Money Money Money

[danmcconnell1]

Money Money Money

The aim of my save is simple, make as much money as physically possible, starting from nothing. Others have completed challenges like this in the past and I've decided to take a punt and try one myself. I've loaded a whole host of leagues from around the world and the player count is around 110k on a small database. I've chosen small considering the number of leagues I'll be running. It's going to be a journeyman save where I apply for anything and everything at the beginning and see what I get offered. If I'm offered a job, regardless of where it is, for more money, then I will accept and move on. I'm starting with no coaching badges and Sunday League experience, the FM way of saying 'a nobody'.

Let's see how we get on...

At the beginning of the game there are approximately 23 jobs available around the world from Chile to China, so as mentioned before, I clicked apply all and awaited responses. The majority of responses were negative but that was to be expected. I did get a couple of interview offers, one from Israel, another from Wales and finally another from Northern Ireland. I attended all 3 in an attempt to find myself some work. After a few days, Aberystwyth Town offered me a 12 month deal at £275 per week. I pondered the deal and decided to delay in case any others offers came and just 24 hours later, Institute in Northern Ireland offered me a far better deal at £600 per week over 12 months and that was more than good enough for me. I was now a fully fledged football manager in a top division, albeit in not such a top league with the greatest of respect.

Bags are packed and accommodation sorted (by the club of course, I have no money at the moment ) and flights booked (again by the club). I'm off to Derry. Here is where my new club play and a brief history....

Looks pretty derelict to me, or the groundsman has been slacking. I'm soon told that we're not actually going to be playing here at all, we'll actually be ground sharing for the foreseeable future with a total of 10 other teams at Brandywell in Derry, a whole 4 miles away.

Luckily, that looks like a plastic pitch so we shouldn't need to worry about postponements (which in turn could cause fixture congestion) and a poor pitch, at home at least, as we enter the winter months.

The club has had relative success over the years, particularly in 2016 when the club won a double consisting of the Intermediate Cup and the Intermediate League Cup. The facilities on offer aren't great but that was to be expected considering the status of the club.

The squad is a decent size but could do with a couple of additions. We only have one left back who is arguably one of our best players so we could do with a backup option there. In central midfield we have a few options but they're not great, so I'll be looking at who we can bring into try and bolster options in the middle of the pack too. But the jewel in the crown who I'm pinning a lot of hopes on is this man...

Michael McCrudden is rated 4.5 stars by my staff and looks like a real gem for this level. We're odds on to go down again after being promoted to the Danske Bank Premier League last season so if we can keep him firing then we will have a fighting chance of beating the drop.

I'll update again at the midway point of the season to see how we're getting on!

[Hootieleece]

Follow the Money.....

I have to!

Good Luck!

[Carambau]

Good luck with that

(humms the Abba song..)

[danmcconnell1]

On ‎17‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 21:57, Hootieleece said:

Follow the Money.....

I have to!

Good Luck!

Don't we all? cheers!

On ‎18‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 13:54, Carambau said:

Good luck with that

(humms the Abba song..)

Cheers also, update coming shortly.

[danmcconnell1]

Mid-Season Review

So, after 6 or so months at the helm of the club odds on to finish bottom of the league, things were going pretty much as expected..

11th in the table out of 12, if we finished there in May then we'd be in the relegation play off against a team from the division below.

The season started brilliantly with back to back wins against Newry and Linfield, the latter of which was a huge surprise. We eased to a 2-0 victory away from home to make things even more impressive. A draw then the first defeat of my tenure came, but we got back to winning ways at the end of August by progressing in the Bet McLean Cup. Then came the poor results, just 1 point picked up from a possible 15 in September really dented our early season optimism. But we recovered to win 4 on the bounce as well as progress into the quarter finals of the Bet McLean Cup after beating Dungannon. This was followed by another poor run of results in the league, again only 1 point picked up from a possible 18 this time. We also lost in the Bet McLean Cup semi finals against divisional rivals Ballymena.

My squad is performing pretty much as expected if I'm honest. I was not expecting such a good start nor the winning run in October, so to be off the bottom at the halfway stage is an achievement. The standout player has of course been the aforementioned McCrudden. His 14 goals have been crucial to us and have won us the vast majority of our points. He's someone we'll need to hold onto if we're to achieve anything at all. Winger Jamie McIntyre has also chipped in with 8 too, he's really starting to shine out wide. We signed 2 players also, one on loan on deadline day, central midfielder Cameron Palmer from Rangers and another striker, another player with links to Rangers, veteran striker Nacho Novo, both on deals until the end of the season. 

Back in November, I took a job which I thought would mean an increase in incomings financially, but it turns out it doesn't. I'm now also managing the under 19 Israelis on a part time basis. No matches until March at the earliest with them though so we'll just gloss over that point for now. 

Now, unfortunately for me, there was a board meeting following the penultimate game above...

I was set the task of picking up 8 points from the next 5 matches. As you can see, we didn't get off to the best of starts, losing against Glentoran, although they are second in the table. So the task becomes even more arduous, 8 points from 12 now.

And to end, some good news...

Back at the end of August, the board let me begin a course to get my first coaching badges. I'll be a National C License holder hopefully early in the new year.

[danmcconnell1]

So after being given an ultimatum by the board to pick up 8 points from the next 5 matches, we had a battle on our hands. We didn't get off to the best of starts losing the next match meaning the task had to be done in just 4 matches. This meant 2 more defeats would mean curtains...

Which is inevitably what came. Losses to Ballymena and Cliftonville spelled my fate and the news came soon after my final match.

Not the first time I've been sacked on FM and surely won't be the last but it's never nice!

And just to compound the misery a little more, Ards got themselves off the bottom for the first time since September to mean I was sacked whilst bottom of the table for the first time in my short career.

Moving on, there are plenty of jobs available in and around the ether at the moment, but just quickly update the main aim of this save, I did manage to earn myself £14.75k after tax from the few months I was working in Northern Ireland, so I had a little bit of money behind me. Again the Israel U-19 job I'm doing for free, which I didn't know when I took it, so I can walk away from that one at any point.

I'll next update when I have myself another club job, or if something miraculous happens with the Israel U-19 side.

[danmcconnell1]

After a short time out, Truro were the next side to offer me a job, somehow offering me more money than I was on in Northern Ireland at Institute.

£575 a week after tax will certainly increase the bank balance sooner rather than later.

So, Truro City FC are a side based in the lower reaches of Cornwall in England. Currently playing in the Vanarama South, they've struggled so far this season and have called upon the saviour...… me.

There has been mild success down the years for the club, the last trophy coming in 2011. They play their matches at Treyew Road which holds 3200, although there has been some work done to the stadium which means we won't move back in until 2/1/19, meaning my first match in charge which I'll get onto in a moment, will be away from home, despite it being classed as a home fixture.

Here's the squad and situation I have inherited.

There's not a lot of goals around, which may be why they're languishing in 20th place, but there's plenty of time to turn it around. We still have a fair few matches to play and if we can hit a decent run of form, there's no reason why we can't finish anywhere near the mid table position that was initially expected at the beginning of the season.

The players to look out for are;

Rowthorn is on loan from Southampton and will be our mainstay in the centre of midfield. He's had a decent season so far but I'll be looking for him to get forward a little more and try to get on the scoresheet. 

Chandler is the other star in the side. A centre back who at just 25 could have many a year left at the club, I'm hoping he can also be a catalyst for change as we look to march up the table.

My first match will be against Torquay. A very big side who shouldn't be anywhere near this league if it weren't for financial mismanagement down the years. This is where we go back to the stadium issue. We've been playing our home matches at Plainmoor, the home stadium of Torquay. My first match is classified as a home fixture, against Torquay. But it is in fact they who will be playing at home. Bit of a strange one!

I'll update again at the end of the season barring any big updates.