt to emulate Neil's record in FM19, and my hope is that by recording my attempts on here that I'll maintain my interest and see it through to its conclusion. How it Works Teams You can only manage teams that Neil has managed or played for in real life - (see list below with current league as of FM19) - and you must start with one of the Clubs that aren't currently in the Football League use all English Leagues - Large Database Manager set up Give your manager a name which is an anagram of "Neil Warnock" Set Managerial style as "Motivator" Fully across to "Tactical Manager" Accept default coaching badges and experience for the chosen team Max out "Man Management" and "Motivating" to 20 - the other points can be distributed as you feel fit (see below example at National South level - the defaults my be slightly better at National League level The Objectives to achieve Win the National League (50pts) Promotion from National League via Play-Offs (25pts) When in the Football League - Win promotion from each Division at least twice (25pts each promotion (max 150pts)) Achieve at least 6 promotions in total with 5 different teams (25pts each different Team (max 125pts)) Win the Championship (100pts) Beat Sheffield Wednesday (5pts each victory) Beat Leicester City (5pts each victory) Beat a Team managed by Gary Megson (5pts each victory) Beat a Team managed by Mark Hughes (5pts each victory) Beat a Team managed by Gareth Southgate (5pts each victory) Touchline Ban (5pts each ban)and then to surpass Neil ..... if there's time left in your career Win the FA Cup with a non Premiership side (50pts each win) Win the Premier League (50pts each win) Manage England to European Championship or World Cup success (50pts each win) ~ See how many points can be amassed in 40 years of management or how fewer years it takes to achieve each objective at least once~ "Warnock Challenge Teams" to use for the Challenge with current FM19 Leagues Current Non-League to start Challenge with .... Gainsborough Trinity (Northern Premier League) - can wait for promotion or use with editor added additional levels Scarborough Athletic (Northern Premier League) - can wait for promotion or use with editor added additional levels Torquay United (National League South) York City (National League North) Chesterfield (National League) Hartlepool (National League) Aldershot (National League) Remainder of teams that can be used for continuation of challenge .... League 2 Bury Crewe Alexandra Notts County Oldham Athletic League 1 Barnsley Burton Albion Plymouth Argyle Scunthorpe United Championship Leeds United Queens Park Rangers Rotherham United Sheffield United Premiership Cardiff City Crystal Palace Huddersfield .............. and also to make the challenge more realistic at post match press conferences you must blame every loss on mistakes by officials or underhand tactics by the opposing manager. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheMadMonk Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 So 1st season and I've started in National League South - with Torquay United. Pre-Season Odds show us even money for promotion and second favourites to win the title - favourites being Billericay, who have a large budget for this league, and include amongst their ranks ex-premier league player 32 yr old Jamie O'Hara. Both us and Billericay started the league in great fashion - we both won 8 and drew one of our first 9 games, then Billericay were the first to suffer defeat - going down 1-0 to Dartford. We saw our chance and pressed on eventually suffering our first league defeat after an impressive 13 games (W12 D1)- losing 1-0 to a lowly Wealdstone team. We only had a small squad, and at this point I hadn't added to the squad since the league had kicked off, but that first loss coincided with a spate of injuries to key players, and I was having to supplement the first team with 3 or 4 back up players. The 1st loss to Wealdstone was quickly followed by 2 more consecutive losses - including away at Billericay. I was very grateful for an almost 3 week period without a competitive game - following an early FA Cup exit. This gave me time to bring back a few of my injured and take on board a couple of loan players, and a free agent to strengthen the squad. Nana Kyei (7.18 avg) and Tom Heardman (7.01 avg) were particular influential over the rest of the season. Our first competitive game after the break had us facing an awful away tie at Billericay in the FA Trophy - this saw the first outing for my 4-4-1-1 more defensive tactic, my usual go to tactic being a very attack minded 'Fluid Counter Attacking 4-2-4'. It worked a charm, we trounced Billericay 3-1 away from home - and it was at this point that I realised we had an excellent chance of automatic promotion, with a strengthened squad and the all important Plan B. With our early season spate of victories we had been averaging almost 3 goals per game - with our central attacking pair of Brett Williams (TM) and Jamie Reid (PF) bagging 10 a piece of the 40 ish goals scored. However the introduction of Tom Heardman saw Brett throw his 'toys out of the pram' and a demanding of confirmation that he wouldn't be dropped after the introduction of Heardman. I tried in vain to explain that the thought had never crossed my mind , but the primadonna didn't believe me and my treatment of him caused a 'split' in the camp - the players eventually came around, but it appeared Brett was actually correct in his assumption as Tom did get more game time, as Bretts form went to pot - he became disinterested in games and was subsequently dropped to the just odd-substitute appearance here and there - he didn't score again all season. We went on another excellent run in the league - taking 34 out of the next 39 possible points. During this period we were also having an excellent run in the FA Trophy - the highlight of which was beating Leyton Orient (2nd placed in National League) - 3-1 at home in a 4th Round Replay, after drawing the original tie 1-1 at their place. Our excellent FA Trophy run (which finally saw us lose in the Semi Finals to Barnet (3-1 agg.)) - was very nearly the undoing of our great league run. The number of games taking its toll on our league form and the next 10 league games saw us take just 13 pts from a possible 30 - and we dropped to second in the league, 2pts behind Billericay with Dartford hot on our heels just 2 points behind in 3rd. So we came to the final 2 games of the season - with the standings as below Billericay 87pts Torquay United 85pts Dartford Town 83pts The penultimate fixture saw us with a home tie against mid table Hungerford, with Billericay having the chance to seal the league with a win, but playing away against ... you guessed it Dartford. We dominated our match against Hungerford (21 shots vs 2 ) - and we were helped by them going down to 10 men after 22 minutes. 2-0 up at half time a nervy second half saw Hugerford scoring on the break - and a nervy final 5 minutes saw us hold out 2-1 winners. The Dartford game vs Billericay was an epic. Billericay scored in the first minute 1-0 Dartford equalised with a penalty after 5 minutes 1-1 - they were then reduced to 10 men just 2 minutes before half time after their DCL Kenneth Yao was sent off for a professional foul ! - 4 minutes into the second half Billericay had their AMC Sam Deering also sent off (this time for 2 x Yellow Cards) !! Dartford then went ahead again on 64 minutes 2-1 - only to concede an agonising 89th minute equaliser by Billericay 2-2 - only then to get another penalty awarded and converted in the 90th minute !! Dartford win 3-2 .... what a result for Torquay .Our fate was once again in our own hands. A calming pre-match team meeting went extremely well, prior to our ultimate match against lowly St.Albans. We set up with our more defensive 4-4-1-1 so as not to conceded, and a nerve settling 3rd minute penalty conversion by back up forward Ruairi Keating saw us control the game for a comfy as 1-0 victory you could hope for in the circumstances. LEAGUE CHAMPIONS !! Next season will be more challenging - as I have a distinct lack of youth intakes, or players expected to attain National League qualities - so the restriction to free transfers or loans will test my mettle. Although I have been granted a transfer budget of a massive £867 next season, so I couldn't afford to dip into the transfer market even if I had the inclination to ..... I also have a poor amount of leadership and influence in the squad currently, so another area to improve upon. Couple of Screen shots with post season info End of Season Awards Transfer/Loan Incoming History after my employment A message from Colin ..... Billericay and Dartford both failed in the play-offs - with the seasons 4th place finishers Oxford City winning the play-off final,trouncing Dartford 5-0 in the final, following on from a 3-1 demolition of Billericay in the Semi-Final The other "Warnock Challenge" teams start in the following leagues for the coming 2019-2020 season Gainsborough Trinity (Northern Premier League) Scarborough Athletic (Northern Premier League) National League North York City National League South (~none~) National League Chesterfield Hartlepool Torquay United (promotion from National South) League 2 Aldershot (promotion from National League) Bury Crewe Alexandra Notts County Oldham Athletic League 1 Burton Albion Plymouth Argyle Rotherham United (relegation from Championship) Scunthorpe United Championship Barnsley (promotion from League 1) Cardiff (relegated from Premier League) Crystal Palace (relegated from Premier League) Leeds United Queens Park Rangers Premiership Huddersfield Sheffield United (promotion from Championship) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmattb28 Posted December 14, 2018 Share Posted December 14, 2018 This actually looks quite fun, and would make a change from my usual journeyman saves. May start this tonight or tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Beckham Posted August 17, 2019 Share Posted August 17, 2019 Did anyone carry on or try this challenge as it looks quite fun, I might try this on FM2020. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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